luvawatch

Hi guys - I'm sure I'm not the only one that has experienced this. I've bought several new Porsches and once I bring them home and check them out in the sun there's always swirlies on the paint. This is likely because of how they wash the car, etc. Any recommendations on how to get rid of them without like a major paint correction?

Porsche_nuts

Polish and a buffer. Lots of vids on how to do this.

okbarnett

orbital waxer, swirl remover or polish

stout

The trick isn't getting them out—so long as you know what you are doing, or hire someone who does. The trick is preventing them. Everyone has their favored method to avoid swirls and "spiderweb scratches," but this has worked for me:

What you need:

1. Two new 5-gallon buckets (never use for anything else)
2. Two high quality sponges (I prefer sponges with thick "strings")
3. One more quality sponge, plus a couple of microfiber cloths
4. Good car wash soap (pick your poison)

What to do:

1. Soak the car
2. Designate one bucket "For Top Surfaces Only" with a Sharpie, stick two nice sponges in, and use a lot of soap
3. Designate the other bucket "For wheels and lower surfaces"; put your other sponge and cloths in with soap
4. Start with wheels
5. Move to the top of the car, squeezing suds out of the good sponges to lubricate the car's surfaces, alternating and dunking them as needed
6. With a freshly soaped sponge, wash roof in single, straight sweeps, front to back. Do not stop mid-panel. Turn the sponge over and do the next sweep, then two more on its edges, etc.
7. Swap sponges and repeat Step 6 on the other side of roof; use the sponge to do the glass at this time, as any minor dirt it has picked up is unlikely to scratch your glass.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 on hood and/or decklid (top surfaces), alternating sides of sponge and sponges so that same side of a sponge never makes two passes before it's dunked back into the bucket.
9. Take a sponge and start on the top of the passenger or driver's side fender and make one pass, without stopping or backtracking, from headlight to taillight. Repeat just down from your first sweep with the other side of the sponge, and so on. Theory here is the worst grit will be towards the back of the car. If car is really dirty, consider rinsing sponge off to keep grit out of the bucket. At some point down the side of the car, consider leaving the really dirty stuff for the sponge in your other bucket—I usually stop 2/3s or 3/4s of the way down the door.
10. Repeat step 9 on other side of car.
11. Apply similar logic to front bumper—washing from top down in single sweeps
12. Apply similar logic to rear bumper—washing from top down in single sweeps and stopping before it gets really gritty.
13. Use sponge from wheel/lower surfaces bucket to get lower sides of car, lower rear bumper, and wheel-well edges.
14. Air dry car (I drive the car, but some use blowers)
15. Dry car with 100% cotton bath towels—the thicker and softer, the better. The key is to not move the towel across the paint. Instead, lay it across the roof on one side and then sweep your hand over the towel to wick the water into the towel without the towel moving on the surface. Repeat on other side of the roof, hood, along the tops of the sides of car, etc, etc. You'll have to "hang" the towel in some spots, but the key is to avoid dragging the towel across the paint.

The above takes no longer than the "traditional" way of washing a car once you get it down. More importantly, it works. I've had cars go years with zero spiderweb scratches; if you looked at the sun in the paint, it was just a white orb. No swirls down the sides. No drying marks. Conversely, I've had dealers wash my cars and introduce swirls and scratches galore in a single wash.

I'm sure there are professionals who can exceed my work on every level, but I like to wash my own cars—and this method has prevented the need to polish scratches out every so often, which I have to imagine means removing at least some of the clear coat each time you do it. Ah, one last thing: If you drop a sponge on the ground, throw it away immediately. You don't want whatever grit it just picked up getting rubbed into your paint. Doing so is cheaper than having scratches polished out, and you'll eventually stop dropping sponges. Good luck with your new 911!

Homeles

chuck911

Correct. The swirls are caused by a combination of dirty water, dirty wash cloth, too much pressure and washing in a circular motion.

Before doing anything else, memorize that list and promise yourself to never wash with dirty water, never let a dirty cloth touch your car, never use any more than the lightest possible pressure, and always wash back and forth never in circles.

There are a million products out there, each with their army eager to explain why brand x is best and all others are worse than sandpaper. But the truth is you would be amazed at the results you can get with anything at all so long as you follow the above rules. Having said that however the minimum I recommend is one big deep bucket, and one 100% cotton wash mitt for washing (with either a boar's hair brush or another mitt dedicated to wheels and the lowest/dirtiest areas), and a random orbital and pads for polishing.

The next most important thing to learn is: paint cleaning clay. This amazing product, around now for decades yet so little appreciated nobody has even mentioned it yet- despite it being the most amazing thing of all.

So the tried and true steps are: Clay. Polish. Wax. The technique with these is different- you can go round and round with clay, polishing and waxing.

That's it. What they call paint correction is (sorry guys) nothing more than an elaboration of clay, polish, wax. (You can seal. You can coat. You can nano. You can film. All just elaborations of wax. Which the army will be telling you all about shortly.)

Honestly, the only other thing you can do is color sand. Which is amazing but a whole other level. Clay, polish, wax. Enjoy.

btw, if you do these right the finish will be so perfect that with a little technique you will be able to run your stream of rinse water so that it runs off the paint in a sheet leaving hardly a drop behind. If after drying whatever is left you are able to wring ANY water out of the towel, keep working on your technique. Your drying towel should be barely damp even after drying the whole car.

Needsdecaf

whiteducktail

I recommend buying a nice 32 oz bottle of Meguiar's M105 Mirror Glaze Ultra-cut Compound. A wash with Dawn dishwashing liquid, a good clay bar, Meguiar's M105 (hand application), and a good wax, and you're all set.

Carrera2RS

I warmed to the overly detailed chap who posts Forensic Detailing, you can learn all you need there on you tube videos

I pressure wash, then snowfoam, agitate heavy soiled areas with soft brush (decorators brush, very lightly only) then pressure wash then two bucket wash, dry and detail spray. Wheels are with a third bucket and small sheepskin pad fro me after spray and snowfoam with agitation

The trick is to get a methodology of what is for what and choose the right cloths/pads mitts etc.

Penn4S

LexVan

And buy a MasterBlaster from Phil at Detailer's Domain.

LexVan

Luvawatch, here is a great starting point for you:

https://rennlist.com/forums/concours...ute-video.html

Follow this Rennlister (link above) on many of the Forums here. Also read stuff from TOGWT, MoeMistry, and Phil at Detailer's Domain. Make sure you visit our dedicated Concours Forum.

Over the last serveral years, I've learned to let the pros paint correct my car (every other year) and I use my efforts/time/experience to properly wash and maintain it in between visits.

ShaunP

A few things I would change in your regimen.

Nothing that touches your wheels should ever, ever touch your paint. 3 Buckets, Wash/Rinse/Wheels. Buckets need grit guards to avoid your wash media from touching any dirt/grit that can accumulate at the bottom of the buckets. High quality microfiber wash mits/pads are typically preferred unless you're using something specialized like the BRS for ONR. The only other sponge I would even consider are the black Kamikaze sponges.

Never use cotton bath towels for anything on a car, always use microfiber. MF towels with a drying aid will work 100% better without the possibility of leaving swirls. On a non coated car, Ammo Hydrate and 1 wet MF towel can dry an entire car very quickly without streaking, simply wring it out as it gets too full of water.

stout

^ Good input, and always learning. Can see your point about three buckets, and have thought about this issue but have seen zero ill effects or damage from grit in the wheel/lower surfaces bucket—because the sponges that go in that bucket only ever touch very low surfaces on the car. I like to leave the soapy water in the buckets when I am done, then put the sponges on the windshield and dump the old water before cleaning the bucket out and Again, zero ill effects noted after 5+ years with this regimen. I should probably say: My cars rarely get truly dirty. If they do, I blast as much of the big stuff off as possible and also let what's left stew in soap while I clean the wheels.

As for the towels, I am not getting swirls because the towel is never dragged across the paint. Again, zero ill effects. I'd be curious to watch your setup with Ammo Hydrate and a wet MF towel, but you're still abrading paint where a 100% cotton bath towel that doesn't move across the paint can't scratch it. Also, I like the idea of a method that doesn't require buying more materials, creating more garbage, etc. The only materials required in my regimen is car wash soap. I remember my surprise when a famous Porsche painter and concours prep expert noted his displeasure with microfiber towels. He cringes when he sees clients use them. Asked what he uses for polishing, he said he only trusts cloth removed from 100% cotton t-shirts. I followed that advice, and fine they are better than MF cloths—which, contrary to everyone's beliefs, can scratch paint.

Again, results matter. I've had very good results using my regimen—with no swirls and no spiderweb scratches. The only downside is that I can now see any scratch added, whether that's from someone who runs a finger along the paint or a dealer who washes the car after being asked not to. But that's going to happen no matter how you achieve swirl-free paint. I just prefer not to pay a pro to do get my paint there and then ruin their results after my first wash, or pay for expensive detailing products and materials I don't need. What I am not saying is that my regimen is better than another regimen—just that it's worked for me and adds no time or cost, really. If someone shows me a regimen that produces similar results in less time and/or at less cost, I am all ears.

Swirl/scratch-free paint is my "tick." From watching Mooty on this board, I can tell you that my cars are shameful when it comes to proper cleaning in nooks and crannies. That stuff just doesn't matter to me. Ignorance is bliss....

luvawatch

Thank you all! Lots of work indeed. I'll let a pro do it the first time and maybe just get it done right once or twice a year.