Getting rid of these swirl marks.

[SimpleGreen]

Alright, well I bought my '05 Silverado in January of this year. I made a buyers mistake and bought the truck on a wet, overcast day. About a week later I noticed it's swirl marked pretty bad. Probably some idiot at the dealership did it. It's very noticeable when the sun hits it.

Several months ago I waxed it with Mequiars cleaner wax and if definitely helped some but the marks are still there.

What is the best way to take care of this? I'm not looking for show quality paint, just a decent looking daily. I've put it off long enough.

I took this picture before I waxed it so it's not quite this bad anymore....as you can see it's worst right below the upper body line and it gets alot better about a foot and a half down. They must have just buffed one strip on each side. Smart.......



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[LoudDanny]

if you want to do it yourself, buff it yourself. 3 step buff.

Compound with white wool/foam pad

Polish with black foam pad

Hand Glaze with applicators or microfiber towel

Most important part is the polish, especially if its a dark or black colored vehicle. On some dark colored vehicles 3M makes a product called Ultrafina. Its a very fine polish designed to seal fine swirls left by some compounds and polish. One thing that helps me is to use different microfiber towels to wipe off each steps residue. Use compound between 1800-2100 rpm and use polish at no more than 2400 rpm and make sure you keep the surface wet with the product you are using.

[99zee]

Porter Cable with the Lake Country orange pad and M105/M205. Follow with polish/wax.

[Tweaks]

Porter Cable with the Lake Country orange pad and M105/M205. Follow with polish/wax.

X2

I would take an orange pad and work over the affected area with 105. Then, use another orange pad and go back over everything with the 205. That should finish it to perfection and those swirls will never come back because Meguiar's 105/205 are not filler/cover-up products. The results they give are permanent.

I see this sort of buffer trail damage on dealer lot purchased vehicles a lot. Sort of makes me want to follow one of their detailers around as they work over a vehicle and see what the heck it is they are doing to screw things up that bad.

[tahoemetalman]

Hand Glaze with applicators or microfiber towel

Most important part is the polish, especially if its a dark or black colored vehicle. On some dark colored vehicles 3M makes a product called Ultrafina. Its a very fine polish designed to seal fine swirls left by some compounds and polish. One thing that helps me is to use different microfiber towels to wipe off each steps residue. Use compound between 1800-2100 rpm and use polish at no more than 2400 rpm and make sure you keep the surface wet with the product you are using.[/QUOTE]
thats what id recommend

[TylersZ]

that looks like its gonna be a pain to get out imo

[pontiac69]

it may be alot of work but hell i am going to give it a try. my truck doesnt look as bad as yours mr. simple green but it is close. i am going to get a buffer.

[SimpleGreen]

that looks like its gonna be a pain to get out imo

It looks about half as bad as that picture just after waxing it really good with some cleaner wax.

I'll write down the info and try your guys suggestions. Thanks.

[SimpleGreen]

that looks like its gonna be a pain to get out imo

It looks about half as bad as that picture just after waxing it really good with some cleaner wax.

I'll write down the info and try your guys suggestions. Thanks.

[hoseman44]

check out adamspolishes.com it has alot of how to videos and will show you from step 1 to what ever and answer alot of your questions. get something like a Porter cable polisher that will not burn your paint unlike a regular forced rotation polisher. just check it out and look up junkmans corner with all the videos you need to learn how to do it with no issues. I love adams customer service and 95% of their products are american made. before you buy anything just check it out. i can tell you the mequires stuff you have is basically a filler some of their other stuff is great the m105 is a great product as well but its a bit abrasive if your not careful you could damage the paint.

[Riocool]

Those swirls came from a rotary polisher (quick and dirty job aka: dealer shine) stay away from those. The Porter cable that has been suggested WILL correct the problem, it's a dual action so it will not leave any swirls and will only take you a short time to master, dont get me wrong it going to take some time to get those swirls out (6-8 hrs) to do the whole truck, but you can do it in sections. The investment in the machine and pads and products will be well worth it. Thats a nice truck so dont be afraid to invest into keeping the paint nice. check out chemicalguys.com they have some good deals. ps dont forget to tape up your plastic and rubber, do it right. good luck.

[ngc414]

It looks like they buffed with a course compound maybe with a wool pad without stepping down to a machine glaze/ foam pad. I would hit it with a black pad and 3m perfect it III. I just did my tahoe it it came out like glass.

[rt9bil]

Funny, I had the same issue after buying my truck but its black. I used my porter , some Meguires ultimate compound and an orange 5" pad. I clayed it firsts, then taped the entire truck off into sections and made 4-6 passes on each section. Finished it off with meguires polish and synthetic wax. Looked brand new. It takes awhile but well worth the effort.

[Lukn4trbl355]

im a detailer in a body shop so i spend all day long doing this lol...all we use is the 3m products, our boss swears by it...after wetsanding a car with 2tho we step up to the white (rubbing compound) and buff at 1200 until the gloss comes back (looks like ur bedside), then we use a gray 3m, which if i remember is a polishing (named machine polish) to get most of the swirls out...depending on the color, which being red id highly advise using the blue 3m which is called the ultra fine machine polish...there will be no swirls i guarentee it...we do black cars constantly and its amazing how well these products work...as for the pads use a gray (fine)pad for the gray and a blue extra fine pad for the blue polish...hard to mess up lol. speed should be anywhere from 800-1000 for your polishes, any more it will cook it on and its a PITA to get off, you want to polish with the machine slowly and go over it (if its a fender) probably spend 45sec -1min on that panel. polishes dont take long...if ya have any more questions feel free to let us know

[Lukn4trbl355]

oh yeah amost forgot to add theres a green polish called trizac ( compound,fine, and ultra fine used together) you can use that also so you dont have the steps but to be honest it works a little better with the steps...as for perfect it III it actully goes away after, its just a quick way to hide the imperfections