Swirls Question

[Kcollazo86]

Hello,
I'm in need of some advice, hopefully somone can help me. Long story short I had waxed my girlfriend Black chevy cobalt SS last weekend. I washed the car first, then moved it to a shady area. I soon start to apply the Meguiar NXT Tech wax 2.0 on a cotton pad and removing it with a microfiber clothes. ( doing all this by hand) The car looked great, but then this weekend she washed her car and I saw all these swirls from the wax. I'm really disappointed because she never let me wax her car because she was scared I would mess it up. I waxed all my cars multiple times and never had this problem. I want to fix this as soon as possible. What can I possibly do to fixs this. I have Meguiars ColorX and Meguiars cleaner Wax im not sure if I can use them to fixs the mess I've created. Thank you for reading and hopefully someone will be able to help.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Swirls Question

Your problem may well have come from the cotton pad. Cotton terry cloth can actually have some bite to it, making it a much more aggressive pad than the soft foam pad that came with the NXT Tech Wax.

ColorX is a cleaner wax with some extra cutting ability and may be sufficient to correct this issue cause (most likely) by the cotton pad the first time around. If not, then you may need to step up to SwirlX to correct the problem. Because we can't say with 100% certainty which product will correct the problem, do a test spot first with the ColorX and see if that fixes things. There's nothing worse than thinking a product or process will correct a problem but finding out the opposite is true after doing the whole car. So do just a test spot with ColorX and then re-evaluate in direct sunlight. Step up if need be.

[Kcollazo86]

Re: Swirls Question

Alright after I apply the colorX will I need to wash the area to make sure the swirls are gone ? or will it be gone if the colorX worked.

[Shawn T.]

Re: Swirl Questions

This will be a tough process since you are working by hand. I suggest stepping up to Ultimate Compound if you find that Swirlx is not removing the swirls. Working by hand requires patience and perseverence.

Since this car is a daily driver it is important to remember that the car will acquire swirls as it is driven all the time. Having a clean and shiny car is sometimes good enough for daily drivers since perfection is almost impossible. Because of this, I recommend using Colorx every 2 months and topping it with NXT 2.0 or Gold Class Plus. This will clean the paint from any dirt that imbeds in the pores of the paint and keep that shiny look. It will also take the edge off of the swirls making them less noticeable.

[Kcollazo86]

Re: Swirls Question

No need to delete, though maybe someone can combine your threads.

If the swirls are very very fine, it is possible ColorX could hide them until the wax wore off. I think you would see most defects though.

As far as SwirlX, you can certainly use SwirlX on the entire car, swirls or not. If you already have it, I would probably use that and foam pads to remove swirls. Though you can of course do a test spot/area of each product, and check results.

I thought I put it in the wrong section that's why. I bought the swirlx and foam pads I did alittle spot on my girlfriends car and no luck still saw the swirls. Maybe because I rushed it but I was scrubbing mildly and did it twice and still saw it. :-(

[Murr1525]

Re: Swirls Question

Yeah.. mildly wont do it.

How to correctly apply ScratchX to remove swirls and scratches

Here is an older video showing swirl removal, or at least a clip of it. The rest can probably be searched for as well.

[Kcollazo86]

Re: Swirl Questions

This will be a tough process since you are working by hand. I suggest stepping up to Ultimate Compound if you find that Swirlx is not removing the swirls. Working by hand requires patience and perseverence.

Since this car is a daily driver it is important to remember that the car will acquire swirls as it is driven all the time. Having a clean and shiny car is sometimes good enough for daily drivers since perfection is almost impossible. Because of this, I recommend using Colorx every 2 months and topping it with NXT 2.0 or Gold Class Plus. This will clean the paint from any dirt that imbeds in the pores of the paint and keep that shiny look. It will also take the edge off of the swirls making them less noticeable.

Arghh.. This is not turning out the way I thought it would be. I didn't think by hand was going to be such a big hassel. I tried to apply alittle of the swirlX to my girlfriend car and it was still the same maybe because I was rushing through it I did it twice and still the same

[Kcollazo86]

Re: Swirl Questions

And the swirls I'm talking about you might recognize them at halograms hopefully it's not worse then paint swirls my girlfriend car is haze I don't know how this can happen just by doing it by hand

[rinosaur]

Re: Swirl Questions

Did you make sure the wax properly cured before removing the excess? What do you mean swirls from the wax? Wax can't create clear coat swirls. You will see some haziness if you don't fully remove the excess wax. I along with most people apply NXT 2.0 by hand, how you apply it doesn't really matter.

[Fly Bye]

Re: Swirl Questions

I had waxed my girlfriend Black chevy cobalt SS last weekend. The car looked great, but then this weekend she washed her car and I saw all these swirls from the wax.

I'm not quite clear as to how applying NXT created swirls

[CHzo6]

Re: Swirl Questions

He stated he used a cotton applicator pad, which may very well have caused the swirls. Cotton applicators have enough "bite" that they can sometimes swirl up a finish.

[akimel]

Re: Swirl Questions

It is certainly possible (indeed, I would judge likely) that the swirls you are seeing were there before you waxed the car. It is possible, though, that you instilled the swirls by your choice of a cotton pad, as already mentioned. Waxes are best applied by a foam applicator, which is why Meguiar's includes one in the NXT box.

As to how to proceed now, that is a difficult question. Hand polishing is hard and time-consuming work. Read through the various articles under the topic "Working by Hand." You probably should think of it as a long-term project: do a few panels at a time, rather than trying to polishing out the entire car in a day. And remember to always do a test spot first: How to do a Test Spot. With Ultimate Compound and SwirlX you can get the car looking much better. You just need to persevere. Also get yourself some foam applicators and good quality microfiber towels.

[Kcollazo86]

Re: Swirl Questions

Did you make sure the wax properly cured before removing the excess? What do you mean swirls from the wax? Wax can't create clear coat swirls. You will see some haziness if you don't fully remove the excess wax. I along with most people apply NXT 2.0 by hand, how you apply it doesn't really matter.

I Really Didn't let the wax properly be cured before removing it. I was looking through a couple fourms and I saw what the car looks like is halogram not swirls

I'm not quite clear as to how applying NXT created swirls

This picture was taken at night but you can still see the halogram

[Kcollazo86]

Re: Swirl Questions

Did you make sure the wax properly cured before removing the excess? What do you mean swirls from the wax? Wax can't create clear coat swirls. You will see some haziness if you don't fully remove the excess wax. I along with most people apply NXT 2.0 by hand, how you apply it doesn't really matter.

I really don't think I let the wax properly cure before i removed it. After I have been looking through some threads I see that the Haze I see is Called halogram not swirls

I'm not quite clear as to how applying NXT created swirls

Picture was taken at night but you can still see the halogram on the hood

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Swirl Questions

If you truly have holograms, which is what it looks like, then they were there before you started work but were hidden by some other product that was removed by your process. Holograms can only be created by a rotary buffer, which you did not use.

Has the car been maintained by someone else in the past? A detail facility at a car wash perhaps?