The best thing to do to keep swirls to a minimum is to learn good washing habits. Washing and drying your car is where the vast majority of light scratches and swirl marks originate from. Read the thread stickied at the top from Picus, it has a wealth of knowledge in it.

 

Here's my process:

1) Mix liberal amount of Sonus Car Shampoo into very large bucket with hot water.
2) Fill second bucket with just clean hot water
3) Rinse down car with MIST of water (almost no pressure). Let it soak for a few minutes, repeat.
4) Use Sonus Der Wonder Mitt and dip in large bucket with soap.
5) Lightly wash 1/4 of each panel at a time.
6) After doing 1/4 panel, rinse heartily in 2nd bucket, return to first bucket, etc, etc.
7) rinse, repeat 2-3 times for whole car. (I never try to take off all the dirt with one wipe. The key is to rinse VERY gently)
8) I use a leafblower to dry the car without physically touching it.

I also keep a sharp eye on the mitt for any visible dirt and rinse immediately as well as switch to the other side of the mitt immediately.

For wheels/tires, I use a sponge and a detailing brush. My mitt only touches paint and glass.

Hope this helps. It's worked well for me so far (well, until today when I broke my own rule and went to a machine wash place, but that's another story).

 

lol, can't help but chuckle when imagining myself using a leafblower on my car. that's not a bad idea though...although i'd rather use deionized water.

 

leafblower works really well....