Swirls/Holograms out Scratches in!

[Locutus]

I am frustrated as hell! I was working on a friend’s car, 07 335i Black. He had holograms and swirls bad. Now I know that black is hard to work with, but it left me feeling like I was doing something wrong. I got all the swirls and holograms out using M15/205 with yellow/orange pads. But after all the swirls and holograms were gone, there were just so many random angle scratches, it looked nothing like when others do a show and shine here. I only did the trunk, roof and hood, and it took most of the day. Any thoughts on what I was doing wrong or what I can do to get rid of the scratches?

[Mike Phillips]

Do you know if this car has been repainted?

Did any of these problems show up in your test spot?

I don't know off hand what the problem could be without seeing it first person but one thing for sure, paint manufactures sure seem to leave we the people that work on paint out of the equation when formulating coatings for manufactures.

Someone chided me the other day ago about liking to work on classic cars with single stage paint and one of the reasons I do like to work on classic cars with single stage paint is because it's real paint and usually not only easy to work on but kind of fun to work on, not like modern clear coat paints.

[Matt S.]

Are they straight line scratches, or is it a bunch of small tick marks / microscopic scratches in the finish? If it's Jet Black, the 09 and previous 335i's are notorious for having INSANELY soft paint. You might be experiencing micromarring and may need to finish with something like Menzerna PO85RD or 3M Ultrafine polish with a finishing pad.

[Dubbin1]

Could also be that all of those swirls and holos were hiding these scratches. Break the tools back out and start again Also stay away from the yellow pad this time.

[Mike Phillips]

But after all the swirls and holograms were gone, there were just so many random angle scratches,

IF these are small and tiny and cover all of the paint then this is micro-marring or hazing or tick marks, all the same name for the type of scratch sometimes instilled by a dual action polisher. It's the oscillating action and either the abrasives or the pad material and sometimes both inflicting the scratch.

If the scratches you're seeing are large, randomly placed scratches here or there, then it's likely they are RIDS and as stated, they didn't show up until AFTER you removed all the zillions of other defects surrounding them as these other more shallow defects were camouflaging them.


Tracers Tracers - RIDS - Pigtails - Cobweb Swirls - Rotary Buffer Swirls - Holograms - Water Spots - Bird Drooping Etchings - Micro-Marring



Or something completely different?

[Mike Phillips]

Better description here...

RIDS - The Definition of RIDS and the story behind the term...

[Locutus]

Could also be that all of those swirls and holos were hiding these scratches. Break the tools back out and start again Also stay away from the yellow pad this time.

......If the scratches you're seeing are large, randomly placed scratches here or there, then it's likely they are RIDS and as stated, they didn't show up until AFTER you removed all the zillions of other defects surrounding them as these other more shallow defects were camouflaging them.

After reading the description I am pretty sure they are RIDS! ! He is going to get me some pics today to post up. Really does suck though, almost as frustrating as the water spots on my paint.

[Indy YZF]

Don't you just love finding those after polishing? I did an Accord Coupe (black) and found some nasty scratches hiding under the swirls.