just a thought i'm trying to figure out. my gf's car gets washed by this local place and they do a decent job for the price, its all hand wash and well it never leaves swirly marks.

She goes and washes it herself today and swirly marks shows up. I think its the drying steps that causes it. She used microfiber towels to dry and well it didn't cut it i guess. It looks like a mess. I noticed the local place has terry towels or just bath towels.

 

dont clean your car in direct sunlight. the heat from the sun dries out the water on the paint, and you see the marks.

i use a chipstick of a dark colour, its made from something oily and closes deep scratches, then a coat of scratch remover wax, and then turtle wax buffed.

no marks and protects the crappy nissan paint, or whats left of it...

 

Swirls marks are nothing more than micro scratches in the paint (usually associated with clear coats moreso than single stage as it is more visable).

To get rid of swirls marks, means you have to buff down to the base of the scratch. This usually involves the use of a buffer of some sorts.

I would be willing to bet that the cause of the swirls is probably due to her washiing technique. Not using a 2 bucket method or a foam gun will do this as well as not using the right wash mit/spounge or whatever. Learn the proper way to wash your car, and you will severly reduce the chances of scratching.

Actually the use of Microfiber towels will REDUCE the chances of swirling over the use of terry cloth or bath towels. Bath towels are one of the worst things you can use to dry your paint. Terry cloth is good, but microfiber is better. There are many different ways to dry your paint to reduce swirling, such as the use of a waffle weave, water blade, sheeting water off, filtering the water of mineral deposites, chamy, the absorber. Each requires a completly differnt method of drying, and you can find tutorials on youtube on how to do it.

Auto Geek has some great how to guides that you may find helpful!
http://www.autogeek.net/detailingtips.html

Hope that helps

 

That's a really good site. I personally prefer the chamy for drying - you just got to watch out for bits of dirt missed during wash. . . always wear your glasses - lol

 

i thought the right way was to take the car on a hwy and hit ur top speed limiter (if u got one) ;-)

 

use double bucket method. did she just use one bucket of soap?

get a bucket of clean water, and a bucket of your soapy mix. after you wash a section of your car, dunk the wash mit or whatever you're using into the bucket of clean water and shake it around to get the loose dirt off. then go back to your soap mix and continue washing the car. if you just use one bucket, some of the dirt and stuff still clings on to the mit/cloth, and it can put swirls on your clear coat.

pour out and refill the 'wash' bucket from time to time. you'll be amazed how much dirt and stuff will come off the mit.

 

i used to do that with my last car whos paint was royally screwed since day 1

 

ure kidding, my car's paint is -- well , fubared, and yet i find that wax is my best friend

 

Car washer places put those scratches (swirls) on my car I am sure of it. When i bought nothing was wrong with it then I noticed after a while they were appearing. Im fairly certain it was because I was taking it to the delta sonic to get it washed like once sometimes twice a week cause you get a free one with every purchase. I suggest washing your car ur slef that way you can choose your cloths carefully

 

Except in the damn upstate winters, then a carwash is a must to get the salt off the underbody and fender wells. You know exactly what I am talking about I am sure. January is not a fun month to wash your car...right?

 

Bufflomike this is VERY VERYTRUE, yea its a lose lose situation especailly in upstate ny. Man we had a bad past winter too lol.

 

Started in October, ended in April...brutal. Lost two trees, power for 6 days, great fun.