LEXMAN350

I just noticed today when my car was in the sun that it has swirly spider web scratches all over the hood and on top of my car and also the top of my trunk. I get my car waxed 1 time a month but this doesn't get rid of it. Is there any way to remove the spider web swirls??? Anyone experience this? My is350 is smoky granite.

Thanks

XprincoX

iTrader: (10)

Sounds like u need a good detailing. Your paint is gonna require some work with either a orbital polisher or DA, polishing pads and compounds.

plusone

good rubbing compoud and a orbital will do the job. just dont burn the clear coat.

llamaboiz

Please elaborate on this, what do you mean by 'get'? *who/what/how*

rfx45

If your car is black or real dark (indigo blue), there really isn't much you can do. You can take it out but it will eventually come back by doing what has been suggested. It's inevitable though.

LEXMAN350

I live in an apartment so I can'treally wax my own car in the apartment garage so I take it to a near by hand wash that does hand wax for $25 bucks. I think its a good deal so I just take it there other wise I would do it myself.

llamaboiz

ahh... ok if you keep going to that 25buck place your still gonna get swirls, you get what you pay for... Goto your regional section and ask who's a good detailer OR if theres a member nearby who would share a garage with you every so often so you can detail your car yourself *goto CL meets, make friends *

Stokdgs

able to get them out with Zaino ZPC-Fusion paint cleaner. It is not one of those agressive compounds that requires yet another finer compound to get rid of the swirls it leaves; instead it is a nice balanced product that will get rid of most light defects, and not leave a residue all over the car, breaks down to a powder when its done working, and is very easy to clean up after you are done. If you have access to a Porter Cable 7424 or even a Rotary, with say, Lake Country foam pads, you can knock this out pretty quick.
If you are in the Seattle/Bellevue, East Side, I can help you out. The product I mentioned can also be used by hand, it just takes longer. It was designed to be used by hand but most of us detailing nuts use machines now.
Even if you get all or most of the marks out, you can re-introduce them to the paint by the way the car gets washed. Drive through car washes are a no - no if you want to keep marks off the car. I end up doing a light clean up on our cars once a year and they always look fabulous the rest of the time, even up to the end of the year.. Good luck with your project. DanF

LEXMAN350

Thanks Dan, I will give that a try.

XhyDra

iTrader: (8)

Hi LEXMAN350,

It's kind of hard to see swirls on a Smoky Granite,
so if you can see them then they must be deep, my advise on this
is to do some detail work on it, nothing unprofessional because there's
a lot of places that claim that they can detail your car but the end
result is worst than what you started off with. After you get your
swirls removed by having a modest detailer polish your car you can
then keep it in great condition by using a good wash method. I have
an Obsidian Black IS250, it's hard to keep it swirl free but I manage with
my proper technique and the right products.

If you live anywhere near the LA area or the nearest 50mile radius I have
some numbers of good detailers. I do detailing myself, but I'm very constrained with time.

Hope it helps.

Zanorath

Try dropping by a self service car wash place, wash the car on the spot with their soap and water, then pull it out of the stall and do your drying and waxing for the next 2 hours with supplies you bring with you and out of peoples way. It works pretty well, just make sure after you wash that you're out of range of mist from other people washing. I hate water marks.

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

I used the Zanio cleaner wax on my BLACK car after the winter here in chicago! Worked like a charm if you have a dark color car then this is always going to be something you see...

jfelbab

Swirls typically come from poor washing and drying or using poor materials. If you have someone wax your car monthly and they use rags to apply/remove it that will also cause swirls.

It sounds like you can't wash and wax your car in your environment. One thing that might help is to find a Laser Touchless car wash. This will at least keep the swirls caused by the hand wash and drying from marring your paint. After a Laser Touchless wash you might apply your own wax or sealant in the lot using new applicators and plush microfibers. I would suggest using a quick detailer after every wash too. It only takes ten minutes to apply and it adds slickness and will help in keeping the car clean.

Even with this approach, you will get some swirls eventually. These can be removed by having pro detail your car occasionally. It will take a polishing to remove them. Wax won't take them out. Some waxes have enough fillers and oils in them to temporarily hide some of these swirls but they will return after a couple washings.

Everything that touches your paint can have the effect of inducing swirls. After getting them polished out take special care with how your car is kept and I'd forget about the $25 monthly waxing.

wkw84

ahhh! bad idea.. i don't know about california (i will assume bc arnold is gov, and since he is pretty conscience of the environment, that the nj rules apply in ca also), but in jersey it is mandatory that those self service car wash places have to treat the water and reuse it (bc it's a ridiculous waste of water). also i believe they use some acidic products. so stay away from them at all costs. your best bet would to be to go to a professional detailer to get the swirlies out. after that maintain it well with proper products and technique and you'll be good to go for a while. make sure to use 2 buckets, one for clean water, and the other for rinsing, otherwise you can exacerbate the swirls. my car is black sapphire pearl, although the paint upkeep is harder than say a light color car, my car is swirl free. good thing i have my own detailer (my cousin) to do it all for me.
shameless plug: pm me if you live in ny/nj and want a good detail.

SpecC

Okay, what you have are swirl marks. They are all over the car likely from poor washing habits. Dirt rubbing on your paint makes very fine scratches. Yes, you can get rid of them, but to do so, you'd be spending a bit of money. Either you learn how to do everything yourself (which took me two months of reading and 2 test cars) or you bring it to a professional detailer and it'll cost you around 200 dollars to have the entire thing cleaned up again.

As for your living condition, I live in apartment complexes too. When I get some more budget, I'm going to buy some Optimum No Rinse. Basically your car is dry, you use this solution with water, take whatever you like to wash with, and just wash it regularly and dry right afterwards! Sounds amazing, yeah. I wouldn't do it on a really dirty car without at least a spraydown or at least let it soak in a bit of the solution. If you google ONR, you'll find lots of forum topics on this.