Waxers: step in; need advice

[RICKYRJ1]

At the very least you will need a Porter Cable. You will not make a dent in it w/elbow grease. AutoGeek has some top of the line products. As a black car owner myself, I feel your pain. How you wash the car makes a big difference on the paint condition.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by RICKYRJ1

How you wash the car makes a big difference on the paint condition.

YEP! To say nothing of the paint preparation - which removing swirls is but a part.

P.

[tomtom72]

Greg, on black don't waste your time trying to do it by hand!

I would suggest that even a ROB Porter Cable isn't going to do much in a short /one time going over. The ROB's do not generate enough heat to break down the abrasives enough to do all the work with one pass. They require multipule passes. The newer Flex machines, a new version of the ROB, has more power and will do a better job quickly. They're big bucks, $300.00 range vs the Porter Cable for about $100.00. Oh, and that's without pads & all the rest of the stuff. The other alternative is an orbital & wool pads, but that requires the "technique" to have already ben mastered. Orbitals are not for us beginners, but in the hands of a pro, it's two passes and you're dunn. No swirls and a glass surface.

You can get some correction with the regular Porter Cable to the extent that you round over the sharp edges of a swirl mark enough so the light doesn't get caught and the car will not "blaze" or "sparkle" in direct sun. The swirls will be there, they just will not catch the light. Using an P/C ROB you can jsut make a few passes till the swirls don't catch the light, but I would not say to try to remove the swirls. For that you will need an abrasive first, then the finish looks like chit, followed by a fine polish to get rid of the damage left by the abrasive polish.

If you know a body shop, go ask them if they have a guy that they can hook you up with to get it done. Consider that if you buy a Flex and then get enough pads so you can work without stopping you will spend enough cash to let the pro do it with an orbital. Once it's swirl free you can take care of it till it gets bad again, and then go back to the same pro to get it fixed again. The real key is to modify your wash & detail techniques so you don't put as many swirls back each time you "wash & detail" the car. If you do the wash & detail correctly you could have 5 yrs between trips to the orbital guy.


Tom, another black car owner with tons of "stuff" in the paint.

[Aurora40]

Originally Posted by Sgreg

I tried some Meguires Mirror Glaze and it basically did no good.

What's the actual product? Mirror Glaze is their professional line, not an individual product. Almost all are made for machine use, the ones for hand use are not going to correct much of anything.

Also I second all the opinions, it will be extremely difficult to correct swirls on a black car by hand. If you are absolutely insistent, and have infinite time, I would start with something like Meguiar's Scratch-X or whatever similar product your maker of choice has. Work a small area, like 6" x 6". You will have to work it a lot to get any swirls out, as well as to break the polish down to finish nicely.

If it improves, keep trying this. If it stops improving, you are pretty much done and just need to repeat that x100 over the rest of the car. If it gets worse, you are doing it wrong and need to re-evaluate.

[Sgreg]

Thanks for the comments, guys. Black is made for an orbital polisher, I guess.

[Kevin]

where in texas are you I may know someone to work on your car

[Sgreg]

Originally Posted by Kevin

where in texas are you I may know someone to work on your car

Kevin, I am just south of Houston. If you or anyone else knows a shop you trust in this area, I would appreciate the name. If I can get the the swirls under control, I can prevent them. Used too many Turkish towels for drying over the years and not nearly enough microfiber. Black is hard to maintain but is stunning when clean and shiny.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Sgreg

Kevin, I am just south of Houston. If you or anyone else knows a shop you trust in this area, I would appreciate the name. If I can get the the swirls under control, I can prevent them. Used too many Turkish towels for drying over the years and not nearly enough microfiber. Black is hard to maintain but is stunning when clean and shiny.

I may know someone, I'll get back to you

[RICKYRJ1]

Originally Posted by Sgreg

Kevin, I am just south of Houston. If you or anyone else knows a shop you trust in this area, I would appreciate the name. If I can get the the swirls under control, I can prevent them. Used too many Turkish towels for drying over the years and not nearly enough microfiber. Black is hard to maintain but is stunning when clean and shiny.

When you are ready to dry off the car, use a leaf blower first. Then dry it off with a MFT using a quick detail spray. This will limit the contact with the paint thus limiting swirls. Remember the Corvette has a very hard clearcoat so choose your product wisely, Grasshoppa!

[Kevin]

The original guy I had in mind is 250 miles away but I've found two other guys in your area who do just as good of work as the guy I had in mind http://www.mobileinq.com/ is one and I'm waiting to hear back about the other. I would have no problems letting either one work on my car.