Had my scooby professionally cleaned the other week due to the amount of swirling etc. Pics can be seen here if anyones interested

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a280/Scooblou/?sc=3

I'm now paranoid about washing the car in case I put the swirls back in. I've already got some really good wash mitts but I'm not sure which microfibre cloths to go for? I've done the cd test on my current ones and most have scratched it Any advice?

Ta

 

even driving your car down a dusty road can put swirls into the paint TBH

air vortex`s over the car pick up grit and dirt and swirl them around the paintwork, which is quite an interesting fact

a study was done in the usa where they ran 2 cars, one car was washed with a sponge for a while, the other was simply jetwashed off every few days with fresh water, and they both ended up with swirls, the conclusion was the air vortex

best you can do imo is keep on top with a decent protective coating

i will have to get in touch with the bloke who trained me up for the details on the study, would be a good thing to post up and dispel a few urban myths

edit to add, with the v4 rear spoiler fitted to my car, i can see the water dropletts on the back screen spinning around in a circle at high speed

 

True enough, all cars get swirls eventually, no matter how careful you are. Swirls aren't really circular marks, if you look closey they are actually a myriad of fine, random direction scratches, caused by all manner of events, such as dirt and dust being blown over the car, towels marks, wash marks, etc, etc. The reason they look circular is simply due to the laws of physics and the way light hits surfaces.

However, you can prevent towel marks by using good towels. For this reason, I stock the Poorboy's range, and use them when I detail professionally. For me, they work well, offer good value for money, and don't put defects in if you look after them properly.