Pearl White Paint, How Do I See Swirls?
- Thread starter mudhog79
- Start date
I had a similar experience when prepping my dad's pearl white Accord. They bought it new but it had been on the lot for almost year. The contamination was easy to see and remove. The swirls were a different story. While doing my test spots, I tried different lights and found an older Mag Lite with a warmer bulb worked best.
Here's the thing, I had my son holding the light while I was trying to find the swirls. When I laid on the garage floor trying to get the right angle to find them, my son said, "If you ever come across a random stranger laying in a gas station parking lot looking for swirls on grandpa's daily driver, I want to hear about that." It was then that I realized I was chasing a little too hard and if I did meet that guy, it would probably be somebody on this forum.
I ended just hitting the entire vehicle with a polishing pad and Meg's UP to enhance the gloss and really make the pearl pop. Why remove clear coat from a DD if I have to struggle to find the reason for removing paint.
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Here's the thing, I had my son holding the light while I was trying to find the swirls. When I laid on the garage floor trying to get the right angle to find them, my son said, "If you ever come across a random stranger laying in a gas station parking lot looking for swirls on grandpa's daily driver, I want to hear about that." It was then that I realized I was chasing a little too hard and if I did meet that guy, it would probably be somebody on this forum.
I ended just hitting the entire vehicle with a polishing pad and Meg's UP to enhance the gloss and really make the pearl pop. Why remove clear coat from a DD if I have to struggle to find the reason for removing paint.
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TMQ
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- Mar 4, 2015
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idriveblackcars
In time out
- May 10, 2016
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You are missing the point though, hiding them doesn't mean swirl free.
OP wants to apply a semi permanent coating. All swirls must be removed.
Paul A.
New member
- Dec 21, 2007
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My trick for inspecting white paint for scratches and swirls is to pull it into my garage and turn off all the lights. I then inspect the entire paint job with my inspection light. Sure enough, there they are!
My approach to full correction jobs is to flatten the paint as much as safely possible...regardless of color. Swirls and scratches in the paint are reflective gloss robbers. I will guarantee gloss, pop and shine if they are removed before locking it in with an LSP.
Having said that, I can clearly understand living with what is very difficult to see on your personal vehicle. It comes down to what you are happy with in regard to appearance.
My approach to full correction jobs is to flatten the paint as much as safely possible...regardless of color. Swirls and scratches in the paint are reflective gloss robbers. I will guarantee gloss, pop and shine if they are removed before locking it in with an LSP.
Having said that, I can clearly understand living with what is very difficult to see on your personal vehicle. It comes down to what you are happy with in regard to appearance.
TMQ
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- Mar 4, 2015
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Sure the swirls are there. If one has to crawl around or to turn out lights, etc to find them, it is not worth the time nor the money to chase them down.
Simple act of claying by itself goes long way in flatting out the panels which in turn creates an improvement in gloss/shine. Plus polishing will
create an additional flatting out the panels with even more shine and pop in the paint. This is about as good as it can get for a regular DD!! This will
be far more than 90% of all cars on the road!!!
I'm with smitty4x4 on this...
Tom
Simple act of claying by itself goes long way in flatting out the panels which in turn creates an improvement in gloss/shine. Plus polishing will
create an additional flatting out the panels with even more shine and pop in the paint. This is about as good as it can get for a regular DD!! This will
be far more than 90% of all cars on the road!!!
I'm with smitty4x4 on this...
Tom
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
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Pearl White Paint, How Do I See Swirls?
Try inspecting in the dark.
Pull the car into your garage.
Turn out all of the lights.
Shine a real swirl finder light on the paint.
Try inspecting in the dark.
Pull the car into your garage.
Turn out all of the lights.
Shine a real swirl finder light on the paint.
I forgot a small detail in my post. The garage was dark except for the light I was using to find swirls. It's a trick I learned here and it's now my go to for white and pearl colors. It works.
I also want to add, I'm not suggesting that paint correction shouldn't be done before the coating. I just feel there is a point of diminishing return. I need to stay sane somehow.
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I also want to add, I'm not suggesting that paint correction shouldn't be done before the coating. I just feel there is a point of diminishing return. I need to stay sane somehow.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Autogeekonline mobile app
Eric@CherryOnTop
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- Jun 23, 2012
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Maybe I'm missing something. If you can't see the swirls then what's the problem? What are you looking for? My wife has a pearl white Mazda and I love it cos it's so easy to keep clean without having to worry about swirls.
- Thread starter
- #30
Yeah this is what i am thinking too, i can see some swirls but it isnt that bad. So i am thinking of just polishing the paint as well with a white pad. So with that in mind do i use a compound or just the polish with the white pad?
Just trying to do what i can before coating as i dont want to redo it after i am done.- Thread starter
- #31
I agree with you 100% and will try turning out the lights!
- Thread starter
- #32
Pearl White Paint, How Do I See Swirls?
Try inspecting in the dark.
Pull the car into your garage.
Turn out all of the lights.
Shine a real swirl finder light on the paint.
I will give this a go! Thanks.
- Thread starter
- #33
1st i dont know what i am doing when looking for swirls on white paint, they are very obvious on black so i want to make sure i am not missing something before going through the whole process of getting the car ready, coated, then see issues.
Eldorado2k
Well-known member
- Nov 9, 2015
- 14,429
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It's kinda hard to put into words... Have you ever painted the walls inside your house? Do you remember how after painting for the 1st time you gained a whole new way to focus in on the paint and easily recognize the difference between 1 coat of paint vs. 2 coats of paint? Well it's nothing like that, but in a way it's similar because once you figure out how to spot swirls it just becomes sort of natural [easy] no matter what color the vehicle is. [even silver & white]
Here's an example of defects on white paint: The contamination is extreme here, and believe it or not so are the swirls, but they're still somewhat hard to see... Your car won't be anywhere near this bad.
And after decontamination & polishing away the swirls.
Dereksdtail
New member
- Jul 22, 2014
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Just hit it with something medium cut and mckees coating, my ride is pearl white and I know there are some swirls but it's pretty hard to see them even in direct sun
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Pearl White Paint, How Do I See Swirls?
Try inspecting in the dark.
Pull the car into your garage.
Turn out all of the lights.
Shine a real swirl finder light on the paint.
This is the trick! I recently did "paint correction" on my Summit White Camaro. I tried all sorts of shop light combinations and in the sun but couldn't see scratches that I knew were there. Bought the Rupes Pen Light and used it in dark garage and was horrified of all the scratches I hadn't seen! Almost wish I hadn't used this light!
I turned off the lights in the garage and worked my way around the car. I tried to look at each area from various angels. I found holding the light a 45 degree angle worked best and hold the light away from me. Once I was ready to start compounding, I would find the spots again I wanted to correct and put a little dab of compound (used Meguiars Ultimate Compound which is slightly yellowish) on the spots. Then turn my work light on and start compounding using the dabs as my guide.
I admit, that thought crossed my mind! I did put on some "reader" glasses for some areas because of my eyes are getting old.