paint looks

[99_SL2]

in the sun my paint looks like someone washed my car with the wrong side of a kitchen sponge, the scratchy side. it looks like the scratches float over the car.. anyone have any idea what im talking about or know how to fix it?

[saturn_06]

buff it

[99_SL2]

just wax?

and i dont have a buffer, so will by hand work?.. ive never had this problem on my either of my other cars.. whys it doin this?

[saturn_06]

i dunno m car has it too... i think its frow the wet sand

[andy_wh2000]

there are a variety of things that can cause this. using too harsh a washing sponge/mit, not washing your car for long periods of time, taking a beating from the sun, bad paint, etc. what conditions do you have your car in commonly? has it been repainted before?

[PurdueGuy]

probably needs polished. Most walley-world car waxes have the polish mixed in. If you get the polish seperate, it should work better. Good friend of mine has the old 3M stuff that rocks - you can actually soften & shift the clearcoat with it, which lets you erase those clearcoat scratches (or screw up the clearcoat if you don't know what you're doing). The 3M stuff's not on the market anymore from what he said though... too high a VOC rating, posed a health risk or some crap like that.

[99_SL2]

never repainted, ill try some polishing compound and see how it goes, thanks guys.. any other suggestions feel free to keep posting

[sls_06Ion]

you need a good quality (body shop) type of buffing compund, try a good 3M compound, or a product like Race Glaze Cutting and Leveling. You'll also need a good rotary, NOT ORBITAL, buffer, plus and and assortment of foam and combination wool pads. I would personally say to start out with a 50/50 wool and cotton pad, and let the buffer do the work, keep the RPM's down around 900-1200 and take your time, and then after the cars been cut and leveled, a good polish will help prevent and aleviate most future scrathing (from a wash mit anyways).

[slowion2]

why exactly would you not want an orbital buffer? not like his paint could get worse but that greatly increases the chance of people ruining their paint/clear

[sls_06Ion]

even for starting out buffing The products that I use, sell and do ISCA show cars with, suggests that for optimal preformance to use a rotary buffer. Also there is an increased rick of severe swirling with an orbital because of the motion, plus it damn hard to burn paint if you only buff betewn 900 - 1200 RPM's. I've done plenty of cars, trucks, and planes at low rpm instead of buffing at like 3000 rpms, and not once burn the paint, When I was in high school in fort walton beach, I worked at new boat dealer and was taught that if you let the compound work for you, as apossed to buffing fast and pushing on the buffer, your compound goes further, and the product works better, plus if you add just a quick squirt of water to the buffing surface it also adds more lubricant, and provides a smoother finish, for final buff before hand polishing.

[slowion2]

interesting, I'll have to keep that in mind. I mean I do mine all by hand but used an orbital unit a few times on my first car and it came out great, while people with rotary ones would swirly/burn the paint. but like you said, you're not at that high of an RPM which makes sense.

I'll have to try that some time.

[sls_06Ion]

just keep the rpms betwen 900 - 1200 and work the compound or polish, until it's gone and then you can move on to the next step.

pads : http://www.lakecountrymfg.com/
I use/sell a mix of pads from this company mostly the vc foam for finish and the wools for intial cut and leveling, depending on the surface. they also make a black or blue / white for appliacation and removal by hand and thats what comes with our polish & pad sets.

materials: http://www.raceglaze.com/ ---- paint
This is what we sell/use on all of our cars, and customers show cars/ daily drivers
: http://www.hollywoods1.com/ ----- metal polishes, interior dressing only, and towels.

I do alot of buffing when my back is feeling ok so if you ever need help or have questions just send me an email or pm or post something.

[lilcraigford]

Invest into a Porter Cable Random Orbital Buffer, some good pads, some Meguiar's #83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish, and some Meguiars #82 Swirl Free Polish and set aside a good solid afternoon to devote to the car. Ask the NE STC guys, my paint is a friggen mirror. Wrapped it up with some Meguiars Gold Class Wax. Too lazy to elaborate though... originally found inspiration in this thread: http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread/790409

[andy_wh2000]

rotary buffers are the way to go. we also use 3m products at our shop. but its not cheep. a bottle costs about $40 for the compound and fine polish. you can find it in smaller portions at napa auto parts. mcquires also has good polishing products. look for their higher end stuff rather that the stuff you can find on any store shelf.

[Silent Bob]

I don't think I would use a rotary unless absolutely necessary. Most people don't even know how to check and see if their paint is thick enough. Not worth the risk of going through the paint to me. Just get a good hand glaze with some swirl remover and go from there