First time trying swirl and the orange pad on a friends 96 suzuki. They were floored with the results. It left a bit of hazing that came out easily with another step.

wash and degrease frame and wheelwells
clay
Prima swirl on hood (done slowly in small sections with the orange pad)
meguiars m80 on the w8006 pad on the whole car
epic
aerospace 303 on all the trim and roof and tires

Still raining here but some pictures of before and after.

BEFORE




AFTER

 

looks great! how do you like Swirl?

do you still need to use a final polish after swirl like that glaze you're
using? im looking for a one-step polish for my commuters. im too
lazy to do the multiple steps.

 

Got to get yourself some Klasse AIO...

 

NO!


jk

 

I liked how swirl worked but, yes, with the orange pad it was necessary to do a second step to get the gloss back. Amigo would probably do it but I save that for the 3rd step, if necessary. Meguiars m80 has a long play time and adds lots of wetness.

I like Meguiars m66 or color-x for commuters, cheap and easy one-step polish and wax. You won't get out many scratches but its a commuter . Or, I like the idea of just using Hydro after washing. Curious how that would hold up.

I just tried Hydro for the first time today on the mini and wow is that a nice slippery clear finish

 

ahh, thanks for the info. i might be better off just keeping my griots
polishes for now then.

Hydro is great. it will last a long time... meaning weeks not days and it
has as much protection imho as Epic, just short term. the wetness is a
very similar look to Epic. and hydro being so easy to apply, i dont use
my ordinary 'wax' any more and just keep applying more after each
wash. i wash my commuters almost every weekend in the warmer
months so no need more any more wax.

 

It depends on your particular paint's softness and which pad you use with Swirl.

When you use Swirl with the orange pad, although it will be more effective on paint needing more dramatic correction, it may leave some hazing. On soft paints, it will likely leave some hazing. On hard paints, it is less likely.

*When you use Swirl with the white pad, it won't leave hazing unless the paint is really soft (ie BMW or resprays, typically). On MINI paint, Swirl + white pad should not leave any hazing.

We've found slight paint softness variations even between makes and models of the same year and color. So, it's hard to give a concrete answer unless I'm actually trying it on your car...

In most cases though, Swirl + the white pad goes deep enough on a MINI to remove swirls and other imperfections and yet will not leave any hazing. You can go straight to your wax from there. (Infiniti paint should respond fairly similarly as MINI paint)

Also, remember that with most abrasives you cannot go straight to your wax due to the oils found in most polishes which will impede the wax-paint bond. All Prima abrasive polishes, including Swirl, do not contains oils and thus you can go straight from Swirl to your synthetic or carnauba wax.


Thanks for the Swirl review! The Suzuki looks great!! I actually enjoy doing friend's cars... it's fun seeing the look on their face!

-Heather

 

ahh, thanks for the info. i might be better off trying some Swirl next time
then.

i am easily pursuaded, i see...

 

This is what I plan to do soon (perhaps this weekend) on my HO.

Heather, what about Finish? On lightly damaged paint (winter swirlies), should I go Wash -> Clay -> Swirl (on white pad) -> Finish (on ? pad) -> Amigo -> Epic or should I/can I cut out the Finish stage? Sounds like I should not get any hazing with Swirl on the white pad, so is there any benefit to the extra step?

 

Ha, ha, ha! Yes, you are like buttah in my hands.

-Heather

 

It's really one of those situations where "it depends"...

It's very likely that Swirl + the white pad will be all you need.
If you do happen to have some hazing after Swirl + white, then you'll need Finish (also with a white pad).
If you don't have any hazing (as is likely), then there is no real benefit to using Finish too.

Often, Swirl is used to do the bigger cleanup jobs (like after the winter) while Finish is used to do the light, ongoing-maintenance jobs perhaps before a waxing (like mid-year).

Does that help?

-Heather

 

Yes it does... Sounds like I'll stick to my original plan and use Finish IF NEEDED after the Swirl.