I have been polishing my car with Meguairs deep crystal and have beeen using microfiber in straight strokes and it either made these straight scratches or it was from the NXT Tech wax, but I keep trying and cant get them out, I got all the circular thicker scrathes out, but these are more bunched together and thinner, what's next?? heres some pics hopefully the quality wont make it hard to see the scratches...

 

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car looks like it has some orange peal on it.. hard to see the scratchs you mentioned. i don;t think the tech wax would do that. you may need a mild compound to remove those scratches it looks like there in the clear.

orange peal you would have to wet sand and buff to get like glass.

jeff

 

Yeah it doesnt have hardly any orange peel, the scratches can mainly be seen it the second pic to the left of where the sun is hitting the paint...here is the same spot to show how much orange peel it has...

 

some scratches are impossible to get out by hand. Thats when you have to bring the high speed buffer out. We get scratches all the time like that at th shop that I have to buff out...and they buff out fairly easy with the right compunds.

 

So is there a particular polish that would work best on these finer scratches, they are very fine but there are alot of them.

 

what are you using that's scratching them? how new is the paint? what brand of clear if aftermarket?

first off using a wax like the meguiars you mentioned is yellow with carnuba, if your clear has scratches like most do you'll have to be careful as to what type of product you use as if you let it seep down in and dry it essentially fills the scratches making them more noticeable.

just in theory as a test i'd try using a very fine finish/polish compound in a small area. for my show car i never used wax, only wizards final step of finish polish on the car and i never had any swirl marks. mainly because i didn't use any product that could accent them.

to find out if it's the product or your technique of drying/waxing/etc. i would find a 1 foot square on a flat surface such as your hood where you can find the most scratches. tape it or mark it somehow so that you know your square and for half the square either wash the section with some diluted dish washing soap to eat the wax or if your worried about it try something as simple as a detailers spray to wipe it away.

if you do this and the scratches disappear in that section we can move on to simple procedures. if the scratches remain then it's time for some professional help via a buffer or possibly some sanding.

whatever you do take small steps in what you try. more often then not it's the chemical. also as important as it is to dry your car in straight body lines you need to remove your wax/polish in the same fashion.

for example. apply the polish in circular motions as this is your buffer for fine scratches. remove the polish in straight lines as any time you touch your paint your going to scratch. the straight lines help to reduce what your eyes catch off the reflection of the sun. for waxing i always apply and remove in straight lines. it's a pain but it's the only way i've found to make 8 year old paint look like this.

 

I am having trouble seeing the scratches in your pictures, but if they are indeed swirl marks and they aren't too deep, there is a simple procedure to do. I just did this on my black formula and it turned out great. I suggest using a Porter Cable to apply most of these products.
Wash
Clay
Wash
Poorboy's SSR2.5 w/ Cutting pad
Clearkot Red Machine Glaze w/ Polishing Pad
Moose Carnuba Wax w/ Finishing Pad

If they are just minor swirls, this should remove 90% of the marks.

 

if you know what your doing power tools are excellent but even an off the shelf orbital with limited speed can ruin a paintjob if your careless. always by hand first unless you know what your doing.

 

True. I had experience with orbital and rotary buffers so I knew what to expect. In that respect, they are excellent tools for detailing and really save time.

 

I am still unsure as to what has caused these scratches, (they are not swirls, they are straight, in the same pattern i wax and polish in) and i am positive my washig methods didnt cuase it, but they didnt appear until the tech wax was applied, so either the wax created them or just made them stand out. But i am leaning towards it creating them as the polish has never done this to me before.
As stated I tried getting them out by hand with the polish and in straight stokes both appying and removing, and it didnt make them any worse, but not much better at the same time, and by the way the paint is two years old.
I think the buffer may be the way to go and just stop using the tech wax, that or use a microfiber to apply the tech wax rather than the included foam pad

 

I forgot to add that I did remove the wax with a mixture of car wash soap and dish soap before polishing it, and removing the wax didnt make the swirls any less noticeable.

 

wonlt be the nxt.. i used it on my car an truck and never a problem with it. i would guess something got in your rag and scratched the surface. either during washing or waxing.

try meguires cleaner wax by hand that may just be enough to take those scratches out. you are using microfiber towels did you get the tags off em i did put a scratch in my truck with a little peice of tag i missed on the rag.

jeff

ps am i the only one that sees the orange peel? or is the camera. when i look at pic 2 and 3 i can see it. in one i can not. look at the building in the reflection and you can see it...maybe its just me from all the wet sanding ive been doing.

 

it looks like it in pic 3

 

Yeah im not saying it doesnt have ANY orange peel... but that isnt what is holding back the look of my paint right now..it's the scratches in the clear, but thanks for the heads up
I was looking at the paint in the sun again about an hour ago and these are the strangest "spider web" scratches i have ever seen, they seem to be most visible when they are in the sun, but not when you are looking at the sun itself in the paint, if that makes sense, and when i do look at the sun in the paint, they dont seem as bad!?
To answer your questions JeffW, these microfibers didnt come with tags and i can understand how getting something in the rag would mess it up but i dont see how it can make so many "scratches per square inch" lol..and even if that did happen it would have been during the washing or waxing step because all the recent polishing was done with brand new microfibers, and the polishing would have taken out those scratches from the wash/wax step wouldnt it have, or was 84customZ28 right, the only way is a buffer??

 

there are so many things that can cause scratches it really depends on what type of clear was used, how it was used, how it cured, etc. sounds like you have soft clear though. wax really doesn't create scratches unless you were to say let it bake in the sun and then try to scrub it off the paint. dirty wash mit or even a harsh fiber mit, harsh polished, removing or drying anything in a swirl pattern will do it. if you still doing straight line procedures and producing scratches i'd change your applicators, wash mit and drying units. sounds like something in there is causing the problem.

another thing to note too now is there are companies coming out with microfiber towels that aren't very high in threadcount, some are no better then a cotton towel. not to say that's your answer but anythings possible. sounds like your trying to take the right steps though. definately something you'll need to weed out by changing individual items through the process.

 

could defniately use some wetsanding.. still looks nice though in the picture.

 

Yeah I have almost ruled out the washing step as causing the problem because it had a pretty good shine with few swirls untill i felt like trying the NXT tech, after using the wax it greatly reduced the amount of old swirls in direct light (i know it sounds odd for a wax to do anything but protoct, but this stuff did help), but a few days later when the sun finally hit the car in the right light where it is parked, i noticed the scratches but they are visible from almost every angle, so this gives me the impression that it could be dryed polish embedded in the scratches due to how they are visible, so my question now is, why does this deep crystal stuff not supposed to dry onto the paint like most other polishes, i mean, removing it almost immediatly before it has a chance to dry sound like a pain in the rear, i think i have found the problem, the polish and how i am using it.
again, what would be a good polish to use on a buffer, or to word it better, what specifications do i look for in the polish.

 

i had very good results with sure finish. not the most well know polish but great for use with a buffer, the polish will only cut depending on what pad you use its very mild but will take out 1200 grit scratch from wet sanding. since sanding my car yet again with finish film instead of wet sanding, its a dry process, it looks like glass. not a mark in the paint now, the way i hoped it would turn out. i even used sure finish like nxt on a rag and it works wonders. i did use nxt after sure finish buffing for the extra deep shine i was going for. i get sure finish from autobodystore.com.
i like the sure finish with the wool pad and the a loose wool pad for the final buff. i did not like the orange foam pads they had it seemed to add more scratch in my application. sure finish is a very mild polish and user frendly.

jeff

 

Direct quote from autobodystore.com regarding sure finish....

This new high tech polish can be used to both compound and polish a painted surface just by changing the compounding pad to a polishing pad.

Is that what you ment by wool pad followed by loose wool pad??

 

NO WOOL PADS, 3m has 2 different pad compounds you use. Next time I am out in the shop I will get you part numbers.

 

For those of us who don't know, what is orange peal?

 

Orange peel is when the paint has a shine to it, but not a mirror like shine where you can make out details of the things reflected in the paint. It will happen when you have a car painted but you dont wetsand and buff it afterwards.

 

Go buy an orange, look at the skin, it's all bumpy. If the paint/clear isn't even, when the sun hits it, you see something very similar (hence the name "orange peel"). Wetsanding/buffing levels the surface, removing some orange peel. Every car has some orange peel, esp darker colors, some is just alot worse then others.

 

Which is exactly why there is a blur in the reflections of the paint, it is distorted.

 

Oh allright, I know exactly what you mean, I've seen that before. Thanks.

 

Well i just washed the car today and applied some more Nxt and that was enough to erase my problem Thanks for the help guys.