Whats your favorite swirl remover?

[acuRAS82]

Was afraid of that. I do worry on using one that is my issue.

It’s something that sounds scarier than it is. Once you go at it you will never look back. Just keep the polisher moving. Don’t do this by hand, it’s brutal and by hand is what you should be afraid of. The thought scares me anyways.

[Desertnate]

Was afraid of that. I do worry on using one that is my issue.

If you are careful and don't go too agressive, the risk is actually pretty low.

The first time out, I went very gentle on the car and actually didn't get the level of correction I wanted, but I learned a lot about handling the polisher, when to swap out pads, applying the right amount of polish etc. The best part was the car still looked much better, so I felt successfull in the work performed. Each time since, my skills and knowledge has improved.

The Meguiars Ultimate polish recommended is a great starting point. It's pretty mild, easy to use, cheap, readily available in stores, and knocks out swirls with good results on soft paint. For me it was the "gateway polish" to exploring other polishes. Combine it with a mild to medium polishing pad and you should be able to safely remove swirls with pretty low risk to your vehicle. If you want to lessen the risk further, try an AIO product like 3D Speed, Griot's One Step Sealant, or others sold here. The abrasives will be a bit more mild and they add protection at the same time. The only negative is you can't put a coating over the top of them.

I'd also encurage you to watch some of Mike Phillips video's. I don't remember if he has one for beginners using a DA polisher, but just watch him demo just about any AIO or polish. He always uses the same technique when polishing out a surface. I'm sure there are other's who have done good video's, I just happened to learn from Mike's.

[SWETM]

You can practice with the polisher if going that way. My first polishing was on my Weber grill with Ultima Paint Prep Plus LOL. Then I got a scrap panel to practice on with both compound and polish. When polishing the first car I started at the flat bigger panels. And double masking taped all of that I thought could be a risk to pump in to or polishing over. Also left a good safety zone to the edges and such. Just make your time to get the job done. As even if you use a polisher it's time consuming to be doing. And think the time it takes to be doing it by hand. You can make it look good from a distance with hand polishing. But to do correction on an already nice paint is more of a challenge by hand. You can get very aggressive with hand polishing if wanted and also be polishing through the clearcoat if you are not thinking of what you are doing. So sometimes it's even more safe to use a polisher than polishing by hand. The ability to get an awesome finish is also better from a polisher and the right combo.

But understand it's scary in the beginning. A DA is a very safe to use when you follow the guidelines you get on a forum like this. Do a test with hand polishing a panel to your satisfaction and see how it works for you. A door or any side panel don't stand out so much. Then you get a feel of the labor you would be putting in and also how the results are. Just think of that it's as important to do test spots to see what you get and what combo that works on your paint. Meguiars Ultimate Compound and the polish I think works good to polishing by hand. And most polishes do work by hand too. When rotarys was the standard polisher it was scary. But with DAs and the developing in abrasive technology and have a knowledge about the basics it's very safe to use. And at first use least aggressive combo and make it shine is safer. Going after the deeper scratches with heavy compounding is when you need to be on the safe side and a paint thickness gauge is almost necessary to have to make it a little more safer. And a finishing polish and finishing pad does make your softer paint to be corrected more than a rock hard clearcoat.