What is best for removing light swirls from soft paint by hand?

[B-M-D]

I have a silver 2008 honda civic si, so from what I understand, it has soft paint. I've taken very good care of it, but I bought it used in 2009 with only a few thousand miles on it, and it had very light swirls on it since I bought it.

I don't have a DA polisher. I'm going to polish by hand with a Meguiars hand pad and Meguiars yellow soft buff foam polishing pad. (Would this be an okay pad to use?)

I'm also looking at using Meguiars M205.


Would this be a good way to go for light swirls on soft Honda paint, or are there better options?

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

The notion of Honda paint being "soft" is somewhat misleading. It might not be as hard to polish out below surface defects as say a Benz with CeramiClear; even so, trying paint correction by hand will be a very daunting project. Not that it can't be done... it will just take a very, very long time.

Unless you have an unlimited amount of time on your hands I HIGHLY recommend picking up some type of DA polisher. M205 isn't very aggressive even with a machine polisher, I can't imaging using it by hand for even light paint correction. It will certainly clean up the surface and make the paint extra shiny but it would take HOURS & HOURS to remove swirl marks from an entire car with M205 by hand.

If you do want to polish out the entire vehicle by hand I would consider testing a spot with M205 and if that isn't doing as well as you need step up to M105. I use M105 all the time by hand for under door handles and places where my machine simply won't reach. Good luck and looking forward to your Show N Shine thread! rops:

 

[ihaveacamaro]

I have a silver 2008 honda civic si, so from what I understand, it has soft paint. I've taken very good care of it, but I bought it used in 2009 with only a few thousand miles on it, and it had very light swirls on it since I bought it.

I don't have a DA polisher. I'm going to polish by hand with a Meguiars hand pad and Meguiars yellow soft buff foam polishing pad. (Would this be an okay pad to use?)

I'm also looking at using Meguiars M205.


Would this be a good way to go for light swirls on soft Honda paint, or are there better options?

Yeah I have to agree with Nick. Polishing by hands just is not a really feasible option anymore these days. Our paints are not lacquer based and single stage so it can be quite difficult to hand polish swirls out.

A DA would be really nice for you :xyxthumbs:

 

[Benziez]

Before I have a DA, I tried to polish by hand using Meguiars ultimate compound & SwirlX. Didnt even remove a single swirl. Then I used Turtle Wax Premium Grade Polishing Compound, removed at least 40% of the swirls. If u have the time & stamina, Im sure can remove another 30%.. hehehe. BTW, my car is a Honda Civic 05

 

[B-M-D]

The notion of Honda paint being "soft" is somewhat misleading. It might not be as hard to polish out below surface defects as say a Benz with CeramiClear; even so, trying paint correction by hand will be a very daunting project. Not that it can't be done... it will just take a very, very long time.

Unless you have an unlimited amount of time on your hands I HIGHLY recommend picking up some type of DA polisher. M205 isn't very aggressive even with a machine polisher, I can't imaging using it by hand for even light paint correction. It will certainly clean up the surface and make the paint extra shiny but it would take HOURS & HOURS to remove swirl marks from an entire car with M205 by hand.

If you do want to polish out the entire vehicle by hand I would consider testing a spot with M205 and if that isn't doing as well as you need step up to M105. I use M105 all the time by hand for under door handles and places where my machine simply won't reach. Good luck and looking forward to your Show N Shine thread! rops:

Well, I have been thinking about getting a DA Polisher. But the swirls are hardly noticeable, even at night under a street light at the right angle. So I figured I could save some money and get the light swirls out by hand.

But a DA polisher would be a good tool to have.

What kind of pads and polish would I need to get light swirls out of the Honda paint with a DA?

 

[terrangama]

I am pretty new to the detailing world so take what I say with a big grain of salt, but if the swirls are light enough I might go for some sort of glaze that contains a filler like this one: Chemical Guys Glossworkz Glaze

 

[TimmyG]

The notion of Honda paint being "soft" is somewhat misleading. It might not be as hard to polish out below surface defects as say a Benz with CeramiClear; even so, trying paint correction by hand will be a very daunting project. Not that it can't be done... it will just take a very, very long time.

Unless you have an unlimited amount of time on your hands I HIGHLY recommend picking up some type of DA polisher. M205 isn't very aggressive even with a machine polisher, I can't imaging using it by hand for even light paint correction. It will certainly clean up the surface and make the paint extra shiny but it would take HOURS & HOURS to remove swirl marks from an entire car with M205 by hand.

If you do want to polish out the entire vehicle by hand I would consider testing a spot with M205 and if that isn't doing as well as you need step up to M105. I use M105 all the time by hand for under door handles and places where my machine simply won't reach. Good luck and looking forward to your Show N Shine thread! rops:

+1, this is good advice.

 

[B-M-D]

I am pretty new to the detailing world so take what I say with a big grain of salt, but if the swirls are light enough I might go for some sort of glaze that contains a filler like this one: Chemical Guys Glossworkz Glaze

I have Meguiar's #7 show car glaze. It works great, but I'd like to correct the swirls instead of temporarily making them disappear.

 

[B-M-D]

The notion of Honda paint being "soft" is somewhat misleading. It might not be as hard to polish out below surface defects as say a Benz with CeramiClear; even so, trying paint correction by hand will be a very daunting project. Not that it can't be done... it will just take a very, very long time.

Unless you have an unlimited amount of time on your hands I HIGHLY recommend picking up some type of DA polisher. M205 isn't very aggressive even with a machine polisher, I can't imaging using it by hand for even light paint correction. It will certainly clean up the surface and make the paint extra shiny but it would take HOURS & HOURS to remove swirl marks from an entire car with M205 by hand.

If you do want to polish out the entire vehicle by hand I would consider testing a spot with M205 and if that isn't doing as well as you need step up to M105. I use M105 all the time by hand for under door handles and places where my machine simply won't reach. Good luck and looking forward to your Show N Shine thread! rops:

Well, I just ordered the PC7424xp package that includes Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0 and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 with the light cutting pad and finishing pad. :buffing:

 

[primo spaghetti]

Well, I just ordered the PC7424xp package that includes Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0 and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 with the light cutting pad and finishing pad. :buffing:

nothing wrong with wolfgang products...you should be pleasantly surprised..

 

[driverone]

Before I have a DA, I tried to polish by hand using Meguiars ultimate compound & SwirlX. Didnt even remove a single swirl. Then I used Turtle Wax Premium Grade Polishing Compound, removed at least 40% of the swirls. If u have the time & stamina, Im sure can remove another 30%.. hehehe. BTW, my car is a Honda Civic 05

Interesting, I was looking at the products you mentioned because I'm also polishing by hand (at least for now). What did you use to apply the Turtle wax polish? A normal sponge applicator?

Anyone else have comments about swirlx/UC by hand? I used mothers stage 1 polish and it didn't do much for swirls/water marks despite quite abit of effort.

 

[conman1395]

Interesting, I was looking at the products you mentioned because I'm also polishing by hand (at least for now). What did you use to apply the Turtle wax polish? A normal sponge applicator?

Anyone else have comments about swirlx/UC by hand? I used mothers stage 1 polish and it didn't do much for swirls/water marks despite quite abit of effort.

I like M105 and M205 by hand, but only do under my door handles and other small areas by hand with the LC CCS hand pads. Yellow foam/sponge applicators are total crap. If you're going to polish, use a machine but if you still insist on doing it by hand then do it right with pads designed for different levels of cut and MEANT FOR HAND POLISHING.

Or buy a Harbor Freight DA. I just bought one for my girlfriend and it's REALLY nice for a cheap DA.

 

[driverone]

I like M105 and M205 by hand, but only do under my door handles and other small areas by hand with the LC CCS hand pads. Yellow foam/sponge applicators are total crap. If you're going to polish, use a machine but if you still insist on doing it by hand then do it right with pads designed for different levels of cut and MEANT FOR HAND POLISHING.

Or buy a Harbor Freight DA. I just bought one for my girlfriend and it's REALLY nice for a cheap DA.

I'm trying to cut down on clutter and rarely polish, maybe I'll get an angle grinder with adjustable (low) speeds in future since I can use a grinder for other things. I can't get the specialty pads where I'm at and the shipping costs are high so its common yellow pads incl meguiars or cloth for more cutting power.

I watched some videos of UC/swirlx and they look quite effective with ordinary sponge applicators.

 

[conman1395]

I'm trying to cut down on clutter and rarely polish, maybe I'll get an angle grinder with adjustable (low) speeds in future since I can use a grinder for other things. I can't get the specialty pads where I'm at and the shipping costs are high so its common yellow pads incl meguiars or cloth for more cutting power.

I watched some videos of UC/swirlx and they look quite effective with ordinary sponge applicators.

If you've never used a machine it can be risky using a rotary (angle grinder). Really easy to just burn through all the paint.

Yes the yellow applicator removes the scratches fine. However if I'm going to spend the time doing paint correction whether it be by hand or machine, I want the results to be good. No, great. Using those yellow sponges really sucks though. The finish isn't as good and it's less effective. For under door handles, I use microfiber applicators. Ones available over the counter are Mothers, Viking, and Meguiar's Evencoat (I think those microfiber).

What makes me wonder is when people don't want to spend the money (~$65 or less with coupons) to buy a Harbor Freight DA because in my opinion, I think the cost of buying enough hand applicators over the counter would be not far off.
Just like working clean on a polisher with cleaning/changing pads, hand applicators must be clean to work with. Unfortunately you can't clean these microfiber hand applicators on the fly (at least not effectively) so you must flip to the other side and then use another.
I would have to use at least 4 Meguiar's Evencoat applicators per door. I'd really only like to use one applicator per 2' x 2' section. That's a lot of applicators!

I do, however, understand not everyone has a Harbor Freight near them and being located outside of the United States can make shipping extremely expensive and very cost prohibitive for even the most basic/inexpensive orders.

 

[Mncaddy]

Interesting, I was looking at the products you mentioned because I'm also polishing by hand (at least for now). What did you use to apply the Turtle wax polish? A normal sponge applicator?

Anyone else have comments about swirlx/UC by hand? I used mothers stage 1 polish and it didn't do much for swirls/water marks despite quite abit of effort.

I've used swirlx/UC by hand to get out holigrams/swirls from a poor buffing job but I found it didn't make much of a dent in small scratches. I only went over each spot twice though.

 

[Don M]

maybe I'll get an angle grinder with adjustable (low) speeds

That's probably one of the worst things you can do ... odds are almost 100% that you are going to burn your paint especially if you've never even used a DA machine before, let alone a rotary.

If nothing else get a Harbor Freight PC and practice with that, it's a relatively inexpensive machine that's fine for enthusiast use and will give you greater results than by hand.

 

[driverone]

I've used swirlx/UC by hand to get out holigrams/swirls from a poor buffing job but I found it didn't make much of a dent in small scratches. I only went over each spot twice though.

Was it UC or swirlx that you used? How long did you have to polish each spot?