Rubbing clearcoat out

[benkapitanec]

The weather is starting to moderate a bit here in Ohio. I'm looking at the finish of my '76 and am wondering if I can get the swirl marks out of the clear coat. I spoke to a guy who recommended using a buffer w/ a foam pad and Maguires #2 on the clearcoat. Anyone out there have any experience with this? I was told also that there is a device that will measure the depth of the paint. How do you interpret the readings. The paint has plenty of shine left, but I'd like to get rid of the swirl marks and minor scratches out. Can this be done with some of the products out there?

 

[86targa]

I own a body shop. To get swirl marks from towelling, buffing, etc, I use Turtle Wax Swirl Remover. You can buy it anywhere car supplies are. I get mine at KMart. Its only around $4 for a 16 oz plastic bottle. Its green and says right on front. Apply by hand. The majority of jobs I do, it works fine. More difficult requires buffing with machine buffer and 3M Swirl Remover. There are 2 different formulas, one for dark and one for light colored cars.

 

[Boater Chuck]

What do you recommend for drying the car that won't add swirl marks? I have been using brand new 100% cotton towels. I have the Magnetic Red Metallic and it already is getting them.

 

[CSDMagred01]

I also have a Mag Red with no paint scratches yet. I find washing it using lots of water and washing with 2 buckets really helps. The first bucket has soapy water for only clean towels. They go from new to the soap to the car. The second bucket has clean rinsing water for rinsing towels before they go back to the soap bucket. Hosing the car frequently and changing those towels frequently is critical to getting the dirt off without scratching. If you can see dirt in the towel coming out of the rinse water it goes in the laundry pile. I change rinse water 3-4 times and go through 4-6 towels to wash. Then I use large both towels to dry. By then the dirt is out of the way and the 100% cotton towels don't scratch it. Zaino seems to help keep the scratching down also. It seems harder than most of the waxes I've tried over the last 20 years.

 

[rwd]

Has the car be repainted? I thought base/clear coat was a bit later. Either way, be very careful.

In any case, IIRC, Meguiar's starts with the highly abrasive polishes at the low numbers. 1 or 2 would be extremely so. Their Swirl Remover is 9. Mine's in a tan bottle, but that may have changed.

The devices I'm familiar with for measuring paint depth work on metal, not on fibreglass, unfortunately.

 

[RubyDropTop]

A recommendation for drying without leaving swirl marks - quality microfiber towels.

What do you recommend for drying the car that won't add swirl marks? I have been using brand new 100% cotton towels. I have the Magnetic Red Metallic and it already is getting them.

 

[E-Chick]

I'm posting the same thing I posted on the Leaf blower thread...

My husband just bought a leaf blower for me...I thought what a stupid thing to do, duh! I don't do the yardwork, and I made some sarcastic remark figuring it was just another gadget he wanted and disquised as a gift for me, LOL! He said it's for clearing off the seating areas around our patio from all of the leaf debris that drives me crazy. Then I made another sarcastic remark...I didn't think I'd EVER use that thing!

Well, today, I stand corrected! I am absolutely giving it a shot at my baby this weekend! I can't wait to see the results with a lot less effort! I recently very badly sprained my wrist and haven't had full use of it for 3 months making car washing a nightmare.

I had asked my car detailer (detailed every 2 months) before I found this site, how to care for it and he told me: high pressure wash or hand wash with Meguiar's pink detergent and a chamois, rinse well, and chamois off with another chamois OR wash it late at night when there's little traffic and open it up on the highway to dry...no friction = no scratches! That's not very feasible for me, so I high pressure wash it and dry it with my water blades (which I absolutely LOVE), then hit any remaining spots with the chamois. He also told me NEVER to use any type of toweling...it would ultimately leave swirls/scratches. CHAMOIS' ARE THE WAY TO GO!

Does it take everyone else 2 hours just to wash/dry their car? But WOO-HOO! I'm going for it!

 

[Ken]

Re: I'm posting the same thing I posted on the Leaf blower thread...

Does it take everyone else 2 hours just to wash/dry their car?

Only two hours? :L

_ken

 

[E-Chick]

Okay, I fudged on the amount of time...

Actually, it's more like 4! :t