My '08 SMB Z has swirls that are just too bad to take anymore. When the sun is out, it looks like someone spent an hour on my car with a brillo pad. There are no deep scratches - nothing you can feel with your hand or anything like that. I imagine the swirls are a product of me taking it through the auto car wash when I first got the car, as well as using cheapo towels on the car. The typical noob mistakes, but I don't do those things anymore.

I've read plenty of how-to's and seen videos on how to take care of it - porter and cable 7424, lots of people recommend polishes that I'm sure work great. My problem is that I have 0 confidence in myself to do a good job with it, I know you have to clay bar to properly prep the car (which I've never done) , and I have an innate fear that I would cause more harm that good. As such, I'd rather pay someone who knows what they're doing to do it right, even if it costs a bit more.

My problem is I can't find a decent place to go that I trust to do the work. The detailer I occasionally use in MA is a great guy, but he only does wash/wax and interiors. That seems to be the case with most places I have looked into.

Does anyone know of a place in the northeast (ma,ct pref?) that will do a good job? Anyone on here have the equipment and do private work, I'd pay well to know it would get done properly.

Do some auto body places do this type of work?

It's pouring here right now, I'll post up some swirl pictures next sunny day. It's pretty bad. . .

 

Damn, if only you were closer to NYC. I'd recommend Big A - he's easily the best detailer for full restorations such as this, but it'd take him about 2 days.

 

Well if you can't find anyone locally you really could do it yourself. I did my '07 SMB and I had zero experience. It turned out great.

I bought my car as a dealer demo at a "discount". It looked fantastic. After a few washes though these scratches started to appear that looked like they came from serious snow brush abuse. I didn't see the scratches until the dealers glaze started to wash off. Every time I would wash the car they would get worse.

This is what I used:

Griots Garage Paint Prep (2 bottles)
3m Adhesive Wax & Mark Remover (keep off of headlights, taillights, etc.)
Griots Garage Machine Polish & Wax Kit (with machine)
3m Perfect-It Foam Polishing Pad Glaze - Dark #05996
Meguiars Nxt 2.0

This is how I did it:

Good wash and dry.
Remove bugs, tar, etc with 3m AW&M remover.
Soak with Paint Prep. Keep everything wet. Keep spraying for 6-10 minutes. (removes any old wax, sealants, glaze)
Rinse with water and dry.
Look at naked paint with swirls and scratches.
Cry.
Clay bar. (possibly more work than it's worth)
Polish with orange pad and 3m Perfect-It. (slightly hazes paint, removes swirls and light scratches)
Polish with orange pad and Griots Machine Polish 3 (comes with kit, removes haze)
Wax with red pad and Nxt.
Smile.

I know the Griots stuff is considered overpriced/overhyped by most experienced detailers but for a beginner you cannot go wrong. Seriously.
The only thing you have to worry about is to not get dirt in the pad. Just don't drop it on the ground. Rinse and dry it after every panel.

I first started out with Machine Polish 3. I quickly found out that our clearcoat is way too hard to make any timely progress with it. I did some searching on the "hard clear coat" sticker I have under my hood and arrived at the 3m Perfect-it.

When I did my car it was a lot of hard work. It took me 2 weeks of nights and weekends to finish. I now call my machine "the polisher of pain". I know that with more aggressive professional products and experience the process would have been much faster. For a beginner with dedication the Griots stuff was just right. With a little 3m help.

 

go here and I am sure you will find someone