a bird $hit left a mark on the paint....
at certain angles, the mark is visible and you could feel it.
what should i do......

forgot to say "thanks"

thanks,
chiggarmax

 

How long did you leave the bird bomb on the paint?

 

about 1.5 week, but it was discovered 2 months ago and didnot saw the etch until last week when i SEPC and s100 the whole car.

chiggarmax

 

Start from the very beginning of detailing. Wash, clay bar, swirl mark remover (like Meguiars #9). Then a pure polish and coat of quality wax. If it takes more than this, it may need wet sanded, which I've never had to do. As for the SMR and polish, a machine (like Porter Cable Random Orbital) would improve the results and speed up the process. If only doing that section, try to blend it in so you don't have a very clean, detailed spot.

Dave

 

If a mild polish like a swirl remover or scratch remover doesn't help it, stop and switch to a stronger product like a fine cut cleaner/compound by 3M or Meguiar's. If the first product isn't effective, don't bother going all the way to glaze and wax because they won't help that much. You will have to make it perfect looking before those steps. If you really work it in, one of these will hopefully fix it and working at it by hand in that one spot can be more effective than using a DA like the Porter Cable. Do NOT skip to wetsanding too soon - that is your last resort. Good luck.

 

i am confused..........
what is the difference between swirl remover/scratch remover and polish? please explain!

if possible list the product name: which one would you recommend, if working at it by hand....
Swirl remover:
3M SMR
Meg #9

Polish:
??

thanks,
chiggarmax

 

Swirl remover is a mild abrasive and is one of the milder products you can use. Scratch removers are designed to be a bit stronger. It's all just labelling for different products intended for different jobs. Swirl remover is a bit misleading though, because it won't take out very bad (or moderately bad) swirls.

"Polish" is a horribly confusing and widely misused word. I hate it. It's been used to describe pretty much everything: wax/sealant (Zaino show car "polish" for example), glaze, and real abrasive products. You have to watch what people mean when they say polish. Some companies like Meguiar's likes to use the word polish to mean filling agents and/or glaze. I believe this is the definition Dave Holmes is using. Read any bottle of Megs #7 showcar glaze or the Step 2 in their retail 3-step system and you'll see this.

Personally I like to get closer to the dictionary definition and how the majority of people think of the word "polish" and reserve it to describe any product that uses abrasives (except waxes). Glaze is often non-abrasive BTW. I just think it's less misleading that way.

 

Polish means abrasive and if they label it polish and it's not abrasive then they are wrong, period. This is why I don't like Zaino: they purposefully mislabel their products and just generally give people a big load of bull****. Maybe their products work ok in the end, but I would never use a product that misleads people like this. After I saw this I was even more skeptical. If their prioducts work for people, great, but I would never do business with a company who misleads and dodges questions like that.

Meguairs labels their products properly. If it says polish, it's polish. The only grey area that is legit and a lot of manufacturers get into is whether glaze has abrasives or not. Some glazes do, other glazes just contain fillers.

For the bird $hit...I would strip the wax, maybe clay, try a light polish/swirl remover. If that doesn't work then use something like Meguiars DACP or another heavier polish. You should be able to get anything out as long as the product is abrasive...just keep working on it...doing it once is not working on it. Do it over and over again until it comes out. If you don't have any luck then you can start thinking about using a wool pad or something like that to make the polish cut better. It will come out with enough work.

 

Hmm I've got to disagree with some of this. I've spoken to someone in the industry and they explained that some products are simply named a "polish" because its a synthetic product that is not technically a wax. He also admitted this wasn't perfect but he did't have a say in that. It's a pretty common thing to do and you basically end up just having to find out on your own. Despite its name, Zaino really is not abrasive, which is both a good thing, and one of its shortcomings. On one hand it means you can apply multiple layers of it, but on the other hand it also means that it can't correct any problems, no matter how many times you use Z5. I remember Mr.Heumann's review, and while it was very thorough and well done (like all his tests) many other users still prefer to use Zaino for various reasons. Also remember that any appearance differences between products on a car as well prepared as his will be minimal. I don't use it myself, but there are simply too many testimonials by very experienced hobbyists to think that Zaino is simply all hype. Zaino isn't alone in being misleading or confusing in its marketing either. When was the last time you talked to Meguiar's so-called "Tech Support"?

Meguiar's does not label their things properly! In fact, they're one of the culprits. In Meguiarsese, polish tends to mean fillers/oils, while they call abrasive ingredients "cleaners" (of all things!). For example: In the step 2 of Meguiar's retail Deep Crystal system, the product is called Polish. In the Meguiar's Pro (Mirror Glaze) line they describe #7 Show Car Glaze as being a "pure polish" on the back. Both of these products are non-abrasive and meant to be used after an abrasive product as a finishing step prior to wax. In the case of their #2 Fine Cut Cleaner (and #1 and #3), they're confusing names because they are what most people would call "compounds" instead. They don't have the job of cleaning in the way that people think of the word "cleaning". Since DACP has been mentioned, it mentions combining abrasive "cleaners" and a pure "polish" on the back. This is referring to the fact that it is an abrasive product with fillers.

I believe the term "glaze" in the industry actually refers to any product, abrasive or not, that is bodyshop-safe or something (I'm not 100% sure on this though). 3M's swirl remover is an example of this (its full name includes the word glaze). For simplicity's sake I like to reserve the word "glaze" for just the non-abrasive products and call any of the abrasive products polishes. It's not going to match the names of some stuff, but I feel it conveys the intent better this way.

 

I found that dishwashing liquid works well to deep clean your paint. I know its pretty bad for the car but once in a while cant really hurt as long as you wax the car afterwards.

 

I'm not sure I agree with the rest of your post, but you may know more than me. Are you positive that those meguiars products you mention are totally non-abrasive? As you mention with DACP, it is possible and common to combine fillers and abrasives...

Glaze usually refers to products that are primarily fillers but may contain some abrasives. I have Omega glaze that says it's totally non-abrasive, and I ahve some 23m glaze that I think has some mild abrasives in it.

One thing I agree on, on second thought, is that there are companies that give misleading information especially when it comes to "removing swirl marks" other than Zaino. However, I see Zaino as being especially sheisty about it. They have their own labeling system which just further confuses the situation. At least with other products you see glaze or polish then can usually tell by reading the description that they are either abrasive or just fillers. Zaino came up with their own retarded method of refferring to things to further mislead people. I dunno, maybe I'm just biased.