removing minor scratching/swirling

[williams-ant]

My car has minor scratching from previous washing and was wondering what is the best way to get rid? I was hoping to give my car a good polish this weekend and have struggled in the past to get the results I was hoping for!

 

[Rich]

Working by hand, Meguiars Scratch X and some eldow grease should be enough to fix minor marks, though it will mean some hard work,even on monor paint defects.

Use a folded tery towel rather than foam hand applicators to make things easier. Allows the polish to get more bite and you to get more even pressure on the panel.

 

[williams-ant]

problem is they are all over the car, is this the usual practice? If I wanted to polish too, what order would I be best to do things?

Thanks for your help..

 

[Rich]

The quickest route is a machine polish, swirl removal by hand on a car is a tiring processs.

Scratch X is a polish, while removing the swirls you will be polishing the paint. For increased gloss you can follow up with a milder polish after such as Autoglym Super Resin.

 

[182_blue]

im with rjay, machine polish all the way, perhaps get someone local to you could give you a pc job

 

[Turkish]

Yup, even with a PC it can take several hours so by hand you'd probably find you were only wanting to do a couple of panels each time you wash the car.

 

[GazCB]

I'm completely in the same boat here. My car looks completely gleaming and stunning. But in seeking prefection, I can see the swirl marks under intense light sources when viewed at an angle (bright sun, street lamps). I bought turtlewax colour magic plus which was ok, but only temporarily reduced the appearance of the swirl marks. After reading all the backs, those small tubes seemed to be the right stuff, but like the other guy said, am I supposed to use this over the entire surface of my car? I may even need two tubes in that case!

 

[Rich]

A tube of Scratch X despite its small apperance will easily do a whole car with plenty left over. You only need to use a small amount as you will not be able to work enough break it down and do its job if you use to much on a given area.

The way it is designed to work is you need to work it till its almost gone, That way it breaks down to a fine polish that does not put in more smaller marks to remove the bigger ones like some products do.

It is a diminishing polish - it starts of aggressive and breaks down to milder polish to leave a great finish, formulated to work well be hand.

 

[GazCB]

Thanks for your advice, I think I'll invest in a tube and get cracking next time there's a nice day.

I read about the PC in the other thread, I think I'll give one of those miss though! Too expensive for me.

This is what I'm gonna do, just confrim this is the right thing to do! :

1)Wash the car thoroughly
2)Let car dry naturally (after chammy)
3)use scratch X sparingly over whole surface of car, spending a good few hours doing it
4)apply coat of autoglym super resin polish to "seal"

This sound about right? I mention the autoglym as I have a bottle of it already.

 

[Rich]

That will do the trick. Work the Scartch X is in small areas at a time. Half a wing, quarter of a door etc. When your happy with the area move onto the next. Trying a whole panel at a time does not seem to work aswell.

 

[GazCB]

Cheers mate, I'm gonna have to check the weather and get up nice and early on one day off!