Swirls - a theory

[iceward]

I might have missed something here but let see if I have it right.

Swirls in paint are caused by incorrect or inefficient cleaning techniques, right?

Have you ever noticed how the swirls are all perfect circles? Like this photo shows??



I've had my car just over a month and I've cleaned it twice so far. Each time I have followed the recommended techniques and I have NEVER touched my car in a circular motion. i.e. I have used straight lines when using the mitt. I looked at my car yesterday close up and there are lots of swirls in perfect circles. How so? The thing is, is that it is covered in a fine layer of dust and dirt, the sort you get after rain etc.

So my theory is that the swirls you see is the result of light refracting through the dirt on the car. Of course once you remove the dirt, the swirls tend to disappear. The more dirt you remove by claying etc, the fewer swirls you see.

If swirls are caused by cleaning with sponges etc, why are they always perfectly circular? Even if you tried to scratch your car you would not be able to achieve perfect circles would you??

Thoughts?

[Bigfeet]

Cue CliveP

[lfcrule1972]

Grabs a snack and a cup of tea as I want to know the answer...... hurry up CliveP !

[Forest-sion]

Looking forward to this

[Rickzayne]

Aliens!!!

[Dangerousfish]

Aliens!!!

...

[CliveP]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my OCD radar is going off...right put the kettle on.....answers coming in a few minutes......


Clive.

[CliveP]

Answers in Red Below:

I might have missed something here but let see if I have it right.

Swirls in paint are caused by incorrect or inefficient cleaning techniques, right?

Absolutely correct - swirls are caused by incorrect washing techniques

Have you ever noticed how the swirls are all perfect circles? Like this photo shows??

Indeed - I will explain why below

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I've had my car just over a month and I've cleaned it twice so far. Each time I have followed the recommended techniques and I have NEVER touched my car in a circular motion. i.e. I have used straight lines when using the mitt. I looked at my car yesterday close up and there are lots of swirls in perfect circles. How so? The thing is, is that it is covered in a fine layer of dust and dirt, the sort you get after rain etc.

So my theory is that the swirls you see is the result of light refracting through the dirt on the car. Of course once you remove the dirt, the swirls tend to disappear. The more dirt you remove by claying etc, the fewer swirls you see.

If swirls are caused by cleaning with sponges etc, why are they always perfectly circular? Even if you tried to scratch your car you would not be able to achieve perfect circles would you??

Swirls appear to be perfectly circular. They in fact are not - confused? Read on....
When you inflict swirls through incorrect (or rather imperfect wash technique - there's extremely bad technique (scouring pad, I've seen it!) to perfect (impossible to achieve)) you in fact create random multi-directional and pretty much random tiny scratches.

I hear you say 'OK Clive, spare me the science, why the flopsit do they appear circular?' - well it's all to do with the angle of reflection of light (a little bit more science, remember your physics 'O' levels?, or maybe GCSEs if you're a little younger than me!)..... You eye picks up light reflections and the light tends to be concentrated to 'bounce off' one area of the panel / part of the car you're looking at. As it does this you get reflections only from the parts of the tiny scratches that are reflecting the concentrated light 'source' bouncing off the panel to your eye - this is particular apparent when it's bright sunlight - we've all sat in a queue behind a car in bright sunlight and can see the 'sun' reflecting off a partcular part and it is surrounded by circular swirl marks.

If you move your angle on the car, the sun 'moves' with you, and still the swirl marks you can see appear circular around that 'new' position, even though it's a completely different position to the previous place you were looking.

So, in conclusion, it's the angle of reflection that makes them appear circular.

'Right Clive, oh wtf, why do I care?, I can only really notice them when the sun is shining' - well assuming you really like a nice deep glossy car (if you don't then you dont care about swirls), then these swirls rob your car of 'depth of reflection' meaning the paint appears 'flat' - it can appear clean no problem (the £5car washes get it clean) but the surface just lacks depth.... to get 'depth' (depth is when it's so perfectly polished with a lovely wax or sealant on top that the paint looks pretty much wet and the depth of reflection is such that you can almost 'walk inside it')......

It's not the dust causing the swirls, perhaps, just perhaps, dust couild draw your eye to the swirls, somehow, but you're seeing swirls that are on the surface. The darker the paint colour the more you'll see them, although even a white car you won't see them, the car will still have less depth because of the swirls you can't easily see.

The claying may reduce the swirls a little, or the products you use after claying may contain 'fillers' (Autoglym Super Resin Polish is fantastic at filling swrls). The swirls won't be gone, but they'll be hidden, for a while, depending on whether, in the case of Autogylm SRP, you add a decent wax which will 'protect' the swirls for a while.

If you're inflicting swirls although you're following the recommended techniques, you're either not decontaminating the surface enough before starting washing, and/or your washing technique needs more refining. Don't get me wrong, you can't avoid some swirls altogether, however careful you are. In 18 months of washing mine since I machined I have some light swirls back - that's with at least one wash per week.

I want to banish the swirls from my car Clive - Swirls be gone I hear you scream - the only permanent answer is a machine polish, but that's another complete topic and something I love doing, a DS3 enhancement polish takes me about 10 hours to do.....

I also run the Back 2 Basics Course with Autobrite (not what I do for a living, this is one of my obessions) and that trains, in one day, proper wash techniques and other bits and pieces, it is simply an introduction (agenda and pics in the Autobrite section of detailing world, look under posts on the subject started by me)...

Loads of my threads to point you to if interested!

There ends tonight's lesson.....you did ask!

Regards,
Clive.

Thoughts?

[Ds3Dan]

What a legend!!!

[nufc_ds3]

Love it. Nice one clive

[Jimbob]

JB - bows.

JB

[lfcrule1972]

Yep me too, just awesome

[Bigfeet]

I was with you all the way up to "indeed" Clive....















*Only messing, good job mate

[notrix]

Awesome :cool:

[gar074]

I was with you all the way up to "indeed" Clive....

You got that far? Respect!

Terrific explanation, Clive - you should be on the telly.