Realistically, who owns a *truly* swirl free car?

[Accumulator]

I have an 03 Jet Black M3 and.. it gives me great pleasure to look at the results of my efforts. I've given up on any expectation of perfection; I aim for perfection but am perfectly satisfied with excellent.

:xyxthumbs I enjoy reading posts like that. It's all about *you* being happy with *your* car.

 

[Scottwax]

As mine is a metallic black daily driver company car that gets driven by others, it is nigh on impossible to keep my car completely swirl free all the time. I do however keep it "well above average".........

I know how you feel as a fellow black car owner. I can keep it swirl free for a while but somewhere along the way, a few seem to pop up since my car seems to have softer paint than normal. The left rear fender, door and hood were repainted at some point and that paint stays better longer. However, I am not spending $2500-3000 to repaint a car so I have one that is perfect when it already looks better than 99.95% of the cars on the road, even brand new ones.

 

[TW85 HHI]

Since others are posting pictures:

My car will stay as swirl/scratch free as possible assuming my wrist cooperates.

 

[MongooseGA]

Wow, I'm very surprised by the number of people with perfect cars.



Now I feel horrible

 

[imported_COBRyan]

Mine is perfect in the spring/summer time, but winter and fall I really dont care. It's too cold to worry about it.

 

[jmsc]

in 30 years of detailing, like you say, a truly perfect swirl-free, defect-free paint. Last OCT I went to look at a brand new red C6 in a showroom under some powerful fluorescent lighting. The light was so good that you could spot any imperfection on the paint. I spent 15 minutes looking and admiring it. The paint was Spotless. I mean Perfect. I almost dropped dead. I've never seen this before. The detailer must have used a good qd and good mf or used good wash techniques. I was impressed. And this was a Chevy.

 

[AlexRuiz]

Mine is swirl free AFTER I polish it (twice a year). However, being a daily driver it will get some marring no matter what. I am careful when I wash and dry, but I am not excesively worried about it. While not perfect, my paint and its minor marring is not a awirl place in the strict sense of the word...





Alex

 

[Scottwax]

Wow, I'm very surprised by the number of people with perfect cars.



Now I feel horrible

Perfect and currently swirl free are two different things. My paint has scratches that can never be removed, although you really have to look to see them now. I can't keep mine swirl free for very long either. Plus, it has rained on and off since Thursday now (possible rain through Wednesday morning!) so it really doesn't matter since my car is covered in grime anyway



It's a vicious cycle.

 

[stilez]

Guilty here.



My car is marred and I'm fine with it. I have realized that this is life and that at the end of the day, my car may be marred, but it still has the best looking paint in the parking lot.



No daily driver will ever be perfect and swirl free for long unless you have 1) Extremely hard paint/clearcoat 2) Lots of time to give it a gentle wash.



I have neither. My repaint clearcoat is extremely soft. A touch softer than Honda clearcoat (which is like warm butter). I am very careful with washes and such but don't have the time to spend hours on a wash every couple of days. I deal with the marrs and go from there. The marring, however, is in a uniform front to back motion so you can only see them at certain angles.

 

[paco]

Since we got the EL new in 2003, it's 99+% swirl free. Last winter, it was mainly parked in doors which helped a lot.



This winter, it's been parked out side so I'm not sure if the current condition is still greater then 99% but it's far too cold for me to actually detail it. Come spring, I'll see but for now based on a power wash the other day, it's still look pretty good and I haven't seen any marring or swirls.



I haven't look under intense lighting. Just outdoor, cloud cover days and all is well.



Paco

 

[LightngSVT]

Even in the summer, I have grown enough to not obsess over a "perfect" finish on my daily driver. Now on the garage queens it is a differnt story, because they are subjected to the same treatment as a daily driver. ITs a never ending battle and life is full of so many other things to do besides constantly polish your car. Sure I spend more than my share of time on my cars, but in moderation.

 

[audio1der]

I bought my PC on a whim last fall, but didn't have pads until last week, and now need to find time to get some #83/80, and time to polish when it's nice out.(tough combo)

I can't wait to try keeping it swirl-free- to a point.

I would NEVER let it get to the point of not driving it, even if it were an S8 and not a Sentra

 

[Accumulator]

I would NEVER let it get to the point of not driving it, even if it were an S8 and not a Sentra

Heh heh, I certainly understand your position; it's the same one I had for many, many years and many, many cool cars. Heh heh, no, I'm *not* getting old and boring When my last two dogs died young/suddenly/unexpectedly I sorta switched priorities. If somebody made a 500 hp/AWD/good handling dog-hauler, I'd drive the wheels off it. But our younger dog is *NOT* riding in the S8 (the older one is fine in anything) and I'm just not spending as much time on detailing these days.

 

[Thomas Dekany]

Heh heh, I certainly understand your position; it's the same one I had for many, many years and many, many cool cars. Heh heh, no, I'm *not* getting old and boring When my last two dogs died young/suddenly/unexpectedly I sorta switched priorities. If somebody made a 500 hp/AWD/good handling dog-hauler, I'd drive the wheels off it. But our younger dog is *NOT* riding in the S8 (the older one is fine in anything) and I'm just not spending as much time on detailing these days.

I guess I am making you buy the Porsche Cayenne

 

[Accumulator]

[Warning, going OT again..]



tdekany- I have *seriously* considered the Cayenne Turbo but a) the younger dog's crate doesn't fit in back, b) it would be harder for the older dog to get into/out of, and c) I want to wait until the next S8 comes out (see if I like it) before I spend that kind of money. I don't want to travel in a SUV so I still need a "good" sedan. But I still haven't ruled out the Cayenne Turbo But the truth is (and it's "the sad truth" ) the minivan really is the best way to transport the dogs and this time around I'm prioritizing *them*.

 

[Thomas Dekany]

[Warning, going OT again..]



tdekany- I have *seriously* considered the Cayenne Turbo but a) the younger dog's crate doesn't fit in back, b) it would be harder for the older dog to get into/out of, and c) I want to wait until the next S8 comes out (see if I like it) before I spend that kind of money. I don't want to travel in a SUV so I still need a "good" sedan. But I still haven't ruled out the Cayenne Turbo But the truth is (and it's "the sad truth" ) the minivan really is the best way to transport the dogs and this time around I'm prioritizing *them*.

I didn't realize that there isn't enough space in the Cayenne for your crate.



IMHO there is nothing wrong driving a Sienna/Odessy.

 

[Accumulator]

tdekany- Yeah, the crate's the thing, and it's a pretty big crate.



Minivans are just *so* different from what I'm used to driving. It always feels like it's gonna tip over during cornering and I keep warping its rotors, and I'm just killing the front tires; guess it wasn't meant for drivers like me.



Back on-topic, I just washed the minivan and so far it's staying marring-free despite some pretty nasty winter weather. See my thread in the Product forum on Stage I prewash vs. the foamgun.



And yeah, the dogs know how to behave around my vehicles. No problems on that front.

 

[Scottwax]

IMHO there is nothing wrong driving a Sienna/Odessy.

Not a minivan fan by any means, but I really like my brother's Odyssey. It is like driving a tall Accord and it has a lot more power than I thought it would.

 

[doostin]

i dont consider mine swirl free and this is what she looks like. i want to see pictures of everyones car who said they were swirl free. I mean detailed pictures too, staring straight into the sun reflection and everything.

 

[JJ_]

Thats a nice bimmer!!