How to remove swirls using an orbital polisher.

Remove swirls using
a Porter Cable 7424 polisher.

Swirls in the top paint or clear coat finish can be removed or cosmetically hid. Visually masking swirls can be accomplished by hand. Removing swirls is best accomplished with a machine polisher. Before starting, it's a good idea to check for paint contamination by placing your hand inside a plastic sandwich bag and running your fingertips over the surface. If the paint is rough or gritty, consider using a clay bar before trying to remove swirls. See , "How to remove paint contamination" on our Problem Solving page. This step is optional but worth the extra effort. Compounding and polishing will not remove surface contamination. If your car's finish is smooth, here are your options for reducing or removing swirls:

Hiding Swirls:

Swirls can be visually hid by polishing the surface with a non-abrasive polish such as Menzerna Final Polish, Meguiar's No. 9 Swirl Remover or 3M Perfect-It Swirl Remover. This rounds off the top edge of the swirl, robbing sunlight of a sharp edge to cause a reflection. When you buff off the polishing residues, fillers will stay in the depressions. Finish by applying your favorite wax or paint sealant. This will hold the fillers in place, cosmetically hiding swirls and minor paint blemishes. This procedure does not remove the swirl. Swirls may be visible in certain light conditions (fluorescent lamps are ruthlessly revealing) and will reappear as the wax ages. That said, most people will look at your car and think it's flawless.

Basic Procedure:

Wipe on Swirl Remover by hand using a Microfiber or Terry Applicator pad. Apply with a medium to firm pressure until almost dry. Buff off polish residues with a Microfiber or Terry cloth and finish by applying your favorite wax or paint sealant. See, "Removing swirls by hand" for a step-by-step procedure.

Removing Swirls:

Removing a swirl requires you to remove the top layer of paint or clear coat that contains the swirl. This is best accomplished with a circular or orbital machine polisher. Very fine swirls can be removed by polishing alone. Deeper swirls and/or light scratches typically requires a three-step compound, polish and finish procedure. These are the same three steps used by automakers, body shops and professional detailers.

In this article, we show how to use an orbital polisher (Porter Cable 7424) to compound and polish the hood of a 5 year old Honda. This vehicle was showing signs of oxidation (dull surface with very little gloss), contained numerous fine swirls and a few deeper scratches from a neighborhood cat.

This picture doesn't show it well but the finish has numerous swirls,
scratches and blemishes. The surface is also dull. Note reflections of clouds.

In another article, we did the same procedure with a circular (DeWalt 849) polisher. For that article, see, "Remove swirls using a circular polisher."

Note: to demonstrate the complete procedure, we are showing the compounding step. If your vehicle has very fine swirls, you can probably omit compounding and go directly to polishing.

Compound - Polish - Finish

Compounding involves abrading away the area surrounding the scratch or blemish until the defect is no longer visible. This is best accomplished with a circular polisher (DeWalt 849) but orbital polishers like the

Compounding removes the layer of
clear coat that contains the defect.

Porter Cable 7424 will remove minor defects and visually reduce deeper swirls, scratches and blemishes. Compounding may leave the surface dull. This is normal. This dullness, or compounding haze, is removed in the next step which is polishing.

Polishing removes compounding haze and restores surface gloss. It creates a mirror-like, highly reflective finish ready for waxing. Polishing is best accomplished using a white foam polishing pad and a finishing polish.

Finishing protects the surface with your favorite wax or sealant. Finishing can be accomplished by hand or with an orbital polisher (Porter Cable). Applying a wax or paint sealant by machine is typically done using a black foam finishing pad.

About orbital polishers:

Orbital polishers trade safety for ultimate paint cutting ability. Since the pads oscillate (jiggle) rather than rotate, dual action machines may not be able to abrade away enough of the top clear coat to completely remove deep swirls, defects and scratches. That said, orbital polishers will always produce better results than could be achieved by hand.

On the plus side, the random, oscillating motion of orbital polishers makes these machines very safe for novice users. It is virtually impossible to damage the paint or clear coat with an orbital polisher.

Choosing the proper pads:

For compounding, we chose a CCS Technology Yellow Foam Compounding Pad but our CCS Orange Power Pad would have worked equally as well. Wool Leveling Pads can also be used for compounding but are not recommended for use with orbital machines.

I recommend starting with the Orange Power Pad. This pad doesn't cut quite as fast as the yellow pad but produce much less haze. Compounding haze is a dull, surface finish which must be removed by additional polishing.

For Polishing, we chose a White Foam Polishing Pad.

Finishing, applying the final wax or paint sealant, can be done by hand or with the Porter Cable polisher. If applying the final sealant by machine, use the CCS, Red Finishing Pad.

Product requirements:

Dual-action polisher (Porter Cable 7424)
A CCS Orange Power Pad
A compound such as Menzerna Intensive Polish or 3M Fine Cut Compound.
A CCS White Foam Polishing Pad .
A polish such as Menzerna Final Polish, Meguiar's No. 9 Swirl Remover or 3M Perfect-It Swirl Mark Remover
Two Water Spray Bottles (one with an alcohol/water mix).
At least three Microfiber Detailing Cloths.
A Red Finishing Pad if applying the final wax or sealant by machine.
Your favorite wax or paint sealant.

Procedure:

Step 1 - Compounding Place the CCS, Orange Power Pad on the backing plate and attach to your machine polisher using the adapter (if needed). Work on a small area, 18 to 24 inches square, out of direct sunlight. Apply compound directly to the surface. Mist the compounding pad very lightly with water or pad lubricant. With the machine off, spread the compound (i.e. Menzerna Intensive Polish) over the surface using the foam pad. This coats the compounding pad with compound and reduces compounding paint temperatures. Press the pad against the paint and turn the machine on. Set the speed dial on the polisher between 3-1/2 and 4. Work the pad over the surface in a figure 8 pattern. Go over the area in a left-to-right figure 8 pattern and then an up-and-down figure 8 pattern.

Apply compound to paint.	Put foam compounding pad on machine's hook and loop backing plate.

Mist compounding pad with water or pad lubricant.	Spread compound with machine off.


Set the speed dial between 3-1/2 and 4,	Work in a figure-8 pattern.
Go over the area several times or until the compound starts to dry. Inspect the results. Spray the surface with a 50/50 solution of Isopropyl Alcohol and water to remove compounding residues and wipe the area dry with a clean Microfiber towel. (I mark one of the water bottles "Water/Alcohol" with a Magic Marker to keep them separate) Run your fingertips over the surface. Is it smooth?
	Remove residues with an alcohol/water solution and inspect the surface.
Have the swirls been removed? If not, repeat the compounding and inspection procedure until the swirls are removed or until no further improvement can be observed. When the surface is as defect-free as you can make it, proceed to Step 2, Polishing. Compounding may leave the surface dull depending on the abrasiveness of the compound used. This is normal. This dullness is removed in the next step which is polishing. Polishing is done after compounding to remove compounding haze (surface dullness). Polishing restores surface gloss and prepares the surface for waxing.
Step 2 - Polishing The procedure for polishing is exactly the same as for compounding with two exceptions. Use the CCS, White Foam Polishing Pad for this step with a finishing polish (i.e. Menzerna Final Polish, Meguiar's No. 9 Swirl Remover). Mist the white foam polishing pad with water or pad lubricant, spread polish over the area and polish in a figure-8 pattern.
	Switch to the white polishing pad.


Mist foam pad with water or pad lubricant.	Apply polish to surface.

Keep the speed dial between 3-1/2 and 4,	Spread polish with machine off.

Apply in a figure-8 pattern.	Wipe residues & inspect surface
To test for results, wipe off polishing residues with a clean Microfiber cloth and inspect the surface. (Do not spray the surface with the alcohol and water solution. This would remove fillers and gloss agents that you want to stay on the surface.) If the surface is still dull, continue polishing. When the haze is removed and surface gloss looks good, proceed to finishing. Tip: If you omitted the compounding step, went directly to polishing and are having trouble removing swirls, you have three options: Increase the polisher's speed. Increase the Porter Cable's speed to between 4-1/2 and 5. Switch to the Yellow Foam Compounding Pad but continue using the same polish. If the swirls remain, it will require compounding. Switch to the Yellow Compounding Pad and use a compound as outlined above.
Step 3 - Finishing After polishing, finish with your favorite wax or paint sealant/ protectant. You can do this by hand or use the Porter Cable polisher and a CCS, Red Finishing Pad. When you're finished, wash all pads in a bucket with soapy water, rinse thoroughly with a garden hose and allow to air dry. Do not machine wash or dry pads.
	We've chosen to apply Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection by hand.
What kind of results can I expect? In all cases, this system will produce better results than could be accomplished by hand. Using a circular polisher will completely remove swirls, scratches, paint defects and acid rain, water spots. Using an orbital polisher will remove minor swirls and visually reduce deeper swirls, scratches and paint defects. It may not be possible to completely remove deep swirls, scratches and acid rain water spots using an orbital polisher .
	Wipe on final protectant.

Buff to a bright shine.	Surface is vibrant and swirl-free! Note reflection of clouds!

Note: Scratches deep enough to be felt with your fingernail can be made to look better but probably can not be entirely removed. You should not attempt to remove scratches that go all the way through the paint or clear coat. These scratches require re-painting and should be repaired by a body shop technician.
	You should not attempt to remove scratches that go through the top clear coat.