I posted this in the April Club thread, but I figured I'd post here to reach a wider audience as well:

Today a guy from a local detailing place came by and offered to wash our cars at the office for $15. Being the responsible owner I am, I asked him what he used to wash/dry. He replied microfiber towels for drying, soft terry for washing, and squeegee on the windows.

So I go out to look at my car after he's done, and there are hairline swirls ALL OVER my clearcoat. It looks BAD from certain angles.

I'll probably be able to at least get my money back... but the damage is done and I'm sure as hell not letting that IDIOT touch my mini again. So my quesiton is....

For a non-detailer like myself, what is the best way to remove these marks? I've got some Meguiars NXT Tech wax already and I know that works for some smaller scratches... but I'm afraid it may not be enough.

I don't really want to shell out for an entire zaino's kit or anything (but I will if that is what it takes). What is the easiest/cheapest way to take care of this for someone who has no detailing experience?

 

I think you have to decide whether you really want to take on this task or not. If you decide to do it yourself, you really shouldn't let ANYONE else wash your car from now on -- not dealers, not detailers, and, of course, absolutely no car wash places!

If you decide to do it yourself, you should start by spending some time reading the detailing forum on this and other sites. But basically, Step 1 of any modern polymer finish regimen is to "prep" the car with a very mildly abrasive polish. That should get rid of most of the swirls. The later polymer finish steps will gradually fill in the remaining swirls.

If you let anyone else wash your car, you should expect bad things to happen...

 

$15 is not going to cover for the work needed to REPAIR you car.

 

ughk, welcome to the world of the ultra-soft MINI paint

also, moving to Detailing101

 

Amen to all that. This car is a beast to care for the finish. I wash my mitt, and my "absorbers" after every use and it still gets swirls. Every spring and fall I have to do the three step method of paint clean, polish and wax. Good thing it is a small car!!

cheers, jason

 

I have a similar problem from when I washed the car with what I thought was a 100% cotton mitt. Make sure your mitt says --100% Cotton--

I was quoted $120 for a professional polish. I think I might get this Porter Cable random orbit polisher instead, and try to do the job myself.

 

So I got it looking "right" again...

After 3 coats (different methods) of ScratchX the finish looked "OK"... and my arms were getting tired. So I proceeded to double coat the whole thing in Meguiars NXT... the results:

FANTASTIC!!!!

I can still see the swirlies if it's quite bright, I'm very close, and I'm actually looking for them. It's still not perfect, but I suspect it never will be. It's too much to hope for that my daily driver stay looking like a showroom car. That said, I'm quite pleased with the results.

Thanks for all the suggestions!