...as above...

Have already hand polished my car twice since I got my 2000model FD from Japan using Meguires Gold class. But everytime I wash it those smears, swirl marks and light scratches re-appear.. I havent got the car buff yet, would this be the perfect-permanent solution?

Some random pics I took today after noticing those 'making me cringe' swirl marks.

 

Awesome lookin' FD dude! You might get a better response in the Interior/Exterior forum.
BTW, what's that logo on your front bumper?

Great license plates. Does that refer to bra size?

 

http://www.guidetodetailing.com/arti...p?articleId=15

Lots of good information on car care/detailing on the site as well.

 

wow, that's a very nice car

 

www.autopia.org CLICK LEARN and read all the articles on how to detail your ar (remove swirls/marring, cleaning, protecting etc etc). then if you have any question click talk (iirc i think its talk..or discuss?) and post in the forum. those guys know what theyre doing and theyll recommend the best for you. though black cars are extremely nice when theres no swirls or marring the swirls will come back very fast and youre going to have to polish it again. but dont worry about polishing it all the time, theres no realy such thing as over polishing if youre using the right supplies and if you know what youre doing. good luck!

 

You need to use a glazing agent (like Meguiars No. 2 polish) to get the fine polishing swirl marks out of the paint before you wax. Buffing compound is for the initial smoothing of the paint finish; glazing is a finer polishing agent to get buffing compound marks out of the finish before waxing (like the Meguiars Gold Class).

 

What is that silver emblem on the front of the car?

 

try #9 swirl remover first w/ a PC7224.. if that still doesnt help, try megs DACP

 

I don't usually like any kits on any cars, but that looks great! Is it MazdaSpeed?

 

great looking car!

 

If you have the patience and time, the ultimate way to do darker paints is to color/wet sand the paint. Start with a 1,500 grit then 2,000. After sanding it will look dull, don't worry because then you will have to use a compound to remove the sanding swirl marks. Then polish and wax. I promise you, your paint will look like a smooth glass mirror. This is exactly how the pros do it. If your scared to do it, just do one of the side view mirrors and see for yourself.


Edit: Also in the future don't hand wash your car. All your doing is rubbing the dirt into the paint causing swirly marks. Your shammy or towel has now become sandpaper. I use a very soft bristle brush perfectly designed for washing cars. Then I use a blade squeegee to dry it. Towels and shammy's just rub against the paint too must and can still cause scratches it you get a foreign debris on them.

 

http://www.meguiars.com/howtocenter/ I use their pro video series to remove paint defects from clearcoated surfaces. You need their products and buffing/polishing pads and maybe a D/A polisher to achieve professional results.

 

he is absolutely right, I back what he said 100%, except sometimes even 2000 grit swirls are there, so I wet sand out to 3000 to make sure that the buffing and polishing is easy effort.

 

Wow I didn't realize they made 3000 grit.

 

go to a good body shop and ask them to cut and pollish your car. Your car will look like glass after.

 

How much does that normally run?

 

i
wouldnt use a soft bristle brush to wash a car. yes it wont scratch a car but as you use it the tips of the tiny bristles breaks off and after a while itll be a rough as a broom because the micro split ends have broken off. the best way to test if something will scratch the paint is to try it out on a clean blank cd first to see if it will mar the CD. if it does then itll mar your paint too and cause swirls since the paint/clearcoat is just as delicate as the cd.


the best way is to use a sheepskin/wool wash mitt (the real stuff.. not cotten. it should have leather inside with wool out side) and the two bucket solution.

with the two bucket solution you should have 2 5 gallon buckets. one for soapy clean water and one for mitt rinsing. rinse the top of the car with a hose first and using the clean sheepskin mitt, dip it into the clean soapy water and then wash the roof. after washing a ~ 3x3ft area the mitt will collect dirt. now rinse the mitt in the bucket for rinsing. then start to work your way down to the bottem while rinsing the mitt after washing a 3x3 area. i would detail the rims (soft bristle brush by meguiars is good) and interior (this includes the engine bay) before washing the paint.

in www.autopia.org you should see an article for a porter cable polisher. you should be able to handle most types of swirl/defect removing jobs with it with patience. for tougher jobs i use the makita rotary polisher which can burn the paint if its not used correctly (lots of torque). for polishing glaze/compound i use poorboys SSR.. depending on the situation i use different levels of compound. for tough jobs i use the ssr 3.0.. and others i use 2.0 or 2.5..

if you really want your paint to shine without defect, its all about the prepping... wash, claying, and polishing. waxing/sealant doesnt do much, it just protects and adds a little pop to the finish. you will need a polishing machine (the porter cable) and other supplies if you want your paint to be flawless. unless you want to polish by hand with meguiars scratch x (which wont wont be fun at all... will take at least 4hrs of hand buffing on a FD.. youll get tired after 15 minites..). so read up on www.autopia.org and ask those guys if you have any questions, youll get quicker replies and more acurrate answers. good luck

 

Damn good write up rob. Couldnt have said it any better myself.

 

...thanks so much fellas for all your input! Greatly appreciated!!

I didnt realise how hard it is to maintain the look of black paint. Ive soaked in all your handy tips and will go further more into the referred website as suggested. Worst comes to worst i will get the car professionally buffed and might invest on a new paint job in the future with a different color.

 

thanks man!
Oops wrong thread, my bad.

The 'C' logo is for Cyber. Cyber Motorsports is one of the top, well if not the top custom exterior tuners in Sydney. They havent done anything to it yet, they previously had some work done on my MR2 and will continue to do so for my FD.

hehe Yes, bra size.....the driver's preferred size in *****.

 

Thanks!! its a Genuine MazdaSpeed GT-Concept kitted FD.

 

Actually I have a 4000 grit DA wet sanding pad for the final stage before buffing. When you can see through the clear you will see every scratch and grit in the surface, which makes more time with the buffer. I choose to get rid of all scratches before buffing, its easy to burn the surface if your not moving the buffer properly with a 1200 RPM DA polisher. So yeah they have em and even a higher grit for finishing. I believe the pads I have are 3M.

 

After i use 3000 grit wet & dry to do the whole car do i hose it down before polishing...also is there a spefic technique to sanding it, how long do i sand for?

 

clean....

 

bahh... its not that hard since your car isnt a daily driver i assume. black paint are the worst when it comes to swirls and defects on the paint. why? because black paint doesnt reflect as much light as lighter shade color. when light hits the paint, it reflects, and usually you see little lines (or scratches). those little lines are like mirrors reflecting in different directions and bounces at you brighter than the good portion of the paint (again because its black and it reflects little light).

on lighter shades like silver, white, gold etc. its harder to see swirls though its still there. silver and white reflects light the same amount as the little scratches (swirls) so you wont notice swirls much. so basically black highlights the swirls and lighter colors hides the swirls.

i wouldnt recommend sanding because as we all know it thins the paint MORE than polishing. why sand the paint when you can simply polish it? the swirls will come back anyways. when single stage paint is thinned it slowly gets lighter and lighter (if you can notice on red cars, they will actually turn dark pink). when clearcoat is thinned the depth of the car decreases by a lot. also, you said you wanted to go get your car detailed? it usually costs ~120-160 US for a full detail around here. for 300 US you can buy LOADS of supply details which will last you at least a year of detailing lol. why not spend a nice sunday shining your car up instead? .

edit: there are some members that are located in sydney on that site i told you about. maybe you can get some local help from them.