A body shop just fixed a fender for me. Problem is, the morons washed my car with a dirty rag or a brush. Do I get a pro to buff it out, or do I do it myself (if so, with what)?

And no, I am not letting the body shop touch my car again.

 

Take ownership of your car now. We black car owners must learn to live with our swirls. They are inevitable. But we can improve our wash techniques and we can learn how to polish our cars ourselves and therefore we can improve how our cars look.

Two years ago I spent $400 getting my car buffed out. It was a huge mistake. I ended up having to have one of my doors re-painted. I could not prove that they were responsible for burning through the clearcoat.

 

Where are you located? I would find a true pro to polish it.

 

If you do not have any equipment to do correction on your car, you may want to think about having somebody correct the car for you.

If you are willing to put some time and money into some equipment and practice, you can do the job yourself and be a proud owner of a super glossy black S2K.

I would charge about $400-500 to do a full paint correction on a S2000. This would include washing, claying, swirl removal, polishing, glazing and then sealing the paint.

This is what you could expect to pay for a really good job done to the car.

for around the same price, you could pick up a polisher and some chemicals and a junk fender/hood to practice on first. Good thing with this option is that once you learn, you can always take care of your car yourself.

There are some really good training videos online about how to polish your car. I would suggest you watching them and then deciding if you want to perform this task yourself, or have a pro do it.

 

Just curious, why are you using a glaze, and what glaze/ sealant are you using?

 

Thanks for the help. Think this will do the trick on very light marks?
LINKY

 

The XMT polishes are terrible.

 

As I said, there's a lot to be said for taking ownership of your car paint. This ultimately means investing in a dual-action polisher, pads, pollishes, and towels. It's a fair hunk of change. It's also a commitment of time and energy.

If you don't take ownership of your car, the black swirls will rule your life. Even if you were to go out and spend $400 to have a professional buff out your car, the swirls will probably be back within six months. What will you do then?

Talk to Phil at Detailers Domain and get his suggestions. If I were purchasing a DA today, I'd probably give serious consideration to the new Griot's DA.

 

They dust like crazy and don't cut as well as Mazerna.

You really should stress to a bodyshop next time that they should just repair what is needed and do not wash the car however dirty it is.

 

revolution: I usually do tell anyone who works on the car not to wash it. I forgot this time, and paid for it. I bet I'll never forget again!

akimel: What is this ownership stuff you keep yapping about? I have had several black cars and this is the first time I have encountered a problem like this. And no, I likely will not have swirls again in 6 months. The sky is not falling...

Dan: Thanks for the heads up on the XMT.


Would you pick any of these kits below, or build your own?

LINKY