I was gone in iraq for a few months, while i was gone my gf tried to get my car cleaned up and shined for me, she even went through the trouble of waxing it, newayz when she dried it she used something abrasive, and it has horrible swirls on the entire car. what is the best way to get rid of this short of a new paint job??? help plz I used the meguiars NXT wax and it covered it up a little bit but what can i do, besides kill my gf?

I don't know if clay baring it will help at all or not??

sorry to HI jack ur thread but using a towel wouldnt make those swirls would it

Swirl marks can be from dirt on a sponge or wash mit or a towel thats not microfiber.

The way you are going to get rid of scratches will be a full light compound on the car and then some heavy duty polishing. Not a recomended idea as you can do more bad than good.

ORRRR get it professionally detailed...



ORRRR use a scratch remover...

wash your car with some dish soap like dawn or the green stuff(can't think of the name) then get some good wax or polish.. I used Liquid Glass to get the swirl marks that the dealership put on off.


I use a regular towel to get the wax off. I just recently bought some of the microfiber towels they work awsome.

carnauba wax works really well on swirl marks. clay bar would help out too but idk if both of those will completely get rid of them though

Paint correction is done through the polishing process. Waxing is more of the filling and protection layer. The clay bar will help you prep the surface before polishing by removing surface contaminants, but will do nothing about the swirls themselves.

NXT may seem to have helped slightly, as it has fillers in it, however, you'll really need to use a good polish. While you're looking at the Meguiar's line, try getting some Scratch-X to work it in by hand. If you can, pick up a Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action polisher, and go at it with Meguiar's#80 or #83 and a white polishing pad, or light orange light cutting pad.

I recommend you do some reading on the topic. Autopia.org and Meguiar's online would be a couple of good places to start.

Wish you the best.

wash your car with some dish soap like dawn or the green stuff(can't think of the name) then get some good wax or polish.. I used Liquid Glass to get the swirl marks that the dealership put on off.


I use a regular towel to get the wax off. I just recently bought some of the microfiber towels they work awsome.


NEVER NEVER NEVER USE DISH SOAP TO WASH A CAR IT EATS AWAY UR CLEAR COAT, The rest of this advice is accurate though

Paint correction is done through the polishing process. Waxing is more of the filling and protection layer. The clay bar will help you prep the surface before polishing by removing surface contaminants, but will do nothing about the swirls themselves.

NXT may seem to have helped slightly, as it has fillers in it, however, you'll really need to use a good polish. While you're looking at the Meguiar's line, try getting some Scratch-X to work it in by hand. If you can, pick up a Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action polisher, and go at it with Meguiar's#80 or #83 and a white polishing pad, or light orange light cutting pad.

I recommend you do some reading on the topic. Autopia.org and Meguiar's online would be a couple of good places to start.

Wish you the best.

I have done a lot of reading on paintcare and I would have to agree most with this response. A clay bar will not help at all because all a claybar does is remove contaminants that washing or a cleaner wax can not remove, this affects above where the swirls are, and will not remove them. A polish is the only way to rid the car of swirls because it removes a tiny tiny bit of clearcoat which is where the swirls are. I would recomend the PC dual action mentioned above, it is a great investment, and as long as you are careful and read some how-tos your paint should be safe. Please do not be tempted to put a polishing pad on a grinder because without proper training it takes about 3 seconds to burn through your paint to the metal, get a random orbital buffer. I prefer the power route because I feel it is easier and allows you to have more passes over the same area of paint in less time, this means a better polish and quicker when done correctly. Although with the power route I would reccomend against usuaing coarser polishing compounds often because you could affect the longevity of the paint. After polishing and all of the swirls and scratches, that are realistic to remove, are gone a good coat of wax is needed because polishing just brought you back down to the clearcoat if it was coarse enough to remove swirls. This means your paint is bare and neds protection so put a quality wax on as per the instructions on the bottle to avoid more swirls and admire your hard work!

Sorry for such a long post, all of my knowledge is from reading other posts or personal experience. If you feel that any information in my post is misleading please correct me and I will change it. I always like when people with more knowledge chime in and teach you how to do things right.

NEVER NEVER NEVER USE DISH SOAP TO WASH A CAR IT EATS AWAY UR CLEAR COAT, The rest of this advice is accurate though

NO IT DOESN"T ALL IT DOES IS STRIP OFF THE WAX THAT IS WHY HE SAID TO USE IT!!!
Think it doesn't eat away your finish on your dishes or glasses and all dish soaps now are hand soap as well.
If it does hurt your hands it's not going to hurt your paint.
But I somewhat agree that you should only use mild dish soap (sunlight or palmolive) to strip off the wax before you do a polishing and buffing.

Subscribed for some good info...

didnt say a towel did it i siad something abrasive ie something on the towel w/e
to the rest of ya thanks for the info

My 0.02 if I may............ :)

Swirl marks come in many forms and shapes, from using the wrong towel to the wrong sponge.

I could recommend a good Swirl remover, the swirl remover alone wont do the job you will need a buffer machine and the correct type of pads, a shaded area and lots of time, once you have accomplish the finish that you are looking for then apply a good wax, after that the secret is to be careful on what you put on the surface.

I hope that helps :twothumbs

basicly to simplify all this get it professionally detailed! or if u know how to polish a car using a polisher try 1 step polish and if that doesnt work use a compound then use the one step to shine it up! good luck

basicly to simplify all this get it professionally detailed! or if u know how to polish a car using a polisher try 1 step polish and if that doesnt work use a compound then use the one step to shine it up! good luck

Just because it is a professional shop do not assume they will do more good than harm. If you search the boards you will find a lot of horror stories from "Professional" shops.

NO IT DOESN"T ALL IT DOES IS STRIP OFF THE WAX THAT IS WHY HE SAID TO USE IT!!!
Think it doesn't eat away your finish on your dishes or glasses and all dish soaps now are hand soap as well.
If it does hurt your hands it's not going to hurt your paint.
But I somewhat agree that you should only use mild dish soap (sunlight or palmolive) to strip off the wax before you do a polishing and buffing.

If you do use it, BE SURE to wax your car when you finish, by not waxing it, thats when its really bad for the paint.

well i think i would have to say get rid of the gf, i mean cobalts are sooooo swweeeeeeettttt she can't just be disrespecting them like that.....thats weak

Some good info here....some bad info here.

First, a mild detergent is absolutely safe for your car. In some cases, certain detailing and restoration brands recommend washing with detergent, then clay, then washing with a car soap. example: Zaino

Wax is not an abrassive or cutting agent. Therefore, it does little to nothing to eliminate or cover swirls. Polishes are specially formulated to mix with a cutting pad of some sort to remove a certain amount of the irregularity in the clear. The more aggressive it is....the more it removes (go figure!?).

Detailing solutions like Zaino make there name without using abrassives in the same fashion as most. So the application and removal process is different from many others.

Professional detailing doesn't guarantee anything.

Swirls aren't usually caused so severly so quickly. It usually take a decent amount of time and several poor styled washes to get your paint in such a degraded condition. What ever kind of abrasive she used.....well, you can see why not to use it.

A lot of good info out there. Can you post some pics to show how bad the paint condition is?

Paint correction is done through the polishing process. Waxing is more of the filling and protection layer. The clay bar will help you prep the surface before polishing by removing surface contaminants, but will do nothing about the swirls themselves.

NXT may seem to have helped slightly, as it has fillers in it, however, you'll really need to use a good polish. While you're looking at the Meguiar's line, try getting some Scratch-X to work it in by hand. If you can, pick up a Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action polisher, and go at it with Meguiar's#80 or #83 and a white polishing pad, or light orange light cutting pad.

I recommend you do some reading on the topic. Autopia.org and Meguiar's online would be a couple of good places to start.

Wish you the best.

+1 rep for that
Very solid info, I would've reccomended exactly the same. It's a very popular process with great repeatable results.

x 2 on the Meguir's site, lots of good stuff on there. A "professional car detailer" is usually nothing more than a minimum wage worker being pushed to do more cars faster. You will be able to do a better job, it will just take a little longer. Stay away from the powerful polishers and really aggressive compounds to start. Rubbing/polishing clear coat is like a first time sexual experiance-If you go too hard too fast it will be over before you know what happened:)

With regards to your girl, she probably feels bad enough about the swirls that if she watches you spend 8 hours polishing them away you may get some great "guilt sex" afterwards;)

Good luck
Steve.