Going to try to remove swirl marks with DA need advice!
Discussion
took the car green laning and inflicted some hefty single line scratches down both sides of my 2010 black xc90.
a chum rotary polished the scratches out but the car now has swirls down both sides
the swirls can be carnuba'd away but reappear as the wax is just hiding them
The moment of losing my machine polishing virginity is almost upon me and I'm thinking of using this :-
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...
will this do the job, anything to look out for?
Will I f
k this up royally and require a respray? I can clay bay, compound, polish wax seal by hand but its not touching these swirls....
a chum rotary polished the scratches out but the car now has swirls down both sides
the swirls can be carnuba'd away but reappear as the wax is just hiding them
The moment of losing my machine polishing virginity is almost upon me and I'm thinking of using this :-
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...
will this do the job, anything to look out for?
Will I f
k this up royally and require a respray? I can clay bay, compound, polish wax seal by hand but its not touching these swirls....I bought that exact kit last week!
Received it Wednesday morning, polished the car that evening - was a total polisher virgin and am pretty cack-handed but the car has never looked better. I think the most important thing to do is not to aim for perfection immediately - just concentrate on getting an improvement and not removing too much clear coat.
There is a very comprehensive DA polishing guide on detailing world - a quick google will get you it - read it a couple of times and it will make a lot more sense.
I used the yellow (medium) pad with the more abrasive of the polishes - it made the swirls much less noticeable but hasn't got rid of them completely, but unless you are poring over the paint in minute detail you wouldn't know - it looks so much better than it did before, which I guess is what it's all about.
Don't worry too much about damaging the paint - if you've taken notice of the info in the guides it's hard to go too wrong (I imagined burning the plastic panels, scratching paint, going through the clearcoat, but it was all ok)
Good luck
Forgot to say, a lot of it is in the preparation - spend a few hours really getting the car clean, clay bar it and make sure it's clean and dry before polishing - that way you won't pick up any dirt or grit whilst polishing.
Received it Wednesday morning, polished the car that evening - was a total polisher virgin and am pretty cack-handed but the car has never looked better. I think the most important thing to do is not to aim for perfection immediately - just concentrate on getting an improvement and not removing too much clear coat.
There is a very comprehensive DA polishing guide on detailing world - a quick google will get you it - read it a couple of times and it will make a lot more sense.
I used the yellow (medium) pad with the more abrasive of the polishes - it made the swirls much less noticeable but hasn't got rid of them completely, but unless you are poring over the paint in minute detail you wouldn't know - it looks so much better than it did before, which I guess is what it's all about.
Don't worry too much about damaging the paint - if you've taken notice of the info in the guides it's hard to go too wrong (I imagined burning the plastic panels, scratching paint, going through the clearcoat, but it was all ok)
Good luck
Forgot to say, a lot of it is in the preparation - spend a few hours really getting the car clean, clay bar it and make sure it's clean and dry before polishing - that way you won't pick up any dirt or grit whilst polishing.I picked up a DAS 6 Pro Meguiars kit the other week after spending far too much time correcting paint faults by hand for years. Decided not to go full on rotary due to risks. I am pretty sure you have to try very hard to burn through clear coat with a DA, although you need to be careful as your friend may have removed a lot of paint with his rotary getting the scratches out.
If you know anyone with a paint gauge, get them to have a measure before you start to give you some idea of how close to disaster you are.
The Mini below had a lot of severe swirl marks and RDS from my missus being lazy and spending £5 having the scratchers wash it at the local supermarket over the last 3 years. A quick wash, clay and, 4 slow passes with Megs 105 and again with 205 on a white Chemical Guys hexlogic pad, followed by a MXT wax finish gave this outcome. I will cut her norks off if she ever lets them wash it again! I did the Vette previously, and that outcome is on the Red Dust thread on here.
Fixing paint faults is so rewarding, relatively safe but quite slow using a DA depending on the hardness of your paint. the Vette was very hard, the Min a bit softer. Fill yer boots!
If you know anyone with a paint gauge, get them to have a measure before you start to give you some idea of how close to disaster you are.
The Mini below had a lot of severe swirl marks and RDS from my missus being lazy and spending £5 having the scratchers wash it at the local supermarket over the last 3 years. A quick wash, clay and, 4 slow passes with Megs 105 and again with 205 on a white Chemical Guys hexlogic pad, followed by a MXT wax finish gave this outcome. I will cut her norks off if she ever lets them wash it again! I did the Vette previously, and that outcome is on the Red Dust thread on here.
Fixing paint faults is so rewarding, relatively safe but quite slow using a DA depending on the hardness of your paint. the Vette was very hard, the Min a bit softer. Fill yer boots!
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