Swirl Marks?

[djlockdown]

Sorry for being such a noob, but yesterday i applied a coat of NXT paste wax to my car using an orbital and now in the sun there are swirl marks..[u can only see them when the sun is right on top of the car and u really REALLY look for them]

did i apply the wax wrong? or is the swirl mark thing in my head? i think they are just swirls in the wax, not the paint because when i used my "illuminated microscope" i got from radioshack they dont show up, not at all like a regular scratch where its plainly obvious after looking at it magnified..

[Mike Phillips]

Was the finish flawless before yous started? As in no swirls anywhere? Did you inspect the finish in the sun before working on it?

NXT Tech Wax, both paste and liquid are non-abrasive. There are no ingredients in either of these two products that will put a scratch in your car's finish. If you have scratches or swirls in you paint that you are positive were not there before you started then you'll need to look at other factors such as dirt or some type of contaminants that entered onto the finish, or perhaps were trapped on your bonnet.

[Murr1525]

To see if it is just the wax applied unevenly, carefully add a second coat with clean applicators/MF towels, and see if anything is evened out. You may just do it to a test section as well, rather than doing the whole car right away.

[djlockdown]

paint was flawless, and i checked the to make sure dirt/dust wasnt getting trapped between the orbital and the car

[djlockdown]

this reminds me of some confusion i had before about orbitals a while ago... are u supposed to moisten the pad before applying the wax? i had heard about ppl doing that and then i asked a body shop guy and he said no.. ive been doing it that way ever since.. was he wrong?

[silence]

Was the pad previously used? Was it washed? Dropped?

[Murr1525]

I think a few people put a light mist of QD on the pad, but thats about it other than a nice X of the product across the pad to start out with.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by djlockdown
this reminds me of some confusion i had before about orbitals a while ago... are u supposed to moisten the pad before applying the wax? i had heard about ppl doing that and then i asked a body shop guy and he said no.. ive been doing it that way ever since.. was he wrong?

That's kind of a personal preference decision. In our "How To Remove Paint Defects" video we show using M34 Final Inspection to prime a pad on a rotary buffer when it's new or dry before beginning to buff with it.

There's a huge difference between the action of a rotary buffer and an orbital in that the rotary is a lot more aggressive in it's direct drive rotating action.

It wouldn't hurt to prime the pad of an orbital buffer if you're applying a paint cleaner, but in most cases you shouldn't need to pre-moisten a pad when using a polish or a wax as these types of products provide a lot of lubricity to start with. Also it's usually not a good idea to modify a wax formula by adding something else to the mix...

[djlockdown]

Originally posted by Murr1525
To see if it is just the wax applied unevenly, carefully add a second coat with clean applicators/MF towels, and see if anything is evened out. You may just do it to a test section as well, rather than doing the whole car right away.

im taking ur advice and doing that... 15 mins and ill go take the wax off and let u guys know what happened

[djlockdown]

wax,detailer spray and MF worked..

[djlockdown]

my theory is that the show car glaze #7 i had applied on top of one coat of nxt and under another wasnt given enough time to cure or whatever... oh well.. at least the swirls are gone

Mike: Is that a possible explanation of why they might have been there? I read one of ur articles that said #7 never actually "dries" because it is oil based... maybe i didnt remove the excess the right way and when i put the wax on it sealed it in?