An experimantal weekend

[JOM]

An experimental weekend

Now my SLK has come back from have a few small dints removed I plan to have a weekend of experimenting.

I want to try to fnid the best product for covering up the swirl mark in the black paint of my car.

So far to test I have

Meguiars Scratch X
Back colour restore polish
Mer
Meguiars cleaner wax

tonight plan to spend some Halfrauds vouchers on zymol and new buffing cloths.

Can anybody recommend anything else that is easy to get hold of?

Will wash the car, and polish different areas with each product to see which is the best.

The aim is best overall covering of swirls and finish

Will let you know the results

 

[Sp!ke]

tonight plan to spend some Halfrauds vouchers on zymol and new buffing cloths.

I can tell you that you cant buy the proper Zymol at Halfords plus the microfibre cloths are smaller and more expensive than in your local supermarket.

 

[JOM]

Sp!ke, knew about not being proper Zymol but want to give it a go.

 

[jimmy]

ScratchX will remove the swirls the best but is fairly hard work by hand and will only remove light swirls. Black coloured wax will have the best immediate effect but is fairly short lived.

Mer will not be very good on a dark colour, best to use a paint cleaner or true polish to feed the paint before waxing, this seems to help 'fill' the swirls.

 

[uumode]

With a polisher

BEFORE

AFTER

and

BEFORE

AFTER

and

BEFORE
http://www.bettercarcare.com/imageview.php?imageId=92

AFTER
http://www.bettercarcare.com/imageview.php?imageId=87

From this article
http://autopia-carcare.com/inf-pc7424.html

 

[JOM]

Going to try combinations of products to determine what produced the best result.

Not sure about using an electric Polisher, might see about investing in one.

 

[pipehose]

Not sure about using an electric Polisher, might see about investing in one.[/QUOTE]

just watch when using electric polisher its easy to go through paint work to primer. espically on raised lines of body work

 

[Pietre]

Orbital Polisher

Are you going to use the polisher on your pocket rocket (GSX-R), I am debating the Meguiars cordless kit to do my E280 and my BMW K1200GT (the Remus on the K12 wont stay shiney), but its expensive and dont know if I can justify that expense. Any issues anyone knows of with using a cordless buffer (it comes with spare battery).

 

[uumode]

Are you going to use the polisher on your pocket rocket (GSX-R), I am debating the Meguiars cordless kit to do my E280 and my BMW K1200GT (the Remus on the K12 wont stay shiney), but its expensive and dont know if I can justify that expense. Any issues anyone knows of with using a cordless buffer (it comes with spare battery).

I've never used one (yet) as my cars have been swirl free, but if I were to use one, I'd test it out on some old banger (if you have one).. I'm sure a neighbour who has an old banger would thrill to the offer of having their car polished - it's gotta be better than the faded and jaded paintwork they already have

Lots of abandoned cars too.. and with battery power..
no mains needed either

 

[Goldfish11]

Lots of this thread is overlapping with the stuff discussed on the "Power Polishing" thread with the sticky.

If you are thinking about investing in a polisher do check this out there are a few users now.

 

[Ian B Walker]

Having seen with my own eyes the restults Goldfish11 has obtained and the demonstration at our last GTG I would seriously seek advice from him. Swirl free and so shiny makes your eyes bleed

 

[Pietre]

Great stuff, can forget the cordless jobby from Meguiars, just been tod my mate is going stateside on Monday so he is going to bring a Porter back for me. i noticed on the Autopia site that there are two types. Which is the best? he is using a large suitcase so i can take advantage.

 

[GregE240]

From my own experience:

A few years ago my missus owned a black MX-5. Lovely looker in black, but the swirl marks drove me insane. Having read Koolvins write up of Zymol on here I decided to invest in a Starter Kit, and read the instructions very carefully. After shampooing and drying the car I used the HD-Cleanse product, which it says to use in straight lines along the length of the car. Having done this and then waxing the paintwork it was then swirl mark free.

IMHO you MUST be careful of using some sort of electric buffer because if it picks up even the tiniest bit of grit, all your hard work will be undone. So if you are going to invest, then handle with care!

Alternatively, silver paintwork doesn't show swirls. Bit of an expensive solution though!

ATB,
Greg

 

[pammy]

Alternatively, silver paintwork doesn't show swirls. Bit of an expensive solution though!

Greg

but a great one

Having had the Diamondbrite reapplied to my motor - it looks so much better - clearly wasn't done or not done properly before. Rain beads beautifully on it now. There's nothing like the look of a well cared for car - gleaming paintwork does so much to enhance the overall appearance - so well worth taking time and money over.

 

[JOM]

After 2 hrs of testing 5 different products I have to conclude the following.

Megiuars cleaning wax - 7/10 Produces good finish but takes a lot of buffing and produces lots of white dust.

Turtle wax metallic wax - 6/10 average results

Mer - 3/10 looked like somebody had fish and chip paper on car, horrible greasy finish.

Colour restore polish - 7/10 does cover up some marks but not all swirls. Esay to appy and buff off.

Zymol - 9/10 Easily the best result. When compared to the others in the light, it is only one that did not have a blue sheen. Covered some swirls, think further applications would improve the rest. Made the depth of the paint appear greater. Also smells nice.

Zymol will be the one I use in the future, will have to try to save up for a full kit.

 

[JOM]

Which Zymol.

With the result from Saturday fresh in my head I am looking to purchase some Zymol.

Can anybody recommend which is the best of black car?

I also remeber reading a post about a block rubbed length ways along the car to help cover swirl marks. What was this?

Cheers James

 

[Sp!ke]

Zymol Carbon (about £40) is the most sensibly priced 'proper' zymol for a black car. Depends how deep your pockets are really

As for the Bar? sounds like you are talking about a clay bar which is for removing ingrained dirt rather than swirl. Meguires do a dedicated swirl remover.

 

[fgaffney]

One you've missed out that I've used in the past for swirl marks is Finesse It by 3M. I once owned a dark blue car that had been car washed 'squint' by the previous owner leaving terrible swirl marks down the one side. Finesse It did the trick for me and is also excellent for light scratches and other paint damage.