Thanks for the reply.
As far as I can tell these spots are only on the exterior. Hard to be 100% sure since you can't feel them. They remind me of tree sap spots in the way that they look, except, as I said, you can't feel them. You can tell however that it came from a fine spray because there are alot of them and they are very close together. I did try a few products (although not particularly glass products) such as scratch and swirl removers and it did seem to do something but not much. I could try and catch a picture of it but as I said you can only really see it in morning and evening sunlight.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks for the reply.
As far as I can tell these spots are only on the exterior. Hard to be 100% sure since you can't feel them. They remind me of tree sap spots in the way that they look, except, as I said, you can't feel them. You can tell however that it came from a fine spray because there are alot of them and they are very close together. I did try a few products (although not particularly glass products) such as scratch and swirl removers and it did seem to do something but not much. I could try and catch a picture of it but as I said you can only really see it in morning and evening sunlight.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

Hmm, tough call here, I'm kind of stumped. A polish that is a swirl and scratch remover has micro-abrasives in it that should remove a chemical stain on glass. This type of product naturally cleans the surface too. This is usually one of the last steps I try because it's more aggressive so there isn't too many more options beyond that. Another option you could try is the Glass Science Glass Scrub. The Glass Science Glass Scrub is a great product for glass that really deep cleans glass. I've used it to remove water marks, bird droppings, lime scale, sap marks, etc. I use this product every time I wash my vehicle just to keep the glass really clean. I'll keep trying to think of other options.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

greg -- i have a couple of scratches on my black car ... looks like it is down to the primer, given the greyish color to it. will a polish of some sort fix this problem, or do i need to apply paint? fyi, these are not key marks, more like very thin scratches. i was going to try the polish, and if that didnt work, i was going to use a product with some sort of filler.

 

If the scratch is through to the primer or even very deep in the clear coat you can try to do some touch up work and then polish it or just try polishing it. Touch up paint may be your best option if you have the patience to wet sand it multiple times after and then polish. If you'd like a how to article on this let me know. Polishing alone will make this scratch less noticeable but certainly not fix it entirely. You can go right to touch up paint, or try polishing first. As you mentioned you can just try polishing first and then put a glaze on top of it, then seal it. I'd recommend the Menzerna Finishing Touch Glaze after polishing and then seal it in with a sealant or wax. Let me know if you 'd like some recommendations for polish, sealant or wax.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Greg,

Can I combine my Final Polish II with the FMJ to acheive a result similar to that achieved with the Full Acrylic Jacket? I have a black car and find the idea of a one step polish and protectant. I have both the final polish and the FMJ in my garage so I was wondering if I could combine a dab of each next time I use my porter cable after a wash.

Also, I've been using a black pad when applying the FMJ. If I were to use a white pad would that give me more of a polished look and help at all with small scratches? If you do say it's okay to combine the final polish II and the FMJ should I use white or black pad?

Thanks!

 

Greg , when you get a chance can you provide a write-up ( cliff notes version) of "wet sanding" - the process and what can be expected. TIA.

 

Your correct the Menzerna Acrylic Jacket is like a combination of FPII and FMJ. I believe you could try mixing these products together for a semi-similar product. I've never tried it so I'm not exactly sure what percentage mix I would do. I'd recommend you get a 2oz or 4oz dispenser bottle so you can more accurately monitor what percentage of each product you are using. This will help you fine tune the formula for future uses, if desired. To work this in effectively I would apply it with the white lake country polishing pad.

I would not consider myself a touch up expert, because its not something I do professionally for others. Here is a touch up work post (#42, #43) that will take you step by step through it. IMO, following this process will certainly help improve the area. Often times the touch up work is not flawless if you look at it carefully. However if you follow the process and wet sand as explained there you can get some very good results that make it worth doing. If you want to just blob some touch up paint and sand it once, then touch up work often looks worse than doing nothing IMO.

Let me know if you have any follow up questions, I'll help you as much as I can. Thanks for the posts guys!

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Thanx Greg !

 

GREG ... thanks for the link to the E46 forum in regards to paint repair. quick question for you: i thought the process was rubbing compound, THEN polish. ive pasted 2 suspect paragraphs below. would you mind clarifying please? my source of confusion is the first paragraph pasted below says "the final step" and then the last paragraph pasted below says "the next step". seems like there's some sort of mis-pasting going on (?).

basically, am i correct in assuming that the steps are (1) rubbing compound (2) polish (3) glaze (4) wax?

thanks!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++

The final step is to buff out the repair with a good hand polish. I like to use Poorboy's SSR 2.5 or Menzerna Intensive Polish (fine or medium grit compounds) followed by Poorboy's SSR 1 or Menzerna Final Polish II. Apply the compound and polish to a clean foam applicator pad, rub into the paint area using a short back and forth motion (not in circles), then buff out with a clean terrycloth towel. Tada! The blemish is gone.


The next step is to compound and polish. I did fewer than 20 passes (strokes) with rubbing compound. It does not take much to remove surface scratches. To completely polish and restore the surface, I polished the area twice.

 

Hi Guys, sorry if this question has already been answered, but what needs to be done to the car to remove swirl marks from machine car washes? Do you need to get the car buffed? Waxed? Clay-bar? And whatever needs to be done, approximately how much does it cost for an E-Class? Also, are these swirl marks considered scratches or something else?? Because if they are scratches, I dont know if a detailing job would remove them. Thanks in advance.

 

Greg,

In reading up further on the Acrylic Jacket product, I found text saying that "One Step Acrylic Jacket removes existing wax or sealants, burnishes the surface to a mirror-like shine and protects the finish for 6 months or more with a jacket of acrylic polymers."

My concern about using the Acrylic Jacket product (or my homemade combo of Final Polish II and FMJ) is that I don't want to strip off all my protection each time I use the product. I tend to add new applications of the FMJ or carnuba pretty frequently (once a month or so), and so I feel like I'm building up a nice layer of protection (since when I add a new layer the old stuff is still there and the car still looks very shiny) and staying on top of things. Plus, I'm using the menzerna glaze product and don't want to take that off in the process, either.

Will the acrylic jacket product (or my homemade combo) take me back to square one or remove my glaze product? Sorry to be so particular but I'm trying to learn just what these products do.

Ron

 

Car washes are prone to leaving swirl marks in the clear coat. Swirl marks are basically very fine scratches in the clear coat that are curve shaped. These marks are relatively typical and can largely be buffed out with the right combination of polishes and detailing process. After polishing I like to at least follow up with a wax/sealant, however polishes are the only must have product to remove the swirls. Detailing will not remove all of the swirls because some of them are too deep in the clear coat to be safely buffed out, but you can expect to remove 50%- 75% of them. You can do this work yourself or have a detailer do it. Some detailers will do good work and you'll probably get charged accordingly, $150 - $300 is a ballpark figure. Unfortunately it can sometimes be hard to determine which shops do quality work. I'd seek out several recommendations and ask some questions to assure you're getting a quality job. Some detailers will use products with heavy fillers, designed to cover the swirls, not actually remove them. Unfortunately the car looks great at first but a couple washes later the products fade and the swirl marks are exposed again.

If you'd like to do this process yourself you can do it rather easily with a Porter Cable 7424 and two polishes. The Porter Cable 7424 is a very safe and easy to use buffer that has helped weekend detailers get professional like results. I highly recommend doing it yourself because you can be assured of a quality job for about the same cost. Additionally you'll have a great set of products for future detail work and the ability to fix any future problems yourself. I've helped numerous first time detailers get fantastic results, with this same basic problem. If this interests you please let me know and I can explain this in more detail.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Yes, you are correct a compound is generally more abrasive then a polish. Therfore you would want to use a compound first and then follow it up with a polish. Nice catch on that, please let me know if you have any other questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Thanks for the great question, we're here to help people learn. You are correct the FPII part of your mix would remove any glaze, sealant or wax when worked in thoroughly. Therefore applying your mix of FPII and FMJ will bring you basically back to square one, except that it simultaneously does leave some protection behind from the FMJ. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Hey Greg, well I am half way through and have one suggestion. A video on how to steps 2-7. I would like to see patterns, amount of product on the pads, steps or things between the steps. Would not have to be the whole car, but take the hood and do a demo.

Thanks so much for the help so far!

on

 

Thanks for the advice, videos are something in our long term plans. We have some detailed How To lessons here but I know sometimes there is no substitute for seeing it yourself, especially for the points you bring up. I hope the detailing is going well and you're getting that deep shine back! Let me know if you have any questions and don't hesitate to contact me.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Yeah got them all printed off and followed but like I said would be nice to see if I am using to much or not enough.

 

Greg heres a question for you. When I clean my rims with a wash mitt there always seems to be some are to rub out grime. I've soaked the rims with cleaners and then attempted to scrub them but they dont seem to leave! Any ideas on what I should use for them? Such as a toothbrush? I'm scared to scratch the rims tho.

 

From what you wrote I gather there are some stubborn build ups on the wheel that don't want to leave. For me to better access the situation a picture and/or more detailed description of the contaminates would help. Are these stains etched in the wheel, tar, brake dust, etc? Additionally what kind of wheel do you have in terms of material alloy, chrome, etc? What cleaners did you use on these marks already? I'd say that toothbrush is something that I don't typically use on many rims. Hopefully we can come up with a more effective solution that doesn't involve brushes once I understand the situation a little better. Thanks for posting and hopefully we'll remove these blemishes no problem.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

Greg what do you use to clean the FMJ pad? The powder stuff works great on the other products but really did not do anything for the FMJ pad.

Tom

 

The Menzerna FMJ is such a strong sealant that it doesn't always come perfectly clean on the pad. I try to wipe off any excess product and clean it extra thoroughly. However some product inevitably remains on the pad, so it doesn't look brand new again. The pad should still be fine to use on many more details though. You can try washing it again with Dawn but my success there was relatively similar to the Snappy Clean Pads. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

hi, greg.

could you please recommend a products package for my car.

to refresh your memory, here's the state of my paint: (1) mild swirl marks generally, (2) a few heavier scratch areas, some down to the primer, and (3) a small patch where i wet-sanded a touch up spot ... on this area, i have previously used a scratch remover from autozone (dont remember the brand), followed up with hand glaze and wax, but at certain angles, the scratches are still visible.

i understand that results by hand will not match result by using the buffer, but i would like to give it a shot by hand first.

i have read this thread many times ... i am assuming i would need the menzerna polish, polish 2, and FMJ? FYI, the products that i use currently are P21S car wash, 3M imperial hand glaze, and one grand blitz paste wax. i would like to incorporate these products insofar as that is possible, in your opinion.

thanks!

 

Maximus,

Thanks for the detailed question I think I can help you create a great package combining the products you already have. You may want to touch up the marks that are down to the primer first if desired. After that I would then start with a clay bar to help really clean the paint. This step is optional but you'll be amazed at how much contamination these bars can pick up from the micro ridges of the clear coat. I recommend the Clear Kote Clay Bar Kit if you want to try this step. To read more about how to use a clay bar read our How To Guide. As for polishes the Menzerna line is great but you may have more success with the Poorboys World SSR 2.5 and SSR 1.0 if you're working by hand. I'm glad to hear you want to try the Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket (FMJ). It's a great sealant known for outstanding results.

Here is an outline of what I would recommend for a full detail:
Wash/Dry - P21S Shampoo
Clay bar (optional)
SSR 2.5
SSR 1.0
Glaze - 3M Imperial Hand Glaze
Sealant - FMJ
Wax - One grand Blitz Paste Wax

To make sure you have all the information you need to get the most out of each application read our Detailing Instructions here. These will help you understand what to expect from each step and how to best apply the products. If you need other recommendations for the interior, microfiber towels, wheel care, leather, etc I'd be happy to give you some recommendations. Let me know if you have any questions.

Greg @ Detailed Image

 

great, greg! thanks for the input. question though ... if i use the FMJ, do i still need to wax, or can i just stop there? ive noticed on several occasions that when i wax the car after glazing, i get an annoying haze, as well as REDUCTION in shine compared to when i just finished using the 3M hand glaze stage, so id almost rather do away with the waxing stage.

thanks.