How to remove small patch of swirl marks/scratches?

[dbobke]

So I decided to go whole-hog yesterday and I used the clay bar on my car after doing the baggie test. It took a long time, but it was fun to see the results - both on the car and in the clay! However, as has been warned on Autogeek, there was one little spot on the hood where there must have been a good bit of contaminants and when I wiped off the clay lubricant, there were some swirled scratches in the clear coat. The rest of the car came out fine.

I don't have a DA polisher or any powered buffers - is there any way I can get those scratches out of the clear coat by hand?

[Mike Phillips]

I don't have a DA polisher or any powered buffers - is there any way I can get those scratches out of the clear coat by hand?

Get some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and some clean foam or microfiber applicator pads and the only work a small section at at time.


Read this too...

How to use a hand applied abrasive polish or paint cleaner by hand




And remember to apply some wax afterwards as compounds don't leave behind protection.

[Mike Phillips]

Keep in mind, removing swirls means removing paint and leveling the surface, you can't do this with a "gentle" slow motion... look at the blur of my hand below, that's because I was moving my hand fast over the paint and pressing down firmly.

Read this too...

Put a little passion behind the pad - Mike Phillips

[dbobke]

Wow - thanks Mike for the great response! Do you recommend the compound in the picture (Ultra-Cut)? What about ScratchX?

[Mike Phillips]

Wow - thanks Mike for the great response! Do you recommend the compound in the picture (Ultra-Cut)? What about ScratchX?

In order of aggressiveness from most to least,

M105
Ultimate Compound
ScratchX


I would go for the UC, it will work fast and finishes out nice. They are all SMAT products so they all tend to work well by hand.


A couple of things, one a fiber applicator pad "can" be more aggressive for really working the paint over and sometimes this can leave the paint looking hazy from light scratching from the process. Not to fear, just re-apply only this time using foam and be more gentle.

You have to be aggressive at first because clear coat paints tend to be hard. I explain this in my how-t book plus all over this forum.


It actually takes more skill to work on clear coat paint by hand than it does by machine. One of the nice things about machine polishing is avoiding the toweling marks from rubbing hard by hand.

Tip...
Experiment on a car that's not important to you...

[dbobke]

OK...I found some Ultimate Compound at my buddy's house. He had ScratchX as well, but he agreed with the recommendation of using Ultimate Compound. I will let the car cool down here for an hour or so and then get to it!

Thanks for all the great advice...I will let you know how it turns out.

[Mike Phillips]

OK...I found some Ultimate Compound at my buddy's house. He had ScratchX as well, but he agreed with the recommendation of using Ultimate Compound. I will let the car cool down here for an hour or so and then get to it!

An "old" tube of ScratchX will be a DAT or diminishing abrasive product. A new tube will be SMAT or Super Micro Abrasive Technology. Newer = better when it comes to ScratchX and that's from a guy that's probably taught more people how to hand-apply ScratchX than anyone on earth.

Thanks for all the great advice...I will let you know how it turns out.

Please do... the follow-up posts are the best plus if you run into problems we'll do our best to help...

[dbobke]

So I used the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and got passionate with the applicator. I definitely diminished the swirls, but they are not completely gone. Should I go at it again but get more aggressive with the application?

[dbobke]

Follow-up...

I kept going back to the car and using the Ultimate Compound and I got all the swirls out! I just had to push a little longer and with more pressure, but they came out. Thanks to Mike for his great advice. It did make me realize that a DA polisher would be really nice to own...Christmas is coming, right?