koala

The dealership I purchased my '04 S2000 from absolutely blew me away in every aspect other than the fact that the car was delivered to me with quite a bit of swirls in the paint. I've lived with it for a year, but I've decided I need to do something about these swirls.

Z5 isn't helping at all. I had 3 or 4 layers of Z5 on the car last fall and it still looked pretty bad.

What I'd like to know is how involved I need to get to lessen or eliminate the swirls. Am I looking at buying a porter cable? If so, are they hard to use? I've always just applied polish by hand, so I don't have any experience with a power tool, and I don't want to screw up my paint any further if I can avoid it

The other option that has occured to me is to have a "professional" remove the swirls for me, and then I can just continue to use zaino myself afterwords, with a relatively swirl-free finish to work with.

wanabe

1. you should absolutely do it yourself

2. a pc is by far the best way to go

3. find someone in your area who has a machine and offer to supply all products that they need if they bring the machine and teach you how to polish

3a. if 3. doesnt work, we can give you instructions... you can do this by hand, but i wouldnt- you will get very sore (if you do it right) and the job wont be as good as with the machine

by the way, the pc is very foregiving- very very hard to hurt your paint (unless you drop the machine on it!)- the old orbitals (not random orbitals) could burn your paint, but the pc would have a hard time burning it.

swirl removal with the pc:
i do small "squares"- about 2+' by 2+' or so...

i work the product side to side, then corner to corner (over entire square) and finish front to back. if the swirls are bad, then i do it all again... usually work the product until it is almost gone.

you cant mess it up (unless you go side to side too much and leave it that way, or go in circles- dont do that!) very easily... the only thing that can usually go wrong is if you dont work it well enough, the product wont be able to do its job.

btw, how did the part that you did look, compared to the rest of the car? if it looked the same, its cause you didnt work the product enough.

the above is just my procedure- here is some extra credit reading for ya!!:

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=17

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=15

and the product that i use on my car (i use others on other cars too, but prefer this for black cars- and yup, thats my car in their ad!):

http://properautocare.com/3mperswirmar.html

koala

thank you very much for all of the info... i definitely think I can take this on by myself based on what you're saying.

The areas that I have used Z5 on are "better" - but marginally. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I didn't want to apply really firm pressure with the applicator pad. I've never been sure of how much pressure I can apply before I cause more harm than good.

Which particular products would you recommend to use on grand prix white? Would I basically just be using a swirl remover with the PC, and then following it up with my traditional zaino after I have the paint in the "correct" condition?

And I'm assuming I can apply the Zaino much more efficiently with the PC than by hand as well, correct?

Thank you so much for your help

s2ksimon

i'm always removing swirls for the T.O. boyz.. i find my pc works best with using a smr like DACP or Poorboys ssr series. A couple of lake country orange pads for the application..

GPW is fine with anything..

I would apply zaino by hand, too much wasted product when applying with a grey/black pad even with the new zaino

but more importantly, after the swirls are removed, be sure to add about 3 layers of sealant of zaino or whatever you use along with proper washing with PROPER MF TOWELS and detail spray..

i can't tell you how many guys i see applying and re-applying SWIRLS to their newly swirl free finish due to unclean MF towels with detail spray or improper wash mitts..

so to really attack swirls it really involves, what you do from the time you remove them, to the next wash, the next set of products used..

just my $.02

koala

I'm really good at not creating swirls myself. My '01 S2000 and my '02 RSX Type S both were 95% swirl free, the swirls on this car are simply from the poor detailing job the dealer did when the car was new...

I definitely need to find a good wash mitt, Canadian Tire used to sell a really nice one (believe it or not), but now the "best" one they're selling is a cheap simoniz microfibre mitt...

I guess I'm going to have to order basically all of my car detailing products off the net from now on

s2ksimon

i get all mine from chris pace at www.eshine.ca to save from x border taxes..

i really like the mf wash mitt, but the thing to get used to is less suds, as it soaks and gets heavy..

koala

Thanks simon, I'll check out eshine

s2ksimon

too bad you're so far away, or i'd have no problems doing your car for ya..

Actually should everything work out this summer, i'm planning a trip to see the prairie redliners for a few days.. Hmmmmm ?

koala

There is a case of beer in it for you

lude2S

If you're drivin through winnipeg, let me know!! Would definitely be interested in hiring you to do my car as well/ teach me all the stuff to do to maintain my car, if you are interested!!