When I bought my 99 clk430 in 2/05 the paint was perfect....deep black, no swirls...Then the snow melted and I go out and wash her...when I'd finished dragging my fake chamois across the whole car to dry it, I discovered to my horror that I'd made swirls and lines in the clearcoat just about everywhere. It took me months to generate enough spunk to pick up a container of wax and try to fix er up a little. The wax didn't do anything to eliminate the swirls...I gave up.
A couple days ago I wondered to the wax aisle at Walmart. No Zaino but they had Zymol and lots of Meguiers etc. Since I was looking for a miracle I noticed an Eagle One product called "nanowax". It was on clearance for $7.42 so I bought some, went home, washed the car and began layin down the nano....Wow...Back came my deeeeeep black beautiful finish. Virtually all the swirls were history.!! It's hard to describe the finish....30% the wet look effect, but 70% deepification ( is that a word?) of the blackness. It kinda looks the way a guy with some grey hair looks after he goes for a bottle of jet black hair dye. It's badass black. It's very easy to put on, it doesn't leave white powder, and even a detailing disaster like myself can do it. Seriiously, anyone with black paint and swirl marks will love this stuff. And yes, when I get home tonight I will try to post my first ever picture so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

theres no way it removes the swirls it hides them. to remove the swirls you would have to polish them out w/a buffer.

 

You're exactly right...I misspoke. It makes them disappear from sight. I guess nano means real real small. Normal wax has particles about as big as a basketball so they can't get in the swirls and hide them. This nano has particles about the size that a million could be placed on the head of a pin so they can sink right into the swirls and make them unseen. That's the beauty of this stuff...no buffing..multiple products etc. For the guy who wants to spend $7 and have his swirled up paint look great in 30 minutes, this is the product. Of course it must have it's limits, but getting my car looking great again was not a task exceeding those limits.

 

CLK22 is right. You bought a product that fills the tiny scratches with oils. This makes the swirls less visible since there is no longer a rough edge to refract the light hitting the paint. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but as you drive the car and the wax starts to wear off, those swirls will come back.

If you want them gone for good, buy a random orbital buffer (porter cable makes a good one) and buy a pad with some mild cutting quality to it. Use this with any number of mild abrasive compounds to basically polish the paint down level with the scratches. You are taking off microscopic layers of paint, so its not going to be like sanding or anything (dont let "cut" and "abrasive" scare you). If you need some compound recommendations check out the detail forum. Im actually going down to zaino right now (microfiber is in the dryer). Let us know if you have more questions, but first read the stickys in the detailing forum, there's a wealth of knowledge in there.

 

......I'll check with Don King and PM you back !

 

Thanks for the advice. I don't know if it's time or money or I'm just lazy but I can only get so whipped up about transforming the finish of my car. About this product being a sort of oil.....I don't think so. I believe it is a carnaba? wax based product. But instead of whipping up the wax like they might do to make whipped butter at Perkins, these guys took some wax and found a way to whip it up big time...into those nano sized wax particles that can tame swirl marks. If you haven't Zainoed yet, grab some of this stuff and give us your opinion.

 

I dont know about particle size, but carnauba wax contains oils that fill in the swirls. It is basically a liquid. So regardless of particle size, the filler is a liquid, most likely an oil. Not trying to steal your thunder or anything, but with detailing, almost anything is going to look great just after application. Keep the jury out on this product to see how long it holds up. Or, look at this (admittedly subjective) review done on roadfly:
http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/det...5256389&page=1

Im still Zainoing by the way. Thats the downside to this stuff, it takes FOREVER. So far I've...
-Washed
-Clayed
-Washed
-ZPC w/ Buffer
-Z6
-Wheels cleaned
-Tire wet (black magic titanium seems to work well, first time using it tho)
-Vacuum

Also, im trying to use polishes and fillers to get marks out of the internal trim pieces. So far nothing worked, and i hit it with some hard stuff including Meguiars 83 professional swirl remover (next step up would be Diamond Cut, and i dont have any)

Waiting on microfiber towels to dry is no fun.

 

I have heard way to many horror stories of using an orbital and shooting right through the clearcoat.....Im truely afraid to put one on the floor of the garage let alone turn it on and use it on my car!

Rid me of my fears....convince me to try Zaino product....I'm dyin to check it out and I dont mind spending time on the car....I enjoy it really.

Also after youve spent so much time on yours....can you post some pics of your results? Love to check it out!

Thanks in Advance,

 

For anyone with a lot of swirls/fine scratches, I would seriously recommend you get a professional detailer to work on the car, my car was covered with swirls and scratches and he managed to REMOVE all of them. Just check on autopia.org to find a good one. Many let you detail the car with them so you can learn the process too. My detailer only uses Zaino, my car looks great and it seems to have good durability in terms of shine

 

I think i can help with this. The stories you've heard are most likely about a ROTARY buffer, not a RANDOM orbital one. The burn effect that comes from rotary buffers is caused by the pad rotating around the same point, and spinning like a CD. This creates friction, which is good in heating the surface of the paint to melt down hard edges or cut away layers of paint, but ONLY if you really know what you're doing. On the other hand, a RANDOM orbital buffer like the one i use, has a tiny weight attached to the part that spins which throws off the axis of the spin and creates a random swirl pattern (i.e. You are not passing over the exact same spot twice, thus it is harder for friction to build up).

Also, the pads used on rotary buffers are for the most part perfectly flat, while this gives better polishing power, it also poses the risk of sawing through the clearcoat and paint of you arent making contact with the paint at a 90 degree angle. THe pads i used are shaped somewhat like a red blood cell (sorry for the wierd analogy, but its the only shape i thought of). THey are fatter at the edge than at the center, this compensates the clumsy detailer not holding the buffer perfectly above the paint, since the pad can flex as the buffer moves.

I ran in to a slight problem with my Zaino yesterday. I had bought the old ZFX curing agent that did not have the anti-gel formula in it. As a result, when the product aged it gradually became more viscous until it hardened in the tube. I am currently waiting on more to get here before i proceed. However, i can snap a few pics of the car after the clay and ZPC if you like. Basically those steps have gotten the car ready for the zaino polish, which will lock in the smoothness and lustre of the car as it is now and improve the shine.

Zaino is a great product, very easy to use and enjoyable if you have the time. In fact, the only downside is that you go over the car so thoroughly you will find nearly every scratch and dent on the thing, which will likely result in spending money hiring a guy to do touch up work (i'm having my hood and impact strips (color matched) repainted this fall). Here are a few links to some good, and safe buffing products...

My buffer:
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/pc-7424.html

good pads, mine are similar:
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/sonussfxpads.html

http://propercarcare.com/
http://www.autopia-carcare.com/

Those are the two best sites i've found for car care products. 3M makes a GREAT polish specifically formulated for dark cars. It worked the best out of any of the products i tired. Also, if you're desparate, Meguiars makes a polish called Diamond Cut that is pretty heavy duty, but one coat shouldnt hurt anything. It's in their professional section on their website.