flc

I spent the most of this saturday following the some of everyone's advice and everything that I could find on car care websites.

The hood of my 00 A4 suffers from swirl marks left by a bad cleaning job. I have tried starting over from sratch by removing the wax with a good cleaner, then with a fine swirl remover glaze. Followed by wax.I apply all the products lightly in a back-forward motion. While I haven't introduced new scratches, I wasn't particularly successful in removing the older ones: just yesterday I noticed in direct sunlight the swirl marks are still there.

I'm beginning to suspect that the swirl marks are really deep what product(s) should use from this point on. It doesn't seem like the swirl removers (Meguiar's #9 or 3M 90009 for dark colors and 3M hand glaze) will work on my hood since I've already tried them twice. On the other hand, my hood still feels really smooth, and under normal lighting conditions, you can't see the marks. But In sunny CA, when the sun is directly overhead, it looks like someone took a 200 grit sandpaper to my hood and started rubbing with it. Maybe it's just that I'm extremely **** about my A4.

It's be suggested to me that to use a clay bar. But I'm hesitating to use anything harsher on my hood. mainly because I'm concerned if I use anything harsher, I might start to remove the clearcoat gloss, particularly since I'm not really good at anything related to paint finishes. At this point I just wondering if I can really safely remove these marks given my experience (or lack thereof: anyone have a Santorin Blue Hyundai I can experiment with?)....What exactly will using a clay bar/medium cut cleaner do to my finish? It's to my understanding that a clay bar is milder than rubbing compound but much more harsh then a medium cut cleaner. And it will lightly remove a very thin layer of the finish to make it smooth.

Sorry for the ignorance, but this is my first dark color car. Before this, I had a light blue that I rarely waxed. And unfortunately, I started reading this message board only after I started washing/waxing my car.

flc

My 'i' key doesn't always work.

flc

Bad day today. I'm having trouble with basic English.

WJM

i know people say this is bad...but i had really bad marks and it removed them.
the only way you can get a scratch is to hit it from all angles to blend it away.

try that...
make sure you keep refolding the polishing cloth so you have a relatively clean fabric
otherwise you will cause scratches
good luck
3m is a great product

monty

Clay is good for taking off debris that is stuck to the paint. But if anything, it will cause new swirls and cobweb scratches, not remove existing ones. I have sworn off the use of clay on my black Avant, except when there are small, discrete areas that need to be addressed.

It could be that you are not using an aggressive enough cleaner to get the scratches out. Many of the swirl remover or fine cleaner products cannot take out deeper marks. It could also be that you are not working the product into the paint well enough. When I have needed to take swirls down on my car, I spend at least 30-40 minutes on the hood alone. Since you say you are using the products "lightly," it sounds like you might not be using enough elbow grease and/or not working the product into the paint enough to make the difference.

If the scratches are very deep, you are probably best off not trying to remove them. You might instead try using a different wax or polish to mask them better than your current finishing product. I have marks on my hood that I just live with b/c I would have to remove too much clear coat to fix them.

nick n

The clay bar is used for "releasing" the dirt that is trapped in your paint. i.e: roof, and top of rear bumper. It is a "safer" way to polish your car. I havnt used the bar but a buddy of mine used it on his Catus green A4 and he swears by it.. I have seen the results from the bar-it will most likly help you out...

Apply the 3m swirl mark remover a couple more times-I know what you mean about the swirls being seen in direct sunlight-its annoying. If not with the clay bar, the only way to fix this may be to go with an orbital buffer-fwiw I dont use them :I.

Regards,
Nick N.
99.5 turbo A4
silver/onyx

flc

I guess if worse come to worse, it's justification to get the carbon hood. J//K

RickM

<p>Rick
99.5 A4 1.8TQMS silver/onyx
97 A6Q Wagon black/taupe

EdP

the Porter Cable dual action orbital buffer and 3M machine glaze. It is IMPOSSIBLE to burn the paint with the 3M, even with the settings on the buffer set to 6 (the highest). It removed every lick of swirl on my car. To be honest I was skeptical but I had a car I thought was beyond hope, and so tried my friends buffer. I use it religiously when needed, which is not often after the first "treatment". Griot's garage offers it, but you can find it for literally 100.00 less on-line from a tool website. Got mine for 139.00

This is NOT like the ones used by detailing monkeys that use a pnuematic single action rotary buffer. Those are the ones that put donuts into the paint.