Ok, so when I took my car to the dealer, I guess they had the bright idea of giving me a free "detail" because of all the crap they put me through. Anyways...long story short, my car looks worse in direct sunlight, because I can see all these refractions of light(can't explain it) and swirl marks. Whats the best way to tackle this? I was thinking about having a pro detailer do it since I don't have an electric buffer...I can't imagine getting this stuff out by hand. They're on almost every body panel =/

I have some Meguires Gold Class with me, but I doubt putting wax on top of wax will get anything done right? Any ideas??? I don't mind starting the whole process over, I just want my car looking fresh and wet again

 

My body panels kind of look like this...

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4...m/DSC00507.jpg

Less severe, but yeah...

 

eww... well what you probably need is a UDM / PC to truely tackle the job...

what is in your arsenal of products (car care related?)

 

Uhh...Meguires Gold Class car wash soap, Mothers carnuba(sp?) car wax, meguires gold class car wax, mothers quick detail...

nothing serious haha Can you recommend anything that I could pick up from an auto store?

 

You could shine that up, but without a PC or UDM, your not going to relieve any of those holograms or swirls........hate to bare the bad news amigo......I would probably opt for Megs #9, then Megs #7. Then use whatever wax you have on hand.....

 

go back to the dealer and tell them to give you money to get a pro detailer to fix it. You probably will need some Four Star Medium Cut compound (FS MMC) and Four Star Light Cut Compound (FS LCC) to finish up the job. A PC or UDM will be nessary to fix the surface.

 

I'll just have to find a professional detailer take care of it then....Anyone know of any good places in MD/NOVA? I told them about it, they said the car was in much worse shape before i brought it in lol (because I haven't washed it in 2 weeks due to exams and stuff) He said they already detailed it and theres nothing else they could do, so whatever. I'd really rather not even see any of their faces ever again.

 

Already detailed it? Nothing else they can do? What a dumbf@ck.

A PC or UDM, some compound, and some polish will get rid of those swirls.... no problemo. Then just seal and wax it.

 

I would definetly recommend that you give Zaino a try. First you should go to their site and do some reading about their products and how your use them, I personally read them several times before i first used Zaino. I was always trying out different waxes searching for that perfect one but was usually disappointed. After reading nothing but great reviews of Zaino i finally order some and wow that stuff is amazing!
Dont waste your money on anything else becasue you will eventually buy.

 

Hate to pop your bubble but Zaino isn't going to do anything for that but make it more obvious unless your talking the Zaino polish that has to be applied with a PC or UDM.

The holograms need to be polished out with a PC .. not a rotary .. thats where they came from.

Here is dealer installed Halograms and it was brought to me by the dealer "Because thats all they could do"

Before



After with UMD & polishes/sealants

 

What A Sexy Beast Jesstzn Is.

 

Wow that looks good Jesstzn - did you do that yourself or have someone do it? The dealer has swirled my IS & I'm really wanting it looking good again, but I have no place to do the work myself

 

yea I have the same problem, my car is black and in the sun it looks like crap. I found a profesional detailer and he showed me pictures of some cars that he did and its AMAZING, they look brand new. he wants $400 tho, so now i dont knwo what to do anymore.

 

The dealer brought it to me to have me fix up his "detailers" work ..

The biggest problem with having a good detailer do work like this is the owner then washes/ dries it wrong and its all back in a few weeks then they blame the detailer for a short lived job.

 

I just washed it with dishwashing soap and put some Meguires NXT and that seemed to take care of almost everything =) haha saved myself some $$

 

Jess does some amazing work fo sho!

 

To lessen the swirls you will need to polish out the sharp edges of the fine swirls in the paint. Wax will not do much in your case.

If you want it in showroom condition you will need a medium cut compound to actually remove the layer or clearcoat that has been penetrated by the swirls. This might sound scary, but it really is not.


I suggest a Orbital polisher such as the porter and cable and a orange polishing pad from Lake County. I've used Menzerna products with good success, the intensive polish followed by a coat of sealant from meguires.

 

Hey Jess, do you recall what pad / polish / sealant combo you used on the ford escape to fix the swirl issue?

 

LC pads // Yellow with Optimum Compound mixed with Hyper Compound followed by White pad with Optimum Polish then Poliseal / #21

 

rgr that. thanks

 

Yeah well all you did was fill in the swirls and scratches, they will be back in about 2 weeks. I just did a complete detail on my wife's black 07 Lexus and it was bad! I recommend that you buy a UDM or Porter Cable Orbital Buffer you will Love it! I'll be posting before and after photo's soon. Totally transformed my wife's BLACK car.

 

Anyone know of a place around Houston that does a good job w/this kind of stuff? This lead-less paint is teh weaksauce for sure.

 

I second that! Although I have never mixed the Optimum Polish before. I have used the Menzerna Line and they are great. Here is a taste..
Before:and after:


I used Menzerna Power Gloss Compound on Yellow followed by Menzerna Nano Polish on white pad using a UDM. Then Sealed with Wolfgang Sealant and Pinnacle Souveran Wax.

Sorry the first pic is really big, I'll try an fix that.

 

Try this listing and click on the overview for more info.