1-Step vs 3-Steps

[tony0057]

After reading the first two pages of this thread (when there were only 2 pages) I went out and got some Swirl X. I washed, clayed with megs clay, used swirl x with a white foam pad by hand, and then topped it off with turtle wax platinum paste wax by hand with another white foam pad. All I can say is that Swirl X is great.

Smells ok, easy to wipe off, didn't produce any new swirls or scratches, and was agressive enough to remove some stuff that I didn't expect it to and yet finished very clear with no haze. A must have. Thanks Mike for demonstrating this product becuase if not I would have never thought that a $10 product would be capable of doing so much. Will purchase UC if I ever need something more aggressive. By the way I tried the original Scratch X about 2 years ago and comparing both of them Swirl X is waaaaaayyy better.

[img]

I normally like to do the 2-step, but if my feet get crossed I have a tendency
to sling product

[Mike Phillips]

As promised, here's the results after chemically stripping the the test sections. Just to prove without a shadow of a doubt that swirls were removed with the multiple step system, and even to some degree with a one-step cleaner/wax, instead of just chemically stripping the paint with Isopropyl Alcohol, I started with APC+ mixed strong at 4:1, followed by Klean Strip brand, Mineral Spirits, followed by 70% Isopropyl Alcohol.

Note: If you're going to use Meguiar's APC+ to strip wax off paint a normal ratio would be 20:1, not 4:1

At this point in the thread, all normal protocols have already been disregarded so I'm just using a super strong solution to prove the point that after chemically stripping with 3 different types of chemicals it will be easy to see that in fact swirls and scratches were removed, not just filled in. Please don't think this is anything you ever need to do on your own car, or a customer's car.

Each chemical stripper was applied and worked aggressively into and over the test sections 2 times using a standard microfiber polishing cloth and then wiped clean. The time was mid-morning and the surface was very warm to the touch at the time of chemical stripping. The photos were taken at around 1:30pm to 2:30pm with the sun overhead.


Test sections were chemically stripped, not once, but scrubbed 2 times each with 3 different strong chemical strippers.




APC+ is not technically a recommended for stripping wax off automotive paints. At this point of this write-up, since I'm already using mineral spirits and alcohol, it's not even a matter of doing what's right any longer, it just about proving that swirls were removed, not just filled in. I chose APC+ solely because it was already mixed up and ready to use. Normally I don't chemically strip my work as I trust my product choice and skill level to be getting the job done as intended and I don't recommend other people to do anything this extreme.



Here's the test car after chemically stripping the two test sections.



The top portion was rubbed-out with ColorX twice by hand. I never claimed there would be 100% swirl removal, in fact all I claimed is the clear layer of paint would be improved for the person that just wants to use one product and get a neglected finish looking better.

The question was,

Would simply washing car take the results back to where the paint was when I started. At this point, the paint has been washed with a strong detergent dish washing soap and now chemically stripped with 3 harsh-to-waxed-paint chemicals.

The top section is the ColorX section, the bottom section is the "Before" section.



Even after everything that's been done to the test section, it still looks better than the before section.




This is the section near the windshield. The top section is the before section and the lower section is the area we applied Ultimate Compound twice, (aggressively by hand), followed by SwirlX twice and then one coat of NXT Tech Wax.

It's pretty easy to see the lower section still looks great after all that's been done to it. Remember, I never said I was aiming for 100% swirl removal by hand but merely to show another forum member what the difference would look like between only using a one-step cleaner/wax and a multi-step approach using dedicated compound, polish and a wax.

If I wanted to remove 100% of the swirls I would have used a more aggressive applicator pad and applied UC more than 2 times.



















Again, I'm not of the school or habit of chemically stripping my results. It's an option that some people like to practice as how they like to check their work. My opinion on this is if that's your way then go for it but I don't find the need to do this personally and these pictures just vindicate what I already knew. Correctly applied, a quality compound or paint cleaner will do what it's supposed to do and afterwards you can continue to move forwards in the paint polishing process.

I've always told people,

"Find something you like and use it often"

That could also go like this,

"Find a process that works for you and use it"


I don't chemically strip cars I buff-out and I don't recommend to others to do it either. For those that want to do this... that's your choice and your opinion on how you personally like to polish paint.

This Saturday I'll be doing an extreme makeover on the below 1957 Chevy Belair and I will not be chemically stripping the paint after any step. Instead I'll remove the swirls, then polish the paint and then seal it up. I'll work forwards towards the goal of a show car finish, not backwards.

Here's the car, a 1957 Chevrolet Belair. This car was painted approximately 10 years ago and while the color is very pretty for this body style, it's filled with swirls and scratches through the entire finish.




You can see these kinds of holograms also called rotary buffer swirls throughout each panel when the sun shines directly on them.




When I buff out this 57 Chevy, I'll practice what I wrote about in this thread,

The Mindset of a Professional Detailer


Summary
I never intended this thread to take the direction but it's okay that it did. I hope the follow-up pictures and explanations of what I did and how I did it to show swirls were in fact removed, not just filled-in shines some light on the topic of filling.


I'd like to thank Dana and others for bringing up the original question as it gave me a chance really show what's going on at the surface level when products are used correctly.

If you really want 100% defect removal and are still doing all your work by hand, then consider moving up to machine polishing as all the machines Autogeek carries will do a much better job of removing a majority of defects better and faster than you can working only by hand.

You certainly can remove swirls and scratches by hand, but it does require you to put a little passion behind the pad!

[Meghan]

Since Mike did a nice job with this thread, and explaining the steps I am going to close this thread and make it a sticky so it can serve for reference for those needing it. Please feel free to start another thread if you have further questions. Thank you.