Agreed. It's simple enough to use a bit of care to avoid swirling the finish. Even without micro fiber technology, you can use old diapers to avoid gouging the surface with grit embedded terry cloth.

 

BE CAREFUL!!!

This is a nasty addiction that will not go away by just looking at pictures.

 

I know.

 

and to ruin everything...pay off other debt first, i guess. (man, i am
a realist).

 

I know.

LOL, seriously though, I'll live. Gotta have future goals!

 

yah, plus, you can take picts of other classics and frame them up
in your detailing garage (maybe a few hundred bucks max)....

 

Good call.

Whoever buys that MINI I posted earlier in this thread, I want a big hi-res poster

 

Yeah - somebody needs to start a "Classic ****" thread for those of us who are getting this addiction...

Lately, I'm getting the hots looking at Nano's little sister.

 

I disagree. Been taking care of my cars for over 35 years, and never had swirl marks in the paint. The only difference between then and now is the quailty of the paint itself and the tools/product available to keep paint looking good. Alll of the new stuff has made it easier to maintain the paint.

The amount of work it used to take to keep a paint finish swirl/mar free was very time consuming. The old lacquer paints were easy to mar, but presented the best shine when properly polished. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to avoid swilr marks in lacquer. Even hand rubbing wet would still leave some marks.

Then the old enamels were so soft, it was difficult to get a shine out of them. So you saturated them with waxes which were not as easy to apply and remove, leaving behind marks.

The only way to remove swirls back then was to wet rub the surface with a dense cotton towel. Had to be careful to turn/replace the towel often. Took a lot of time.

 

Caution - start of rant.
Thirty-five years ago I didn't even have a calculator, but now I have a laptop computer. Thirty-five years ago there were no airbags in cars and now I have 4 of them. Thirty-five years ago I didn't even have a car, now I have three of them. Of course thirty-five years ago I was only ten, but my point is that times change and technology advances. What was once a PITA is now easier and common place. Granted the old lacquer paints were hard (if not impossible) to get swirl-free, but with today's technology and paint, that is no longer an excuse. So...
If you're going to spend $10K or more on a paint job, at least learn to maintain it in a visually appealing state. I don't believe there are any excuses for not doing so these days, daily driver or trailered. If you show your car put a little effort into your paint. End of rant.

 

All this talk about swirls and stuff but you never mention how to get rid of them....

That one is a cutey. I wish mine looked that good but I love her the way she is.

 

Nevermind

 

Was not jumping on you at all. I was agreeing with you entirely. Sorry if it came out the wrong way.
I've seen the OEM cars and you gotta love a 50 year old car with decent OEM paint!

 

Too slow on my edit and not enough coffee yet. My apologies.

 

I completely understand the coffee (or lack thereof). Most of my best rants begin before the caffeine kicks in and later in the day I'll go back and think "why the heck did I write that".
Glad you're not leave the Detailing form, you've had some great posts. I love seeing other's work and reading their experiences.

 

As a kid I used to help this custom car builder who lived across the street from us. His paint and body work was incredible and I learned a lot from him. His daily driver was a 54 Ford. Black, of course. Original paint. And yet it always looked like a mirror. He secret?

He mixed in a bit of vegetable oil into the wax. It helped the wax go on smoother, easier, and the oil helped to seal the surface better and resist oxidation.

I'd go to shows with him and he would point out why some paints looked the way they did. He really knew his stuff and I was fortunate to be able to hang around with him learning what I could.

We have it so easy today.

 

yah, so why don't you finally migrate to modern drying towels?

 

I did mean to say in my original post that I get that some of the paints on these cars are original, and that there's only so much you can do. But most of them were obviously repainted (did they even have metallic paints in the 30s?) and just not cared for.

And often, you would look into a car to check out the interior, and I can't even think of how many times I saw bottles of Armor All crap in the back seat.

Next time I should go armed with a bottle of Hydro and some Monster Fluffys and offer demos.

 

MLW, for show cars, it is not about the product. All it is about is the result. Long term care is not a concern.

A show car's ready box has a lot of crap in it that is only for show car use.

It is and shsuld be different for a car that is actually driven. But for show, you would be shocked to see the stuff the ready kit has in it.

Because I have tried them and did not care for them.

 

why such a serious response?


just say, cause i like killing innocent animals for their skin.

 

You guys are cracking me up! Admittedly, I'm a complete novice with new school detailing... but I've finally begun to use products like turtlewax' ICE liquid polish (why?because it's so fricken easy!) and claybars.

What is Hyrdo and more funny, what the helk is a "Monster Fluffy?" I'm not jabbing anyone here. Just asking some silly questions about products with goofy names.

 

Oh man. You need the tutorial.

 

tuhmater without the tuh!

 

I still don't know what the heck a Monster Fluffy is... but I'd better my grand daughter would love it!

 

Here is the link Think of it as the best and softest bath towel for your car, except it is not used for drying (it can be but waffle weaves work better).