Swirl Marks Reappearing

J

jcpettit

Promoted Users
I have been using the 3m perfect it rubbing compound and machine polish for the past few years and I have had a chance to see a few of my jobs recently and I noticed lately that swirl marks are showing up a month or so after the job leaves my shop. It looks great before it leaves my shop. Does anyone else have this issue with the 3m product? Is the product just covering up the swirls and then washing off later?

Last week I purchased some presta ultra cutting creme and swirl remover because I am tired of swirls showing up in my jobs later down the road. Does anyone have better luck with presta?
 
People will want to know what pads you are using. And, the procedures you're doing.
I like the 3m system. You do need to go through all 3 steps to get it done right on dark colors. I always use isopropyl alcohol during and between each step to ensure that the oils in the polish aren't hiding sand marks or buffer swirls. Then finish with the final product.
 
There is only one reason swirl marks show up be it 4 days or a few weeks later.
The glaze in the compound filled the scratches and in 5-7 days the glaze burns off.
This is caused by using to much compound.
or
Not buffing fast enough to burn off the glaze in your first steps, normally comes from the first step.
or
All your cutting scratches should be gone before you go to next step.

A test to see where you are at, when you think everything is gone clean the panel with wax and grease remover, if not scratches will be there plain as day.
 
I will try wax and grease remover next time.

Just as an FYI- on my last job I used all 3 steps in the 3m perfect it line. I wet sanded with 1500 and followed up with 2000. Buffed with 3m perfect it rubbing compound and a brand new wool pad until all the sand scratches were gone. Then hand washed the buffed parts. Then followed up with 3m machine polish with a brand new foam polishing pad and washed parts again. At this point it looked perfect. Then I went ahead and followed up again with the 3m hand glaze. I personally know the customer and he said it took around 3 to 4 weeks before the swirls reappeared.

It could be possible that I use too much rubbing compound because I am not stingy with the compound. LOL. But would too much compound cause this issue or too much polish? I do use much less polish than compound.

What rpms do you recommend for the compound and poslish? My snap on polisher does not have different settings only a trigger.
 
Hopefully not diverting the thread too far, but does anyone know if Wizard compounds and polishes have a lot of filler in them? I've been using them because we can get it through our business.
 
No speed control sounds like a grinder. I'd recommend getting a buffer if it is indeed a grinder.
 
It is a buffer, however it only has a trigger. You can adjust speed by how far trigger is pressed. I love the buffer, however I have not clue how many rpms I am turning unless it is ran wide open. I had one in the past that had different rpm settings on the buffer and when ran wide open it would only run as fast as the setting you chose. Cannot remember the brand of my old one though.
 
I'm not saying this is right but for last 18-20 years using presta here is how I have done it.
First cut with with the Ultra cutting cream and the Black wool pad (cutting pad)
I set buffer a about 5 out of 6 speed, apply a 50 cent size of compound and but about a 2 foot area until all scratches are gone.
Then I do the next section of hood and no cleaning in between, until hood is done.
Here is the key! Now there is dry compound on the hood, I do not clean but go over the whole hood with long passes until hood looks like it was washed and dried.
If black I will guarantee you 95% or more of all swirl marks are gone.
Next steep I go to the swirl mark remover (use to be called 1500)
Using the Blue green wool pad and i lower the speed to about 3.
Then the next step I use the white wool cutting pad with the fine compound and lower the speed to about 2 or 1.
May do this step 3 or 4 times.
Then clay bar and spray a glaze such as show in shine on car.

Not saying this is right but I can do a full size black car in a day without killing my old self.
Also not saying presta is the best as all the compounds are great today and its the pads that are the most important to match the compounds are using.
If you gave me a $1000 of any free compound I would not use it ONLY because I know exactly what the presta will do.
 
I use presta ultra cutting creme with black and white presta wool then I use their 2 step comp with orange hex logic pad followed by the 2 step polish and black hex logic works great for me no filler in presta
 
3m is your biggest problem here. used the perfect-it for years and just got fed up with it. the menzerna 300 or sonax compound is the way to go. very clean. presta is a super clean compound as well with no fillers. i have just found that its a bit of an old school tech type compound. a bit gritty. was great 10 years ago but the menzerna and sonax are more up to date. not gritty so they leave a swirl free shine and needs very little polishing when done. they are much like a clean version of the perfect it with no fillers. any of the 3 i mentioned will all work and are good. before you let the car go, as other mentioned wipe it down with w&g remover.
 
Barry said:
I'm not saying this is right but for last 18-20 years using presta here is how I have done it.
First cut with with the Ultra cutting cream and the Black wool pad (cutting pad)
I set buffer a about 5 out of 6 speed, apply a 50 cent size of compound and but about a 2 foot area until all scratches are gone.
Then I do the next section of hood and no cleaning in between, until hood is done.
Here is the key! Now there is dry compound on the hood, I do not clean but go over the whole hood with long passes until hood looks like it was washed and dried.
If black I will guarantee you 95% or more of all swirl marks are gone.
Next steep I go to the swirl mark remover (use to be called 1500)
Using the Blue green wool pad and i lower the speed to about 3.
Then the next step I use the white wool cutting pad with the fine compound and lower the speed to about 2 or 1.
May do this step 3 or 4 times.
Then clay bar and spray a glaze such as show in shine on car.

Not saying this is right but I can do a full size black car in a day without killing my old self.
Also not saying presta is the best as all the compounds are great today and its the pads that are the most important to match the compounds are using.
If you gave me a $1000 of any free compound I would not use it ONLY because I know exactly what the presta will do.
Click to expand...

I sanded and buffed a black jeep yesterday afternoon using the presta ultra cutting creme and followed by the swirl remover using your steps. It looks great. I plan to go over it with W&G remover today to be 100% certain everything is correct. I agree with Jim on it being gritty. I was actually a little suprised at how gritty it was. Reminded me of the old heavy cut 3m compound. The presta creates more of a mess than the 3m, however I can deal with the clean up and the grittiness if the finished product looks great. It was almost embarrassing seeing some of my old jobs a few weeks later with swirls everywhere.
 
Same here, for 25 years I had a souix, swear it weighed more than I do (207 lbs) just got to point no longer man enough to run it!
 
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