wace818

After a minor accident i had the hood on my clk500 replaced and painted by a body shop. When i picked up the car and inspected the work i thought that the shop had done an exceptional job and all was well...after maybe 3 car washes (by hand) i started to notice what i now know are holograms/buffer trails in the paint...I guess my question to all of the experienced folks here on the forum is, should i try and remove the holograms myself? i recently ordered a porter cable dual action polisher and even though i don't have much experience with polishing i'm told they are pretty easy to use......Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Amir_AMG

those look pretty bad in the from the picture, especially if its only after 3 washes! check out exclusive auto detail they have worked on my car before and are local to you

AZN Optics

Can be corrected, but it'll be tougher going with a Porter Cable as it's a weaker beginner machine. Not sure what kind of paint your shop used though so if it's a softer paint, might be ok. Still might have to use a more aggressive polish though. What are you planning on using for polish? I've had good results removing similar holograms on OEM paint with Menzerna products with my Flex, but heard the Megs twins work well on hard MB paint as well.

Fatz

If the shop that did the work is reputable, you might want to take it back to them. I could be that a rookie was assigned to finish your car and they may just redo the polishing for you.

If they are not so reputable, you're probably better off using someone recommended (i.e. Amir's reply).

I polish my car with a Meguiar's DA polisher and I think you could correct it yourself with a lot of time and patience; but that depends on the quality of the paint.

If you end up doing it yourself, I recommend starting with the least abrasive polish or polish/wax. Work on it for and hour and see how much progress your making, then step up, and up the aggressive polish ladder as needed.

Yidney

I would think you would have noticed those earlier. Hologorams will tend to get less visible with time as other micro scratches hide them, not more visible. But yes, a PC will take those out pretty easily. Make sure you get an assortment of pads. Foam pads, like compounds , also have different levels of aggressiveness. As for polishes/compounds, I always use Meguires M105 and M205. Easy to find and work very well.

wace818

Thanks guys, i appreciate the reply's. @ Amir, i will definitely check out the detail shop, it's close by...@ Yidney, from what i have read the polish was hiding the holograms and that's why i didn't see them earlier and even now it's only in direct sunlight that they are really visible....I'll probably take the car back to the shop so they can see exactly what their finished product looks like and listen to what their solution is, then i will make a decision about trusting them to correct the problem...I'm looking forward to learning more about using the polisher that i ordered, i just don't know that i want this to be my 1st job. I may just practice on my wife E350, it could use a good polishing.

Fatz

You would have to "try really hard" to hurt (burn) the finish with a DA polisher and off-the-shelf polish/wax. The concern with the 500 would be the paint itself and how well it was applied, and how well it has cured (don't know when you had the work done).

wace818

it's been approx 4 weeks since i picked up the car. Is that enough time for the paint to cure?...Also i took the car back to the shop where the work was done and i'm not confident that they can fix the problem the way it should be done...I will tell you that there was a language gap between myself and the owner and all he kept saying was he would "machine polish" to remove the swirls..so rather than tell him what he should do i'll just bite the bullet and tackle this problem myself, Hopefully with some help from you guys here on the forum...My polisher should arrive by next week.

Fatz

4 weeks should be good enough. While you're waiting for your polisher, let your car get plenty of sun, particularly if it is usually garaged. Sunshine shouldn't be a problem there in CA.

I don't know what the guy meant by "machine polish". Maybe he is just referring to using an orbital polisher as opposed to doing it by hand. It looks as if a polisher was used to do what they did initially. It looks to me that someone used side to side motions for a couple of passes. (Probably thinking that it would not need much since it was just painted.) And there is no telling how cured the paint was at the time.

Those "bar code" looking marks towards the center of the hood could be from someone using the polisher at an angle and not keeping the pad in contact with the surface. They will take more time to remove.

Good luck and keep us posted.....

wace818

I will definitely be posting a progress report as soon as i can...Thanks again for your input.

wace818

Received my DA polisher least week and have been a polishing fool ever since....I practiced on my truck first and as soon i felt confident i went to work on the Holograms on the hood and fender. I used Meguiar's scratch x and also their ultimate polish and the results were fantastic...It wasn't as hard as i thought it would be..Love my DA polisher and my CLK500...Many thanks to all who took the time to offer guidance.......Now it's time to address the stock radio/cassette deck.

Fatz

That looks great! I assume that line running from the front of the hood to the rear is a reflection of something in the sky.......

I also assume you waxed it after the polishing. A quality quick wax and or detailer spray will keep it looking that way.