Car Detailing - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

South · 06-04-2002, 09:28

Im after a high quality car detailing business in perth, does anyone know of one, maybe even a national company who you have used before and highly recommend.

I wanna get rid of all the streakes and swirl marks in my car, she needs a good buff.

help me please

cheers
South

Martin · 06-04-2002, 11:38

Unless you know whats causing the swirls/fine scratches then all you will be doing is fighting a losing battle.

It would be more than likely be what you use to wash and apply the polish to your car. The only way to minimise scratches is to use expensive top-end brand 100% white cotton towels.

Cheapo towels (even ones that say 100% cotton, as it often refers to just the pile, not the backing), sponges, rags etc will scratch guaranteed.

Also drying your car is best done with a leaf blower, your neighbours will think youve gone loony, but the less you touch the paint, the less swirls you'll get.

Oh and only wash the towels in liquid detergent, powdered detergent wont completly dissolve, leaving very fine granules that can scratch.

Ive been using a product called Zaino (www.zainobros.com) and the swirls on my paint have greatly reduced with using their Z5 swirl 'reducer'. Although 9years worth of swirls is a little hard to totally fix, but im getting there.
The guys at LS1.com and Corvetteforum.com swear by this product also.....

Oh and a detailer will either wet-sand the paint and/or use a mild abrasive polish, which will obviously remove some of the top clear coat, which is thin enough already.

fte22 · 06-04-2002, 17:13

Hey South, how old is your car? Martin is right though, unless you know what's causing it, after you fix it, they'll come back again. My car is less than 3 years old, but is black and looks terrible in the sun, so many swirls. It looked nice when I bought it a year ago, but as soon as I washed it, they were there. VIP car care is supposed to be good, they give you a free quote, I spoke to them at the motorshow here in March and they reckon because it's black, only a cut and polish will fix it. I am scared of doing that though seeing the car is not even 3 years old. I have tried all those meguiars products with no success, however I still use their stuff to wash/dry my car etc.

laminge · 06-04-2002, 17:34

Quote:

Originally posted by fte22
Hey South, how old is your car? Martin is right though, unless you know what's causing it, after you fix it, they'll come back again. My car is less than 3 years old, but is black and looks terrible in the sun, so many swirls. It looked nice when I bought it a year ago, but as soon as I washed it, they were there. VIP car care is supposed to be good, they give you a free quote, I spoke to them at the motorshow here in March and they reckon because it's black, only a cut and polish will fix it. I am scared of doing that though seeing the car is not even 3 years old. I have tried all those meguiars products with no success, however I still use their stuff to wash/dry my car etc.

The Vip car care bloke you spoke too is actually a member of the XRCLUB in Vic, of whom many members have used his services with great responses!

Know you feeling with a Black car., but a decent cut and polish with fix that.

I did mine after 3 months of buying the car!:tup:

XR_Strider_GuY · 06-04-2002, 17:42

Well i've been using teh Meguires products and as often as i can use the Meguires polishing towels (quite expensive at that). My car is almost a year old and yes there are swirl marks etc. Though i have greatly reduced it since i got the car. It seems the more you spend the better the results.

Change spong regularly, gentle water flow when rinsing car wash suds will help. Having said that i think the ford clear coat is pretty soft though the actual paint is quite duarble ie not fade over the years but the clear coat marks damn easily to the point that even looking at it puts marks on it.

I find a good way to mask swirl marks is to use AmourAll Armour Plate should last till the next wash in a week or two.

Oh yeah one last tip, never ever ever ever go to Car lovers and use there carwash. It strips all wax etc and the die in the black plastic comes off. I spent a month getting the EF back to standard after 1 wash at car lovers.

fte22 · 06-04-2002, 18:50

Oh cool, thanks Laminge, I have to give them a call again soon and get a quote, hopefully it won't be too much. Thanks too Strider, I have never had my car washed anywhere though, don't trust anyone! I used meguiars polish once for the swirls, and it permanently stained some of my door rubber and side mirrors, so now I use tyre polish to blacken them after I wash the car, I was pretty cut about that. I just think, get the cut and polish, and a few months down the track I will have swirls again, so all I would have done is stripped paint off my car? The swirls look pretty deep though, more like scratches. And what about metallic paint, there are like blue sparkles in the paint and it looks really good, will a cut and polish get rid of these?

06-05-2002, 00:50

I am a car detailer for a security company and use Omikron professional detailing products. I was taught alot by a friend of my old man's who owns and operates Gawler Mobile Car Clean
He uses those hot air blowers too sometimes and also uses Omikron whiich is available through damian kitschke at essential details. email sales@essentialdetails.com.au

Never use lambswool cloths or polishing rags or chamois
They really scratch
Only polish your car once in winter and wax in mid summer
Too much will cause a buildup
Meguiars , 3M and others are good brands but the products sold by High performance car toys , rocca bros and autobarn are of domestic quality
Use thin cotton bed sheets and for windows i use the thick winter sheets ripped up in sections
The omikron super gloss wash is superb and i was all the cars at work and mine without using a sponge
If you have to, by the detailers choice brand which is very very big and covers a big area without much effort
The super gloss has very small amounts of polymer wax in it which does not build up and will not effect windows during washing
Dry with a bath towel and then finish off drying with a cotton rag.
machine buffing really helps but don't do it too often
You will find your car attracts dust and body turns to a white color when the car gets wet.

Some idiot a few months ago put his new series III falcon through one of those old style car washes with brushes
Oh my, brush strokes all over the thing. Poor fella

Hope this helps

06-05-2002, 03:57

I have a red xr with bloody swirl marks on it.....bloody car yard buffs them up, in the sun they stick out like dogs balls

Let me know how you get on south

XR8DAZ1 · 06-05-2002, 15:26

The local holden dealer buffs his cars with MrSheene !!Great shine until the first wash/rain :err:

fte22 · 06-05-2002, 17:06

Black is the worst, gets me so angry looking at it :( But when it's your own car, you seem to scrutinise it more and look at the car so closely. White and Silver have to be the best colours for not noticing swirls.