Was it me or the QEW?

I

imported_mmdetail

New member
I'm hesitant to write this as many seemed to have positive experiences with QEW, but I'm afraid I just fell into the other camp. I'm certainly willing to chalk it up to me doing something wrong, but after I got 99% of all the swirls out of my wife's black car with some 3M SMR and a PC a month or so ago, I just did my first QEW job on it and put a bunch of swirls back, especially on the hood. The car wasn't especially dirty and I tried to be careful. I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me what I did wrong. I used the following procedure:



1. Got two buckets - one for wash and one for rinse. Used my MF mitt from CMA

2. Worked one area at a time. Turned mitt over after each small area.

3. Wiped clean with big blue drying towel from CMA



The mitt and drying towel were clean and I did the hood first so nothing could have gotten on either. I've always had good luck with the BB drying towel so I don't think that was it. So … what did I do wrong?

:nixweiss
 
perhaps the swirls that came back were just the swirls that were covered by the smr's fillers? b/c I've read that 3m smr contains some fillers in addition to its polishing agents.
 
Neb said:
perhaps the swirls that came back were just the swirls that were covered by the smr's fillers? b/c I've read that 3m smr contains some fillers in addition to its polishing agents.
Click to expand...



That could be a possibility as 3m SMR does contain a lot of fillers in it.



It also could be the MF mitt. I didn't have good experiences with my MF mitt. It kind of felt rought to me and it grabbed and held onto dirt. It didn't like to release it.



I'm using some 100% cotton viking mitts now (Thanks geeky) and they really do a great job at releasing dirt. I haven't had time to CD test them yet. I'll probably test a clean one and then test one that has been used awhile to see how many scratches. I know before I stopped using my MF mitt it covered a CD in swirls.
 
The only time I've had any streaking problems on black is if I try to wash too much at a time and the QEW has mostly dried when I wipe it off. I just work smaller areas and make sure there is still some moisture on the paint when I make the drying pass with an MF towel. It is extremely important in my experience that you use two towels, one to remove most of the moisture and one for a final drying pass and that you leave some water behind for the drying pass.



I use the chenille covered foam pads for washing.
 
I was gonna say the same thing: maybe it's your mf mitt. I use a lambswool mitt, which seems to keep any abrasive material away from the surface. I also use the 2 bucket method, and always dip and squeeze out the mitt (looking for anything that might scratch) before putting it back in the soap bucket.



It could also be the SMR too, like mentioned above.



You said the car wasn't too dirty? I don't know where you live, if it has been snowing etc. I know around here my car gets looking like a salt lick so I've been taking it to a bay wash to rinse the salt off and wash the undercarriage before I try using the QEW. Otherwise I was afraid I'd scratch it.



I did notice a ****load of new microscratches on my trunk lid, which I think is from taking it through the touchless car wash 2 or 3 times this winter (before I bought the QEW). It will be due for lots of SMR in the spring!
 
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