Removing Swirlmarks by Hand

[hammerdin]

Hello Guys,

To start off, I have a 2 year old Red Toyota Vios and I have been wanting to remove the swirl marks for the longest time. I plan to do this by hand since I have no experience in using the polisher yet.

My question is, can I use Mothers's Steps 1-3 to remove the swirls and some minor scratches by hand? The car's paint condition is not that bad since I wax it once or twice a month and the car was just clayed about a month ago.

Can you suggest products that would be easy to use for a newbie like me? Products here in Manila are different from the brands I usually read on this forum. Most common of the shelf products here are Moms, Megs, Eagleone, 3M, Collinite and Turtlewax to name a few. I also have a traditional orbital buffer if that would even make a difference.

Hope you guys help me.

Thanks!

[Mike Phillips]

Hello Guys,

To start off, I have a 2 year old Red Toyota Vios and I have been wanting to remove the swirl marks for the longest time. I plan to do this by hand since I have no experience in using the polisher yet.


It's a lot of work but you can do it... the most important aspect of de-swirling a car by hand is to only tackle small sections at a time, about a foot squared or so, usually smaller not larger and then thoroughly work that section.

When you move onto a new section, overlap a little into the previous section.

You'll want and need some high quality applicator pads, either microfiber or foam, something with a little density to spread out the pressure from you hand/fingers.





My question is, can I use Mothers Steps 1-3 to remove the swirls and some minor scratches by hand? The car's paint condition is not that bad since I wax it once or twice a month and the car was just clayed about a month ago.


There are three surface prep products in Mothers Consumer Line and likely available at the retail level in auto parts stores but I'm not sure about Manila?

The Step 1 product is called,

California Gold Pre-Wax Cleaner (http://www.autogeek.net/motcalgolpre.html)

This is not really a swirls and scratch remover as much as it is a light paint cleaner to remover topical impurities to create fresh clean base for the next two steps.


If you want to physically remove swirls and scratches, these are what we call "Below Surface Defects", then you would want to look for one of these products,

Mothers Power Polish (http://www.autogeek.net/mo8616.html) For All Buffer Types - Stage 1


Or

California Gold Scratch Remover (http://www.autogeek.net/motcalgolscr.html)

This is targeted at doing spot repair work by hand so for your entire car you might lean towards the Power Polish which you can use with your Orbital Buffer.

These two products are actually formulated to remove swirls and scratches. Understand that you don't actually remove swirls and scratches, your remove the paint surrounding swirls and scratches which in effect levels or flattens out the surface giving you a true base to create a show car, swirl free finish.

Orbital Buffers, the old school type are not very effective at actually "removing" swirls out of the paint but they can work, just don't tackle too large of an area at one time.

Here's a couple related articles on this topic,

The Traditional Orbital Buffer aka The Wax Spreader (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/25148-traditional-orbital-buffer-aka-wax-spreader.html)


The practical differences between single stage paints and a clear coat paints (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/21924-practical-differences-between-single-stage-paints-clear-coat-paints.html)






Can you suggest products that would be easy to use for a newbie like me? Products here in Manila are different from the brands I usually read on this forum. Most common of the shelf products here are Moms, Megs, Eagleone, 3M, Collinite and Turtlewax to name a few. I also have a traditional orbital buffer if that would even make a difference.

Hope you guys help me.

Thanks!

Look for the Mother's Power Polish listed above and see if you can find it... if not, tell us what you do find from the brands you listed.


:)

[hammerdin]

Hi Mike,

I've checked with the direct supplier of Moms here in Manila and the said that the power polish is not available. What they have instead are the PowerWax and Scratch remover. As for Megs, I've seen some SwirlX, ScratchX, ColorX and UC.