We all hate it but we have to do it sometimes, I buffed my car and cleaned it up but now it has horrible swirl marks... I tried some carnuba wax (hand) and it helped but it is still swirled. Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do???


It is a black SS

 

I used swirl mark remover but that only made it worse

 

You will need a Porter Cable 7424 for best results. I used Zymol and Meguiar's NXT by hand for awhile and never gave me the results I wanted. I talked with Steve from Tropi-Care.com and he set me up with a proven setup.

With the Porter Cable, I use Merzena Intensive Polish on speed setting 5 and do a couple passes until all the swirls are gone - and they will be! I then used Steve's Polish/Sealant on a Blue Pad with a speed setting of 4. I left it to cure over night and put some of Tropi-Care's carnuba wax by hand. The results? Perfection. You will have no swirl marks whatsoever.

 

+1. The polishes/compounds people use may be different, but for most the root is the PC 7274. I use 3m perfect it polish for dark colors with a black ccs pad, followed by a few coats of wolfgang 3.0 deep gloss paint sealant either by hand or with a white or blue pad, followed by poorboy's natty's blue paste wax by hand.

 

i posted this in the paint section for you but ill post it here aswell. this is what i do. but the other methods will work aswell and with a portor cable your will never mess your aint up.

This is my way of buffing so if anyone tells you a different way they might have a better way or they may not but this is the way I like to buff cars. The one thing that I do recommend is to have some skill with a rotary buffer or find something that you can practice on before attempting it on your car. Factory clear is a lot thinner then on cars that have been repainted and it is easier to burn through to the paint. The main thing you want to be the most careful on is the edges because they are the easiest to burn. Something I like to do is use a quality masking take used for painting cars that wont rip off if the buffer hits it. I normally use the green scotch masking tape. So say your doing a good, what I would do is tape the fender edges and then tape off or put some towels to block the cowl from getting compound on or in it because if you don’t you will have a fun time trying to get it off or out. When you get to the fender tape off the hood edge the mirror edge and the door and the molding. When you get to the door tape off the molding, handle, weatherstrip, fender edge, and quarter edge. Then just repeat on the other panels. Also when you tape things don’t tape it right on the edge, you want to tape it on overlapping the edge a little bit and then push the tape into the jam to fully protect that edge. Now do you have to tape everything? The answer is no its just a precaution that I personally recommend when your first learning to buff. Also regarding swirls if they have been for there for a real long time there’s a chance that they might not come out depending on how bad they really are but its worth giving it a shot before you know you have to re-paint it. Below I am going to include a list of materials that I use before I start the whole write up.

Materials

3M Green Scotch Masking Tape - Sizes ¼” and 1 ½”
- I use 1 ½” on the edges and the ¼” for smaller areas like the moldings.
3M Perfect-It 3000 Rubbing Compound
3M Perfect-It 9” Wool Pad
3M Perfect-It 3000 Swirl Remover
3M Perfect-It 8” Black Foam Pad
3M Perfect-It 3000 Ultrafina(Swirl Eliminator)
3M Perfect-It 8” Blue Ultrafina Foam Pad
3M Perfect-It 3000 Final Glaze
3M Perfect-It 6” Black Foam Pad(Hook -It 2 Backing Plate)
Rotary Buffer Of Your Choice( Mine is a Dewalt or Makita)
6” Dual Action Palm Sander Of You Choice(Mines A Snap On)
- Only Have To Use This Step If Using The Final Glaze Step
Extension Cord
Cleaning Spur
Quality Microfiber Towels(Mine Are From Cobra)
Few Terry Clothes
Meguiars Final Inspection or Something To Use When Wiping Compounds Off
Clay Bar(if needed)

1) If you car is a car that you drive or hasn’t been freshly painted then your going to want to give it a thorough washing and completely dry off the car. If you have bugs or tar marks then your going to want to clay bar those off or if your like me, I clay bar the whole panel to remove any contaminants and then I wipe the panel down using a the final inspection and the a micro fiber towel. Be sure that you have a garage or a place to do this because being out in the sun and heat is no good. It causes the compound to dry faster then it should.

2) Now that the car is cleaned off and ready to be buffed you can do this one of 2 ways. Do one panel at a time or one step at a time. One Step means doing the entire car with the first method and then moving on to the next. I recommend to do it this way because they you don’t have to keep cleaning your panels off.





3) Now the fun begins. Plug that buffer in attach the wool pad and getting the rubbing compound out. Now personally I like to buff with a wool pad at around 2000rpm but you can do it at any speed that is comfortable with you. If you’re a beginner I recommend 1400 or even lower if you don’t feel comfortable. Tape off your edges. Take the buffing spur pull the trigger and run it through the pad to clean it. When you see no more dust you know your good to go. Apply a decent amount of compound to the area that your going to buff set the buffer on the compound and give the trigger a quick pull and move the buffer back and forth really quick or just rub the compound in without pulling the trigger. This will help you avoid splatter. Then pull the trigger and start to buff and be sure to keep the buffer moving from left to right to avoid one area getting to hot. Do a section at a time. After you finish your panel wipe it down thoroughly using a micro fiber towel. If you choose to do the whole car then go on to the next panel and repeat. If not then keep the tape on and read the next step. Its going to appear hazy and swirly but not to worry.

4) Time to switch pads. Put the black foam pad and get out the swirl remover. Run the spur through very lightly to clean the pad. Make sure the surface is clean of all compound before starting to buff. For swirl remover I like to buff at about 1600-1800rpm depending in how much of a rush I am. With this step be sure to take your time because if you don’t your going have swirls in the end product. Again apply some compound to the panel and smear it in with the pad or pull the trigger a little to avoid splatter. Again you want to do an area at a time and make sure that there’s always a good amount of compound. After this step it should appear more glossy. After you get done with the panel or car proceed to again wiping down with a different clean micro fiber towel that will only be used for this step.

5) Again it’s time to switch pads. Switch over to the Ultrafina pad and get out the Ultrafina compound. Run the spur through very lightly to clean the pad. I like to buff at about 1600-1800 for this as well. Make sure the surface is cleaned of all the swirl remover. If there’s any minor swirls left over this will take care of it. Now for this step I do one thing differently. I will do one panel at a time and I will do the whole panel then I will wipe it off before going to the next step. Do not let this stuff dry on the panel. Put a good amount of compound on the panel and smear in with the pad or pull the trigger to avoid splatter. Unlike the others this compound has to be wiped off by hand and will not disappear like the others. You want to buff it in so that it looks like there’s a wet swirly film all over the whole panel. After you get the whole panel completed wipe it down thoroughly. And move on to the next.

6) OPTIONAL STEP: Take out the dual action sander and the final glaze. This is almost like putting a nice wax over everything. Again I do this one panel at a time. Apply some and d/a the glaze in good. After doing the panel wipe it down thoroughly and move onto the next.

After you’ve done this you should have a good looking finish if done correctly. If you have to wash the car and make sure you look at all the jambs to get rid of any compound that might of got into there and if its not fresh paint you can go right ahead and take your favorite wax and give it a good coat and then just stand back and look at your handy work. I prefer using zaino or wolfgang or pinnacle wax but any of your choice will be good. Just remember that its your car that your buffing and buff at the speeds that feel the most comfortable so you don’t mess anything up.

 

I have a craftsman buffer, is that ok instead of the pc 7424? What pad should I buy? Also... what do you think about using the scratchx by hand?

 

you won't see results by hand anywhere near those that you will see with the PC. It can be done by hand, but you won't be able to drive afterwards. lol. machine polishing is much easier and much more user friendly.

 

Go to Ace Hardware. Reppellants and fertilizers will get your garden going again....oh...swirls...not squirels...my bad!


Swat

 

Unless the Craftsman model has variable speed capability like the PC or even the UDM, you will have a very difficult time trying to level the surface to remove swirl marks/holograms let alone spider scratches(spider webbing). Using one of these machines is very safe and user friendly for those with little or no machine experience.

To assist with your surface project, we offer a series of Lake Country CCS foam buffing pads which range from:

yellow-medium cutting
orange-light cutting/heavy polishing
white-light polishing
black-finishing
blue-final finishing

Depending on the severity of your blemishes, you'll use either the yellow or orange pad to level the surface while removing the scratches. Any holograms left over from the compounding be removed either with an orange or white pad.

The back and blue are full contact foam pads which have no cutting ability and are excellent for applying glazes, liquid waxes or sealants.

Hand treatments just can not compete with machine efficiency for removing scratches easily. Imagine trying to correct an entire car with a surface like this by hand:



Feel free to contact me with any questions at steve@tropi-care.com or call toll-free at (866)341-0050.

 

^^^thats what mine looks like up close and its black... i can also start to see were the dealer did thier "touchups" b4 i bought the car 3 years ago.. will the pc help rid my car of those as well?

 

Yes. The PC can do a lot of correction, especially that involved in fixing the paint shown in Steve's picture above.

If you actually want to learn how to use a PC/rotary successfully, head over to autopia.org's forums and spend a couple months reading up. There is way too much info to put into one post.

 

well, before buying a pc I thought I would try the scratchx and then wax by hand it did an amazing job. I don't have any more swirls at all. I would recommend this to anyone and for 8 bucks it wasn't to expesive. I will have to get some pics up of the amazing finish only problem is I can't seem to find how to post pics using my laptop, it is a mac... anyone got any suggestions?

 

If you removed all of the swirling with ScratchX then it was extremely minor. Otherwise, you probably just hid them. Either way, if you're happy they're mostly gone, then that's all that matters. Just be prepared to see them again after a month or so of washes if they haven't been removed.

Post your pics to imageshack.us or photobucket or something then just link to them.

 

several people have mentioned the PC 7424 as a solution. if you have no experience with a amchine, that is the best advice for you.

Fast_94_Z's process will also correct your issues .. but personally, I would never recommend for a rotary rookie to use a wool pad to fix their issues.

chances are much greater that you will screw something up, rather than fix your current issue.

 

whoops actually i have to correct that. thanks for pointing out that it still says wool pad. the writeup is extremely old and i havent really had much time to change to it. but not im actually all on a foam pad system. the wool pads actually leaves more swirls and takes twice as long to get swirls out. the white waffle pads by 3m are one of the greatest things for a rotary. they dont swirl much and cut just as good as a wool pad. but your right. using a rotary is definately not something for a beginner but it also would hurt beginning with one either. you can go to any body shop and probablly get some decent scrap pieces to practice on before even attempting on your own car. thats why i say time and time again buff at speeds that your comfortable with and be sure to use plenty of compound to avoid these problems. but definately the porter cable or the udm are the most user friendly machines and its nearly impossible to screw up with them.

 

are the pads from the pc reusable? or do you have to purchase new pads every time?

 

reusable as far as i know but after awhile the wear out.