I am really fed up with these swils and light scratches. I have tired Megs Stratch X with Megs cleaner wax, the Mothers system( Polish, Glaze, Carnuba), DuraGloss 111. Dude i'm seriously tired. Can someone please help? Yeah I know Zaino, Zaino but if I buy Zaino and it does not work am gonna go F_ _ _ing crazy. I need someone to break this down Barney style.

I wash with 2 micro fiber cloths(one for the top portion and the other for the bottom) by hand. (CONFESSION: I have use the touchless carwash before but only after the grounds keepers blew sone dirt on the car) I use either Kit car wash or RainX car wash. I dry with a California jelly blade and a microfiber towel. What am i doing wrong?

My resources are:

Hands

$30 orbital buffer 10 inch ( also have an 6 inch)

Passion

time

Please offer products, processes and any other help

Did not have any pics but the paint is magnetic black and looks like this guys paint. Wellll, its not that bad but i do not want it to get there.

 

I feel your pain as a fellow black z owner. This is my second z. First one was ss and the swirls on this car are really annoying. My first half a** attempt to rid them was a clay and nxt job. I didnt do much at all. Now the paint is clean and has some protective wax but thats about it. Look down a few threads. There was an 04 SB g35 owner that had an awfully swirled g and made it look like a show car. I plan on doing something similar to what he did. It will take a polish to actually remove swirls, not just mask them.

His process went clay->zaino pc fusion->Klasse High Gloss Selant Glaze->S100 carnuba wax.

Hopefully my paint will look like his. Hope this helps. Happy de-swirling.

 

It is a price to pay to have best colored Z!
It is not the products that you use...those are some top products that you mentioned. I assume that your washing method is complete gone wrong. I personnally use Zaino because easy of use but it's not the best in the world
that keeps our black car swirl free and shine.
If your MB paint condition is that BAD as you mentioned in your pic, I would
consider a full-polish and wax job professionally done with porter cable.
Also, I personally do not like jelly blade.. If it catches a little dirt during
cleaning, it WILL scratch your paint. I just tossed mine away long time ago.
I see that you are in NC, are you near in Charlotte area? I could give you a full polish job if you'd like....

 

Go to the autopia car detailing forums and start learning, or just let someone polish it out. Your paint has to be machine polished with either an orbital or rotory polisher to get the swirls out, you wont be able to generate enough heat by hand to break down the polish and soften your clear coat. I also use zaino but you still need to do the proper prep work to get the best finish.
When you wash your car you also should use two seperate buckets one for soap and one for rinsing off your mf towells or whatever you are using to wash the car, change the water in the rinse bucket often so you don't get the water in the soap bucket dirty. I don't like those water blades, I use a towel to try my car. If you want the most detailed info just go to the site I mentioned earlier.

 

I feel your pain, had the same problems on my PPW.

Here is what I used:

PC w/ counter weight (Orange, White, Grey pads)
Optimum Polish
Poor Boy's EX-P sealant
Meg #16 wax...

Don't have pics on this computer, will post them when I get home.

 

Mr. Cleans AUTO DRY.

 

A $30 orbital buffer isn't going to cut it (if it's the kind I think it is). You need a good Random Orbital Buffer/Polisher.

Here's what you need in order to polish a car with a ROB to remover swirls.
1) Porter-Cable 7336SP
2) 6" Velcro backing plate: http://www.topoftheline.com/porcabvelpad.html
3) 7½" Lake Country VC foam polishing pads: http://www.topoftheline.com/7durvelpad.html
I use the Yellow, White and Black pads. You'll probably want two, maybe three of each.
4) Polishes: I use 3M Medium Cut Rubbing Compound (39001); 3M Swirl Mark Remover (39009); Zaino Z-PC Polish/Cleaner.
The compound is for removing moderate scratches, deposits on paint, rough spots, etc.
The SMR is for removing swirl marks, hazing caused by the compound or other polishes.
The Z-PC is for use in place of the SMR on a Zainoed car.
5) Helpful instructions on how to use the Porter-Cable:
http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14421
http://www.roadfly.com/magazine/7/po..._buffer.1.html
http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/det...1430487&page=1

The P-C can be bought at Lowes for $109. The backing plate and pads come from www.TopOfTheLine.com. The 3M products I get from a local CarQuest Paint Store. It's a special version of a CarQuest parts store that sells professional paint supplies and equipment. The 3M products are pretty widely available in any case.

 

Are the Porter cable foam pads washable or do you have to buy new ones each time.

 

As I'm understatnding it, it's not the products but the machine I need?

 

both but u need the porter cable to buff out all the scratches

 

please go to the above site and read! lots of info, then you'll be set plan on spending a couple hundred dollars in supplies up front, after that it's not bad

 

I believe Autopia sell a solution that you put in a bucket with the foam pads to clean them. So to answer, yes the pads are reusable.

I think you will find that most people swear by their porter cable. Last summer I tossed out my craftsman 6in buffer and bought the PC, it's probably one of the best investments you can make.

 

After I use my lake country pads I just run them along with my microfiber towels through the washing machine, they all come out looking brand new.

 

Yes, they can be rinsed out and reused over and over until they start to deteriorate. You don't want to do this too often, maybe once every couple of years so the pads should outlast the car.

To some extent that is true. If you use a good quality, reputable product that will help guarantee success. The machine is a large part of it. If you have a cheap orbital buffer, all it will do is rub the polish around on the surface and introduce worse scratches. The ROBs are designed to minimize swirls by having a "random" motion. They also have a lot more power and speed, both of which are required to "work" the polish on the surface. The abrasive in the polish breaks down as you work it, as it breaks down, it leave finer and finer scratches until they are virtually undetectable.


A side note - once you get the car polished and scratch free, the trick to keeping it that way is all in how you wash and dry your car. Go to http://autopia.org and download the free eBook "The Autopia Guide to Detailing". It will explain all you need to know to properly wash, dry and detail your car.


Here's some notes from something I started working on regarding washing and drying with respect to swirl and scratch prevention:

Proper washing and detailing can go a long way in helping to prevent swirl marks. It all boils down to the methods and tools you use when washing your car. I have gleaned the following tricks, tips, procedures, etc. from various sources, personal experiences, trial and error.

One commonly asked question is “what towels should I used and how should I dry my car so I don’t scratch or swirl the paint?” It's about more than just towels and how you dry. In fact, what you use and how you wash it are probably more important than what you dry it with.

If you use a sponge or something that holds dirt, then you're scraping the dirt across the surface of your car when you wash. Never use something like a kitchen dishtowel or an old T-shirt. There are too many things in them that can scratch your paint (i.e. nylon threads). Use a lamb’s wool or cotton chenille mitt. A good wool or chenille mitt can hold a lot of soapy water and that’s important to flushing away dirt instead of trapping it.

If you use a 1 gal bucket of water to wash the whole car, then by the time you're finished the water looks like chocolate milk from all the dirt. Again, you're rubbing it all over your paint. Use a 5 gal paint bucket - actually two of them. Fill one bucket with soapy water to wash with and the other with clear water to rinse the mitt. Use the process of soaking the mitt in the soapy water, wash an area of the car, and then rinse in the clear water.

Do you use powered detergent? Don't, it doesn't totally dissolve and the solid particles will scratch your paint. Use something that is designed for washing cars, not dish or laundry detergent. They’re too harsh and will strip most waxes or polishes. If you use a polymer like Zaino, either use Z-7 or pick a car wash that is compatible with polymer-based products. Meguirers Deep Crystal is one example.

Do you wash your wheels with the same mitt/cloth as the car? Do you wash the wheels first? Don't, the brake dust will get into the cloth and your wash water and will scratch the paint. Wash the wheels first then rinse everything out before washing the car. Use a soft cloth on the wheels that never touches the cars paint.

Don't wash the lower parts of the car first - they're usually dirtier having picked up road grime, tar, etc. Always wash from the top down.

Drying the car is the easy part to avoiding scratches. When done properly most of the water beads off anyway. What little is left can be absorbed just by laying a WW towel on it. No rubbing - no scratching. Use the “pat dry” method rather than rubbing a towel across the surface.



A lot of us also use a garden leaf blower to do the initial drying of the car. It's great because it gets water out of all those places that you can't reach with a towel. Once you give it a quick blowdry, use a waffle-weave microfiber towel to pat dry any remaining waterspots.

 

Thanks for all the info. Is there a perfered product to use with the porter cable. With the correct pads, do I use an abrasive product like 1)3M rubbing compound, 2)a polish and then 3)maybe a sealant of wax?

 

Unless your car has significant scratches, paint blemishes or other problems, you don't need a compound. All you will need is the Swirl Mark Remover as it will remove fine scratches and swirls. Once you do the whole car, then you MUST wax it. If you don't, you'll quickly start picking up water spots because there will be nothing to protect the paint.

My advice to a first time user is to practice on another car (older beater). If you don't have access to a "practice car", you can always buy an old hood or deck lid from a junkyard and use it. Otherwise, convince a friend to let you clean up theirs

It's not brain surgery but it does take a little practice to get the technique down. If you don't do a nearly perfect job, it will show on a black car. Do a section then wipe it clean and examine it in sunlight. If you're not satisified, do it again. It takes a little practice to figure out how much product to put on the pad, how long and how much pressure to use to properly work it out.

The links I gave above on how to use the P-C are very good instructions to get started with.


Good luck and post back after you've done it to let us know how it came out.

BTW, there is another recent thread in this forum of a special deal at Lowes on the PC ROB. Check it out as you might be able to snag one for about $50.

 

DavesZ#3 is right on about practicing on another car first!

Check out this site for some video tutorials:
http://paintcare-n-detailing.com/video/

and

THIS POST chronicles the complete process of swirl removal on a black car.

 

^^^ I forgot about that thread. Thanks for the reminder!

 

Pics as promised... it's not Rocket-Science, just practice on your wife/gf's car first

 

My Z is Super Black so I know what you are complaining about.

Got a new bright silver 300C Hemi in October. It always "looks" clean and I don't see any swirls (unlike the -Z-).

Black is a b!tch.