Swirls and Squirrels

[2black1s]

You all know Mike's saying, paraphrased that "many people can't tell a swirl from a squirrel". While all of us here and most everyone involved with detailing knows what a swirl is, the general public is not so well enlightened.

I find, more often than not, when trying to show a layperson swirls in a paint's finish, they are lost and can't even see what we all call swirls. I will then rephrase my description and call the swirls, "hairline scratches". Now there eyes light up and they say "Oh yeah, I see those".

This happened to me again this past weekend and is what prompted this thread today.

With that understanding in mind, whenever I'm evaluating a paint's finish for someone in the general public, I will use the term "hairline scratches" rather than "swirls". If I do use the term "swirl", I'll always supplement it with "and/or hairline scratches" and explain that they are one and the same.

Do any of you guys/gals employ, or have you considered, anything similar in your discussions with customers and/or marketing materials, websites, etc.?

[vobro]

I find the term defects effective also find the term road film has more an impact than just saying the paint has embedded dirt.

[Dr Oldz]

I use *spider webbing*

[Coatingsarecrack]

Took me a while to realize a paint correction and polish was fancy speak for a cut and a buff


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[JDGolden]

I use *spider webbing*

I don’t really have customers, just do my own vehicles and some family members vehicles, but “spider web scratches” does the trick.

[Mike Phillips]

You all know Mike's saying, paraphrased that "many people can't tell a swirl from a squirrel".

That's from an article and the article is from something I teach in my car detailing classes.

The difference between a swirl and squirrel





Of course, it helps to read the actual article to understand the context.

Do any of you guys/gals employ, or have you considered, anything similar in your discussions with customers and/or marketing materials, websites, etc.?

I use the word scratches or whatever it takes to educate the newbie to our world. Hairline scratches is good as long as they see the paint in good light.


I also make sure the person I'm talking to is standing in the right place.


How to inspect paint for swirls using overhead sunlight


Swirls and scratches are the most common consumer complaint when it comes to a car's appearance. If you're new to detailing, here's one simple method you can use to inspect a car's finish for swirls.


First you need a sunny day with bright overhead sunlight.

Then stand to the side of your car where you can see the sunlight reflecting off the hood. If there are any swirls they’ll show up.





As I look at the finish on this brand new Audi, I happy to see that there are NO SWIRLS. This is how a nice or new paint job should look in the sun.

NOTE: This car would NOT work for a demo car at a car show to show attendees how to remove swirls.







You cannot inspect for swirls with the sun at your back as this is the wrong position to see sun rays bouncing off the car's finish.






What do swirls look like?
If you have a car that’s a few years older than chances are there are swirls in the clearcoat paint, especially if the car has been taken through an automatic car wash. To show you what swirls would look like using overhead sunlight, here’s the hood of an older BMW I detailed. These are the before shots when I was inspecting the paint.











Swirls in Artificial Light
You can also use bright, overhead florescent lights. Here’s the same BMW in the above pictures in Autogeek’s Show Car Garage with overhead florescent lights shining down on the hood.



Using artificial light to inspect for swirls and scratches

You can also use overhead lights like florescent lights or swirl finder lights to inspect for swirls. Here you can see the damage inflicted to the paint at the dealership. Luckily it appears they only used a rotary buffer on the hood but their were still sratches in all the paint from being washed at the dealership.









BMW pictures taken from this thread...

2014 BMW 535i - Removing Dealership Holograms, Swirls and Scratches



Technique Tip
So basically, you need bright overhead sunlight, then stand on the side of the car's hood or trunk lid, (a surface you can look down on), in a way that when the sunlight is beaming down on the hood the light is being reflected back to you and your line of vision.

This works best on dark colored cars. You can use the sun to inspect for swirls and scratches on light colored cars you'll just need to look more intensely at the paint surface to see them.