i have the right to be pissed right?

[ycart]

so I took my car the the dealership today and along with fixing the airbag light... they threw in swirl marks and scratches on paint that has never been touched!

I'm back at the dealership now and the service manager tells me that's what I get with a black car basically. oh he11 no. my car will look showroom new every time it comes away from this dealership or i'm going to get irate. my last car was black and I understand that is what happens when you don't care what touches your car after a wash. grrrrrrrrr...........

[KunalPatel87]

Did they happen to put it through their car wash?

[ycart]

yep.... he said the only things that touch the car are the chamois. ok? so use a new one and don't scratch up my car!!!

with that said, I don't think it will be looking as good as I would like it to. any recommendations on a good method of swirl mark removal?

[thesteve151]

a full detail, with clay bar, polish, sealer/wax:thmsup:

[andysinnh]

So you've learned the first rule - if you have a black car and are picky about how it's cleaned, tell the dealer NOT to do their complimentary wash after service. Even the local acrua dealer, who does hand washes with buckets and soft mitts can leave small swirl marks if they're not careful. Having owned 4 black cars over the years, I know that it's gonna be a long frustrating ownership experience if you're expecting it to be perfect through everything. But that's your choice, and in this case it's best to tell them just to leave it dirty and you can take care of it.

At least these days you can buy products that can help to make the surface look decent with minimal work. Back when I had my very first new car, a 1979 Olds Cutlass, they made NOTHING except paste wax or rubbing compound - and maybe a liquid version of a wax but it hardened like a paste - so if you wanted to do a quick clean of your black car, you were basically SOL.....

andy

[LeaDxPainT]

Clair Honda in Massachusetts uses a big broom looking brush to clean the whole car. I always ask them not to clean my car, but they don't always follow my instructions.:thumbsdow

[namegoeshere]

yep.... he said the only things that touch the car are the chamois. ok? so use a new one and don't scratch up my car!!!

with that said, I don't think it will be looking as good as I would like it to. any recommendations on a good method of swirl mark removal?

At a minimum, you'll need a PC, UDM, Flex, or rotary; 2 or 3 polishing pads; a polish; a clay bar; and a wax/sealant.

[ycart]

k She's home... safe and sound.
The scratches are gone=) My service advisor did, however, show me 2 rock chips and ordered me some touch up paint.

I'll post my pics in the gallery from today's adventures.

[namegoeshere]

Are you sure the scratches are gone? Maybe you're not seeing them because it's dark/not well lit? Get a couple halogen lights on it and you'll be able to see pretty much any flaws.

[ycart]

I'm sure they're not gone gone.... but they're gone to the point where I couldn't see the bigger scratches or swirl marks.

[ycart]

pics are up from today!

[Demonik]

yeah mine is all swirled up from the dealer....but once spring break comes im going to let a professional detail it fully...i dont trust myself to get swirl marks out

[anysia]

gotta love black cars to actually want to own one!

the first rule, as mentioned earlier, always tell them not to wash your car when it's in for service. always do it yourself (and carefully at that!)

i know the frustration! when my 04 coupe was 5 months old and in a major accident, the body shop that repaired it buffed it when they were done and did one shotty butt job! :furious: before the accident there were no noticeable swirls. i had babied the car. i complained to the body shop about the swirls and they insisted that it was normal for black cars and there was aboslutely no way it was virtually swirl free prior to their repair job. they refused, completely refused to even try to smooth things over. (i HATE that body shop for many many reasons.....)

[Demonik]

I would have just gotten a professional opinion from a good detailer, then have them do the work to fix it all....then goto small claims court, haha

[termigator]

I was/am a detailing enthusiast and when I still had my NBP TL-S, I did my best to keep the swirl marks away. Cardinal rule you must remember about black cars is this: THE DEALERSHIP CAR WASH IS YOUR ENEMY! Always insist that they don't wash your car, but don't be too surprised if they mess that up too. It's happened to me more than I care to remember.

This is how I kept my car swirl-free most of the time:

Wash the car(Duh!)
Clay if needed (Claybar will remove contaminants, overspray and other crap that happened to fall and get stuck to your car. It will not remove swirl marks.)
Use me Porter Cable polisher/sander with a light polishing pad. I start with Menzerna Intensive Polish, then Menzerna Final Polish II and then top off with any non-cleaning wax/sealant of my choice.

If you're serious about detailing your car and you don't want to pay somebody else to do it, then check out this website:

www.autopia.org :thmsup:

[GoBears]

DAMMIT ALL. I wish I'd read this thread before I went to the dealer today. Ugh!!!

[ycart]

thread revival!
well... the good side of pops hitting my car is that the side where the worst of the dealer installed scratches is getting replaced=/

[chanke4252]

By rtftexas' suggestion I tried Wet Paint. This stuff is pretty good at taking swirl marks out of paint. Clay, wet paint, wax/seal. Perfect every time. I can only see the swirl marks after I take it through the wash to get the winter salt off or something like that, and only if I haven't applied it in a while. It's really nice because it polishes some, cleans and seals at the same time. I need to order more. I've heard it's similar to zano. I don't really care about swirl marks any more as a result.