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Swirls, Scratches, and Holograms


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Since there may be some confusion as to the difference between Swirls, Scratches and Holograms and other types of damage, I thought I would give you some examples. Those of you with older Legacys or other cars may see some familiar things here and hopefully this will help you identify what you are dealing with.

 

 

Swirls:

 

Swirls are mostly circular. They look like spiderwebs, and are often called that. They are caused by many things, but most often they are caused by improper washing and drying tools and processes, but they are also caused by just driving the car. Dust in the atmosphere while driving can cause them. Driving on dusty roads is a good way to see swirls occur. The fact is, they are totally unavoidable. You can stay on top of them if you care for your car though. They are very difficult to polish out by hand and will likely require a machine. Not a buffer kind of machine, but rather a Porter Cable type. Buffers are great at applying wax, but they don't do so well on swirl removal. You will more likely create holograms in your efforts to remove the swirls.

 

http://www.ocdetails.com/assets/images/Swirls1.jpg

 

 

 

Scratches:

 

Scratches are lateral lines in the paint. They are caused by using coarse towels to dry with, driving next to bushes, rubbing against the paint, washing with a sponge full of dirt, claying with a dirty clay bar, and a million other things. Why some cars swirl and others scratch is a mystery to me. The process for removing them is much the same as with swirls. While swirls can be caused simply by driving, scratches need a little more effort put into creating them. Your car won't scratch by just driving it around. If your car looks like this then you can be assured that something you are doing wrong is causing them. Try to identify where your car care process can be improved and see if that makes a difference in how many scratches appear.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/problem.jpg

 

 

 

Holograms:

 

These are also often called 'Buffer Burns" due to the fact that they are caused by el cheapo buffers. They are wavy lines in the paint that sometimes zig zag across the body. Holograms are not created naturally. They are also not created by hand. These are marks that are created by buffers and polishers in the hands of amatures. Holograms are also more difficult to remove than swirls simply because of the nature of the damage. If you pick your car up from a paint shop or a detail shop and it has holograms on it, then take it right back and have them fix it. Holograms are easily hidden with greasy glazes and may not show up right away. When they show up you should take the car back in. Don't let them tell you that you created them. Any detailer knows what holograms are caused by and they know that you didn't cause them. These are best removed by a professional.

 

http://www.ocdetails.com/assets/images/greenbufferburn.jpg

 

 

BONUS:

 

 

Clearcoat Failure:

 

You can't stop clearcoat failure. Once it starts you are pretty much doomed. Your clear coat has somehow seperated from the rest of your car and that is why it looks cloudy. Your clear coat is only clear as long as its stuck to the paint. It will get all cloudy and start slowly chipping off of your car. Clearcoat failure is a result of not protecting your car from industrial fallout (meaning you don't clay your car) and you don't protect it from UV rays (meaning you aren't waxing). Don't let clearcoat failure happen to your car. It most often starts shows up after 5 or 6 years of neglect. Soon you will start to see it on neglected '99 and '98 models. You may already be seeing it on your '95 and '96 model year cars. The only way to fix it is to sand it all down and respray it. That will require a body shop to do properly. Its an expensive problem that is easily avoided if you care for the car.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/DSC00225.jpg

 

 

 

 

Oxidation:

 

Oxidation is what happens just before clearcoat failure. It is when the surface is unprotected and it just sits out in the sun all day. Rare washings and even more rare shade can accelerate oxidation to the point that the clearcoat just gives up. More often than not you will see oxidation on non-clearcoated vehicles. The clear helps protect the paint to a certian extent, but it doesn't stop the damage from happening. Red is the first to oxidize. You'll notice that your red will start to go to pink after awhile. That is oxidation. Its easy enough to fix with a good quality paint cleaner. I use Klasse AIO to clear up my oxidation issues. Here is an example of oxidation and what it can look like after a simple non-abrasive paint cleaning.

 

http://www.ocdetails.com/assets/images/HalfAndHalf.jpg

 

 

Hopefully that clears it up for you all a bit. Knowing what kind of damage you are dealing with will help in knowing what you can do about it. For example, swirls are easier to fix than scratches. Some scratches can be so deep that you need to paint them while others can be easily polished out with a PC. Holograms almost certianly need a polisher and swirls generally need one as well. If you know what kind of damage you have then it makes it easier for people who know how to help to offer suggestions. Pictures always help, but if you can at least identify if they are scratches, swirls, or holograms then it will give people willing to help more to go off of. :)

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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What about the dreaded eggshell effect? Can I simply scramble my car, or do I keep it sunny side up?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow....I'm sorry. I just spent 6 hours washing, claying, washing, pre-waxing, sealing, the suby so i'm alittle out of it

(Updated 8/22/17)

2005 Outback FMT

Running on Electrons

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My goal this spring is to prowl the parking lot of the mall and get pictures of every kind of paint damage I can find and post the description and suggested remedy on my site. I'm not familiar with the term 'eggshell effect', but if you are refering to the damage that a tossed egg will cause your paint then I can tell you that there isn't much you can do but repaint the car. It really sucks. I'm sure I can get pictures of that one. Where did I put those eggs.... my neighbor is parked in front of my house again. ;)

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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Holograms are caused by cheap buffers or bad rotary work. If your car didn't have one of those two abuses, then you didn't have holograms. However, if you did have holograms then 2.5 is a good product to remove them with. I only suggest having someone who knows what they are doing remove them simply so you don't make them worse using the same methods that caused them to begin with. ;) If you know what you are doing then they aren't that hard to remove with the right product and technique.

 

Orange Peel is what crappy OEM paint jobs are called. It gets its name because the paint looks like the dimpled surface of an orange. You'll notice it on our paint a lot. It can be caused by clear coating the paint before the thin base coat is fully dry. You can also get fish eyes that way. You can avoid orange peel on DIY painting by wet sanding between paint layers.

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a208/harringtonj/IMG_0758.jpg

 

I'm sure I can find better examples, but you can see how textured the paint looks when you look at the reflection of the lines in the paint.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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Here is an example of oxidation and what it can look like after a simple non-abrasive paint cleaning.

you previously indicated meguiar's paint cleaner has micro-abrasives in it. is this more harmful than good? should we aspire to use only klasse aio for this step?

 

sincerely,

 

aspiring OCDetails disciple

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micro abrasives aren't a bad thing. They give a little more bite to serious paint cleaning as well as helping remove swirls. Klasse All In One is a straight checmical cleaner with no abrasives. I was just trying to demonstrate that you don't necessarily need abrasives to get the paint clean. You can use any paint cleaner you want to remove oxidation. The important thing is to use something that can clean the paint.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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Clearcoat Failure:

 

You can't stop clearcoat failure. Once it starts you are pretty much doomed. Your clear coat has somehow seperated from the rest of your car and that is why it looks cloudy. Your clear coat is only clear as long as its stuck to the paint. It will get all cloudy and start slowly chipping off of your car. Clearcoat failure is a result of not protecting your car from industrial fallout (meaning you don't clay your car) and you don't protect it from UV rays (meaning you aren't waxing). Don't let clearcoat failure happen to your car. It most often starts shows up after 5 or 6 years of neglect. Soon you will start to see it on neglected '99 and '98 models. You may already be seeing it on your '95 and '96 model year cars. The only way to fix it is to sand it all down and respray it. That will require a body shop to do properly. Its an expensive problem that is easily avoided if you care for the car.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/DSC00225.jpg

 

Any way to just buy some clear coat in a can and apply it if this is what the car looks like? It's a beater/work vehicle that is almost at the end of its life, but we just dont want the thing to rust through..and have a "sunroof"...

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http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a208/harringtonj/IMG_0758.jpg

 

I'm sure I can find better examples, but you can see how textured the paint looks when you look at the reflection of the lines in the paint.

 

how about a pic of a legacy ? it is full of that :D:lol:

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Any way to just buy some clear coat in a can and apply it if this is what the car looks like? It's a beater/work vehicle that is almost at the end of its life, but we just dont want the thing to rust through..and have a "sunroof"...

 

Just remember that clear coat is nothing more than clear paint. If you put clear paint on top of that car then it is just going to preserve the ugliness. That type of damage needs way more than just clear coat. There is damage to the base coat where the clear has worn off. That is UV damage and oxidation you see in those big spots. The only way to fix that is to sand it all down and repaint. You can sand down just the white areas to keep it from getting worse, but if you want the paint to match again then you need to sand it all down and start over with new color and new clear.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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How about tar removal OC? The black stuff that gets on the side and rockerpanels if you don't have mud guards (and sometimes even if you do :().

 

Well, there is tar remover that you can get just about anywhere. That would work. Another thing that works even better is mineral spirits. You can get that stuff at any hardware store. It is the same stuff any professional detail shop would use on tar. It's kind of like paint thinner, but you don't have to worry about it doing any damage to your car's paint. Your clear coat is heat cured and isn't going anywhere.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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