best readily available polish?
 

so i have a conundrum... i want to get some slight paint swirls out of my z. Nothing too crazy, but it kinda bothers me. They are light enough to where i am going to attempt to spot polish them out by hand. can somoeone help me decide which polish I should go with that is readily available (i.e. oreilly's/autozone/etc...). I was going to stop by on my way home tonight and pick something up, but i dont want to get something too abrassive. I'm not totally familiar with how to decipher from most to least abrassive polished. so i guess im mainly looking for a finishing polish or something along those lines. no harsh compounds or anything like that.

Try something cheap like a Turtle Wax polish first and see if that helps. They're like $3 at Wal-Mart and they do a pretty good job.

This is just going to fill in the scratches, not remove them- not sure if that's what the OP is looking for or not.

Personally, I wouldn't use Autozone type products on the car if you're truly looking at wanting to correct flaws in the clear-coat.

If push comes to shove and you simply must have something, Autozone sells a 3M Rubbing Compound that will take out light scratches with a dual-action polisher.

OP, polishing by hand is really a nightmare when it comes to actually buffing out scratches. Best of luck to you.

Well, he said he didn't want to use anything abrasive like a rubbing compound. Not sure what other options he has.

there are different polishes. some more abrasive than others. just looking for a mild rubbing compound. i typically dont use autozone products. in fact i have pretty much nothing but griot's products. but i don't have a polish from them. will be using griot's clay bar and wax tho

Griots #3 machine polish works great on fine scratches and swirls

Yeah, I suppose you're right. Not exactly an easy answer here.

You can go to a chain auto supply store and pick up one of these: http://www.meguiars.com/en/professio...-remover-16oz/

Can't go wrong with Meguiar's brand professional line.

Meg's M105 & M205 can be found in some AutoZone and PepBoys. It's $25 each for the large bottle and $10 for the small one's if they have it. I would try the M205. You'll get good result for really light swirls, but you need something like the M105/M205 combo and a DA polisher to effectively get all the swirls out. If you're doing it by hand to the whole car, it will take you days to accomplish what can be done in hours with a DA polisher. You can try some of those waxes that hide the swirls, but it will wear off after a few car washes or rainy days.

Thanks for all the info guys. looks like i will be getting some meg's on the way home. i won't be doing the entire car. just a couple areas i noticed it. hood/rear hatch. i'll let u know how it turns out!

another question, how often do u guys clay bar. i did it once last year when i first got the car, but not sure when/if i need it again

it really comes down to the type of polish you use. I use zaino and I have found that I only need to clay bar 2 time a year and that is really pushing it. I do it once in the spring to get ready for summer and once in the fall. when you clay bar you want to get all of the old polish off and get down to the clear coat. use a dish shop like dawn that has no fragance and I wash the car 2-3 times with that once i can feel the wax is gone then i clay bar and wash once again with dawn and put it away not to be used again until I decide to clay bar again. then after the clay bar I begin to fix any scratches or swirl marks with their swirl remover and a DA polisher. once I get it to where i am satisfied with the car ie no swirls/scratches ( the sun is your friend or a good uv lamp) then you can begin the process of building up the coats of wax. I use the Z2 and Z5 waxes from Zaino alternating between the two with a coat of their spray in between each coat. I usually put between 3 to 5 coats of this to get the protection I want. at that point I only have to wash once every two weeks and maybe put another coat on once a month if that. I find this will last the car for the full year. It sounds like a lot of work and it is. I usually take a week to do a full detail with no driving and letting the coats sit overnight to do it right. Junkman does some amazing videos detailing alot of this info but it comes down to you deciding on what type of polish to use. adams and zaino are two great products. I have a black car and I have no issues with scratches/swirls following these steps. :tup:

wash the car and do the baggie test.

smart. didnt think of this

so with the super light amt of swirl marks i decided since i was crunched for time this week i decided to go with a nice finishing wax (griot's) to see if that would fill any light swirls. turned out to be a good decision!

results:

http://www.the370z.com/members/edub3...-50-44-788.jpg


why hello mr acura tl

http://www.the370z.com/members/edub3...-12-02-753.jpg


while it's not perfect, i figure i can get an orbital and get down to real business in a month or 2 when its too cold to get the car out and i have nothing better to do than drink beer and fiddle with my car.