Straight line marring

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I get some very slight 'straight line marring' over time which can only be seen in the sun at the right angles. I think this happens over time just with basic washing and drying. It is very hard to see unless you look really hard into the paint. I usually finish down with Menzerna SRC finishing polish on a rotary with a finishing pad and there is no marring so I am assuming this is just the result of winter washings/dryings. Is there anything I can do to eliminate it or just hit it with a finishing polish every 3-4 months and say that is as good as it gets on a daily driver.
 
That's about as good as you're gonna get - I've been trying to eliminate wash-induced marring for the last 3 years in my wash technique and I *still* haven't gotten it out completely.
 
What are your washing methods and products? Most straight line marring I have encountered usually come from a brush or a sponge.
 
Definitely wash induced, I used to get straight line marring before I washed properly. I was using a synthetic wash mitt (now I use sheepskin) and only 1 bucket. This is on a black car, daily driver at that. Share your washing procedure and you might find your problem
 
I have been using ONR for the winter. I have been using a chenille covered sponge from Meguiars and a waffle weave or viking yellow towel to dry. I am careful not to put a lot of pressure on any surface and use two buckets. I do have a sheepskin mitt, but it does not hold the onr like the sponge does. Maybe I will try and use one of the purple Pak Shak ultra plus microfibers to wash since I think it may hold more. I may get a grit guard too. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
 
One way to minimize straight-line, wash-induced marring is to not move the wash media in long strokes. I get the worst/most abrasive dirt off with a BHB (and the foamgun, of course), jiggling the BHB across the surface instead of making the typical long swipes with it. A 1/4" scratch doesn't show as badly as a 4" (or longer) scratch so I move the wash media in short incremetal movements.



Dunno how well that approach would work with something like ONR though :nixweiss



Just remember that if the wash media picks up any abrasive dirt, it immediately turns into sandpaper. Can't keep moving it across the paint at that point, or you'll get marring and even with the lightest pressure imaginable (like what it takes to hold a mitt against the side of a door) it's simply gonna happen. That's why *I* have to use the foamgun, it flushes away the dislodged dirt so it doesn't get dragged across the paint by the wash media.



I've never found dirt to really migrate up into the mitts..it seems to stay close to the paint.



I suppose the grit guard is a good idea, but with the foamgun BHB-then-mitt approach my rinse bucket is basically clean at the end of a wash, even when I'm cleaning off nasty winter stuff. This tells me that the dirt isn't sticking to the wash media, where it could cause marring.
 
I ended up with some faint marring because I didn't rinse my MF towels correctly. All of that left over soap residue in the fibers made drying a real PITA and in one of my not so bright moments, I kept on rubbing and rubbing. Back and forth, harder and harder. DUH!
 
I figure I have some straight line marring on my car, simply because I do wash in a "straight-line" motion (although not big, sweeping passes) to avoid any chance of swirling. IMO its a better idea as I would rather have a small hairline scratch that can only be seen 0.0001% of the time than concentric circles (aka swirls) which can be seen 99% of the time. I'm VERY careful about keeping my skeepskin mitts clean (one for upper and one for lower), however I still am finding it impossible to keep them looking all that clean when using QEW to get the salt/dirt/sand off my lower panels due to our crappy winters here in Ontario...If I simply touch a spot like that with a soaking wet, previously clean mitt, it turns almost jet black (and thats with a pre-soak using a 2.5 gallon garden sprayer).



I do figure that so long as the marring is extremely light it should be easy to polish out come the warmer weather right? I'm going to use AIO probably (by hand), although the thought of buying a PC has crossed my mind (but even if I did I'd be using the least aggressive pad with the least aggressive polish as I'd be too worried about damaging the paint).
 
Conundrum said:
I figure I have some straight line marring on my car, simply because I do wash in a "straight-line" motion (although not big, sweeping passes) to avoid any chance of swirling...

I do figure that so long as the marring is extremely light it should be easy to polish out come the warmer weather right? I'm going to use AIO probably (by hand), although the thought of buying a PC has crossed my mind (but even if I did I'd be using the least aggressive pad with the least aggressive polish as I'd be too worried about damaging the paint).
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Yeah, straight marring is less noticeable than circular marring :xyxthumbs



IMO the AIO won't be aggressive enough to remove it though. If you're working by hand I'd use something like 1Z Paint Polish. I understand the concerns about being too aggressive with the paint, but it's a Catch-22....if you want to remove the marring you have to remove enough paint to accomplish the job.



FWIW I really sympathize with people who have to work with ONR/QEW-type washes in the winter..I dunno how you'll avoid marring so IMO all you can do is hope for the best and correct it come spring.
 
IMO perfect paint is only realistic on show cars. On our daily drivers marring and so forth will occur over time no matter what you do or how perfect your washing techniques are. We can only hope to minimize it.



Conundrum- It will come to a point where it's either own the PC or pay someone else to do the work. You are very meticulous (as all here are) with your car.....get the PC.
 
After you wash the vehicle, wouldn't drying with a leaf blower simply be the best way? If you can't/don't touch it you can't scratch it.



Changeling
 
JoshVette said:
Try the two bucket method, multiple wash mits for upper and lower panels and rims and dry with a high powered leaf blower.
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How well does the blower actually work? I'd love to remove drying by MF from my QEW washes...The dirt on my wash mitts annoys the crap out of me, and when my drying MFs get even slightly dirty (if I somehow missed a spot) it drives me insane. Arguably I would contend I had almost 0 marring before winter, now I have some because of the weather here (and the salt and sand). Really won't know how much though until I give her a good cleaning and inspect the paint in the summer.



This brings me back around to thinking about getting a PC as well for polishing (I'd still wax by hand)...cept I can't shake the fear of damaging my paint, considering how soft my paint is (I leaned against the car once and went through the clear/base on a small spot). Is it truly near impossible with a weak polish and least aggressive pad to damage the paint unless you are REALLY trying to damage something? I guess one of my big reasons for staying away has been my uncle who restores classics...as he told me to stay away from machines as its easy to make a mistake (be it with a rotary or otherwise).
 
To me, there is point where some MINOR marring can't helped. This is what polish and paint correction is for. When it gets bad enough, you can fix it or hire someone to do it.

I'm fanatical about keeping my car clean, but also mar free. And there is micro marring here and there.
 
Conundrum said:
How well does the blower actually work? I'd love to remove drying by MF from my QEW washes...The dirt on my wash mitts annoys the crap out of me, and when my drying MFs get even slightly dirty (if I somehow missed a spot) it drives me insane. Arguably I would contend I had almost 0 marring before winter, now I have some because of the weather here (and the salt and sand). Really won't know how much though until I give her a good cleaning and inspect the paint in the summer.



This brings me back around to thinking about getting a PC as well for polishing (I'd still wax by hand)...cept I can't shake the fear of damaging my paint, considering how soft my paint is (I leaned against the car once and went through the clear/base on a small spot). Is it truly near impossible with a weak polish and least aggressive pad to damage the paint unless you are REALLY trying to damage something? I guess one of my big reasons for staying away has been my uncle who restores classics...as he told me to stay away from machines as its easy to make a mistake (be it with a rotary or otherwise).
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It's perfect for drying, just make sure you get a good 230mph++ leaf blower and not a low powered weak 140mph one. Get electric also so you're not spitting oil on your car while detailing it. You can get them at Lowes or HomeDepot for $75-80 bucks.



You will have to do minimal touch up with a MF towel though where it drips.



Yes, buy a PC as well, best money you'll spend, plus for just simple waxing, it takes half the time and less then half the effort.:waxing: :woot:
 
JoshVette said:
It's perfect for drying, just make sure you get a good 230mph++ leaf blower and not a low powered weak 140mph one. Get electric also so you're not spitting oil on your car while detailing it. You can get them at Lowes or HomeDepot for $75-80 bucks.
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So the following would be a good purchase?:



Toro - Toro Ultra Blower - 51598



It's only 225mph max (so not over 230mph).
 
FWIW IMO most marring happens during the wash, not the drying. At least if you really get the dirt of when washing (if you don't, *that* is when the drying causes it..assuming you're using appropriately soft drying media).



It all boils down to: How do you get the dirt off the paint without pressing it *against* the paint in the process? Solve that and you shouldn't have much marring. Heh heh, I used to have to polish every spring, so I know it's not easy ;)



conundrum- I use a blower (attached to an AirWand) for getting most of the water off and it works well *on a well-LSPed finish*. It works far *less* well on a not-so-well-LSPed finish. I still have to go over the vehicle with a WWMF, but a few spritzes of a good QD help lubricate things. Also, fold the WWMF over so you don't get such concentrated pressure against the paint.



Re the PC, I'm pretty certain that you won't have any problems from the PC that you wouldn't have by hand. You can always turn it down to a silly-safe speed until you get comfortable with it. Mike Phillips (of Meguiar's) has used it at speed "1" on antique cars with *very* delicate original finishes. At that speed it's like doing things by hand with less effort. My Jag has soft lacquer and I don't have problems using the PC (or even a Cyclo) on it. I wouldn't hesitate to take either machine to *any* finish, I'd just be a little careful about my pad/product selection if I suspected the finish in question was very delicate...ah, I can imagine somebody thinking "well, *he's* used those machines for decades, of course he would do it"..well, don't worry about that ;) Given the cautious nature you're displaying you won't have any problems. Really.
 
JoshVette said:
It's perfect for drying, just make sure you get a good 230mph++ leaf blower and not a low powered weak 140mph one. Get electric also so you're not spitting oil on your car while detailing it. You can get them at Lowes or HomeDepot for $75-80 bucks.



You will have to do minimal touch up with a MF towel though where it drips.



Yes, buy a PC as well, best money you'll spend, plus for just simple waxing, it takes half the time and less then half the effort.:waxing: :woot:
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This is what I don't understand... how can an electric leaf blower be rated at 220+ mph, when the blower (gas powered) that I use is rated at 179mph? I know my blower is way more powerful than any electric one could ever hope to be, so why the higher mph rating? FWIW, the blower I use is a Stihl BR420 used by the majority of lawn care professionals.



Oh, and to the poster who mentioned using the leaf blower to dry the vehicle instead of wiping dry... Your still going to have to manual dry. The blower will just lessen the amount and also has the added benefit of blowing water out from around mirrors, trim, emblems etc.
 
I don't have any marring issues what so ever. I wash with only 1 bucket(5 gallon), wool wash mitt and terry cloth drying towels. I wax 3-4 times a year and use spray wax once a month. I've have had black, gray, silver and white vehicles and they all stay looking better than new. I regularly inspect my finish under fluorescents and natural light and I can't see any swirls or marks. I usually 1st power wash all the top dirt off before touching the finish. I see alot of people here go overboard on washing, but I can't validate any other process other that the one that has been working for me? Maybe it's the products and technique I'm using?
 
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