asdfg123hk

ooo i have a new '05 berlina black..as anime said..i think it's the lack of lubricant and dirt getting stuck on the cotton and dragged along the car when i wiped the car down..

weird tho...i check the swirls/scratches again...somehow i can rub them off with my finger tip...it seems there's some kind of layer/coating on the car...

i'm confused

animeS2K

Well it might be:
1) oils on your hand filling very light swirls
2) swirls are actually just residue/dirt from the wash, which didn't rinse off because there wasn't any soap to carry the dirt away

Can't hurt to try a proper washing and see what results that gives you.

Phantasea

Exactly, the swirls will come off with your fingertip. Its caused by lack of water pressure when rinsing off the soap you just swirled around.

gee

I always thought the swirls were actual marks on the coating? I'm talking about the fine swirls that look like really light scratches. These are actually residue/dirt?

animeS2K

gee: in this particular case, under particular lighting, it may have been leftover dirt that didn't rinse off, but I would venture to guess that he's also got some real swirls.

The funny thing about swirls is that they're not ACTUALLY swirled/circular scratches, so even if you wash and dry your car with back-and-forth motions only, the extensive micro-marring that occurs will APPEAR as swirls, due to the way light reflects and refracts. With the right light source, you'll see sweep marks and not swirls, even if you have swirls:

http://www.amasci.com/amateur/hand1.html

gee

Thanks for the info anime. I got my 03 berlina a few weeks ago, and I'm thinking the previous owner probably didn't put too much time or effort into washing the car properly. The result is a bunch of light swirl marks (not dirt or residue, I don't think). How does one go about getting rid of these?

I wanna get started on a good washing/waxing regimen. I've read a lot of posts in this washing/wax forum about preventing swirls and proper washing techniques, but is there a good way to start all of this off by getting rid of the existing ones? Thanks!

usace

Yes way! Part of the appeal of the sheepskin mits is the long nap. Dirt is removed from the surface of the vehicle and drawn up into the mit and away from the surface. With just a cloth your basically just pushing the dirt around on the surface. It's a lot like wetsanding (a bit of an exageration I realize, but is along the same lines). And the lack of car soap made it even worse. Car soaps are meant to act as a lubricant and surfactant so that when a dirt partical is dislodged from the surface of the vehicle it is lubricated so it won't scratch the surface.

Spend some time browsing the board over at www.autopia.org and you'll realize that not many people use cotton anymore... it's now sheepskin and microfiber.

In this case it looks like a great deal of what this guy was seeing may in fact end up being dirt that dried on the surface of the car. If all he used was a cloth and water then he probably had no bucket to rinse his cloth in. All he did was move the dirt around on the surface, which then dried in the direction he was wiping with his cloth. But, I guarantee you on a black car, with no soap, a cotton cloth, and no bucket to rinse the cloth that he's got a lot of swirls now underneath of the dirt.

animeS2K

Gee,
You've got a couple of options - one is to pay a pro get your finish perfected and the other is to spend probably more money than that to learn how to do it yourself. It's definitely a task requiring a machine polisher, unless you've got huge arms that don't tire quickly

Basically, it depends on how bad the swirling is and how deep any scratches and such are. If you like, you could post over on autopia.org and find one of the guys there that is a demonstrated expert and have them get you started on the path.

You might try a small investment with some Meguiar's Scratch-X by hand and see what kind of improvement that gives you - look at the spot/panel you do by hand in various lighting conditions. If it works well, do the car by hand and put your sealant(s) of choice on top to protect it. If it doesn't work well, best to either learn how to do it by machine or hire a pro.

It is addictive once you get started, I'll warn you of that!

As an example of what you can do with about 8 hours of time and a Porter Cable 7424 Dual-Action Random Orbital Buffer:
Before:

After:


If you really put some effort into it, you can make more dramatic transformations, too.

But, like I said... If you don't have the time, the inclination or the motivation, there are plenty of reputable pros in your area.

gee

Thanks again for the info, anime!

I think I'll go ahead and start small with the meguiar's. The swirls aren't too serious, so I hope it works out. I guess this is what I get for going with berlina...