Ok, when I bought my car the headlights were screwed so I tried to save them. I went to Auto Zoo and they had this little buffing wheel with some kind of chemical that when water was added it would polish the oxidized film clean. Bullshit!! I tried it with my lights still on the car and the polish slung off the disk and on to my hood. Well I grabbed some terry cloths and my turtle wax polishing compound. I got the spots off and thought it was all said and done. No I see swirl marks everywhere. I washed, clay bared, compounded, waxed and TW Iced the damn thing and it still has swirl marks. Anyone know of something else to try?
yeah, get you a pc and some poorboys products. ssr 2.5 and 1! these products have transformed my 11 year old paint into what it is now
Yeah. Get a Porter Cable and some polishing pads (make sure you get an agressive pad and a fine pad) along with an agressive polish and a fine polish. Buff those swirls right out, wax, and you are done. autopia.net has everything you need....
You need a good polish, like a medium then fine, then the wax. I also use the poorboys line, it works great! A PC is a great time saver if you wanna buy one. the auto zone version works too, but it won't last if you do a lot of buffing. For just some buffing, it will work. Or you can do it by hand and a lot of elbow grease.
hard to believe that after compounding, etc. you would still see swirls. what did you use to remove your products? did you use a buffer or do it all by hand? if you used a buffer, what kind; high speed or random orbit? what brand compound, wax, ect.?
by hand. The spots came off and I used a clean terry cloth, but something left swirl marks. I'm beginning to think it was something in the paste. It was brand new though. Right now I can't efford the PC line. Has anyone ever used a Craftsman buffer/polisher? They have one for about 70 bucks and it's multi speed.
I used a 35$ one from pep boys for about a year. it works fine. then I got into heavy buffing for hours at a time and burned it up. I'd start with that. if your gonna drop 70 on a craftsman, you may as well add 35 and get the PC.
hold on to your $70 and save it for the PC... hands down, it'll last longer and produce better results. try 3M perfect it II rubbing compound, with a good polish and wax of your choice. throw the cotton towels away and get you some microfiber for your paint. if you search the threads in this section there is a ton of helpful info on steps to take in order to get the result you want. if you just gotta, go with Dalamar's plan... i used a gazillion of those 35 dollar orbitals till i broke down and got the PC.
I looked at an orbital, and I really don't like them. I never had any good luck with them. As for the craftsman, my gf and mom were supposed to be getting it for me on my birthday. Is there any place that actually sells porter cable products i.e. Sears?
i got mine at Lowes ($119 i think)... i bought the 7336SP, its basically the same buffer. i also bought the Edge 2000 adapter and pads at chemicalguys.com (LOVE THAT SHIT!!!) but you can get by with just throwing some 6" terry bonnets over the pad it comes with.
If you want pretty good microfiber towels head down to TYarget and get the Vroom premium brand towels. They will help reduce the risk of swirls/marring.
I picked up some MF clothes not to long ago, but the damage had been done before I bought them. I'll check out Lowe's. I appreciate all the info guys.
also you can get the swirl marks out real easy if you get a high speed buffer with a foam pad. I have always used blue coral foam pad and velvet cut compound.
high speed buffers can do as much damage as they do good in the wrong hands :dunno: with a random orbit machine there is zero danger of buffer burn/swirls and he'll get results equal to the high speed with the right pads and products. i rarely touch my high speed machine unless im taking down some serious oxidation or damage.