Removing swirls from paintwork

Lincoln_Imp

Just got a year old Civic in red and with the sun shining yesterday noticed a few swirls on the paintwork

What options have i got for removing/hiding without spending a fortune on taking it to a detailing place

facade

Buy yourself a detailing kit, roll your sleeves up and get stuck in.

If you are anything like me, after about 10 minutes the novelty wears off, and the swirls start to look attractive, quaint, and a feature of the car, so you go back inside and forget about it. :rotfl:

Then you are really left with two options,

pay someone else, or stop parking where the sun catches it


There is no "magic fluid in a bottle" that you wipe on to fix it, or better still waft near the car like the adverts, everything involves mechanically removing a layer of paint, and that is hard work. (believe me, I've tried them all)

Lincoln_Imp

Great post lol

bartelbe

facade wrote: »

Buy yourself a detailing kit, roll your sleeves up and get stuck in.

If you are anything like me, after about 10 minutes the novelty wears off, and the swirls start to look attractive, quaint, and a feature of the car, so you go back inside and forget about it. :rotfl:

Then you are really left with two options,

pay someone else, or stop parking where the sun catches it


There is no "magic fluid in a bottle" that you wipe on to fix it, or better still waft near the car like the adverts, everything involves mechanically removing a layer of paint, and that is hard work. (believe me, I've tried them all)

A dual action polisher can take some of the pain out of it, but they ain't cheap.

To be honest I agree with you, on an everyday driver just live with the flaws.

forgotmyname

Not only are they not cheap its easy for the inexperienced to make matters much worse.

Before doing it yourself get a quote on how much a respray will cost and a good respray with no swirl marks.

How do you wash your car?

comberspud

I have to say, I love removing swirls but it all depends how deep the swirls are and how thick your paint is

The swirls are normally in the clear laquer (top coat of car paintwork) These can be removed but to do it right you will need a machine polisher.

A DAS6 polisher would be enough for most cases.

Without going into huge detail here is the simple method

Wash car down and dry.
Polish using machine polisher and a cutting polish (Meguairs swirl compound)
Do a panel at a time
Buff off after polishing each panel
Add a sealant as your paintwork is now bare (autoglym do a good sealant)
Then you could give a little wax to help seal and shine.


Meguairs swirl compound can be used by hand which was the reason I selected it in the first place for you. Requires patience by hand. But there are tonnes of products and solutions now.

force_ten

forgotmyname wrote: »

Not only are they not cheap its easy for the inexperienced to make matters much worse.

so what damage do you think you are going to do with a dual action polisher ?

scotsbob

I would agree with comberspud, a good quality electric polisher and a quality cutting polish should give good results.


You could always pay a detailer to do it for you. In fact by the time you bought the products and bought/hired a polisher it may even be more cost effective.

comberspud

If you lived close I would offer to show you how they work

scotsbob

forgotmyname wrote: »

Not only are they not cheap its easy for the inexperienced to make matters much worse

??? I belong to two car clubs and all the members use them and I have never heard of this.

comberspud

scotsbob wrote: »

I would agree with comberspud, a good quality electric polisher and a quality cutting polish should give good results.


You could always pay a detailer to do it for you. In fact by the time you bought the products and bought/hired a polisher it may even be more cost effective.

Very true, if its not a hobby of yours its probably more a once in a lifetime to spruce it up whereas I would do it fully once to twice a year, occasional scratches if found immediately but use the polisher regularly for non cutting polishing. Becomes very addictive especially when friends start bringing their swirls round.