Good afternoon, All…from a wet and dreary Lincolnshire.

With regard to Swirls…well, I understand that they are usually inflicted by a poor wash routine, and that they are tiny scratches in the `clearcoat`. (I know there are other problems…I’m thinking of `marring` and ` holograms`…but being as I don’t understand what either are, I’ll stick with swirls)

They are removed (if I understand correctly) by removing a very thin layer of the clearcoat.

So…it would seem to me that if you could not or were unable to improve your wash technique, and swirls bothered you, the only answer is to continually remove layers of clearcoat.

That, of course, would not be wise at all.

You could, of course, not buy a Red, Black or Dark Blue car in the first place. Not a sensible idea.

So…my question is, other than `appearance` is there really any actual downside to Swirls?

If you can put up with them, isn’t it better to keep your clearcoat intact?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Regards

Mike.

The vast majority of people do not notice them let alone care about them.

 

If you can live with them then obviously the more paint / lacquer a panel has on it (to a point) the better.

 

However most people can improve their wash technique by simply ditching the sponge and using the 2BM, but yet again most of these people will not want to add to the cost of washing a car, or care what it looks like further than ‘it’s clean’.

 

People remove the swirls simply because it bothers them, the rest of the population will say ‘what swirls’.

 

Ignorance can be bliss.

Or buy a polish with good filling properties and cover the swirls. Best of both!

To me on a sunny day when u see swirls it hurts. Mine or other cars.

As long as u have protection on and are willing to live with it then each to their own.

To be really pedantic a swirl gives dirt more to hold onto rather than rolling off. But at a tiny level.

Or buy a polish with good filling properties and cover the swirls. Best of both!

 

The only issue with that is the fillers wash off, meaning the car needs polishing more frequently if you want it to look swirl free, which brings the problem back ... polishing removes a (very small) amount of top coat each time.

Yup agree. Just going with the question on how to live with swirls or if there is a bad side.

The only issue with that is the fillers wash off, meaning the car needs polishing more frequently if you want it to look swirl free, which brings the problem back ... polishing removes a (very small) amount of top coat each time.

But surely if you keep on top of cleaning your car and keep applying wax/sealer then the elements should never reach the polish and therefore never wash it away and you wouldn't have to re polish as much.

Not that I'm going to continue down that road now but still.

For best lasting results from a wax it should be on bare paint, so polished then wiped down with IPA etc, (therefore removing the polish and in the case of SRP etc also the fillers) the wax then has a better surface to bond to.

 

If the car is machine polished and then (IPA wiped down first) waxed regularly you actually have more protection on the paint making it harder to add swirls, top the wax up when the paint stops beading water (approx 3 months) it shouldn’t be necessary to keep on polishing the car (unless any damage is inflicted on the paint)

 

Detailing is really just an OCD thing and most people see it as a bit sad as they cannot see past the ‘clean car'.

 

But once you have it its a slippery slope 

The level of polishing and the depth of both the clearcote and paint are usually around 120+microns of which the clearcote usually accounts for half or just under. To put into context if you were doing a paint correction using several grades of wet'n'dry sand paper, followed by a compound polish and a finishing polish the whole thing only removes about 6-8microns. So continuous light polishing won't do much harm. The trick it perfecting your finish and sealing with a good ceramic coating which will offer some scratch resistance and become in essence a sacrificial layer to the car. Ceramic/Quartz coatings take a good degree of prep and application time but even without these coatings you can help reduce but not really eliminate the damage done by washing by using a snow foam or good prewash as the main thing is to soften and remove as much dirt as possible before even physically touching the bodywork yourself with a wash mitt or sponge and even then, to use a good lubricating shampoo so the mitt or sponge isn't being dragged over the body but gliding while lifting and remaining debris.