Swirl Marks?

I just washed, clay barred, and waxed (with carnuba) my brand new truck. Basically to get off the rail dust and such. But now I shawn a light on the hood of the truck and looked at it on an angle and noticed it looks like there is some very light scratches, almost like swirl marks... But I can't really tell if they look like swirls. I'm wondering why this is? How could I have managed to scratch it, when I just polished by hand with a microfiber towel?

 

To get rid of swirl marks, you will need to use an orbital polisher. If you don't have experience using one, I suggest learning as much as you can before you do it. It is fairly simple, but you can cause some damage if done wrong.

The scratching was probably caused by your towel when drying it....

 

I have used an orbital buffer, I detailed at a proffessional detailing shop for 2 summers, the second summer I was strictly polishing. But I have never really had to do it by hand before, and there was a 3 step system, the last step removed the swirls.

Is the scratching normal? or could it have been avoided when I removed the polish?

 

Tough to tell... Some colors just show them more. They will come out, it will just take some work. Polish and an orbital will generally remove the swirls, but be careful to not overuse polish (it is abrasive and actually removes clearcoat, which is what gets rid of the swirls, but you wouldn't want to do it often).

The towels are usually what cause the swirls, so I would suggest looking into some good ones to dry your truck. Good luck!

 

Yeah, I though I had the right towel, and my trucks silver so it's early impossible to
See, but it's dark and it was under a steer light and I got at eye level with the hood and looked at an angle and saw some very light swirls. I'm kinda OCD about my truck, and it's so new it kinda bugs me.

 

I got that big bag of microfiber towels from Costco for under $20 and it comes with 30 towels.

The mistake people make with the towels is:
1)Using the wrong towel.
-Always use a microfiber towel
2)Washing the towel with detergent
-Using detergent makes the towel less absorbent making you put more effort into drying
3) Drying your microfiber towel with other items
-You're gonna develop lint balls on your towel that will scratch your truck.

Get an orbital detailer and a scratch x or polishing compound to remove the swirl marks.

 

I used a brand new microfiber towel, and didn't use it on anything else. But thanks, I'll try that.

 

OP you probably didnt put the swirls into the truck. That is usually courtesy of the dealerships detail department especially since you said the truck was brand new.

 

I am thinking so too....

 

this is what i would suggest. they use only the best and highest quality ingredients to make their polishes and have super high quality towels

http://www.adamspolishes.com/

 

That's not very nice of them, but possibly true

 

Like I said, they are extremely faint and can really only be seen at night under a street lamp. Just can't help but be annoyed seeing them on my new truck, and makes me feel like maybe I shouldn't have waxed it so soon. but I didn't think I could put in swirl marks by hand, and I wanted to get off the rail dust and put some wax on to protect it from the salt in the winter

 

Dealership probably did it,i detail vehicles on the side i can tell you the least you touch the paint the better.? That being said i dry all my vehicles with a electric leaf blower do door jams with a good drying towel adams stuff is good albeit expensive also check chemical guys i also use a lot of their products

 

even if you use a microfiber towel, you can still scratch the paint if too much pressure is put down

 

I was told many years ago that you should not wax until it is 3 months old as it takes that long for the paint to completely harden.I don't know if it is true or not.If it is true the dealership should not be polishing it before delivery.

 

Leaf blower leaves no water stains.

 

I was reading through a detail thread a while ago and it said clay bar actually leaves very fine scratches on the surface of the paint. On light colors like white or silver they will never been seen but on darker colors you need to follow up with a polish or compound to take the fine scratches out. I'm not a detailer, just repeating what I read.

FWIW, when I clay barred by truck, I followed up with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, then wax.

 

Need to use a lot of detail spray when claying the only way to remove swirl and light scratches is the right polish / pads and a dual action polisher porter cable or a flex anyone who is interested go to adamspolishs forums vids from the junk man and all kinds of info.

 

So the porter cable wont create swirl marks of its own?

 

Could have been caused by alot of things. If you clay barred it did you use enough lubrication? If you didnt change your clay peice often enough all the grime you picked up in the clay bar could have caused it also.
What kind of towels did you use to wipe it down? If you used regular towels that could have caused it. Also a dirty wax applicator could cause the swirls.