What is your swirl mark tolerance level?

[Klasse Act]

I have the blue circle shaped microfiber applicator pad. Would that be preferable to the foam in this instance?

It's perfect

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[Coatingsarecrack]

I recently applied Opti-Seal using a foam applicator pad using a circular motion to dry paint. It was a bit grabby going on, but required no buffing. Simple. Looked great. I washed my car tonight and noticed some faint swirl marks on hood. The kind you need to see under good light at certain angles.

I have little experience polishing other than using P21s by hand, which worked pretty well in the past. In a situation like this, do you polish or let it go? I know at some point swirl marks seem almost inevitable.

Have you trued hyper seal yet?


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[Prange]

As time goes by, I'm less concerned with swirls than I am with conserving the overall paint thickness. I'm done "swirl-chasing", especially on daily drivers.

[CleanIT]

Have you trued hyper seal yet?


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Not yet. Probably late fall/winter.

[Azure]

I used to bust my hump trying to keep two of my rides looking just like I finished polishing them. Not anymore lol. I found out how many different ways your paint can be affected by the simplest of tasks that are out of your control that I've given up chasing "perfection". I'm thankful that I've never had an obsession with having perfect paint, so it only took a year of chasing to change my mind.

[glen e]

I’ve written this before , but my life became immeasurably easier once I realized that I was the only one that sometimes could see these imperfections. So I instituted what I call the “wife Test”. My wife knows how to look at a car, and occasionally when I finish with a certain section or an entire car I’ll ask her to come out and look at it. If she says it looks good, I stop. She doesn’t get out a swirl light, or get 6 inches from the pain and look a certain way, she just stands back and looks at it. If she gives me the thumbs up, I’m done. I’ve realized over a period of years that swirls are my white whale, not anybody else’s.

[Bill D]

I work from home and my cars don't see many miles. They are secure in the garage. That coupled with my crazy wash technique when I do even wash them, I just don't have swirls. My polishers collect dust. Id have to buy a new light polish if I ever spotted any swirls because all the polishes that I have are old technology.

[Eric7810]

I’ve written this before , but my life became immeasurably easier once I realized that I was the only one that sometimes could see these imperfections. So I instituted what I call the “wife Test”. My wife knows how to look at a car, and occasionally when I finish with a certain section or an entire car I’ll ask her to come out and look at it. If she says it looks good, I stop. She doesn’t get out a swirl light, or get 6 inches from the pain and look a certain way, she just stands back and looks at it. If she gives me the thumbs up, I’m done. I’ve realized over a period of years that swirls are my white whale, not anybody else’s.

Best comment on auto geek.


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[dlc95]

That's a good question.

I can live with any incidental wash marring that may occur. The damage inflicted by a tunnel wash with cloth brushes would bother me.

The only reason I polish cars is because I really enjoy doing it. If I didn't like it, to the car wash we go.

Maybe take your P21S, and do half a hood. If you like the improvement go around the rest of the car and apply the Opti-Seal. If not, reapply OS to the area you polished, and call it a day.

[UncleDavy]

Swirl marks are offensive but not as offensive as tar, bug splats, bird droppings, tree sap, mud splashes, pollen or road salt.