How to find scratches on white paint?

[killrflake]

I know this sounds stupid, but I can't seem to find a way to see the minor scratches and/or swirls that my white metalic paint must have. I'm putting an order together for AG so I'm deciding which products to include. When
trying to find these scratches my halogen light stand was used (1000watts)
while I got my camera ready to catch those nasty marks. I couldn't really
find anything to take a pic of. My car is a 2005 Inf. G35 cpe. with white
pearl metalic paint and while it only has about 7000mis. on it, I have washed
it quite a few times, never a car wash, and it's always garaged. But I've read here how easy it is to put minor marks on any car without even trying.
Even if the micro-marring on my paint is minor, I would like to try to clear it up.
What is the best way to see any damage my paint has? And what would be
the safest polish to use to clean up the little damage my paint must have?
I enjoy reading this forum with all the advice and ideas from the likes of Jason and Killrwheels, I hope they can help me.

[HighEndDetail]

Take it out in direct sunlight, and move side to side. And look at the finish, the sun will catch the tips of the scratche's and you will be able to see them. Or move your halogens close to the paint and that will work also. Hope that helps

[killrflake]

Thanks for the advice. I did try moving the halogens close, so close as to make the paint rather hot but still can't see anything. Have a storm coming through now, but tomorow I'll try taking it outside to see what can be found. Any thoughts on what the most mild polish would be for my paint?

[killrwheels@autogeek]

Have you tried a handheld Xenon Flashlight. I have the Brinkmann and works well up close on all finishes.

[trhland]

sometimes you have to use the sun light. the very little scratches dont always show up with a halogen light.

[killrflake]

Great idea with the Xenon flashlight, I'll try that tomorow as well as trying sunlight if we get some. Big storm going through my area of the northeast. I'll report back if they work. Doesn't this sound stupid, hoping I can find damage to my paint? but as dumb as it sounds I'm sure you all can understand where I'm coming from. When you have a love for detailing, you're always looking for the perfect products and machines. I have two
PC machines, one with 5 ounce and one with the 6 ounce counterweights and yet I can't wait to get my order in for " The Ultimate Detailing Machine" Oh well, thanks for the help.

[Whitethunder46]

You know it's possible that your vehicle does NOT have swirls or marring? It does only have 7K miles on it though.

With that said, go to a parking lot at night w/ the florescent light poles. That will help a lot.

[killrflake]

As much as I'd like to believe my car is marr free, the chance of that being the case has got to be next to nil. The car has to have been washed at least 30 or 40 times and I have never polished it. It's been given the Zaino treatment which I understand does not really polish scratches out but just fills them in which in time with more washings will need to be filled in again. Maybe it's time to do the real thing and rid the finish of these minor marks with real polish. But in any case, I will try your sugjestion. Thanks for the ideas.

[JBs]

try taking a picture of it in direct sunlight, post it up here in full quality and i'll see if i can photoshop it to show swirls like this:

[Nica]

Good question, there is no such thing as a dumb question here so don't feel bad for asking.

Now to your question, I found out how to see swirl/scratches tough on silver color vehicles. What I did is placed the light's (1000Watts) as normal and then I positioned my self parallel with the vehicle and looked at the paint at an angle, you should be able to see the imperfections this way.

I have a Lexus SUV brand new and at first I thought it was flawless but then I started looking really closely and found minor swirl marks. Light color vehicles hide the imperfections quite well.

Any who hope this helps, perhaps It’s s a repeat from what others have said but just thought I'd share.