My swirl removal attempt/mini detail

[Gary172cup]

Having owned my cup for over 18 months and 16,000 miles,i thought it was time i put some proper effort into the poor condition paint work.
i have always kept the body work as in best condition as possible with regular washing srp,agp and waxing,but up until recent months i just felt it was looking dull and lacking somthing.
The previous owner looked after the car but im guessing it had regular trips to the car wash and brush wash at petrol stations as the swirl marks and scratches were really bad.
So i aquired a silverline machine polisher for a good price,various pads,some megs scratch and swirl remover and some new microfibre cloths.
i'm a complete novice when it comes to this and have only used a polisher once in the past(so go easy lol),i did some reading up on here and dw and as i had a spare day today i gave it a bash.

Washed car
towel dried
clayed
masked off some parts
each pannel first pass megs scratch x second pass with srp and finishing pad
wahsed car again 2 bucket method
clayed
sealed with agp
megs liquid wax
all trims and tryes dressed ect ect

All in i would say that 90-95% of the swirls and scratches have gone and the paint work looks so much better and deeper,im absolutly thrilled with the results and supprised myself at how well it has come up,like i say im no expert at detailing but can see me really getting into it as i had a great day up the garage and without been disturbed .i took a few pics through the process with my camera i should have took more but kept on forgetting,some shots dont do the car or paint any favours but who cares i want to show off my efforts(the roof is my favorite pannel as it was the worst) :approve:.comments critisism and tips welcome.gaz

 

[Waitey]

Great results. How much scratch x did you use. I may have to attack the Z3M with it...

 

[Gary172cup]

Thanks i'd say 3/4 of a tube as the roof took some doing was a mare,pretty good stuff im quite impressed with it.

 

[JD]

Looks superb, lovely car and colour combination, even liking the ph1 wheels.

Was this hand application then?

 

[Ali]

Scratchx....brave boy! Results look good tho!

 

[Gary172cup]

Looks superb, lovely car and colour combination, even liking the ph1 wheels.

Was this hand application then?

Thanks,the scratch x and srp was done by machine but the agp and the megs liquid wax was done by hand.

 

[RichCup]

Scratchx....brave boy! Results look good tho!

Was gunna say! Every time I've used it the paints ended up looking worse!

Car looks really nice mate, great finish (mondial is the best colour too )

Maybe when you've got a bit more conifidence with the machine you could try some polishes designed for machine use? Would help to remove the swirls more as SRP will have masked a few.

 

[JD]

Very nice Gary. Ali is correct though, with the Scratch X, do be very careful with that stuff. God send for hand application on scratches, but machined in it can really do some damage to paint depth.

Looks superb, however, as I have said.

 

[Ali]

What people don't consider is that Up'in the pad aggression is fine. Compounding pad is safe on any paint. It's the Polish that causes the damage, granted your using a rotary but if you don't break down the product enough the micromaring you'll inflict is going to be 10x worse than surface swirls!

I'm quite surprised scratch X gave you that finish esp with only SRP to refine!

Tips hats tho, looks great as said above mondial is the best RS colour (Along with illiad)

 

[JD]

It is a common misconception.

 

[Gary172cup]

Thanks guys i will take that on board.i was pretty gentle on the car and didnt use to much pressure if thats a good thing ? could you reccomend anything that would be good for a beginner as myself ? there are so many products out there it has me baffeled.somthing to correct and somting to finish ? i love the colour again now its sparkling.

 

[Ali]

Gary, You won't/shouldn't need to polish it again for a year. All you need is a finishin pad and a final finish polish. (101 on the market) I love Swissvax cleaner fluid. But some don't.

 

[Gary172cup]

Thats good as its a farily messy procedure,once a year sounds good to me,i will look into the swissvax is that avalible from i4detail ? like i say im clueless.

 

[Ali]

From Swissvax direct mate. They stopped using dealers!

 

[Gary172cup]

Thanks muchly !

 

[bark]

Gary looks mint!

Was impressed with the pic you text me, anyways you fancy doing mine?

Or am I going to need to sweet talk JD like Needster suggested?

 

[JD]

I accept bribes . . .

Ali, hadn't realised that Swissvax had stopped using dealers all together? I had thought it had just been controlled a little bit more.

 

[Needster]

FLOL at sweet talk.

Looking good Gary. It's amazing how they really come up after a little love.

 

[Paul.]

good stuff

 

[Gary172cup]

Gary looks mint!

Was impressed with the pic you text me, anyways you fancy doing mine?

Or am I going to need to sweet talk JD like Needster suggested?

I would have a go my friend no probs,be moving into the new pad soon once im in could sort somthing out make a day of it few pics ect.

 

[BigErn]

Looks good in the pics Gaz. Ill have to have a butchers at the weekend. Ill leave you the Cossie one day and you can crack on with that, save me a job. Ha ha.

 

[Gary172cup]

 

[bark]

You got a decent camera as well like Gaz?

 

[Gary172cup]

You got a decent camera as well like Gaz?

not really mate the bead shots were done on my phone i have a fuji camera that i normally use puts out half decent shots most of the time for what i payed for it cant complain:approve:

 

[Badger_GT]

Does this process take off the lacquer?

 

[oz_clio]

not by hand no, youd have to be wielding the rotary like a maniac to start burning through but its technically possible with the machine.

Gary: Cup looks hawt on those wheels!