Best scratch/swirl removal

[BFZ4M]

Originally Posted by NitroBiz

So today I went for it, I bought Griot's most aggressive compound with their micro-fiber pad and when that didn't get it done I tackled the bird poop with 3000 3M sandpaper and wet sanded the affected area. I think I got most of it out and removed but not completely. Other than wet-sanding it again, what would you recommend???

I would just compound out the sanding marks and then polish. It might not be perfect but it's risky to get too aggressive with it...definitely don't want to burn through the clearcoat and make it worse.

[NitroBiz]

Originally Posted by BFZ4M

I would just compound out the sanding marks and then polish. It might not be perfect but it's risky to get too aggressive with it...definitely don't want to burn through the clearcoat and make it worse.

Originally Posted by BFZ4M

I would just compound out the sanding marks and then polish. It might not be perfect but it's risky to get too aggressive with it...definitely don't want to burn through the clearcoat and make it worse.

Ya, I definitely don't want to do that!

[slowdown_dan]

To think about how deep that etching goes through the clearcoat try and visualize looking at it from a cutaway perspective. If the trough of those etchings goes RIGHT to the top of the basecoat the only way you'll be able to get it removed completely is to remove nearly all of the clear around it. You dont want to do that. Some scratches and etchings are permanent tattoos your car will wear for life. Once you spread a few layers of ceramic on top only you will know they still exist on the car, but go too deep with the correcting pad and burn the paint and now everyone will know the person who detailed the car done screwed up (you). Case in point, I have removed every single swirl and light cc scratch on my melbourne red e92 and what remains is probably less than 10 little cc nicks/scratches and 2 bird poop ethcings that wouldn't come out with what I consider a very thorough and slow correction process. These are only visible with your eyes 12" from the paint and letting a light roll over the surface. If I told any of you to find all of them without getting on your knees in the direct sun, you couldn't. Although I hate the phrase "good enough" the next stop is "sh*t I went too far".

I also don't think you have to do a 3 step polishing process. In a process that's already going to take a ton of time, using something like a Sonax Perfect Finish will combine at least the last two steps into one. Don't get brand loyal in this hobby. When I got started I was all in on brand x, but I've learned that every manufacturer has their strengths and so now my detailing cabinet is what I consider an all star roster, the best at each position.

[NitroBiz]

Originally Posted by butte2butte

To think about how deep that etching goes through the clearcoat try and visualize looking at it from a cutaway perspective. If the trough of those etchings goes RIGHT to the top of the basecoat the only way you'll be able to get it removed completely is to remove nearly all of the clear around it. You dont want to do that. Some scratches and etchings are permanent tattoos your car will wear for life. Once you spread a few layers of ceramic on top only you will know they still exist on the car, but go too deep with the correcting pad and burn the paint and now everyone will know the person who detailed the car done screwed up (you). Case in point, I have removed every single swirl and light cc scratch on my melbourne red e92 and what remains is probably less than 10 little cc nicks/scratches and 2 bird poop ethcings that wouldn't come out with what I consider a very thorough and slow correction process. These are only visible with your eyes 12" from the paint and letting a light roll over the surface. If I told any of you to find all of them without getting on your knees in the direct sun, you couldn't. Although I hate the phrase "good enough" the next stop is "sh*t I went too far".

I also don't think you have to do a 3 step polishing process. In a process that's already going to take a ton of time, using something like a Sonax Perfect Finish will combine at least the last two steps into one. Don't get brand loyal in this hobby. When I got started I was all in on brand x, but I've learned that every manufacturer has their strengths and so now my detailing cabinet is what I consider an all star roster, the best at each position.

So I'm sorry, you suggest giving Sonax for the heavy cut and polish?

[SoCalRPM]

Originally Posted by NitroBiz

So I'm sorry, you suggest giving Sonax for the heavy cut and polish?

I believe he's suggesting that instead of doing a cut compound phase in addition to a polish step, you can kill two birds with one stone by just using Sonax perfect finish.

This is a good one step process that should remove most of the imperfections in your paint without getting too aggressive and finish down to a nice polish all at once. It may not remove everything, but you may want to leave well enough alone after a while and be happy with 95% great paint.

[slowdown_dan]

That's right. You have a few options with Perfect Finish (PF). You can:

1) use it for both compound AND polishing with a finishing pad if the paint condition is decent (least amount of correction, 1 pad, 1 liquid abrasive)

2) You could also use the PF on a one step MF pad (lake country makes these, and the Uro white and black mf pads would also work here) but final level of polish might not be as high here (again 1 step, 1 pad, 1 abrasive) *This is for those who want an improved paint condition and are just going to apply a sealant or wax, i.e what I did to my wife's car because she doesn't really care about the last 10% and couldn't have it sitting in the garage for a full week of deep correction**

3) You can use PF on a MF cutting pad for the compound stage and then use it again on a finishing MF pad for the polishing phase (middle amount of correction, 2 steps, 2 different pads, 1 liquid abrasive). **I would probably start here unless the car was a garage queen all its life**

4) The most amount of correction in two steps (if you want to go this far) would be something like m205 or Cutmax from Sonax (love the cutmax, no dusting) on a mf cutting pad, and then follow it up with the Perfect Finish on a mf finishing pad. (two steps, two pads, two different levels of liquid abrasive)

In any of these "recipes" you have to decide the condition of your paint and what it would call for. As almost everyone else has stated, start with the lowest amount of cut and overall work involved and move up. Tape off an area maybe 1x1 that is representative of the overall average paint condition of the car. Since you know you're going to be running the PF as a final step in any of these recipes (at least I think you should) I would buy that and (2) MF cutting pads and (2) finishing pads. Work your way down my numbered list till you reach what looks acceptable to you. If you think you might need to go all the way to 4, just grab a 250ml bottle of the heavy cut solution of your choice at the time of order of the other things, just to have so you don't have to wait around for it if your test panel shows that Level 3 wasn't enough and you need to go up to that level 4. It's also always good to keep this in the cabinet in case you need to polish out an "oh sh*t" accident as most of the best heavy cuts will remove somewhere around 1500 grit sandpaper marring.

Level 5 is a wet sand, but lets not go there yet. Hit us up if you get through the car and think this is needed in spots.

In either case there is almost no situation where I think you would have to use 3 different liquid abrasives with the technology available today. It's not even about achieving a better result, it's just wasted time and money.

[NitroBiz]

So this happened when I couldn't just leave it be. The past two nights I've been using Griot's Complete Compound by hand and tonight I went out and bought Meguiars 105 and used my G9 with the white pad and within a few seconds I saw the spot. Is there anything I can do? Did I completely fuck up?

[slowdown_dan]

To my point in a previous post: "Although I hate the phrase "good enough" the next stop is "sh*t I went too far"."

Did you keep the polisher moving? It looks like heat transferred from the center of the pad on a static polisher right into the paint. There's really nothing you can do to FIX it. It's burned paint. Do an IPA wipe (I prefer Gyeon Prep) but whatever you have laying around and clean out any of the polish out of that spot and get something on it to protect it, because you're not going to be able to correct that area, really ever again. I don't want to rub it in, but there's a reason most people here have mentioned starting off easy and working your way up. Going from hand compound to a machine is a big step. Polishing by hand with a heavy cut compound vs machine polishing with a light cut = huge difference (with the machine doing alot more "work"), and it sounds like you jumped straight to machine polishing with a heavy cut compound. To be fair, if you keep the pad moving and the clear hasn't been corrected before these clears can typically stand up to a heavy cut with a heavy cut pad but then again every car's paint is different, especially when they are as old as they are now. How yours was treated in the last ten years vs mine or any others is the difference maker and is why pro detailers will tell you that correcting paint without a paint depth gauge is flying blind. I dont own one either, so I fly blind very carefully.

[NitroBiz]

Originally Posted by butte2butte

To my point in a previous post: "Although I hate the phrase "good enough" the next stop is "sh*t I went too far"."

Did you keep the polisher moving? It looks like heat transferred from the center of the pad on a static polisher right into the paint. There's really nothing you can do to FIX it. It's burned paint. Do an IPA wipe (I prefer Gyeon Prep) but whatever you have laying around and clean out any of the polish out of that spot and get something on it to protect it, because you're not going to be able to correct that area, really ever again. I don't want to rub it in, but there's a reason most people here have mentioned starting off easy and working your way up. Going from hand compound to a machine is a big step. Polishing by hand with a heavy cut compound vs machine polishing with a light cut = huge difference (with the machine doing alot more "work"), and it sounds like you jumped straight to machine polishing with a heavy cut compound. To be fair, if you keep the pad moving and the clear hasn't been corrected before these clears can typically stand up to a heavy cut with a heavy cut pad but then again every car's paint is different, especially when they are as old as they are now. How yours was treated in the last ten years vs mine or any others is the difference maker and is why pro detailers will tell you that correcting paint without a paint depth gauge is flying blind. I dont own one either, so I fly blind very carefully.

You are right. I went out and bought some heavy compound after the other compounds weren't getting it done and within a few seconds I saw the spot. I feel so discuss with myself right now.

[BayE30]

im suprised a white foam pad cut that hard. i think it was a combination of sanding, cutting, compounding by hand, and the fact that it was a damaged section from bird poop.


As others have said, now is the time to stop, and apply a ceramic coating to protect.

[NitroBiz]

Originally Posted by BayE30

im suprised a white foam pad cut that hard. i think it was a combination of sanding, cutting, compounding by hand, and the fact that it was a damaged section from bird poop.


As others have said, now is the time to stop, and apply a ceramic coating to protect.

Like Han Solo said....'I think you're right' LOL! Now I have to distract myself so I don't think about it.

[NitroBiz]

Originally Posted by riverbill

My go-to is Meguiar's Ultimate Polish which allowed me to remove paint transfer and fingernail scratches behind the door handle on my cars and most of my friend's neglected cars. If it needs to be stepped up, then Ultimate Compound is used but I've found that was rare for me.

A microfiber towel or a pad will do the job. Just remember to protect the paint afterward with a wax or sealant.

You can find decent ones here; https://carpassionate.com/best-car-scratch-remover/

What did you find is the best way to get the scratches behind the door handles?

[PYE46M3]

agree with many of the posts by butte2butte in this thread.... Sonax perfect finish is an excellent product (the DA version is EX 04-06). Use it with sonax yellow DA pad (has hole in the middle to cool the pad and avoid burning).... This will get about 75% of the imperfections out without overly thinning your clear coat. If you want something more aggressive, go with Sonax Cut and Finish on sonax yellow Pad to get more imperfections out. Sonax makes a super aggressive red pad that will cut much more than the yellow pad but I wouldn't use it on a newer car like this.

You can spend months chasing imperfections with various products, pads, sand paper. In the end, it really depends on how much you want to thin out your clear coat and how many residual imperfections you can live with. Personally, im a EX-04/06 kinda guy. Gets 75% of the imperfections out and I'll live with the rest of the flaws knowing that i still have some clear coat left. There's really no reason to chase every swirl mark on a 7+ year old car that will NEVER have perfect paint due to rock chips on almost every panel which are much more noticeable.

[omnimous]

Sonax Perfect Finish with Uro microfiber pad.

[Damage Inc]

Originally Posted by NitroBiz

How does the Sonax compare to Griot's Garage's products? I plan on buying a orbital polisher and they have a deal for $199 that includes the polisher, two of their products with pads.

BTW....thanks for the vid link!

I bought the same kit last night. The Griot's G9 swirl removal kit. I've been watching videos, too much "analysis paralysis". So as a first timer, figured follow the Griot's multi step process as a foundation for my first go around.

Its proven, tons of videos, and designed for a beginner. Don't get ahead of your ski's.

Then as I get more advanced I'll play around with different products.

I made the investment of $200 into my own tools. If I can learn myself, so much better then forking out $$$$ every time I need a paint polish or correction.

[GinTonic]

^Its a fantastic investment and with all the videos on youtube, I don't see a reason not to learn to do paint correction yourself. I think many people see it as tedious, like "I gotta use this DA on this car two times, plus apply a sealant". At least thats what I've gotten out of my friends who have seen my car before and after, and then asked me how long it took.

As far as products go, I have always been a Meguiars user not having used anything else. My local Autozone had Griots compound in the yellow bottle that I bought after I ran out of Megiuars M105. That was enough for me to completely switch over to Griots products and their BOSS system. For me the working time of Griots is far better and less dusting than Megs.