My wife has a 99 Venture that was recently hit and repaired in the front end. The body shop replaced the hood, bumper, fender, etc. and repainted the front end. They also blended into the doors. They then sent the van through the make ready dept. to clean it up for us. This process was repeated several time for various reasons and the end result is new paint that has swirls and minor scratches all over it. This all happened in January, this year. The body shop seems willing to fix all this, but they have already tried several times and it just gets worse.

Can someone give me complete steps on restoring/repairing the finish? I understand there is a Meguiar's #9 swirl remover. Is there anything I should use before? What products should I use afterwards? I am not really concerned with a show car finish, I just want the swirls gone. I usually use Nu-Finish twice a year on both the van and truck. Could I follow with that?

Thanks in advance!

Jim

 

Hey JSCOTT,



Meguiars #9 would be a good product to use to remove them, but it also does have oils and fillers in it to help out with some of the other swirls, I have used this before. Do you have a buffer of some sort or Dual Action Polisher????? This would be the most effective way to remove the swirls.

When in the process of removing the swirls, make the sure the surface is clean and free of any polish or wax, this helps the swirl removing product to do it's job more effectively, IMO. The job of a SMR is to remove swirls obviously, not recreate them. This is where your part comes into play. Only use 100% cotton bath towels and applicators. They really do an excellent job of being gentle on your paint and optimize the effectiveness of the SMR (Swirl Mark Remover) Foam is ok for this task but might not be strong enough for the SMR to do it's job properly.

If you do not have a DA Polisher or buffer, that's fine. Doing it by hand is ok as well but will not optimize the performance the of the product. Buffers and Polishers use less product to as they lay down a smooth even coat of product onto the finish.

Meguiars also makes a product similar to #9 called #82 Swirl Free Polish, the only difference between these 2 are #9 has silicone, and #82 doesn't. Because #82 is more intended for Body Shop use, but you can still use it w/o any problems. Keep your towels, & applicators as clean as you possibly can. Remember your removing swirls, not recreating them. After the job is done and your satisfied, reapply the wax to help protect the finish. Hope this helps out,,,,,,91

 

I pretty much agree with f-150_91............ especially about the part of getting the paint surface clean prior to the SMR process. I like to use Meguiars Medallion paint cleaner for this purpose. It's a fairly strong cleaner with no polishing characteristics. If the swirls/scratches are a bit too much for #9 or #82 to handle, you can try #83 (DACP), or their #2 (fine cut), then come back with a pass or two of the #9 or #82. Obviously, the DACP, and the fine cut are better applied with an orbital, or rotary buffer.

 

I had the same experience with my truck in a body shop. They left minor scratches and whirl marks on the right side! It really angers me, but I will be getting my truck professionally re-conditioned and polished out.

Good luck.