can swirls/scratches just all of a sudden appear?

i jus noticed my car has swirls and light scratches today (been in the garage since sunday)...i haven't washed the car but it did get rained on twice last wkend...it didn't have swirls or scratches when i picked up the car 2wks ago

 

My guess is that you had the swirls from the dealership and you didn't notice them. Swirls and light scratches can easily be missed in certain lighting conditions. That's why detailers always check their work in direct sunlight or a halogen lamp.

 

I dont have any yet... a nice wax will cover it up.

 

just washed my car today...but have some water spots on it...should i get the water spots out before polishing the car? or is it ok to polish the car with the spots on it? will polishing the car take the spots out?

going to buff the poorboy's polish on and off with the pc

 

Take it off! Take it all off!

Don't let the water spots harden, it's basically the minerals like calcium and other metals found in water. If it hasn't hardened, I'm not sure if you can just polish it out. To play it safe, remove them first because you're just going to rub that residue into your paint.

This bugs me, but sometimes people turn on their lawn hose too close to the street so a drive-by can leave water drops that can become baked-on / hardened water spots if left unnoticed. In those cases, I heard that distilled white vinegar can be used to loosen these spots.

I'm no expert so hopefully someone else can chime in as well.

 

Distilled white vinegar works if the water spots haven't etched into the clear coat yet. Once it has etched, the vinegar will just ensure that there are no remaining deposits on the surface, but you will have to resort to polishing for the etching marks. I keep some distilled white vinegar in a 22oz spray bottle as it has other uses for detailing as well.

Try the vinegar first, if that doesn't do the trick then start polishing. You always want to start with the least aggressive solution to get the job done and work to more aggressive steps as needed.

If you have any questions, let us know.

George

 

thanks! read somewhere about using vinegar as well...gonna give it a try

 

Yep what Detailed Image said about vinegar... that normally works like a charm.

I didn't have any swirl marks on mine from the dealer but I have a bottle of Menzernas polish and some Zaino Z5 in case the swirls appear in the future.

 

=(

just did the vinegar trick and it worked..well on most water spots....but man there's already soooo many scratches/swirls...i'm guessing they were there when i got the car from the dealer but didn't notice it.

I do have poorboy's SSR 2 and professional polish...guess i'll have to do a really good polishing job on it...i'll be putting the PC to work

anyone know the recommended speed while using the pc?
for applying polish and buffing it out?

 

When polishing to remove imperfections you want to use speed setting 5 or 6. I personally use 5 and resort to 6 only if needed. You want to make sure you are applying decent amount of pressure for your first sets of passes, not so much that you bog down the buffer but 5 - 15 lbs in addition to the weight of the buffer. I suggest passing over each part of the 18" x 18" area at least 6 times, while overlapping each pass by 50%. For your last couple of passes, use less pressure. Remove the product with a quality microfiber towel by hand after it has been fully broken down.

Click here for a video reference on using the PC 7424 or view our polishing guide.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

George

 

btw, wats a good way to clean ur pads?