paint swirls

[yngver]

We have a dark blue Forester. We had some scratches repaired on the
rear quarter panel, and after repair I complained to the body shop that
in direct sunlight I could see a pattern reflecting left by the buffing
machine. They said they could polish this out. They did, I guess, but I
still see some of these marks--I guess this is called swirl although
I'm not talking about the kind of little surface scratches you get from
going through a car wash. They said that once the paint cures in month
or so, the swirls will disappear. Does this sound right? Is there any
harm in waiting a month, and then making them fix it if the swirls are
still there? The car is not even six months old so it's annoying to see
the pattern in the finish.
-yngver

 

[Edward Hayes]

I think the swirls are in for good, unless the job is redone.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

We have a dark blue Forester. We had some scratches repaired on the
rear quarter panel, and after repair I complained to the body shop that
in direct sunlight I could see a pattern reflecting left by the buffing
machine. They said they could polish this out. They did, I guess, but I
still see some of these marks--I guess this is called swirl although
I'm not talking about the kind of little surface scratches you get from
going through a car wash. They said that once the paint cures in month
or so, the swirls will disappear. Does this sound right? Is there any
harm in waiting a month, and then making them fix it if the swirls are
still there? The car is not even six months old so it's annoying to see
the pattern in the finish.
-yngver

You might investigate www.autopia.org - maybe some 'claybar' or other
technique will minimze the swirl. It is a common issue for darker cars I
think.

Carl

 

[yngver]

I think the swirls are in for good, unless the job is redone.

Thanks. Three people at the body shop--the guy assigned to manage our
repair, the manager and the district manager all said the swirls would
go away in a month or so when the paint cured, but I've just never
heard of that from anyone else. They said they will re-do it if I still
see the swirls in 30 days, so I guess I don't have anything to lose by
waiting. I assume the swirls would not get any worse or harder to
remove in 30 days, do you know?
-yngver

 

[yngver]

You might investigate www.autopia.org - maybe some 'claybar' or other
technique will minimze the swirl. It is a common issue for darker cars I
think.

Carl

Thanks. I don't want to try to do anything to the car myself; getting
rid of the swirl is the body shop's problem, and anyway they said not
to wax the car until the paint cures, so I'd have to wait 30 days in
any case. I know it's a common issue for darker colors--now that I know
what to look for, I've noticed it on a number of black and dark blue
cars. But they were all older models.

 

[Sheldon]

We have a dark blue Forester. We had some scratches repaired on the
rear quarter panel, and after repair I complained to the body shop that
in direct sunlight I could see a pattern reflecting left by the buffing
machine. They said they could polish this out. They did, I guess, but I
still see some of these marks--I guess this is called swirl although
I'm not talking about the kind of little surface scratches you get from
going through a car wash. They said that once the paint cures in month
or so, the swirls will disappear. Does this sound right? Is there any
harm in waiting a month, and then making them fix it if the swirls are
still there? The car is not even six months old so it's annoying to see
the pattern in the finish.
-yngver

The only thing paint does over time is dry. I'd say they just want to get
rid of you for awhile. Swirl marks are the result of polishing, but when
you get down the finer polishes those swirl marks should go away. And, if
those marks are under the clear coat the job will have to be redone.

 

[yngver]

The only thing paint does over time is dry. I'd say they just want to get
rid of you for awhile. Swirl marks are the result of polishing, but when
you get down the finer polishes those swirl marks should go away. And, if
those marks are under the clear coat the job will have to be redone.

Okay, thanks. I'm not sure why they would want to get rid of us for a
while because they have a lifetime warranty on their work so they would
know very well I'll be coming back in a couple weeks if the swirls are
still there. I don't think the swirls are under the clearcoat because
the second polishing did eliminate them on the door, but it brought out
new ones on the upper part of the rear panel. Since I can see remnants
of the buffing compound in the same pattern as the swirl marks,
obviously that's what's doing it and I assume that means they are not
using a completely clean buffing pad, correct? In any case, I sent them
pictures that clearly show the new areas of swirl and the few remaining
in the previous place, and they said they will keep working on it until
we are happy. I'm just wondering how they came up with the idea that
swirl will go away by itself in time. This shop does a lot of work on
high end cars like Jaguars and BMWs and Mercedes and surely those
people don't accept seeing swirl after their cars have been polished.
I'd think they want people to be happy the first time so they don't
keep coming back having their cars re-done.