OCDetails
12-04-2009, 01:14 PM
I have heard this for years that you can't remove swirls with a DA. There are clearly two camps that say either you can or cannot. Well, I'm in the camp that says if you can't remove swirls with a DA, then I wouldn't recommend trying with a rotary polisher because you clearly don't know what you are doing. Swirls can and will come out with a DA if you are using the right process and products. If you try to remove them with just a damp pad, then yeah... you'll have some difficulties. With my FLEX and XMT2 on a blue Edge2000 pad, these are some of the results I get.
(ignore the water streak)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/DSC08052.jpg
The left part of this hood was polished and the rest is not yet.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/9ae2d5d6.jpg
Here is a good before/after on a nice Porsche.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/Rear1-1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/rearafter3.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/Hood1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/hoodafter1.jpg
This one is from some dog scratches on the door of an X5.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/DSC01104.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/DSC01105.jpg
So just in case anyone ever tells you that in order to remove swirls you need a rotary, don't believe them. I don't even own a rotary because I've never run into something that I've needed it for. I guess on that last picture if I really wanted to get every last scratch out then I could have used a rotary, but it isn't like the dog isn't going to jump up on it again or that the car is going into a museum or something. lol For a daily driver I don't think perfection in the absolute sense is even a logical thing to strive for, but you can get close enough with a DA that 99% of people are going to think it is perfect. I guess I'm just not detailing the really nasty stuff, but I'd say that first picture was pretty nasty looking and it seemed to come out just fine with a DA. My motto is "You can do anything you know how to do." If you can't remove swirls with a DA, then learn. ;)
(ignore the water streak)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/DSC08052.jpg
The left part of this hood was polished and the rest is not yet.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/9ae2d5d6.jpg
Here is a good before/after on a nice Porsche.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/Rear1-1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/rearafter3.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/Hood1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/hoodafter1.jpg
This one is from some dog scratches on the door of an X5.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/DSC01104.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/DSC01105.jpg
So just in case anyone ever tells you that in order to remove swirls you need a rotary, don't believe them. I don't even own a rotary because I've never run into something that I've needed it for. I guess on that last picture if I really wanted to get every last scratch out then I could have used a rotary, but it isn't like the dog isn't going to jump up on it again or that the car is going into a museum or something. lol For a daily driver I don't think perfection in the absolute sense is even a logical thing to strive for, but you can get close enough with a DA that 99% of people are going to think it is perfect. I guess I'm just not detailing the really nasty stuff, but I'd say that first picture was pretty nasty looking and it seemed to come out just fine with a DA. My motto is "You can do anything you know how to do." If you can't remove swirls with a DA, then learn. ;)