You cannot win!

[l5foye]

Having foolishly bought a black car with Supaguard, I had problems with swirl marks even though it was washed with a sheepskin mitt. I then spent ages getting rid of these marks, followed by polishing and waxing the car. The next problem was water marks (after using Zymol shampoo). These were cured by using Meguiriar's Gold Class shampoo and drying with a microfibre clothe. What happens- all the swirls marks are back again. I now see why an elderly neighbour used to ask me - do I own the car or does it own me?
Do you think MB would do a matt paint finish as a no-cost option?

 

[uumode]

Swirl marks can be caused by over enthusiastic application of certain waxes or polishes which require in turn enthusiastic buffing to polish off the excess wax/polish which unfortunately is very visible on black.

Autoglym resin polish seemed to work OK for my black car. But the application of Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection was a pain in the rear, it smeared most places and required copious amounts of buffing and cotton cloth to produce a streak free finish.

Sometimes you will find a certain polish has a certain 'reaction' with another previously applied polish.

I now use the same stuff from the same manufacturer, and I don't notice it on my silver cars

Dust is also very visible with black.

 

[pammy]

when you wash n wax, do you use a cirular motion with your mitt or straight side to side - if it's the former - that will help give you swirls.

 

[Dieselman]

Try waxing the car by adding the wax to some water in a bucket. This will give a very thin layer of wax so shouldn't look milky or swirly.

 

[glojo]

There are good reports from a number of owners of new Mercedes-Benz that have the new nano paint technology. (No doubt someone will say they have the new paint with 'swirls')

Might be cheaper though to either put up with them or perhaps just not wash the car

Good luck with the car,
nano, nano
John

 

[l5foye]

Thank you all. Yes, Pammy, side to side strokes for me- as per text book. The adding of wax to a bucket of water is a new one and I will certainly give it a try if I ever decide to wash the car again. The really annoying thing is that a friend who has one of the E300 rust buckets and who uses the neglect principle when it comes to the exterior, has a car which is really shining (between the rusty bits). I should maybe mention it is ..... silver colour! For the present, I think I will stick to washing the glass, lights and number plates ie the legal minimum.

 

[Gunny]

waxing

I know this will sound really naf - but when we bought the CLK, It had swirls in the paint - Auto glym wouldnt touch them, so against my better judgement I bought a bottle of - wait for it - turtlewax 'COLOUR MAGIC' in green
( as the car is this colour).

Stop throwing things at your computer screen in disbelief that some one would do this on a Mercedes. ( cant wait for the replies)

After 2 applications of c/m & a final waxing of auto glym the swirls have finally subsided 'not gone all togther' but much less noticable.

I think the colour magic has cutting compound added to help things along, then the coloured wax seems to mask the swirls.


Gunny

 

[peterchurch]

Try waxing the car by adding the wax to some water in a bucket. This will give a very thin layer of wax so shouldn't look milky or swirly.

mer works very well with this but it is a bit harsh (too many chermicals etc)