jonw440

The PB polish you have will remove those swirls.Try different speeds,down pressure and "sweep speed".It takes time to learn how to polish with the PC.
I would use the most aggressive PB polish and the "polishing pad" you have.
Set the speed to 4 and work the polish with a Fair amount of down pressure until the polish "just starts to dry" then turn the speed to 5 and just let the machine weight be the only down pressure and polish until the product disappears.
For "sweep speed" I like to go one foot per 5 seconds. I also don't polish an area larger then 3'x3'.

Keep trying you will get those swirls gone!!

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

I've always used towels from Fiber-Works
Not made in US but anyone who has ever seen my car knows I'm obsessed with keeping it clean and scratch free.

Bummer about the scratches Raptor, hopefully we can figure something out for you.

Raptor2k

I've pretty much been doing that. I'll try it again, maybe it takes more than one application to see a difference.

jonw440

Yes, sometimes it may take two or three polishing in the same area to remove the swirls completely.

Raptor2k

I polished the trunk again and noticed most of the swirls started to go away. I put a little more time into it and a little extra pressure, switching from speeds 4 to 5 and then speed sweeping. My hypothesis is that it takes at least two applications for the scratches to be removed. For example, I tried it on the roof of the car and there wasn't any difference, so a second try will probably show some change.

Here is the top of the trunk, notice the micro-scratches (again, they're a lot more noticeable in person):


Here, I polished the left half at first. The finally seem to be going away



The trunk and spoiler look like they're done after spending about half an hour into it. I have the rest of the car to take care of, so it'll take a while to get most of the swirls out.



Here's the roof, hopefully I can get it cleared up soon:


Bonus pic:

ECHO1

you would probably be the only other person i'd ever let clean my car....the trunk looks good! glad to hear you're finally seeing some results. i'll have to adopt some of your techniques

Raptor2k

haha - I'm not sure I'd want to take responsibility of a black

UFGator12

So you continued to use that mechanical tool, I forget the name. It worked well? Also, what product did you use that you found to be the best?

Raptor2k

The Porter Cable, commonly known as the PC....with a polishing pad made for removing swirls and scratches. It works easily for many people, but in my situation it was a little tough, not sure if it's the rx8 paint or just the deepness of my swirls. Poorboy's SSR2.5 is what I used, there's a lot of others out there.


www.autopia.org helps a lot

Blue87Sport

From what I've read on autopia, the orbital polishers like the PC take a lot longer at removing swirl marks than a rotary buffer. I got a cheap rotary at Harbor Freight (cheap, I know but for the little I use it, it works fine) and used some Meguier's fine cut compound as buyinan8 mentioned. I used it on a Ford minivan we were selling and the swirl marks on the hood were gone in about 5 minutes. A rotary buffer will do in minutes what a PC might take an hour to do. You do have to be careful because the rotary can burn the paint if you're not careful.

So if the PC is taking forever, you might try a rotary buffer. Besides its a *rotary*, just the tool for an RX-8.

As mentioned, check out the machine polishing forums over at autopia. Tons of great information there. Good luck.

Raptor2k

I dunno about buying anymore tools, I've already spent enough money just for the PC. How much did you get your rotary buffer for?

Blue87Sport

It was $29.95 on sale, I think this http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92623 may be it.

I bought it for one specific job, to clean up a van we were selling. It took out the swirls and the sanding marks from the touch ups I did and really brought up the luster of the the finish. I'm sure it increased the van's value by at least $30. I figured even if I only used it that once, it would be worth the money.

In fact, I've used it quite a bit. I buffed out a bunch of swirl marks on my wife's Honda Oddesey and I use it on every touch up job. For the price, I think it makes a useful addition to my car care arsenal.