paint care and removing spider webs

[epapp]

What do people do to keep spider webs in the paint to a minimum? I have used a polishing wheel with meguiars ultimate compound (last summer) to really get rid of the hazy top layers of paint when I bought the car, and I can keep the guards red looking great and shiny, but the spider webs have come back/remain. You can only see them in direct sunlight but I'm looking for any good ideas or processes that others use.

I don't want to continually cut the paint with a random orbital and meguiars medium-cut or fine-cut cleaners because eventually there will be no paint left.

How does everyone keep the swirls, spiderwebs away?!?!?

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by epapp

What do people do to keep spider webs in the paint to a minimum? I have used a polishing wheel with meguiars ultimate compound (last summer) to really get rid of the hazy top layers of paint when I bought the car, and I can keep the guards red looking great and shiny, but the spider webs have come back/remain. You can only see them in direct sunlight but I'm looking for any good ideas or processes that others use.

I don't want to continually cut the paint with a random orbital and meguiars medium-cut or fine-cut cleaners because eventually there will be no paint left.

How does everyone keep the swirls, spiderwebs away?!?!?

When you get out the orbital, have you been able to leave the paint swirl free?
Meaning when you shine a halogen lamp (cheap at Sears) or an LED flash light, is the paint surface totally clear?

If it isn't, you aren't using an aggresive enough polish (like Menzerna IP), are using too much polish, aren't overlapping the orbital in L shape passes, or aren't using an aggresive enough cutting pad (I think the Meguiar's are maroon).
And you have to move very slowly when you're cutting, the weight of the orbital has to be fully over the swirl, but don't push down.
This can easily take over an hour to do even on a small car like the Boxster. If you're a pro detailer, you already know the precise pad, the precise polish to use, the precise quantity of polish and the precise speed, and they generally get it done much faster than a DIY'er. You have to get all of the above right to get the 100% mirror finish.

If you are leaving the surface clean, and confirmed so with the flashlight, and the swirls are coming back then you're either washing improperly or aren't using a high enough quality towel. Try a long nap towel like Griot's Garage blue towels. About $4 per towel, in my experience anything less than $3 is pretty much just a janitorial microfiber towel, the kind used on linoleum floors, repackaged for auto stores. These will wreck your paint in only a few uses. If you don't have access to an orbital, try layering a sealant and remove with lubrication (like a detail spray) once the sealant has hazed over. The more layers, the longer it will take for the swirl channels to reflect light once the sealant has worn off from rain, heat, washing, etc.
Larry Kosilla of AMO NYC makes a sealant I've been wanting to try that seems to be pretty durable. He has a great YouTube channel under DRIVE Clean

[epapp]

Thanks, I use a lot of griots products aas well as meguiars polishes cleaners and waxes and glazes. I also have the drying towel you are talking about. We are kinda crazy about paint care and quality at my house (hey, if I can't enjoy staring at my car, how can I enjoy it otherwise?)

I use the marroon colored pads for rotary polishing, and I think it is a white pad for the orbital with a lighter cutting compound.

When I used the rotary last summer I left swirls (was my first time using the rotary) but I got them out with some help from my dad and longer smoother movements while polishing.

The spider webs were significantly reduced then, but have come back, or maybe they have always been there..

I have been looking for good compounds/sequences of products to use that will cut enough, before I go completely through my paint (guards red has no clear coat..?) with the only cleaner I know of right now that is for sure to get rid of the problems, meguiars medium cut cleaner.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by epapp

Thanks, I use a lot of griots products aas well as meguiars polishes cleaners and waxes and glazes. I also have the drying towel you are talking about. We are kinda crazy about paint care and quality at my house (hey, if I can't enjoy staring at my car, how can I enjoy it otherwise?)

I use the marroon colored pads for rotary polishing, and I think it is a white pad for the orbital with a lighter cutting compound.

When I used the rotary last summer I left swirls (was my first time using the rotary) but I got them out with some help from my dad and longer smoother movements while polishing.

The spider webs were significantly reduced then, but have come back, or maybe they have always been there..

I have been looking for good compounds/sequences of products to use that will cut enough, before I go completely through my paint (guards red has no clear coat..?) with the only cleaner I know of right now that is for sure to get rid of the problems, meguiars medium cut cleaner.

well if you're only inent during a session is to remove swirls, then you should be graduating the abrasiveness of the polish from very mild up to aggresive. Tape a line vertically with blue painter's tape on one of the panels to compare how much bite the polish managed in reducing the swirls. Then go one level up with a more aggresive polish. Go back and compare to the untouched side of the tape. If you still have swirls then you need a more aggresive polish still. Then and only then go to the Menzerna IP which will get out the swirls but as you point out, will cut down the most clear coat.

All modern Porsche paints (like on water-cooled cars) have a clear coat above the base layer. But I would not use a rotary until all other choices have been exhausted unless you have quiet a lot of experience with that tool. It's very easy to end up with an uneven clear coat with wild swings in paint depth from one section to another. Then you'll have to get out the paint meter before you're actually cutting into the base layer. risky... stick with the orbital.

re the Griot's towels, I wasn't referring to the their drying towel, you're probably thinking of their big yellow waffle weave towel. I meant their smaller blue and green towels, I would only use these on the paint. Or a very soft concours buffing towel for final touches. The problem with standard microfiber towels that have the prickly hooks on one side of the towel is that they are only really clean the first time you use them. Once they're dirty you have to wash them multiple times because the hooks are very stubborn at letting going of stuff they pick up. If the towel is not 100% clean it will induce swirls. And really that kind of hooked end is totally uncessary for a well-maintained surface. Maybe useful on a moto-x bike but not a Porsche.

[epapp]

Ah yes, the nice fluffy blue griots towels. Blue for spray wax, green for interior, weird texture blue for windows, yellow for dried on wax removal towels, I've got the set . I only use those for waxing/polishing, I thought you meant drying the car after a car wash or something, and for that I use the yellow waffle towel.

I haven't before done the tape method for seeing results, but I will try that.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by epapp

Ah yes, the nice fluffy blue griots towels. Blue for spray wax, green for interior, weird texture blue for windows, yellow for dried on wax removal towels, I've got the set . I only use those for waxing/polishing, I thought you meant drying the car after a car wash or something, and for that I use the yellow waffle towel.

I haven't before done the tape method for seeing results, but I will try that.

What are you using to wash the car? Do you have a foam gun? That and a sheepskin mitt will wash the car with minimal friction.

Actually I don't like drying the car with a towel. The best is to avoid swirling is to use a leaf blower or simply drive the car on the highway for a quick spin. If I do dry with a towel I spray the damp suface with a quick detail spray to decrease friction. I avoid touching dry paint whenever possible.

Or you can do the $2 million Ferrari method (fast forward to the 16:00 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTWL_MrCdc8&list=UUYsa8SOy3TkoxI5D17s1u-w

[epapp]

What I want to know is why did the owner ever let the wheels get that dirty

[Spinnaker]

Originally Posted by epapp

How does everyone keep the swirls, spiderwebs away?!?!?

If you use a rotary type of polishing system, then you will never get rid of the swirls in the paint.
Check out this older post.
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/35847-best-wax-car-2.html