Most liked posts in thread: WTF???

Were the scratches induced when you rubbed the smudge? :confused5:

 

Possible causes

1.) Dirty/contaminated microfiber towel
2.) You rubbed too hard
3.) You rubbed the dirt on the paint too hard
4.) You didn't use enough QD to lubricate the towel
5.) The towel you used isn't the best quality

Lots of potential reasons...help us narrow down the possibilities.

 

Bummer! Yeah, you need to wipe (not rub) gently and turn (not re-use) the towel often to a fresh surface to avoid potentially scratching the paint with dirt you just removed from a previous surface. The lower section of the doors are notorious for having grit on them (from the wheels) so I do those last and turn the towel often (just one swipe per surface of towel).

 

You *should* be able to get those out with some Swirl and a PC (as I recall you were or were going to arm yourself with this)

Drag.........

 

Speaking of 'smudges,' what's the easiest way to remove rubber smudges? I had several large chunks of rubber thrown up at me that grazed the roof and bonnet leaving rubber streaks while on the track this weekend.

 

Sure OG may have some wiz bang product but going over with a Clay Bar comes to mind

 

You got to remember that black paint shows EVERYTHING. You need to be very careful about how you rub it. You can get away with things on pepper white that would never fly on the black roof, as you've discovered.

If I saw some smudge on a black roof, I would have sprayed it with QD and let it soak for several seconds. Then using a clean high quality (i.e. new unused but washed) microfiber towel like this
ShowCarSupplies.com Shopping Cart - Monster Fluffy Microfiber

I would lightly dab the smudge to make sure that there isn't anything abrasive there that I might be rubbing into the paint. For instance if this was a bird poo, you never know what the bird ate..might be bits of rock there for all we know, or just hard poo. Rub that into the paint and you will mar/scratch it.

You might be able to fix the scratch with some Prima Swirl and rubbing it out by hand if it's small/clear coat scratches. Otherwise, yes a PC might be needed. You can improve it for now with a number of Prima products.

Prima Amigo can help mask the problem, but you have to put a wax like Banana Gloss or Epic over it to seal it.

Banana Gloss alone might improve it so that it's not noticeable.

Clay should do it.
http://www.showcarsupplies.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes&sppp=10

Some people have used 3M Adhesive Remover but that removes wax and everything else on the paint.

 

Thank! Even though my car goes to the track fairly often, I try to take care of it. It's getting to be about time to replace my older PC pads and try the Prima line too. I used to use Zaino; but it always seemed to be lacking something, so I was always adding a coat of wax after I was done layering the polish.