Question for DK and others - Spiderwebbing

I

imported_Intermezzo

New member
I went nuts over the weekend and applied 3 coats of Z-5 Friday, 3 coats Saturday & 1 coat of Z-2 Sunday (coulda done more, but the wife was getting upset).



When I look at my car under bright flourescent lights, a lot of the light scratches I used to have are less and less visible. I did notice a difference at 3 layers of Z-5 and even more of a difference at 6 layers.



However, one thing that kinda made me depressed was that under the direct sunlight, I saw a lot of very light swirls all over the car.



I refuse to believe that these swirls are on top of my clearcoat. After 6 coats of Z-5 and witnessing the near disappearance of several light scratches on the car, how could I have any swirls at all left over? I used clean foam apps and clean neatitems MFs to buff and did everything in straight front to back motions. But the swirls seem to be circular all over the car. Is this what you call spiderwebbing that occurs underneath the clearcoat? How does it get there in the first place?



I don't mean to make it sound all that bad, because in all honesty, I bet that only an autopian or someone as crazy about detailing as an autopian would notice them and only under certain very very bright sunlight angles. Other than that, my car looks magnificent and and the wet shine and the reflectivity just blow me away.



I remember you mentioning spiderwebbing a few times in the past. Please tell me that this is just spiderwebbing and that there is nothing I can do about it!!



Thanks.



Tony
 
I know you did the proper swirl removing prep, and are very careful with your techniques. If you saw 6 coats of Z5 fill in some swirls, and you still have minor ones, it is probably mostly spiderwebbing. I see this a lot on black cars and you just have to live with it. I think you did damn good if you can only see these marks at strange angles in certain lighting! If they bother you that much...lay down 10-20K for a custom paint job! LOL CONGRATS!
 
DK, thanks for the info. That's a bit of a relief to hear. All in all, I'm very pleased with the way my car looks. I did a few coats under the sun and I gotta tell you....that's the last time I ever do that. When buffing off the Z, I wanna see dark wet flawless black! Just can't get that under the bright sun. :)
 
I have noticed exactly the same thing!



When I first applied Z to my car, I Dawn washed at the beginning. The Dawn removed all of the old wax, leaving a clean surface behind. I inspected the surface carefully, and the swirls were very, very minor. 3 coats of Z5 filled the faint swirls in.



However, approximately 2 weeks later, I noticed that the swirls (actually spiderwebbing) had reappeared. I know that the Zaino was still protecing the car, because the paint was still slick.



My theory is that Zaino itself swirls very, very easily.



I tend to apply coats of Zaino that are thicker than most, but still within the acceptable range. For example, I use about 1 ounce per coat. Perhaps a thinner application would cut down on the swirls?



Anyway, I have seen the exact same thing that Intemezzo has. Maybe it's the weather. :)
 
Dude, thanks for the input. However, I think we are talking about two different things. I might be wrong, but the source of spiderwebbing is not from marrs or swirls on top of your clearcoat, but the natural refraction of sunlight on a dark color car. I was getting this spiderwebbing after freshly applying several coats of Z-5. I just talked to someone I know who has a lot of experience in the custom show car paint industry and he told me that spiderwebbing will never totally disappear, not even on a $10,000 custom paint job. Instead, one should measure the quality of your detail job under bright flourescent lights. Get it perfect under those lights and you have a perfectly detailed car. I guess I can take solace in the fact that it's hard to find swirls under the bright flourescent lights in my garage.



I never knew about this 'spider-webbing' phenomena before. JM19, you might be right. Perhaps I should rethink getting black in the future. It's enough to drive a person insane!
 
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