Do you have swirl marks on your TL? This question is actually for owners with dark color, especially NBP.
Mine you can only see directly under the street lights.

 

Several things can cause swirl marks including, but not limited to:

Regularly taking your car to a gas station car wash.
Using dishwashing or laundry detergent to wash your car.
Using circular motion when washing your car (it should always be straight swipes in one direction)
Using an abrasive sponge to wash your car
Using an abrasive cloth to wipe down your car

etc...

 

I didn't until I did a dumb thing and got a hand wash from Turtle Wax. I think they used 100% polyester to dry. I specifically asked about the process before letting them touch the car. Well now the district manager is involved. Wait and see

 

Sooner or later, cars will show these damn swirl marks...

 

Yeah, the marks are pretty unaviodable really. It will happen sooner or later.

 

I do not agree - I have had cars for years that do not have swirls. Swirls occur from improper cleaning or drying - they are not from road hazards. Road hazards produce scratches, nicks, dents, etc. My new cars that had swirls were always damaged by the PDI crew, or dry-wiped by some nitwit. Same for scratches around the keyholes in the days before remotes.

My 2002 Type-S had the paint damaged from acid rain after one day in the dealer's hands - now I never will leave a car without ensuring they will store it inside the shop, not outside. I have never had one refuse, but then I am a good customer, and pretty well known as an auto industry player, so they may not want to pizz me off.

 

any way you can get rid of them you need to either take it to a detailer or learn to do it yourself. It involves varying grades of polish and random orbital buffer like a porter cable. check out www.autopia.org dishwashing or laundry detergent is not good for your car but it won't cause swirls. Abraisives in the towel or wash rag or dry rubbing the car will. using one wash mit to do the whole car including the wheels. Taking it to a car wash place or having the dealer wash your car are also invitation to swirls.

 

VEry true. You need to be very specif how you wash, dry, wax, dust your car.

 

I don't thing using a liquid or totally dissolved diwhwashing or laundry detergent will cause swirls. It might eventually cause other damage, but not swirls, which are "mechanical" damage (scratches). For many people, the primary cause of swirls is the "bucket and sponge" method they use to wash the car. They end up rubbing a couple of gallons of dirty water over the paint, thereby scratching it up. But that's the way 99% of the public seems to think is the best or only way to wash a car themselves.

If you have access to running water and a hose, you don't even need the bucket. Starting at the top of the car, (after hosing it off first to get rid of the big stuff and start softening up any bugs) gently wipe down the car under a medium stream of water from the hose (with nozzle is OK too). This way you are minimizing the grit you are wiping into the paint. I use a wash mit myself for this operation. When done, dry the car. I use cotton terrycloth towels, but other methods will work too. I've also had good luck with polyester mix towels, contrary to the dire warnings that sometimes appear about doing it this way. Notice I didn't even use soap. Most of the time, it's not needed. When it is, I use the bucket and sponge method with a car was soap, but the car is already pretty clean, so there's no grit being rubbed in. I've never had a problem with swirl marks.

 

I always wash my cars the same way. I wash the wheels and tires first with a seperate mitt. I than spray my car down to get any loose dirt off. Wash one section at a time starting with the top of my car and rinsing the sheepskin mitt frequently after each panel. After washing, I dry with WW MF towels. I polish, apply Klasse twins with MF applicator pads and use MF towels to buff off. I apply wax with foam applicators and buff off with MF towels. I never use circular motions. I never dust my car because of the fear of causing scratches.
I think the swirls were caused by the dealer PDI.
My swirls can only be seen at night, directly under a street lamp.

 

I did not let the dealer wash and detail my TL. When it came in, I took it home and detailed it myself. I had seen his people washing new cars and service vehicles with a push-broom type brush and I wasn't having it on my new, pristine, black TL. "In error", they washed and waxed my first ordered car. I refused delivery and made them order me another car. They got the message, finally, that I was serious about it. I waited another two weeks for a similar car on its way in for stock. This time, they listened.

I spent about 10 hours the day after I got the TL- cleaning and detailing it.

Since that time, I have carefully washed and Zaino'd it regularly with the proper supplies and a lamb's wool wash mit. I dry with a faux-chamois and a waffle-weave microfiber towel. I use straight back and forth strokes when washing, drying, or waxing. Eight months later, I don't have any swirl marks.

I may get them some day, but I am delaying that day as long as possible.

I would not even consider running my TL through any kind of mechanized car wash. I have the luxury of that choice because I am in Florida where it is always good weather and I have a single-family home with a nice garage and driveway.

I appreciate that not everyone has that living situation. If I had to go to a car wash, i would use a "touchless" one that doesn't use a track to push/pull your car through by the wheels. It will eat your rims.

When travelling, I take a bucket, some Armor-all car wash strips, a lamb's wool mit, a sponge for the wheels, and some microfiber towels. I will use a do-it-yourself car wash with a wand (never the foaming brush), and then use only the rinse cycle to wet it down, fill the bucket, and rinse it off.

That's my formula for avoiding or postpoing swirl marks.

 

Seems like nobody has recommended a way to get rid of the swirls. If they are still very light, the best way is to get a polish and see if they will come out that way. I had some swirl marks on my car (NBP) from a dealer visit, but they were very light and they came out with a polish. Now I just ask the dealer to not clean the car. What you would want to do is first clean the car using soap and water, then use a paint cleaner to clean the surface contaminents off of the paint, and then use a polish on the car. Then, wax it of course! I use the Meguiars 3-step process. Its certainly not as involving as a Zaino process, but it gives good results, is fairly cheap, and is readily available at almost any hardware or automotive store.

 

Zaino works wonders with swirl marks.

 

To remove swirls (instead of just concealing them) you probably have to go at them with an orbital polisher or, for more severe ones, use a high-speed rotary tool with a slightly abrasive compound. Since they're actually scratches you need to "blend" (for lack of a better word) the immediate areas to the same depth level of the scratches.

 

There are a number of good threads in the Wash and Wax forum about getting rid of swirls ... here's one.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=swirls

 

... and that's a big hint that this thread belongs over there! We mods like to leave threads for a little while in 3G before moving them so that they get maximum exposure.

I am speaking, of course, of those threads that are generic in nature, like this one, and where there is a more "on topic" section.

That makes it easier for members to find what they are looking for and to get relevant input.

Don't forget to view those other sections often. There's great information there and also in the 3G Garage "sticky" that rets and Ron A did a great job on (and continue to do so).

-XP

 

Here are some posts and threads I added to help prevent swirls and spider webbing. On dark cars in which they show easier, extra care must be taken:

Cleaning Your Wheels- recommend you do this 1st before a washing the car so you can remove any overspray that gets onto the paint:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98748

I added a post in the sticky Proper Washing Techniques:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95408

Most cars have them, if you look under flourescent lights, halogen lights and worst are the metal halide lamps at gas stations and you will see some swirl or spider webbing. It takes a lot of work to remove all those fine marks on any car.

 

I am a huge Zaino proponent, but I gotta disagree. Since Zaino's products have virtually no fillers or abrasives (ok Z5 has very mild abrasive) it is not the prescription for removing swirls.

Gotta go with an abrasivem, like SMR to remove the swirls or go the other route and get something with a lot of fillers to hide the swirls.

My car has very minor microscratching and I plan to use SMR and my PC7424 to get it back to showroom condition before the winter. Then a few coats of Z2 and she'll be ready for the winter.