Hi thier everyone, Im a new member but a long time lurker,
I have 2005 black Jaguar S type R , I've owned it for the past 5 years and throughout those years its been babyed inside and out not a single problem whatsoever (knock on wood), only oil changes and brake changes BUT thier is this huge problem! im starting to get nasty SWIRL Marks and its getting worse, ANY type of product i use its gets its even more worse. I've tryed every method to get rid of these shitty swirls but its not working. Its to the point were i want to re-paint my whole car. So Any Advice Guys, What Should I Do ???

 

Head over to autogeek.net. and get yourself a porter cable 7424, some pads and some swirl remover, polish, wax and clay bar and some microfibers. You would have to try really hard to damage your paint with that porter cable. First, you want to wash and dry the car, then clay bar the entire car, then hit it with a swirl remover or two, then a polish followed by a coat of wax and another coat the next day. It took me several hours to get my car where I wanted it. They also have great detailing forums and walk-throughs on that site. If that all seems too much, find a good local detailer and have it done for a few hundred $.

 

Definitely take that advice, autogeek, autopia, and google 'car detailing forums' ,

The idea is pretty simple. The swirls are micro scratches in the clear coat. You will have to 'cut down' the clear coat layer a bit to even out the top coat and bring the surface flat.

Luckily, the jag has fantastic factory paint and clear coat, so you have a lot of room to work with and shouldn't be too worried about cutting 'too deep' into the clear coat,


However, before you do that, you need to start from scratch, you want to be polishing the clear coat down, not layer of wax built up over years,

Using dawn dish detergent, wash your car thoroughly, you're using the dish detergent to remove any wax and other layers,

Then you want to go over the whole car with a clay bar to remove the above-surface-bonded contaminants, search google and youtube for 'clay bar' to learn more about this stage,

You do not want to do anything before this strip and clay bar stage, otherwise, you are moving around small dirt particles which are abrasive and are exactly what created swirls over the years,

Once the strip and clay bar process is complete, you'll move onto the 'polishing' stage,

For this, will need an orbital buffer, or a dual action buffer, or a rotary buffer, google some of these terms to see what kind of 'buffing equipment' you have to choose from, and how to use it. You will also need some 'pads' or 'applicators' to go with it,

You will apply the 'swirl remover' to these pads, it is commonly referred to as 'polishing compounds' , these polish compounds will be 'worked into the paint' and will 'cut into' your clear coat very slowly, diminishing or even eliminating all swirls and scratches entirely,

After the polishing compound stage, you can move onto applying a 'wax or sealer/sealant' of your choice,

At this point, your jag will be looking like a million bucks. From here on out, use ONLY microfiber towels to wipe down, and microfiber sponges to wash your car,

Use ONLY a 'two bucket' wash method to wash the car, google that too, critically important, employ good washing practices in general,

Once you realize where the swirl marks come from to begin with, you can avoid it from that point out once the paint is looking perfect.

I spent 3 days straight when I first bought my STR restoring the paint, and it simply looking jaw dropping now. Not a single swirl or scratch to be seen even in direct sunlight (within reason for a 10 year old jag with 90k), with amazing depth an clarity, i absolutely love my jag and am very diligent when it comes to keep it clean and swirl free,

 

I had that issue with my black XK. I was out of town and had some yellow paint overspray from an overpass hit it. I had a local car wash try to fix and they did a bad clay bar job on it, leaving swirls all over. When I got home I took the car to a local (high end) detail shop for an opinion. I figured I'd have to repaint. He said he could fix it. He had the car for three days and when he finished the swirls were gone and the car not only looked new, it looked wet! So if you don't want to take on the job yourself, find a detail shop that does high end cars and customs. It isn't cheap but a lot less than repainting.

 

+1 and ^^5's on this advice.

 

Hi there, sorry to hear about your swirl marks buddy.

I'm afraid to say that its your wash technique that has caused this, or whatever local car wash you have taken it to.

To avoid you should use the 2 bucket method as stated, easily researched and only quality wash mitts / microfiber towels.

To get it back to almost as new condition will be a lot of work and quite expensive if you do it yourself to buy the Porter cable, various swirl mark removers, clay bar, polish, wax and glazes etc

If you learn how to use it properly and will use it more than once, a really good investment.

If not, find a local professional car detailer and your baby will be as good as new in no time for a few $$$

 

+1 I have it and love it. Also I recomend the 3M swirl remover polish which can be bought at most marine stores. Best of luck!

 

YOU can do it!

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/d...pective-56723/

 

I had my one-and-only black vehicle back in the late 80s / early 90s. This was one of many reasons why I swore I would never own another one (i.e. miserable interior heat during the summer months and the vehicle staying clean after a wash for precisely five miles). I'm sure today's paint technology is much better but I learned my lesson. Only white and grey exteriors for us since then....

 

Thanks for the replies guys, this weekend i'm going to try to remove the swirls myself if it doesn't work out then ill take it to someone who does paint correction. I got myself a boat load of products clay bar, scratch/swirl remover, wax, polish, buffer heads, micro fibers...etc,
Its my first time doing all these steps at once by myself, Before I only used zymol quick detailer wax on it and ever since been using that after car washes, I never polished/waxed never clayed and never did the 2 bucket wash myself so lets see how that goes. Ill post some before & after pics once im done.
Thanks

 

Great to hear, it will be very satisfying to do the paint correction yourself.

Just be sure to do plenty of reading online regarding the different steps, to be familiar with whats involved,

Definitely start with a dish washing solution to wash the car with and remove the waxes and other products built up over the years, you want to 'strip' it to bare clear coat in some sense before going at it with the clay bar.

Clay-bar, use a soap and water or quick detailer solution to lubricate it, fold and 'knead' the clay-bar into a patty regularly, if it drops to the ground or comes in contact with anything particularly filthy, consider that claybar a write-off, in other words, handle it with care!

What buffer or type of buffer are you going to be using? What kind of pads did you order to go with it?
If you haven't buffed before with a powered unit, google your specific model and read up on some discussions recommending how to use it, hold it, how much pressure to apply, angle, etc, the buffer along with the polishing compound is a micro-abrasive, and therefore cuts into the paint and builds up heat.

You want to avoid cutting too deep, as well as building up too much heat, both can damage your paint. Be aware of these two facts, but do not let it scare you off. Jag has great paint to work with so it is difficult to damage... But take your time learning how to use the buffer to cut into the paint.

Also, edges and high-spots/creases in the sheetmetal, is where paint is thinnest, so you do not want want to buff too aggressively in those area, again, avoiding damage.

You may want to consider taping off some areas, such as around trim, as the polishing compound gets into every crack, and the 5 min you take to tape off said crack or trim, will save you 30 min later trying to get all the hardened compound out with your fingernail...

Lots of available information on the topic of detailing on all the forums, so read up as much as you can to get comfortable and familiar with the job!

some pics of my setup when i first detailed jag, the aspen green mica is a very rare color on the STR, and it looks amazing as it is color-shifting metallic, did a major paint correction and car looks stunning!

 

The people most likely to be bothered by swirl marks are also those most likely to wax/polish/seal their paint work. And that might be at least a partially fulfilling prophecy.

So ... before anything else try washing the car with soapy almost boiling water.

You will be amazed at how many "swirl marks" magically disappear. They aren't in the paint, they were in the coats of protective products applied over the paint. When the product is removed, the swirls also disappear.

The secret is in the use of HOT water. It melts away the product or smooths out the product ... don't know which ... but year old swirls that did not respond to buffing disappeared after washing with hot soapy water.

 

Thanks, I'll try that next. Today I had my random orbital out with a mild Megs polish on my freshly washed and clayed car, as per all the DIY instructions, and nothing I did seemed to touch any of the swirls or micro scratches. It's $600 at one local detailer for that level of paint correctn (admittedly I haven't shopped around yet) and I'm getting frustrated that it might just come to that. But the hot-water bath to remove old wax build up may be a good trick to try.

 

Never heard of the hot water trick. I'll give that a shot next time. The excessive swirls in our black XK were fixed by a local detailer. $450 and three days later, the swirls were gone and the car looked new...and wet!

 

If your looking for a great little 6" buffer you can't go wrong with
Craftsman 6" Buffer/Polisher.Model 646.10729.
Has thick rubber pad for buffing covers. . Oscillates as it rotates.
Nicely balanced and comfortable to use.
I use this on my black 2001 XJR .
First I clay bar the vehicle , then use Mothers "California Gold" Carnuba Cleaner remove wax and polish to shine with cotton pad . Then finish off with Megs NXT Tech Wax 2.0.

Result great shine and zero swirl marks.

The buffer cost, $12.00 from my local Pawn Shop!

 

Hey Plums,
Thanks for the hot water tip! I tried it late yesterday and checked it out in the sun this morning. Swirls are gone!

 

See part of my post below....
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/d...e-paste-95737/

Poorboys Blackhole + Nattys blue paste wax are specially designed for darker coloured cars.
Depending on the depth / severity of the swirls marks, they won't be removed but they will cover them until you can get them removed properly.

See results below on my Blue A6 which has some minor swirl marks I wanted to mask until I could get them removed, or have the guts to buy a DA and do them myself.


Had a chance to give the old girl a going over this morning.......then cleaned the car...lol

Seriously though.....I managed to spend a few hours and got her washed / dried etc, inside hoovered / dusted etc, then broke out the Poorboys blackhole + Natty's blue paste wax.

I wouldn't say I'm a detailer by any means just an enthusiastic car owner, so not as great as some I'm sure......my photography skills aren't all that either, but hey ho......

Here she is after 1 coat of Poorboys blackhole followed by a coat of Natty's blue paste wax to seal it in.

 

I own 4 black cars. When it comes to cars, black Isn't a color, it's a part time job.... The sooner you accept that a black car that is daily driven and not stored indoors constantly WILL have some paint flaws, the less you will compromise your sanity.

They do look damn sexy when cleaned / freshly washed.



Take care,

George

 

Can be done with a little time and effort,be prepared to maybe go over once a year with the finest grade polish you can get away with as you only have so much clearcoat to play with !!

 

+1 here for me too. I have that PC random orbit buffer, bought as part of a Pinnacle kit from Autogeek.net. The kit I bought comes with 3 different foam pads and a couple different compounds for various levels of cut and polish, as well as pad cleaning spray (very important). Work small sections at a time. The PC will not burn your paint unless you are really stupid with it.

If that doesn't work, you could try using a more abrasive compound, or go for a very mild wet color sanding using lots of water and 2500 or 3000 grit 3M sandpaper (comes with a thick foam backing). Start with the 3000 and if that doesn't work try 2500, or 2000, on down to 1500 if necessary. It all depends on how deep the swirl marks are. Just be extremely careful on any edges or creases as the paint is naturally thinner in those areas and you are more likely to sand too much on those spots. Avoid even touching them unless you absolutely must. Again, the key is working small areas at a time and gauging your results before moving on.

As an owner of 2 black vehicles (my STR is Midnite Metallic, which is not actually "black" but it's very very dark), you can take care of swirl marks with these tools and products. Patience is key, this will take a good bit of time, so don't be discouraged and keep at it.