Swirl Marks on Black Paint

Looking for some advice/setups to get rid of swirl marks and prevent them on my all black car. What kind of buffing setups should I look at getting into and what can I use to remove the marks?

So, I am by no means a pro... but as far as I know, there are two ways to get rid of swirl marks.

1.) If they are light, you can "hand polish" them out by polishing in straight lines with a cleaner wax or a cutting agent.

2.) If its bad, it will need to be resealed or get a new coat of clear.

Preventing swirls can only be done by either having a very hard coating like ceramic, or hand polishing in straight lines.

Others may have some other steps... but those are what I found to be the case on my vehicles.

Go on chemicalguys and check out their selection of "V" polishes. They have different polishes (v32,v34,v36,v38) depending on how strong of a compound you need. v38 is their final polish, and v32 is their cutting compound. I have gotten away with using v34 and going straight to sealant, but if yours are as bad as you describe I would probably do v32 and then v34 after and then your sealant. Buy jet seal when you polish it, very expensive stuff but it's well worth it. Polishing paint like you are will do nothing if you don't seal it afterwards, it'll just get bad again. Also, don't do this by hand- get a orbital. Hope this helped.

So I would most likely clay bar it, give it a good through wash and then begin. Do the swirl removers, seal it with jet seal (can this be done with a buffer?) and wax it. I love to use collinite on my car.

What pads do you use for the swirl remover vs sealant/wax?

I detail professionally, got any pics ? It depends on what type and how deep the scratches/swirls are but if you want them removed you will need a machine, if you want to lightly remove or cover them up that will be done by hand. Don't seal anything until the scratches are removed, you will seal the scratches under the sealant. Look at Adams Car Care under "Exterior" then look under "polishes" and you will see a product called "Revive Hand Polish" , works awesome for what your looking to do.

Great looking work! The side by side comparison is a great idea.

Its been so long since I did a true paint restore that we were still using single stage paint. We would block wet-sand with 1200 mic, wheel on compound, 1 or 2 stages of polish, wax and seal (as a single process). It would look like glass and we used 3M for damn near everything. I had a feeling my advice would be a tad antiquated.

I use the Maguire's da system with the pink correction compound and microfiber cloths/pads its simple and quick

Don't forget to protect the paint after correction! You only have so much clearcoat!

arayray said:

So I would most likely clay bar it, give it a good through wash and then begin. Do the swirl removers, seal it with jet seal (can this be done with a buffer?) and wax it. I love to use collinite on my car.

What pads do you use for the swirl remover vs sealant/wax?

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Wash very well, then clay bar the whole car. This is important because it removes the contaminates on top of the clear coat so you polish the clear and not dirt on top of the clear. Polishing by hand would not work that well at all, and apply jet seal and wax by a buffer will work it more into the paint better than by hand. There are about 10 different pads, from compounding pads to final wax pads. I use an orange pad for polishing, and a white pad for sealant/wax.

Don't waste your time/effort trying to polish by hand. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, at least pick up Harbor Freight's random orbit buffer. Don't use their pads though. Go with a quality pad from Lake Country, Buff n Shine, Meguiars, etc....

Great advice Hoamskilet - OP, as far as tools are concerned you don't need to go high dollar. Although as a pro I'm a fan of Flex and they are my "go to" tools for buffing, polishing etc... Whatever you do, use a DA polisher, polishing by hand is extremely time consuming and you won't get near the results you can achieve with a tool.

While I like and use the "V" line from CG on Occasion, I much prefer Maguiars M105/M205. They cut extremely well and finish with great results. You may be able to get away with D151 as well. I use it as a one step on many of my professional details. If you need a little more cut use a properly prepped orange or yellow pad.

As far as product goes the key is find what you like and works for you and use it often!!

I have first hand experience. I have a Black F150 and a Black Fussion. If you need any help or advice PM me. This is my BUDGET minded setup and works for ALL my cars.

I used the V stuff from Chemical Guys..there's better stuff for cheaper

FIRST THIS
(Home Depot has it for $119.00)
Porter_Cable_7424XP

One clay bar, (2) Orange Hex Pads (2) White Hex Pads (2)Black Hex Pads

(6) Very high quality microfiber towels

Meguirs 105 and Meguirs 205 (Harbor Freight Sells the BIG containers) like $10.00/ per

Mirror Finish (Chemical Guys)
Butter Wet Wax (Chemical Guys)
V07 Detail Spray (Chemical Guys)

Wash the car with Dawn, as that will take all the old wax off and stuff. The key to a good finish, is proper PREP!

Initial cost is expensive, but once you have it, you have it. You can always recoup some money back by doing other peoples cars.

It's almost effortless if using this setup, to remove ALL swirl marks. Hand polishing will never net the results that a machine gives

* I bought a white Shelby for a reason*

Great advice Air assault--this is exactly what I have been using for years--works awesome

As others have said about polishing, you have your answer OP. As far as maintenance, I use a four bucket method. One bucket for rinsing, upper body, lower body, wheels. After each panel, rinse thoroughly. This helps prevents scratches/swirl marks.

Just a suggestion.


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I haven't used water on a wash in over a year!

Hopefully I don't get flamed too hard for reviving this thread, but...

I bought some F11 from Top Coat. This stuff is awesome. Removed every single swirl and minor line. Went outside today and all the morning few had evaporated. Every car has some water spots on it but the car I treated.

Stripped the wax and applied 1 coat of F11. Per the maker... Hand apply and buff with a microfiber cloth... No machines. Used about 1 fluid ounce for the whole car. I'm going to do a second coat next weekend, as well as the wheels.

The video was made for a group of guys saying I paid too much for 2 oz of sealant. So you can ignore the audio. Be sure to watch the HD version.