About a month ago I got my car professionaly detailed and I know that they used an orbital buffer to do the job. When I picked it up, the car was gleaming all over, I was impressed. But after my 1st hand wash, I could tell that the paint had some light hazy swirls. They were only visible in direct sunlight, so I figured they were normal, but now I'm starting to regret the whole detail job.

Do I just have to deal with it, or is there something I could do? If I wash it and hand wax it, the car shines like glass. Maybe I'm being to ****, but I want my paint to look perfect, sun or no sun!

 

What happened is you washed all the wax off, that was on the paint from the detail. The wax will fill-in the swirls & make them non-visible untill it wears off. Using the soap hand washing it took most the wax off. Go to an auto parts store & buy an electric buffer (cheap kind) & two different stage Glazing compounds, & buff the car with those items. That will help or even fix the swirls for good.

 

Sounds like you got a cheap, cover up detail.

A cheap detail only covers or fills in the paints defects (swirls). A true machine polish detail puts a shine down that doesn't wash off. A true paint detail buffs the clear level & clean exposing the true shine of the paint. At that point the vehicle should be glazed or waxed to protect the finish.

Glaze doesn't repair swirls either, it only fills them in. If you buff the car with glaze you'll wind up at square one in a short time once again.

You need a true swirl mark remover to repair your finish, then glaze or wax it to protect it. I use Presta Swirl Mark Remover and a foam polishing pad @ 1500 - 2000 RPM's, it works excellent on black and produces a clean high gloss shine. Meguires makes a swirl free polish that works pretty good also.
Always use good, clean micro fiber cloths to polish the car or you'll swirl it back up again.

A true 3 step paint detail would have fixed your swirls and put a shine down on your car that would last quite a while.

The 3 step detail is:
1) Machine Compound - Cuts the clear and levels the surface.
2) Machine Polish - Removes swirl marks and produces a clean, clear shine.
3) Hand Wax or Glaze - Protects and adds more depth to the shine.

If your car's paint was detailed as above, it would shine for weeks.

 

These guys are probably correct that the detailer simply used a filler rather than actually removing the swirls, but you should also examine your own washing technique: Do you go through car washes? do you use the two bucket method? what soap do you use? what type of mit do you use?

If your anywhere near Ramsey NJ I'm sure njmaxseltd could hook you up.

 

Since owning this car (2nd owner), I have not gone through any car washes. I've hand washed my car with Blue Coral car wash and then dried the car (in the shade) with a shammy. Afterwards I've waxed with Meguiars (step 3) carnuba wax. The results are ALWAYS impressive, but it only lasts as long as the next rain storm.

What's in Ramsey, NJ? I wish a true professional could take a look at my paint and tell me what's wrong. My car looks 90% better than the other black cars on the street, but I know it has more potential.

BTW-I'd rather leave the electric buffers to the professionals. The last thing I want to do is burn the paint or do something else stupid. Like I said, my car looks good, but could look better.

 

i just got my car detailed yesterday. it rained this morning and i could still see the swirls i made with my rubbing compound that i had them take off. So i went and bought a mini electric buffer at auto zone for about 30 bucks and i practiced on some sheet metal i had. then used it on my car.. took the swirls right out.

 

Good job not going through car washes. Blue coral is a pretty no name brand. I've been using meguairs NXT and it seems pretty good. It gets good reviews as does megs gold class both of which will probably be the easiest decent washes to find. Get a sheepskin wash mit if you aren't using one already. You can find them at walmart...go through them and pick the softest one as they will vary being a natural product. Use two buckets (one to rinse the mit after every pass over the paint and one for soap. Do one panel at a time before going back to the buckets (and half the bigger panels...ie hood). wash top to bottom as the bottom panels are dirtier. Is a shammy the same as a chamois or whatever...I've heard those strip wax.

I'm not familiar with that wax, but a wax should last at least a month which it sounds like it isn't. What are you using to apply and remove?

The guy that posted right above my first post is a pro.

The only way you could hurt your paint with a random orbital buffer (porter cable 7336 or 7442...commonly known as a PC) is if you dropped it on the car. It does have it's limitations though.

 

Is that a rotory (there are some that can be had that cheap). I'm thinking what you got is basically a power waxer (not capable of polishing). You probably just filled the swirls. What polish did you use?

 

My bad, what I meant to say was to use Polishing Compound, then glaze it.

 

Yah those cheap polishers are basically good enough to put wax on. They definatly do not spin fast enough to remove swirls, you can do a better job by hand