Whats a good last step product that hides some swirls??

Reflctn Perfctn

Reflctn Perfctn

Reflection Perfection
What do you guys recomend for a good last step wax that will last up to 3 months and hides swirls??? I usualy remove 95 % of swirls to begin with but some customers dont want to pay for a complete exterior treatment so i usually use a light polish then topper and was wondering what is best to hide what the light polish did not remove?
 
#7 followed by NXT is good. Top with #16 for added measure.

Otherwise, Pinnacle paintwork cleanser topped with a carnauba.
 
Meguiar's #16 paste wax
Meguiar's #26 paste wax
Clearkote Carnuaba Moose wax
FK1 #2685 Pink Wax

All these will give around 3-4 months protection,
and all hide swirls to a degree.
 
turtle wax platinum series ultra gloss paste

does a god job at hiding swirls...:)

if not then just get some nxt. it darkens the paint too!
 
NXT is not a good last step product. It will clean off whatever you have put on prior. It wouldn't hide swirls for 3 months anyway. No product would. I wouldn't hide swirls though. I'd point them out and let them know how much it costs to get rid of all of them. Honestly, and no offense intended, but hiding swirls is for amatures. If you know how to remove them then you should do it. If the customer isn't willing to pay for the time it takes to remove swirls, then you should leave them the way they are so that they finally come back to you and ask to have them removed. If I took my car to have it detailed and it came back looking great but gradually went downhill from there because all the defects were merely hidden and not removed then I would be pretty mad. If you can get rid of 95% of the swirls then I wouldn't worry about that last bit. Most people don't even see swirls anyway. Detailers do, but the average Joe has no idea that their paint can look better than it does.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
NXT is not a good last step product. It will clean off whatever you have put on prior. It wouldn't hide swirls for 3 months anyway. No product would. I wouldn't hide swirls though. I'd point them out and let them know how much it costs to get rid of all of them. Honestly, and no offense intended, but hiding swirls is for amatures. If you know how to remove them then you should do it. If the customer isn't willing to pay for the time it takes to remove swirls, then you should leave them the way they are so that they finally come back to you and ask to have them removed. If I took my car to have it detailed and it came back looking great but gradually went downhill from there because all the defects were merely hidden and not removed then I would be pretty mad. If you can get rid of 95% of the swirls then I wouldn't worry about that last bit. Most people don't even see swirls anyway. Detailers do, but the average Joe has no idea that their paint can look better than it does.
Click to expand...



What would you do if swirls could not be removed? IE, in fear of damaging a thin paint job or a paint job that already has clearcoat checking and other heavy damages, yet the owner wants a balls to the walls detail.
 
That's when you let them know what the limits are. Sometimes you can't always get what you want. If they want their 30 year old paint to look like new when it's obviously not possible, then you tell them that. Not every paint job can be restored. Sometimes the paint is just FUBAR and time to get a new one and I don't mind telling people that. I'm good at what I do, but if what they want is outside what I am able to do for them then I don't mind telling them about it. If they pay for swirl removal then I remove the swirls. Covering them up when they expect to have them gone is not professional.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
That's when you let them know what the limits are. Sometimes you can't always get what you want. If they want their 30 year old paint to look like new when it's obviously not possible, then you tell them that. Not every paint job can be restored. Sometimes the paint is just FUBAR and time to get a new one and I don't mind telling people that. I'm good at what I do, but if what they want is outside what I am able to do for them then I don't mind telling them about it. If they pay for swirl removal then I remove the swirls. Covering them up when they expect to have them gone is not professional.
Click to expand...

Well said!!
 
I've never had this problem. I'm convinced that I already go above and beyond when it comes to polishing out defects. 99.999% of the people just don't spot the imperfections that our eyes naturally gravitate towards. They do however expect that you can magically fix a scratch that's down to bare metal with some 'wax' and elbow grease. I just about killed myself over the weekend on a detail, and the owner didn't come up and say, 'Hey, I notice that you removed the dozen or so scratches on the hood'. What he did say is 'Wow, I thought the car was clean when I brought it up, but now it looks like a different color'.



If I decide to go after more than 85% of the defects with a picky eye, I usually do it on my time and my dime because I really like the car and/or customer.



Am I alone here?
 
I found that Meg's Hi-Tech yellow paste wax does a great job. I used it on my black car and it gave it a nice deep wet look. I used it on my father-in-laws vette which has swirls and cobbwebbs all around it and he thought I completely removed them.
 
lonewolf0420 said:
I found that Meg's Hi-Tech yellow paste wax does a great job. I used it on my black car and it gave it a nice deep wet look. I used it on my father-in-laws vette which has swirls and cobbwebbs all around it and he thought I completely removed them.
Click to expand...
Agreed, #26 paste does give a very nice look, does offer some hiding properties, and looks great on darker paints. It lacks the (even minor) cleaning properties of NXT Tech Wax and during the hot summer months you may need to touch that one up a little more quickly than with Tech Wax, but at the recent clearance price of $.99/tin at AZ it won't hit your detailing pocketbook too hard. :)
 
FWIW 80% of my customers are not willing to pay extra for major swirl removal because they don't care. But at the same time I am clear with them that only a light polish will be performed unless they want to pay for swirl removal. As long as you give the customer what they know they are paying for, that is the best way to be a professional. If they say they do not care about swirl removal and they take their car through a brush automatic wash all the time, then why remove paint for no reason?
 
Please excuse the interuption...

Mr. Clean and Jngrbrdman... Knock this crap off. No more posting in this thread from either one of you please. You guys are taking it into the wrong direction. Feel free to take the conversation to PM's.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top