Pearl White Paint, How Do I See Swirls?

[68sting]

I have a CTSV with white diamond tri coat. I have yet to notice any swirls either. Seems to be a great color for hiding them.


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[Smitty4x4]

I had a similar experience when prepping my dad's pearl white Accord. They bought it new but it had been on the lot for almost year. The contamination was easy to see and remove. The swirls were a different story. While doing my test spots, I tried different lights and found an older Mag Lite with a warmer bulb worked best.

Here's the thing, I had my son holding the light while I was trying to find the swirls. When I laid on the garage floor trying to get the right angle to find them, my son said, "If you ever come across a random stranger laying in a gas station parking lot looking for swirls on grandpa's daily driver, I want to hear about that." It was then that I realized I was chasing a little too hard and if I did meet that guy, it would probably be somebody on this forum. 😆

I ended just hitting the entire vehicle with a polishing pad and Meg's UP to enhance the gloss and really make the pearl pop. Why remove clear coat from a DD if I have to struggle to find the reason for removing paint.

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[TMQ]

I had a similar experience when prepping my dad's pearl white Accord. They bought it new but it had been on the lot for almost year. The contamination was easy to see and remove. The swirls were a different story. While doing my test spots, I tried different lights and found an older Mag Lite with a warmer bulb worked best.

Here's the thing, I had my son holding the light while I was trying to find the swirls. When I laid on the garage floor trying to get the right angle to find them, my son said, "If you ever come across a random stranger laying in a gas station parking lot looking for swirls on grandpa's daily driver, I want to hear about that." It was then that I realized I was chasing a little too hard and if I did meet that guy, it would probably be somebody on this forum. ��



I ended just hitting the entire vehicle with a polishing pad and Meg's UP to enhance the gloss and really make the pearl pop. Why remove clear coat from a DD if I have to struggle to find the reason for removing paint.

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Bingo!!!

Very well said! Hats off to you!

Tom

[idriveblackcars]

I have a CTSV with white diamond tri coat. I have yet to notice any swirls either. Seems to be a great color for hiding them.


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You are missing the point though, hiding them doesn't mean swirl free.

OP wants to apply a semi permanent coating. All swirls must be removed.

[Paul A.]

My trick for inspecting white paint for scratches and swirls is to pull it into my garage and turn off all the lights. I then inspect the entire paint job with my inspection light. Sure enough, there they are!

My approach to full correction jobs is to flatten the paint as much as safely possible...regardless of color. Swirls and scratches in the paint are reflective gloss robbers. I will guarantee gloss, pop and shine if they are removed before locking it in with an LSP.

Having said that, I can clearly understand living with what is very difficult to see on your personal vehicle. It comes down to what you are happy with in regard to appearance.

[TMQ]

Sure the swirls are there. If one has to crawl around or to turn out lights, etc to find them, it is not worth the time nor the money to chase them down.

Simple act of claying by itself goes long way in flatting out the panels which in turn creates an improvement in gloss/shine. Plus polishing will
create an additional flatting out the panels with even more shine and pop in the paint. This is about as good as it can get for a regular DD!! This will
be far more than 90% of all cars on the road!!!

I'm with smitty4x4 on this...

Tom

[Mike Phillips]

Pearl White Paint, How Do I See Swirls?

I have a 2013 Infiniti JX35 and will have a 2017 F150 in Oxford white soon! I have been getting everything together to put a paint coating on both vehicles in the near future. I went out the other day to check the paint on the Infiniti and am having a really hard time seeing any amount of scratches. I have looked in the sun, under shop fluorescents, bright LED flash light etc.

Any tips?

The Infiniti is garage kept, we never have brought it to a car wash.

I am trying to figure this out so I can get the right DA pad etc. And tell if I am doing anything while correcting.

Maybe I don't need to compound, just a medium cut pad and a polish?

Thanks

Try inspecting in the dark.


Pull the car into your garage.
Turn out all of the lights.
Shine a real swirl finder light on the paint.

[Smitty4x4]

I forgot a small detail in my post. The garage was dark except for the light I was using to find swirls. It's a trick I learned here and it's now my go to for white and pearl colors. It works.

I also want to add, I'm not suggesting that paint correction shouldn't be done before the coating. I just feel there is a point of diminishing return. I need to stay sane somehow.

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[Eric@CherryOnTop]

Maybe I'm missing something. If you can't see the swirls then what's the problem? What are you looking for? My wife has a pearl white Mazda and I love it cos it's so easy to keep clean without having to worry about swirls.

[mudhog79]

I had a similar experience when prepping my dad's pearl white Accord. They bought it new but it had been on the lot for almost year. The contamination was easy to see and remove. The swirls were a different story. While doing my test spots, I tried different lights and found an older Mag Lite with a warmer bulb worked best.

Here's the thing, I had my son holding the light while I was trying to find the swirls. When I laid on the garage floor trying to get the right angle to find them, my son said, "If you ever come across a random stranger laying in a gas station parking lot looking for swirls on grandpa's daily driver, I want to hear about that." It was then that I realized I was chasing a little too hard and if I did meet that guy, it would probably be somebody on this forum. ��

I ended just hitting the entire vehicle with a polishing pad and Meg's UP to enhance the gloss and really make the pearl pop. Why remove clear coat from a DD if I have to struggle to find the reason for removing paint.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Autogeekonline mobile app

Yeah this is what i am thinking too, i can see some swirls but it isnt that bad. So i am thinking of just polishing the paint as well with a white pad. So with that in mind do i use a compound or just the polish with the white pad? Just trying to do what i can before coating as i dont want to redo it after i am done.