Best Products to Tackle a New Car With Swirls

**malibuboats91** · 02-28-2011, 12:31 PM

I recently bought a brand new Black vw jetta. I took it to get the windows tinted and the guy who did the tinting must have rubbed his jacket zipper up against my car so their are scratches. Seeing that it's winter I wanted to get some wax on it so I thought I'd try to handle the scratches and swirls. I used clay, cleaner wax and 2 coats of nxt 2.0 wax, all of which are from meguires. I am starting to look into different brands such as Zanio, Poor Boys, and Chemical Guys but don't know of i would be better off with one of those or my meguires. I have a crafsman random orbital polisher that I use sometimes. What do you guys recommend for a good brand to use to get my new car looking 'new' again?

**SeaJay's** · 02-28-2011, 01:07 PM

1st off Welcome to AG!

2nd...if your looking to get rid of those swirls your going to need some compounds and a dual action polisher. The random orbital polisher isn't going to cut it (no offense). If your not looking to get into it for that much than you try using an All-In-One by hand (something like XMT 360 or Klasse AIO). That will help with some of the lighter scratches and swirls, but realize that working by hand is very tedious.

If you have some money to spend and really want to tackle this job on your own, then I'd look at the Porter Cable DA or the Griots DA packages. They have start up packages that they sell here in the AG store that could get you headed in the right direction.

If your just looking to cover them up then I'd suggest picking up a glaze and then top that with a wax. Just realize that after a week or 2 or a couple rains the glaze will come off and you'll see the scratches and swirls again.

Mike Phillips · 02-28-2011, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by malibuboats91

I have a crafsman random orbital polisher that I use sometimes. What do you guys recommend for a good brand to use to get my new car looking 'new' again?

These types of polishers are not very effective at removing swirls out of clear coat paints, I'm pretty sure I cover why in this article,

The Traditional Orbital Buffer aka The Wax Spreader

As for chemicals, you're going to need something more aggressive than the Meguiar's Cleaner Wax, look at their Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish or if they're not too deep the swirl removers and polishes in Wolfgang or Pinnacle will work and leave a swirl-free finish behind.

The Wolfgang Twins

**malibuboats91** · 02-28-2011, 01:15 PM

I am really into detailing and want to make this car look as good as my 99 passat did. It looked like crap when k bought it and after spending a whole summer tediously detailing everything, it was often mistaken for a new car. I'm going to look into pc's. Is there any specific products you recommend or is the meguires I have used for my whole life good too? With a PC would a semi inexperienced person mess up anything on the car?

**SeaJay's** · 02-28-2011, 01:37 PM

Megs makes some great products. So if you like their products continue to use them. Some of my personal favorites are the Megs 105, Megs UC (ultimate compount), & Megs 205.

And the PC is a very user friendly machine. It will take some getting use to just as any new machine will. But once you get the technique down, you'll be amazed as the results you can obtain. Also, it's pretty safe for paint. Whenever your touching paint with anything there is always a possibility of causing damage. However, the PC is pretty safe. If you apply too much pressure the backing plate stops moving. So, you can see when your applying too much pressure. As with any machine it is possible to burn through paint but it is very unlikely with a DA compared to a rotary.

Check out some of Mike's articles and video's on the dual action polishers. I'd suggest reading up on all of this before making your purchase to ensure you know what your getting.

Mike Phillips · 02-28-2011, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by malibuboats91

With a PC would a semi inexperienced person mess up anything on the car?

Check out this thread,

Proof You Can Do It! - Joe The Detailer - Black Porsche Turned into Black Pearl!

Watch this video to see why DA Polishers like the Griot's, PC and Meguiar's units are safe...

Click Here To Watch

The secret to buffing out a car using good products, good pads and good technique, the technique is fairly simple, it's called doing a "Section Pass", then after you buff one section out, move on to a new section and overlap a little into the previous section.

Show Car Garage Video: How-To do a "Section Pass" when Machine Polishing with a DA Polisher

The Wolfgang Twins are very easy to use and will tackle a wide spectrum of paint defects unless the swirls and scratches are really deep or the paint is very hard.

The Griot's Garage DA Polisher has the most power of the 3 DA Style polishers, get 5.5" foam pads and you can tackle just about anything and get pro results.

Flat pads, CCS Pads or Hydro-Tech pads all work great with DA Polishers and it's pretty hard to say which pad system is best because they all work really well, sometimes it just comes down to personal preference.

Our Customer Care Tech Line can help you narrow down your choices

1-800-869-3011

You can do all the work by hand but it will take longer and the DA Style polishers will not only make the job faster but will do a better job than your hand and an applicator pad.

Man versus Machine