Swirl marks from rubbing compound

was the rubbing compound you used clear coat safe? If not, ruh roh Shaggy.

also, rubbing compounds are usually intended to be the first step, followed by wax or some other top coat polish. so maybe a quick coat of wax will cover your sins.

good luck!

 

oh, and was this done by hand or with an orbital buffer (or something else)?

 

Time to call Jano and see if he'll fix it and tutor you and your boy on what to use and what not to use!

 

also this. I always thought it went Rubbing compound, then polishing compound, then wax and buff.... with some or all of these steps done with an orbital.

I've never had the cajones to try all those steps myself.

 

Try meguires scratch-x followed by meguires swirl-x. You can buy those at pretty much any auto parts store. They are clear coat safe, and do a very good job. If you can't get it out using those products by hand, you will most likely need to go to a professional detailer that uses a wheel.
Do yourself a favor and throw out that compound! It has no business touching car paint. I like the meguires products mentioned above because they have what's called diminishing abrasives. The more you rub it, the finer the abrasives get. It just polishes the paint more and more as you work it in. If the damage is bad start with scratch-x because it is a little more abrasive and will get the marks out quicker. If they are just swirl marks, or if you don't mind doing the area 10-20x, then you can probably get away with only swirl-x. By what you described, it sounds like you may need scratch-x first. A photo of the damage would help.
Once you are done, top it off with a nice wax.
As long as you didn't go through the whole clear coat, it should come out perfect when you are done.

 

Rubbing compound is rough stuff as noted. The marks it left are no different than any other and are repaired like any other.

The basic theory is to carefully and slowly remove paint until you reach the bottom of the scratches. This is typically done with varying coarseness of polish. You want to do the minimum possible to remove the scratches.

So, as others have said, start with a more aggressive polish #4 or greater and then work up to a #2 followed by wax.

You could do it by hand but a random orbital polisher will make life much easier/faster. Assuming you do not have one, borrow one.

Or just run it down to the local detailer.

 

Your going to want a slightly milder polish with a high speed to remove the coarse marks made by the compound. If your not proficient in this craft go to a detailer.

 

That old turtle wax compound was for paints prior to clear coats that were soft and the coarse compounds would simply remove the top loose layers without really scratching the lower layers. Today's (last 20 years or so) have the clear coat that is very thin but hard. The old turtle wax compound in the green tin really shouldn't be used on clear coats unless you can buff (high speed) properly. It can be done and is routinely done by detailers.
Don't sweat too much just turn it over to a detailer who knows how to buff. Many don't.

 

Try this and your problems go away........3M Perfect-It Rubbing Compound, 1 Quart (946mL), 06085

 

A dual action orbital such as a Porter Cable will get them out. The rubbing compounds are so abrasive, you definitely need to refine the paint after with something milder, a medium polish. By hand, I'm not sure how much you will get out. Megs 105 is a good compound that can be bought locally, Megs 205 is their milder follow up polish that will finish down nicely. With a Porter Cable, this will not be too bad of a process, by hand, it will probably suck.


Sent from iPhone

 

Good plan of attack, please post the results.
I just finished removing massive amounts of swirl marks from my sister in law's M3 last night. It looked like someone used a 3M scotchbrite pad on it. She just purchased a VERY clean used car, I'm guessing that the prior owner always wanted it to look clean, so they used detail sparay on it to keep dust off of it. That's the worst thing for paint, the dirt just gets rubbed in that way. A car should always be washed with 2 buckets of water after the loose stuff is floated off of the surface using water pressure. One bucket to soap the washing mitt, the other to rinse it.
The result of my (and my brothers) work was STUNNING! I used all Griot's Garage products. I used their DA Buffer with Griot's #3 Machine polish. There were some tough spots where I used the Meguires Swirl-X, it's a little more aggressive than the Griot's stuff that I used, but still totally safe and it still works on the same principle of diminishing abrasives. Here are the results on the hood which happened to be the worst panel, take note of the sharp reflections. I don't have a before pic, but I can tell you that the reflection looked hazy:
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you need to compounds, then polish, then wax


meguiars ultimate compound, then megs polish OTC would be a better compound/polish duo.

Scott's Mobile Auto Detailing :: Home or net would be a good person to call!

 

+1000

Perfect It or the 3M Finnesse It, these are special for clear coat.

I use them to buff out minor scuffs and marks all the time, GREAT product.

The old rubbing compounds I use on mag and aluminum wheels for when you have real debris you want to cut thru....

 

You mean that blue 3M bottle, right?

 

haha, I am not, but I can if you would like. You will have to give me about 3-4 weeks before an opening.

EDIT: Just saw your other posts. Glad you found something that worked.

 

Use the whole system. Try this......Compounds, Polishes, Glazes, Perfect-it, Compounding, Polishing, Glazing, Paint Finishing, Rubbing Compound, Buffing Compound

Click on each one and follow directions. You will have a truly excellent finish.

 

There were a couple possible reasons why you swirled your paint with compound.

1. Dirty applicator, possible, but not very likely.
2. Japanese cars tend to have soft clear coat. A light to medium abrasive polish will remove the majority of your swirls and light defects. Which is why scratch X worked for you.

Compounds will mar and instill it's own swirls in an effort to remove deeper swirls on soft clear coats. Totally natural. For this particular car and paint, the compound was too abrasive, but the scratch X was just enough.

 

Interesting I will have to try this ...