Introduction

Have you ever looked at your car on a bright sunny day and noticed that there are swirls in it? If you’re a car owner/enthusiast, chances are you have. Swirls marks are amongst the most common paint defects your car will experience in its lifetime, it is not a surprise that “how to remove swirls from a cars paint” is one of the most commonly asked question in the world of detailing and car care.

Swirl marks are groups of micro scratches within your paints clear coat. These are most often just surface scratches that have not cut into your paint but may have scratched your clear coat, most commonly from improper washing & drying techniques. Other than the unappealing appearance of the swirls, the downside of swirls is that keeping your paint clean is even harder and can easily be contaminated due to the massive amount of crevasses in which dirt and dust can get trapped in reducing the lustre of your cars paint finish. The bottom line- get those swirls out as soon as possible by a professional.

To understand more about swirl marks and how to remove them from your car, here are some topics to consider.

What Causes Swirl Marks?

As mentioned earlier, improper washing or drying techniques are the primary cause of swirl marks. This includes the following.

One wash bucket

A Majority of car owners use only a single bucket of soapy water when cleaning a vehicle. Instead, start using a separate bucket with fresh water to clean your mitt or sponge after every pass and utilize a tool such as a dirt trap. These precautions will help ensure contamination , debris and dirt do not stay on the wash mitt to cause micro abrasions within the paints finish.

Neglecting A Pre-Soak/Wash (Rinsing)

Taking a brush or mitt to a car even with soap is not a good idea without some type of lubricant to prevent scratches from occurring during a wash. It’s a good practice to presoak or to apply pre-rinse via foam cannon before you begin to drag a mitt across the surface of your cars paint.

Improper Drying Techniques/Practices

Using a dirty towel can cause paint abrasions because of trapped dirt and that one is maybe a bit obvious. But did you know using the same cloth too many times it can cause the fibers to become matted and stiff which can once again cause abrasion on the paints finish. To avoid this professional equipment such as an air blower is recommended to dry off the car and remove any excesses water to avoid water spots. Or simply always inspecting your towels to ensure they are clean and in good condition.

Automated Car Washes

It’s a no brainer that automatic car wash can cause swirl marks, brushes overtime accumulates dirt and grime after many washes throughout the day which then get rubbed against your car causing micro scratches.

Even touchless washes have the tendency to use harsh cleaners and chemicals that can overtime discolour trims pieces and other components of your car while others simply just don’t get the clean you are looking for. Overall, its best to avoid automated car washes in general.

All in all the main idea and theme is about continuation on the instruments in which come in contact with the vehicles paint. Methods such as using two buckets and dirt trappers along with correctly drying and avoiding automated car washes can help prevent micro scratches and swirls from appearing in your paint.

Where Do Swirl Marks Commonly Appear?

Swirls mark can appear on car hood roof and trunk, anywhere.

In general swirl marks can on any painted surface of your vehicle. However, they are commonly found on flat surfaces like hoods, roofs, and trunks. They are less likely to show up on the sides of your car.

Swirl marks are highly visible with Vehicles with darker coloured surfaces. Black arguably being the worst colour as it shows very predominantly. However, this doesn’t mean that lighters colours don’t develop swirls, or they aren’t visible, simply more intense lighting situations are required to see the swirls. 

How to Identify Swirl Marks

Swirl marks and scratches differ and it’s good to know the difference, so you know what type of paint repair you need.

Swirl Marks

•       Appear like cobwebs or spiderwebs in shape with a consistent diameter.

•       Are the most common types of paint defects.

•       Appear only on the surface of the clear coat

•       Don’t scratch through the paint surface.

 Scratches

•       Have completely random shapes and patterns.

•       Often result from a deep gash or sharp objects like rocks or keys

•       Go deeper than swirl marks.

•       Often affect the colour layer of the paint.

•       May go all the way to the primer.

•       Sometimes reveal the bare metal.

•       As opposed to scratches, swirl marks are usually no more than 2-4 microns deep. So, they don’t go deeper than the surface of the clear coat of paint.

Also, there are different types of swirl marks, including...

Wash Marrings: These defects appear as swirls or straight lines, and the damage varies in area and depth. 

Dual Action Haze (Micro Marrings): These are sporadically uniform swirl marks. They are more visible under direct light sources (sunlight or fluorescent) because micro marrings are hairline swirl marks.

Buffer Swirls: These are relatively thicker than other types of swirl marks. The diameter is more consistent, and they are more visible in bright or white-fluorescent light.

All in all, the main differences between the two is scratches go past the clear coat while swirls marks are simply defects in the clear coat that can be fixed with a single or multi-stage paint correction. Scratches repair intensive paint repair and at times even body work.

How to Prevent Swirl Marks?

At the end of the day preventing swirls are better than having to remove them. Some solutions to prevent swirl marks to apply a protective film or coating overtop your paint.

Some popular coating based options are Feynlab Ceramic Self-Heal or any of their other Feynlab self-healing Ceramic products. These products are great at handling contact that causes swirls and other minor surface scratches on your paint. Their self-healing properties active in the heat and still have the added benefit of high gloss shine, UV-Ray protection and self-cleaning hydrophobic properties.

If your looking for a film based option, consider SunTek react or any other Suntek Paint Protection Film (PPF) product. SunTek react has superiority as a film based protectant as the film has hydrophobic self-healing properties along with scratch, swirl and paint fade prevention so you can drive with peace in mind.

All of these can be applied to surfaces without major paint damages to find out which one is best for your we recommend you check out our article on PPF Vs Ceramic Coatings. 

How to Remove Swirl Marks?

Preventing swirls is better than fixing them as you can only do a paint correction so many times on your car until your cars clear coat is too thin. But if you have to fix your paint, we recommend going to a professional such as ourselves to get this done. Paint correction involves using different compounds, techniques, and equipment. It takes years of experience to learn and perfect. Incorrect techniques can cause burnt paint, discoloured paint and overall irreversible damages that would be even more costly to get repaired or replaced. There are many compounds for everyday car enthusiast that can deliver temporary mediocre results however for long lasting and professional results contact us for a quote on your vehicles paint correction.

In short, leave it to the professionals.  

Summary

To conclude, there are many ways you can prevent paint swirls from happening such as correct washing/drying techniques and avoiding automated car washes. Prevention is always better than correction so we would recommend having either Paint Protection Film (PPF) or Feynlab Self-Healing ceramic to be applied over top your paints finish. If you paint already has paint defects, give us a call today (647)-278-5933 or fill out one of the forms below and also consider a protective measure to such as Paint Protection Film (PPF) or Feynlab Self-Heal Ceramic.