Hi all,

I have been reading up on swirl removal and noticed some light/moderate swirls on my 2005 WRX. Based on what i've seen in the forum, the best course of action would be a Megs #80 or #83, Poorboys SSR2 or SSR2.5 or Menzerna Intensive Polish followed by Final Polish. I know it's hard to tell from the photos but on a relatively new car i want to be sure of using the right polish, has anyone any experience with these swirls on this colour paint? Which should I go for from the above?





Cheers

 

Unless you are using a machine it will be very hard to get a pro finish.
I would take it to the experts to correct and then follow their advice to stop it happening again

 

You probabley couldn't get rid of them totally by hand but you could certainly lessen their appearance I would have thought but using the products you have quoted. I too have some swirl marks and have looked at the Poorboys SSR 2.5, haven't got any yet.

the other week i tried Meg Scratch remover followed by Meg NXT Gen polish, the results reduced the swirls pretty good I thought done by hand), and the car looked much better in the day light, swirls only really seen when in the garage with the spot light on.

If I was to get another product would go for the Poorboys, only question is "is this a product designed for machine use"?

 

Thanks for the advice lads, sorry i should have specified that I'm going to correct using a machine, am thinking of buying the Megs 220V UK spec random orbit polisher. Was just wondering what works well with these types of swirls on this paint.

 

You won't go wrong with one of them, got one from Father Christmas (wife) and a great piece of kit.

I personally have bought Megs #80 to start with. I'd rather go light at first and see the results before going with too harsh a compound and regreting it.

Another suggestion would be to register on A world for detailers.... A wealth of experience and advice over their from people who have been doing it a long time and those with the Megs DA.

Good luck

 

Poorboys SSR is a great range to learn the ropes with, you'll get good results and it's easy to work with.

You can use other brands like Menz, but to start out I think Poorboys is hard to beat.

 

The megs polisher is a good tool and is all you should need to remove the defects in your paint, as most jap cars have softish paint. Your best course of action is to use a meguiars polishing pad with menzerna 106ff or ip. Get a sample pack from polished bliss or www.cleanandshiney.co.uk and see which works best for you and then you can buy the bigger bottle when you need to.

 

i always thought that subarus have hard paint ??????

 

They may do, but jap cars as a whole are much softer than that of say a german car. You should always start with the least abrasive combo and then work up to see which works best.

 

No idea how to shorten the link but this is what you need.

Meguiars G220 - Complete Menzerna Kit

 

Great advice, ta. One concern I have of the Menzerna stuff is that it seems to be professional gear and temperamental in cold conditions. Maybe the Poorboys World swirl removers would be more forgiving as i start out with the machine polisher.

 

menz is very good stuff, but yes it sometimes plays up. Meguiars 83 doesnt tend to, but will take longer to work. 3m polishes are good too and have no side effects. You can get them from here.Autoperfection

Visomax/prometheus is good too. Its developed for use outside a controlled environment and is used by rolls royce. Check out Pro-detailing.co.uk

I would get the megs kit from the link i gave you though. Menz polish is awesome stuff.

 

Couple of points to make re the above discussion. Generally speaking Jap paints are softer than European paints, but Subaru's are an exception. Most Subaru paint we have worked on has been as hard as germanic paints, and thus not easy to correct. Menzerna polishes are ideal for the correction of hard paints, as the superior cutting qualities of the abrasives means they do more work and finish down better. It is true that Menzerna polishes do play up when using rotary polishers in cold weather, but using a dual action machine you will know no different; the polishes will work fine in all weathers. My own advice for correcting swirls such as those seen above using the Megs dual action machine would be as follows...

To correct swirls and other moderate defects (fine scratches and etching) on your car, you will need to start out with Menzerna RD3.02 using Lake Country CCS Light Cut Pads (6.5" pads on a 6" flexible backing plate for larger areas, and 4" spot pads on a 3.5" flexible backing plate for more awkward areas). Working at speed 4-5 using moderate pressure should see you able to correct ~90% of the defects with a couple of attempts per panel - to achieve a higher level of correction would require the power of a rotary polisher, which are professional tools that need a lot more time to master. With the bulk of the correction done, you will need to switch to Menzerna 85RD using Lake Country CCS Polishing Pads (again, it's best to have both sizes of pad to work with). Working at speed 4-5 with light pressure should see you produce the maximum possible gloss, which you will then want to seal in using either a wax or a sealant.

 

Thanks again for the great advice, just saw however that the Menz RD3.02 has a cut rating of 7/10 - would this be dangerous for a PC newbie?

 

No, not on hard paint - I promise. It would be a different story on most Jap cars, but not on Subarus. Even with 3.02 you might need 2-3 attempts to get each panel spot on - that's how tough Subaru paint can be.

 

rich, im with you on this one. I polished my mates type ra today ( the bonnet) and its as hard as any bm or vag car ive done.

 

Aye, I've had to crack out Power Gloss before now on Subaru paint to make decent progress. It can be unbelievably hard!

 

sounds good, thanks for the advice. Was just a bit wary about the hardcore stuff but this advice has put my mind at rest