Scuffs in the Clear Coat

[mybubbles]

I am constantly getting scuffs in the clear coat. It's driving me crazy My NB is Techno Blue in color. Does anyone else have this problem? Are you able to get them out of the paint? What products work well to remove scuffs and scratches?

[magic.42]

For the really small ones, I use Turle Wax- POLISHING COMPOUND and a cloth diaper. For the larger ones, I use a random orbital polisher and chase the polishing compound with MOTHERS- Scrubing Cleaner & Wax. If it's deep and not all the way through to the base coat, I'll clean it up with 1500 or 2000 wet sandpaper(till it scuff disappears when wet).Let completely dry and spray or dab some additional clear coat on. About 2 weeks later I level it out with credit card wrapped with varing wet sandpaper, finishing with 2000 grit and polish with Polishing Compound,then wax.(Never Rubbing Compound). Good Luck - Hope this helps

[GINA]

Scuffs are caused by poor washing/drying techniques - learn the correct way to do both (ie: don't use an old bath towel to dry) and this will help a lot. As for the swirls that are already there, it's hard to tell you what to do without pics. Do you have a buffer? If you're just doing stuff by hand, try some Meguiars ScratchX, and top it off with some NXT wax.

[rubyredbug06]

I agree with Gina that the cause of your scratches is your washing/drying technique, (those DIY carwashes and even the brushless ones can damage your finish). I found lots of good information about auto detailing on the forums here and also links to other resources called "Autotopia" and "AutoGeek". I learned alot about car care and have abandoned bad habits related to cleaning the interior and exterior of my NB. Just Google "auto detailing", surf around, and read and learn!

[BumbleBug]

Yeah, one big point is that it's really hard to determine what is causing the scratches, or really suggest what to use on them without seeing them.

I am a professional detailer and I use the Prima line of products. I've had really good results with them. I apply them primarily with the Porter Cable 7424 random orbital polisher. I use the Lake Country pads (Generally an Orange, White and Black pad) I find that I use Prima Swirl most of the time, but I also use Prima Amigo and Prima Finish. I will always do a test spot on the car to determine what product/pad combo is going to give me the results that I desire. The VW has a fairly hard paint, so I would probably start with Prima Swirl and a LC White Pad to see what that would do to the surface. If there are still swirl marks, I would move to a LC Orange pad and Prima Swirl to see if that took care of them. I may then move back to the Prima Swirl and an LC White Pad to take care of any micromarring from the more aggressive Orange Pad. From then, especially on a darker car if I wasn't seeing any hazing from the swirl, I would move to the Prima Amigo on a LC White Pad. If there was light hazing after using the Prima Swirl, I would move to Prima Finish and an LC White Pad. Once I had the desired results on my test section, I would use the process I found worked best on the rest of the car, working in 12"x12" sections at a time. Once the entire vehicle had been polished, I would apply Prima Epic Synthetic Wax with a LC Black Pad.

I realize that this may seem very labor intensive to some. This is a process that would be done once or twice a year depending on how you take care of your car. The great thing about it is that if you take good care of the car, the less you have to do to get the paint back up to the proper levels.

This is done best (in my opinion) by using the two bucket method using DirtGuards in both buckets. You use one bucket for car wash soap (I recommend Prima Mystique or Meguiars Gold Class Soaps) and you use the other bucket for rinse water. Pre Rinse the car, then using a high quality wash mitt (I use either a 100% lambswool mitt, or a Paradise Starfish Mitt) you wfill the wash mitt with soap from the soap bucket and then wash one section at a time, working from the top of the car to the bottom. After each section, rinse the wash mitt in the rinse bucket and run it against the DirtGuard to remove the dirt the mitt has been picked up. Wring the mitt out in the rinse bucket and then soak up more suds from the soap bucket. (I run the mitt against the DirtGuard in the soap bucket as well in case I didn't get everything off in the rinse bucket. Work from the top of the car to the bottom, rinse it all off (don't let the soap dry on the paint if at all possible.

Then I dry the car using a high quality waffle weave microfiber towel. I generally also use the Prima Hydro (probably my favorite Prima product) as a drying aid. I spritz some on each section as I dry it. It's a spray wax, so it works great to boost the wax that is already on the car, and especially after 24 hours, the shine is amazing!! Especially on dark cars.

As a rule in the detailing world, here are some pics of a car I used that process on recently.

Swirl Free Paint:


Mirror Reflection:


And the rest of the car:




Hope that helps!!

D!

[Beckweed]

Here's a good video on how to wash your car to minimize sratching and swirl marks in your paint finish.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

I'm not affiliated with showcar detailing in any way. I just ran across this as I'm also trying to learn more about detailing. He uses the grit guards just like Bumblebug suggests.

[BumbleBug]

Originally Posted by Beckweed

Here's a good video on how to wash your car to minimize sratching and swirl marks in your paint finish.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

I'm not affiliated with showcar detailing in any way. I just ran across this as I'm also trying to learn more about detailing. He uses the grit guards just like Bumblebug suggests.

BINGO!!! That's Mike, formerly of SCG and now with Meguiars. Richard Lin, the guy who worked with him and started SCG is in charge of SCG. I was fortunate enough to go train with him a little while ago. Great, incredibly knowledgable guy!! I've learned a lot from him!!

One thing though, he uses (or used) Grit Guards. I prefer DirtGuards to Grit Guards. The DirtGuard has a filter underneath it and stays more stationary in the bucket. From using both, I really prefer the DirtGuards!!

You can see the article I wrote on the two bucket wash method over on the BimmerDrivers.com site
http://www.bimmerdrivers.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=2017



D!