Maintaining New Car

outonawing

I'm hoping to get a new car in January and am wondering is it possible to keep it swirl free without using a machine polisher? My present car has been maintained by hand and has quite a few light scratches and swirls.

Any advice would be welcome.

Curran

Its not possible to keep the car totally free of swirls, but it is possible to vastly limit the potential damage that washing can do.

Use the 'Two Bucket Method' when washing the car and use good quality products; for example, a good wash mitt, drying towel (microfibre), and pH neutral shampoo. Even those small things will help reduce the time in which swirls appear....swirls that do appear, will be much lighter and wont have such as dramatic bad effect on the appearance of the paintwork.

Keeping your paintwork topped up with protection will also help keep it in tip top shape....a good wax or sealant, applied every few months will make the surface smoother; less dirt will stick to the car, and it will be easier to wash.

outonawing

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that you would give me some encouragement to carry on by hand only as without any experience I'd be afraid to attack a new car even with a DA machine. Thought I was doing things right with the present car, but obviously I went wrong somewhere. I'll be in touch by pm for some new supplies.

Curran

If you are careful with your regular washing; keeping it away from brush washes, sponges, etc, and keep away from strong chemicals; a brand new car, should still look like brand new in 3-4 years. Yes it will have light swirls, but they'll only be visible from up close and under harsh light, but for the most part, with a wash and a layer of wax on the paintwork, it should still look very fresh.

The more swirls there are, the less light the bounces uniformly on the surface of your paintwork. Light bouncing in all different directions as a result of the peaks and hollows (microscopic) of the swirls, gives the appearance of dullness....so you want to avoid/limit this as much as possible. You want to avoid your paintwork going in this direction....



After a few years of regular 'safe' washing; worst case it might look a bit like this....



And if it were to look like that, it wouldnt take much to correct it with a machine polisher - depending on the paintwork (if its hard or not) it might even be able to be corrected with a light cutting pad and polish.
The swirls above, would mostly be hidden with a layer or two of wax, and not visible, unless really looking for defects.

outonawing

That last pic would be typical of my present car and it's nearly 3 years old, so maybe I haven't been doing too badly up to now. Still need to stock up and maybe look at having a go with a machine polisher on the replacement in a couple of years. Thanks again for all the info.

Curran

If your car has soft paint, for example Jap cars have soft paint, then you've done extremely well....anything else and you're doing pretty well....perhaps you just need one or two changes in your current wash routine, with perhaps upgraded products.
When you PM, give me a brief list of what you are currently using and I can point out where there might be room for improvement.

outonawing

Pm sent.

vinnie13

all you need to do is compound the paint with a proper grinder shaped polisher not the cheap one in argos etc to rid it of them.
then wax.

Curran

Make sure it a polisher and not an angle grider - two totally different machines!

vinnie13

Curran wrote: »

Make sure it a polisher and not an angle grider - two totally different machines!

a grinder would leave a interesting finish