I've been badly waxing cars for decades. I've hated swirl marks for decades but could never really figure out how to avoid them, other than polishing them out by hand after a good wax job...

One of the YouTube videos I came across maybe 6 or 7 months back recommended a cross hatch pattern when applying wax.

That means one pass with the buffer applying wax in one direction, maybe front to back, then the next pass side to side. Then the next pass front to back again, then the next side to side. Etc. And do an equal number of passes in each direction -- maybe 3-4 each way per panel. Mainly each pass should be 90° offset in direction and you'll do well with multiple, equal numbers of passes.

I was looking at the vast expanse of metal on my '66 98 this morning and wondered if that would work in buffing / polishing too. Turns out, it does work.

I tested on half of my hood, pulled the car out into the (95°F) sunshine to look for swirl marks and they weren't there, but there was a deep shine.

The buffer saves a helluva lot of hand buffing and does a better job if you follow this cross hatch approach. If you just polish in 1 direction - well, swirl marks will appear... So just alternate directions when applying wax and buffing.

My new wax method is 3-4 passes in each of two directions to apply the wax. Then 3-4 passes in each of two directions to buff it off. I was probably at waxing the car today for 4 hours or so, maybe more, but once a year or so, I don't mind.

As a side note, this car needed no clay bar process, but I've found that using a clay bar before applying polish works very well as a preparatory step.

I'm guessing most of you guys know this, I volunteer this just for any who might not have tried this yet.

Cheers
Chris

 

Thanks for the pointers.

What buffer do you use? Is it rotary or DA?

 

I'm using a 7" Makita. Just a plain rotary, not DA. It's corded, not battery, and I throw the cord over my shoulder as recommended.

I'd be into the D/A for smaller surfaces, but I'm not that picky yet. The paint on my '66 98 dates from at least the 90's so it's not perfect by any means. No reason to go D/A nuts on old paint in my view.

Buffer wall power is provided by one of those ceiling-mounted spring loaded cord reels to provide wall power all over the garage. They're great. Kinda like those compressed air hoses you see at professional garages, but for electrical power.

If you go this route, head to Amazon or your hardware store and get a 7 or 8 3M brand foam pads for cutting, applying wax, and buffing. There are stiff foam pads for cutting. I use the grey foam ones for both applying wax and buffing. When applying wax and buffing you want super clean, clean, clean to keep dirt in the foam from scratching your paint/clear coat. My solution is just get a bunch of pads and wash 'em 2x between uses. You can machine wash the foam pads if approved by your significant other.

When I wash the foam pads, I wash 'em 2x so that that all the dirt/wax crap gets out of the pads & again so all the crap gets out of the family washing machine too. I'm all for clean, but no fair gumming up the family washer for car stuff.

Just to mention my other Aha from past 12 months, I'm using my leaf blower to dry the cars as a first pass. You get a really consistent dry surface & you need only 1 towel for a whole Olds 98! It's loud though, so I put on headphones to drown out the noise with music.

Cheers,
Chris

 

LIES!

Actually, that's a good idea. Maybe I need to get a leaf blower too.

Your Makita buffer being rotary is going to give you more swirl marks to start with than a DA. I just got a cheapie at Horrible Freight.

 

Get the paint as clean as possible. Clay bar it. Keep the buffing pad clean before, during, and after use.

Switch the pad out for a new one 1/3 into the process. So you need 3 or more. I stay away from the lower (rocker) panels at first. Save them for last, as the paint is more likely to contain road contaminants.
Once the contaminants are embedded in the pad, vola' swerll marks.

Do the hood, roof, trunk first. Do a little wipe it off and check for marks. It's real easy to induce swirl marks. Switch out the pad as often as needed. They're cheap compared to paint.
I used to use 3M pink fill n glaze. I think it's discontinued. But 3M does make a glaze compound and the proper application pads. That's key too.

The type of paint on your car will dictate the product you need to use.
If you have a local pro paint and detail supplier, go in and ask them. Bring the car, and they will get you what you need.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/collisio...es-and-glazes/

 

droldsmorland,
You are right on target. Full agreement on all of your points. Amen that pads are waaay cheaper than paint. ‘Specially these days. I’m using McGuire chemicals, but the 3M pads (Hello, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing) are the good stuff.

Clean pads don’t scratch paint. I use one set of pads for applying wax & a different (newer) set of pads to buff. Up until this time, I buffed by hand to avoid swirls. That worked, but it was a lot of hand & shoulder work. And I’m 61, not all that interested in Tylenol or Advil to pay for hand waxing. So this time I thought I’d try to use the machine in applying & _buffing_.

Just to get into the 6 hour project, I waxed the detail parts first - stuff like mirrors, stainless trim, bumpers, chrome trim. I do this by hand since I’ve spent way, way too much time with Qtips cleaning up this stuff after a machine approach. Music running, coffee in hand, I do all the little stuff by hand 1st (applying & buffing), so I can focus on the acres of sheet metal later with the rotary machine.

After the details I kind of consider what surfaces I’ll see most often. That means hood, trunk, and the drivers side. I don’t ignore the other stuff, but I give some thought to surfaces I’ll always see when driving the car.

Both in applying wax & buffing paint, I go from top down. For the 98 convertible this is moot, but for my ‘66 Starfire I start with the roof top and work my way down. In order: Roof, hood, trunk, then sides going from fender tops down to the rockers. It might sound funny, but I use a step stool (actually a Stokke chair from when the kids were small) to make working on the top easy. If figure if I make it comfortable to do the hard-to-reach parts, the better the job will come out.

I don’t ever use the buffing pads from the rockers anywhere except the rockers, unless it’s been thoroughly (like washed in hot water in a washing machine 2x). Quite right that rockers & rocker stainless trim are mostly likely to pick up scratchy garbage and absorb that into the pad. On my 98, the rockers are covered in stainless which is pretty hard to scratch and I buffed ‘em pretty shiny about 10 years ago. So I don’t really worry about the 98. But the rockers on the ‘66 Starfire are pure paint. So yeah, those rockers get special attention.

Just to put it out there, I put wax on the windows sort of casually and also wax the plastic tail light, side market and other plastic lenses. Chrome, of course. Polished stainless of course. Anodized aluminum is a judgment call, but I don’t go out of my way to hit it since anodizing is a coating. Yeah, since my front inner fenders are finished in satin black I wax ‘em too. What the h*ck. And the radiator top cover too. I painted mine body color, so again, why not?

I suspect testing a D/A might be my next evolution, but for now, I’m totally happy with 90° cross hatch pattern with the 7” rotary.