Paint job only recourse?

[01RDSLE]

RAT FARTS man the other day I was polishing my car and makin it look brand spakin new again, and whambambow . . . swirls all over the hood, nasty deep ones. Sheeeeet, checked the rag and it was one my wife and I used to clean up a paint spill in dah house (dah? applies to me more). anyhow, the t-shirt had nice crusty dried paint (about the size of less than a dime, dangnabit)
tried that polish with the red dye but that stuff stinks.

double rat farts, what do I do now?

[Guest]

Yikes ! That must've ticked you off.......

IF the scratches went deeper than the clear coat, you might need to have it touched up.....

[nkx1]

There are various products that can help with swirl marks. The easiest and mildest one is probably Nufinish. It helped a lot of the light swirls on my car, plus its cheap. If that doesn't work, you can try 3M scratch remover, and I think McGuiar's has simular scratch remover product. Be careful when using these though, because they are slightly abrasive. They have to be though to accomplish their purpose. Keep in mind, if the scratches are down to the primer, obviously no scratch remover is going to work, and touch-up paint (if possible) or a re-paint of the affected area will be necessary. If you really want to explore all you options, visit www.autopia.org/forums/index.php. This is the larget car detailing site I've ever come accross. You can do a search that should yield whatever info your looking for. This site was also helpful for me for washing tips, etc. Because the Solara's seem to have such soft paint, I take every precation possible to minimize scratching.

Btw, never use t-shirts for washing, waxing etc. For washing, always use white, 100% cotton, made in the USA towels (colored towels can scratch and towels made outside of the USA are often not 100% cotton even though they say they are). For waxing/polishing use 100% cotton applicator pads and remove wax/polish with towel as mentioned above or microfiber towel. Hope that helps!

[Optimus]

Clay bars can remove surface swirl marks, but if it is much deeper try the above recommendation. Otherwise detail shops can often work magic - they can tell if if is possible or if you have to paint it.

[NASTY]

http://www.autopia.org/forums/index.php will work better

[Yanks0114]

http://www.autopia.org/forums/index.php will work better

Wow excellent find. Another thing i have been told is when drying your car don't use anything but pure cotton because some towels have a little nylon and it can scartch. As said above there are many swirl mark removal products but there isn't much you can do if it is below the clear coat.

[Optimus]

no towels for drying -- use a leather chamois. great absorbtion and actually dries the car well with no swirls.

Waxing & buffing, use cotton terry towels.

[nkx1]

I think the right towels are better than chamois for drying because towels are much softer and dissipate dirt better (whereas chamois have no extra material to absorb dirt). Chamois will just rub any leftover dirt around on your paint. Plus towels will leave your car completely dry, while chamois can leave water marks. Oh, and if you care about animals at all, no animals have to die so you can dry your car.

[Optimus]

funny, i have had the exact opposite experience. complete drying with no water marks period with a chamois as it can be wrung out to absorb more. Towels just seem to spread the water and leave little threads all over. i've had dark colored cars for years and have had only good experiences since switching to a chamois.

maybe it is one of those personal preference things, but based on what I have read in car care magazines, a chamois is recommended.

anyone else have input on this?

[Yanks0114]

I use the "Absorber" for the paint and a towel for my glass surfaces and i love it. I found that a towel loses its absobance after a while.

[nkx1]

For the people that don't like the towel drying method, that's cool, obviously do whatever works best for you. But I think the towel works the best because I first use 1 towel to quickly go around the car and soak up most of the water, and then I use a different towel or two to get the remaining water. This leaves the car perfectly dry with no watermarks whatsoever. That way, I don't have to worry about the chamois scratching the paint, or ringing out the chamois.

[NASTY]

what kind of towel?
whenever i try it leaves lint all over the car...

[Yanks0114]

what kind of towel?
whenever i try it leaves lint all over the car...

Even if it leaves lint, take a california duster and it takes it right off. Works great

[4banger]

I always use a California water blade works great, and no scratches as long as you keep an eye on the blade for debris. Anyone else use one of these?