How many swirls and marring can you live with?

[RFulmer]

How many swirls and marring can you live with before you polish?

I'm not talking about a show car, but one that is garaged but driven a few times a week.

[courtdale]

this was my biggest learning curve. Before my first correction on my DD (a 10 year old neglected soft black), I thought all cars could be restored 100%. It was very frustrating learning that there would just be some rids, and some swirl/marring I would have to learn to live with.

I finished polishing yesterday, inspected and saw a good amount of swirls and mars. Paint still looks dripping wet, but I don't know that i'll ever get this type of paint/color perfect. To answer your question, if 100% is perfection prior to an LSP, I'd say I fall into the 80% range on my DD.

[Flash Gordon]

How many swirls and marring can you live with before you polish?

I'm not talking about a show car, but one that is garaged but driven a few times a week.


I just leave my DD dirty so I don't have to look at them

[ShineTimeDetail]

I just leave my DD dirty so I don't have to look at them

I like this mans thought process!! :dblthumb2:

[silverfox]

I've seen many show cars over the years take home a trophy with swirl-laden paint, so even paint near 100% perfect condition (assuming that can even be achieved)... means what...and to whom?

I think you will find very few people who can't live without some swirls and even RIDS..even show car judges because a car's finish is only one (of many) things the judges look at. For daily drivers, I'd think that a 70-80% show car finish is more than adequate.

[Kinalyx]

Depends on your "OCD Factor". My car is black, so i HAVE to deal with at least some swirls/rids. I will be doing another correction(only the 2nd ever done on this car) in a month or 2 to try to get more of the issues gone. I may try different pads/product this time, just so i can spend some money.

As far as how much you can deal with....thats a personal choice.

Shawn

[Flannigan]

I have a black DD as well. During the spring/summer/fall it gets weekly baths, and monthly paint cleaning/re-waxing. I usually do a mild correction in the spring to repair what damage occurred during the winter. I would say at best it's 90% defect free (right after correction) and at worst it's probably about 70% defect free (after a rough winter)

With proper wash techniques, and good products, you really shouldn't have to worry about too much damage, other than environmental.

[RFulmer]

Thanks for all the replies. the reason I ask is I have a month old car, 2012 Mini Countryman S. It's white with a black top.

I polished all the black bits last week, its dealer installed marring was more than I could handle.

The white paint covers up the same marring pretty well, but its worse then my wifes Lexus was after 4 years of no polishing.

Being a Mini its not like it has a ton of paint to do but it has tons of trim to mask off.

It's not a daily driver, just something fun to drive on the weekend.

[FUNX650]

How many swirls and marring can you live with before you polish?

I'm not talking about a show car, but one that is garaged but driven a few times a week.

Sorry...I don't have any vehicles that fit this description. But...

:hijacked:

As the years keep piling up; and the older and frailer I become (and without wearing my seeing-glasses)...
I'm finding more and more excuses to not abrade away every speck of blemishes I find on my vehicles. Going... 'Round and 'Round, Up and Down ~ Peppermint... Twist becomes harder and harder to perform.

However...

Whenever the Wife points out to me any and all blemishes that suddenly appear on her DD Jeep....The ones that she deems should be shown my attentiveness...I'll begin to explain to her: paint-film thickness, abrasives, paint's life-cycle, etc.
She'll just smiles at me and says: "I know you'll do your best Babes".

And then, as she quietly walks away, I say just as quietly under my breathe:

Yes, indeed, your my lovely;
Anything for you, my dear.
Just hoping a re-spray is not in the future
As I go to fetch the "correction gear"...


:hijacked: Is now over.

:D

Bob

[Mike@DistinctImage]

I think in all honesty you have to be careful how much you correct a vehicle's paintwork. It comes down to so many factors like others have mentioned: paint thickness, paint hardness, age of vehicle, where it is stored, how it is cared for.

My DD is a Fiat and unfortunately in my detailing journey learning about correction I took M105 and an orange pad to my paint (which is old, not cared for by previous owner) and from this session on the vehicle I thinned out the clearcoat substantially that thin spots are starting to appear - Fiat's have extremely soft and thin paint. I learnt this the hard way, from not researching paint types and exercising caution, all because I wanted a perfectly swirl free finish. Now I have to live with my car's paint and cannot polish it anymore. It's a lesson I've taken to heart and apply to all my clients' cars and my own - always try the least aggressive method first cos when your clearcoat is gone, it's gone.

[slimnib]

a FIAT- no kidding, someone actually owns a Fiat.

[Mike@DistinctImage]

And here I thought "maybe I shouldn't say what car I have"

Yes indeed I do... Quite a popular car in my country. For some reason we got some of the models that don't break down ALL the time :)

I need to upgrade to a panel van for my business but in the meantime its storage space is ideal (station wagon) :surrender:

[oldmodman]

On my old Explorer that is currently parked outside under a tree. I don't even care any longer.

My Yellow Cobra. I try to keep as close to 99% as possible. Only driven for fun and never parked outside.

The DD Toyota. Since it's white I looks decent if it is just shiny. So it only gets corrected once a year, if even that often. Then on it's next go around it will get Opti coat 2.0

[RFulmer]

I too have a white Toyota 4 Runner. It sits outside all the time and gets polish rarely (by hand) and a coat of wax. Nothing special and it looks great. It's our most used car (besides my work van).

[shoeless89]

How many swirls and marring can I live with? Answer: Not many