My Z is black and is covered in swirl marks. It looks like total crap. The swirl marks are under MANY layers of wax. I tried using my buffer, but I think the compound I was using is too fine. Would it be best to wet sand and buff the entire car(and if so any tips), or can I get away with using a fairly abrasive compound with the buffer. Overall the paint looks good, just covered with huge(and small) swirl marks. Looking at my car makes me want to right now.

 

My black paint is exactly the same bro. I think the use of the instant wax did it to me. Now when I wash it it barely looks clean any more, when the sun hits it you can see swirling everywhere. A good cut polish would help it, I think.

 

Yeah. I finally figured out how to use the search function last night since the site appearance was upgraded. I read a bunch of posts and decided to break out the buffer and try some of the 3M swirl mark remover, followed by finer grades of 3M rubbing compound and polish. If the swirl mark remover isn't coarse enough I don't know what I'm going to do. Hopefully it won't come to wetsanding, but it may. I'm going to try my hand at buffing the hood tonight and I'll post my findings.

 

3M SMR usually doesn't help. It's mostly fillers, not much polishing action. 3M Fine cut rubbing compound will remove them, and follow up with a finer polish to remove the hazing (SMR is at the bottom of the line as far as abrasives FYI).

 

what lengths are you willing to go ?? will you be applying by hand ?? or with a machine ?? if you want to make your paint look like new, i would look into a porter cable polisher and some menzerna products.

 

Thanks for the replys! You were right Cmr0z28, the SMR did nothing for the swirl marks but make them shiny. I have some fine cut and some medium cut rubbing compound. Should I start with the fine and then move to the medium if that doesn't work, or just start with the medium? There are a million coats of wax on top of the swirl marks, so I have feeling it'll take a pretty aggressive compound to cut through all that wax. I have unlimited time on my hands, so if it comes down to it I'm willing to wet-sand the entire car and re-clear my front bumper(cause it's trashed with bugs and half the clearcoat is missing). Hopefully the weather will be nice this afternoon so I can break out the aggressive stuff and have another go with this.

 

i would be careful with the compounds. if you want to rid your paint of the wax, wash your car with dawn. but do not make a habit of washing with dawn. i'd say pick up some megs # 9 swirl remover and try that.

 

if you go and buy # 9 get a clay bar too. paint prep is # 1.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to try a few things this week and see what I can do. I never knew that Dawn would remove wax. I've heard of people using it as a mild car wash on fresh paint, but never to remove wax. I'll have to buy some tonight and get to work. Thanks again.

 

Always start with the least abrasive solution first. No need to remove more paint than necessary...

Fine cut can remove 800-1000 grit sanding marks, so I think you'll be okay with that. Follow up with Meg's #9 or something similar to smooth it out and remove any marring caused by the compound. Getting through the layers of wax will not be a problem at all....the wax will wear instantly.

 

how about a PC and some menz