Baby ///M3

I have tons of swirl marks on my car caused by car washes and perhaps drying towels that contained dust particles.

As many of you suggested, I went ahead and order a bottle of 3M Swirl Remover and attempted to remove the swirls on my paint. The result, I must say, was not very satisfactory.

Could anyone tell me if I did something wrong? I simply Quik Detailed my car (to make sure it's clean and not dirty) before I applied the 3M. I rubbed it in and dried it as instructed but it didn't seem so effective in removing the swirl marks.

Any advices?

Thanks.

Jon

LB Lex

Next time, wash your car first instead of using a Quick Detailer because washing it is a lot better at getting out all the dirt. After that, use the swirl remover again. I would suggest using an orbital buffer if you have exerience using one. If you don't have experience with an orbital, then do it by hand. The swirl remover will get rid of the larger scratches, so you have to follow up with a polish. 3M sells some pretty good polish, so get some of that too. Then apply it and use the same techniques you used when you applied the swirl-remover. Now, there should be no more swirls. If there are, then try the polish again. Finally, apply a coat of good wax.

Guitarman

One thing you might want to try if you use the 3m S/R by hand is to apply (rub) in straight back and forth motions, not circular. Another thing is, the product really has to be worked a lot. You can't just rub it once or twice on the paint, buff it off and expect results. It will take time, and usually anything done by hand takes repeated attempts. I would work on a small panel, a fender perhaps, and keep working it till you see a different (better) result, before you move on to the rest of the car. An orbital buffer would help distribute the pressure more evenly than the human hand, and speed things up a bit.

One last thing; If the swirls are pretty bad, you may need to step up to something that levels the paint better, something stronger such as 3M Finesse-It II Finishing Material, Or 3M Machine Glaze. Those products also contain no fillers, just abrasives. I have found the 3M S/R and Meguiar's #9 only work on very slight swirling, not heavy spider webbing or heavy swirls. They are ( strict swirl removers) usually very fine grit polishes with oils and fillers and sometimes can't level the paint fast enough to remove fine scratches and swirls .Good luck.

Baby ///M3

Thanks for the advices guys.

I tried the 3M SM today and I tried to rub it in a lot harder than I did before. It did get rid of some surface swirls but I'd say there are still about a good 60% of them left on my car.

I think there's prob. no way that I can get rid of them unless I get an electric buffer......

For now, I am happy with what I have.

Jon

LexRoc

A regimine that I have followed sucessfully in the past in removing deep swirls and surface scratches is this:

1st step 3M Finesse It II
2nd step 3M Hand Glaze
3rd Step. Mothers California Gold Wax


Ive done that for many years and my cars always came out great.

Baby ///M3

Thanks. I'll give that a try too.

Are 3M products available off the shelf? It's funny that I have yet to seen a single 3M auto care product in my local stores.

Jon

LB Lex

Napa auto stores usually carry 3M products. Pep Boys has a couple 3M products, such as the swirl removers and the glazes.

Baby ///M3

Thanks.

Jon