Swirls and Scratches on black car

String

I got a new (second hand) car a couple of months ago and notice loads of swirls and scratches when its sunny out. Is there any valeting places in cork that are able to machine polish these out or would I have to go to a bodyshop?

YouTookMyName

+


A good wash and spend 2 hours with the above.

21:50 euro for 1 litre of polish in halfords.

argosy2006

swirls could be from waxing it wrong, Up and down side to side, Not round and round when waxing,

String

Cheers for the reply. Would polishing by hand just be too inconsistant for an entire car?

mike65

Black paint is cool but hell to live with! Hot in summer, slightest splash of dirty water marks it and every last brush and abrasion leaves a mark.

If you are serious then start with a clay bar, then some light polish (better to have to do it twice and to overdo it once with too strong a grade) then the wax.

Polishing by hand is actually preferable to using a plug in machine, but you will have heavy arms by the end. The other thing to bear in mind is that ALL parts of the process MUST be done when the metal is cool. Its impossible to do a proper job once the sun hits the car esp true in summer!

Midnight_EG

I compounded my car yesterday, then waxed it and this is how it came out, the Civic on the left is mine. Not the greatest of pics, but the shine is mental, a friend asked me had I got the car resprayed!

Delancey

Can someone explain what is meant by using a '' Clay Bar '' , I've seen it being talked about here but I haven't the faintest notion what it means

YouTookMyName

Delancey wrote: »

Can someone explain what is meant by using a '' Clay Bar '' , I've seen it being talked about here but I haven't the faintest notion what it means

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeTfU_aUaJk

kdevitt

I wouldn't fancy doing any swirl removal by hand. If you have the time and money, you could invest in a random orbital polisher like the porter cable. This is a black car I had for a while -

Before



After





You could hand it over to a professional detailer if you want it done, or buy the equipment and polishes from the likes of detailer.ie

brian2me

Midnight_EG wrote: »

I compounded my car yesterday, then waxed it and this is how it came out, the Civic on the left is mine. Not the greatest of pics, but the shine is mental, a friend asked me had I got the car resprayed!

What you mean by compounded? What products did you use?

TestTransmission

Recently been recommended this stuff so will deffo give it a go soon.

Northern Monkey

Something like Autoglym SRP by hand will only fill the swirls temporarily and they will come back after a few washes. To remove them you would need to machine polish the car using either a dual action or rotary polisher.

Nonoperational

Super Resin polish as said above would only be a quick fix. It will wear away again. It's probably impossible to completely remove them by hand, the best you can do is wash it thoroughly, then clay it, polish it with super resin polish and finish with a good wax. If your prepared to pay for it a detailer would do a proper paint correction for around €350.

You could also buy a dual action polisher and do it yourself... http://www.detailer.ie/store/index.php/machine-polishers-pads/kestrel-starter-kit.html or http://www.cleancar.ie/kestreldas-6completekit.html

OldmanMondeo

€350??? Local guy here in Mullingar said he would do my Mondeo, black, for €100. That was to clean the paint back, polish it with 2 - 3 coats and wax it up.

Nonoperational

Not the same as a proper detail from a specialist. Not comparing like with like.

OldmanMondeo

Saving €250, It would do me. I have seen the work they do for it and the car would look new.

Mr Benevolent

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Saving €250, It would do me. I have seen the work they do for it and the car would look new.

Agreed, not everyone needs pedantic mirror perfection, just enough to make the car look good.

si_guru

How brave are you...?

Recently I wet sanded (2000 grit by hand) a relative's gloss green 2001 Berlingo van... you see loads of them in this dark green colour. Then I compunded it, followed by a coat of AutoGlym resin.

The old guy nearly died when we saw it.. looked like a respray.

Of course there was no damage just 10 years of tar and fade.

(tar was removed with Holts Tar Remover - cheap and easy to use)

Nonoperational

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Saving €250, It would do me. I have seen the work they do for it and the car would look new.

That's good for you but it's not the point. A body shop will do a compounding for you for €100, fair enough if that's what your after. If you want it as good as it can be then a paint correction detail that spends 2 days perfecting the finish is what you want.

There are places for both.

Confab wrote: »

Agreed, not everyone needs pedantic mirror perfection, just enough to make the car look good.

Ya and if that's what your after you can achieve very impressive results by hand!

OldmanMondeo

I totally agree with you. But I could not justify spending 350 on a cleaning job on my car, in fact I would be hard pressed to spend €7 on a car wash, usually do that myself. But I know my car needs some TLC at the minute and I would consider getting the car buffed and polished. As I say, I have seen the results and I know my car would come out like a black mirror.. that would do me.

cjt156

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

... I could not justify spending 350 on a cleaning job on my car...

Its much more than a cleaning job, though. And the results will last if the car is cleaned properly in future. A wash, polish and wax is only ever a temporary fix and won't deal with swirl marks properly, which is the OP's query.

I agree with you than you can get great results, even by hand. But 350 for a proper paint correction is much better value than 100 for a polish and wax, long term.

Nonoperational

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

I totally agree with you. But I could not justify spending 350 on a cleaning job on my car, in fact I would be hard pressed to spend €7 on a car wash, usually do that myself. But I know my car needs some TLC at the minute and I would consider getting the car buffed and polished. As I say, I have seen the results and I know my car would come out like a black mirror.. that would do me.

Ya that's perfectly reasonable. But if you have the money and a car you want to spend it on they do a lovely job. It's bordering on obsessive alright but sur we all have our problems!