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Thread: Swirl X Review - Removing DISO by Hand on 2014 Mirage Paintwork

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    Senior Member Charlie's Avatar
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    Swirl X Review - Removing DISO by Hand on 2014 Mirage Paintwork

    Hi guys, just wanted to share my experiences in paint correction by hand with 2 Meguiar's Products.

    I like to maintain my car as best I can be it aesthetic or mechanical. On the detailing side of things, I keep my car washed, clayed (when necessary) and waxed regularly. One thing that has always been irking me though was the terrible DISO that came with the car mostly concentrated on the hood.

    For those that don't know, DISO = Dealership Installed Swirl Option

    You know those light, circular scratch patterns on cars you see at a certain light angle that looks like a spider web?? Well I had a TON of spider webs on my hood. DISO comes from being washed/cleaned at the dealership with less than careful methods.

    I never got around to doing anything about it since I knew that paint correction usually necessitates a machine (normally a Dual Orbital Polisher or similar) and I did NOT want to spend several hundred on a device I knew I would really only need once for one main part of my car, so I just let it slide...until now!

    I thought about it and figured one epic day of killing my arms would be worth it, so I went and got Meguiar's Swirl X pictured below:

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    Now with using any paint correction product by hand, it is NOT like applying wax where you are just wiping the product on and wiping off and voila, wow, NO more swirls! Your hands/arms are replacing the thousands of rpms of the machine polisher so you basically have to really work it in with fast and firm motions. Needless to say, doing just one whole panel, like my hood for example, takes a LOT of effort.

    So, I got the Swirl X since this is Meguiar's product that advertises something like 'effortless swirl removal by machine or hand'. There are Meguiar's how-to videos with the product shown being used by hand with a yellow foam applicator pad making it look SO easy. Let me just say, it is TOTALLY false! And I LOVE Meguiar's products. I'm sure with a machine polisher going at medium-high setting can yield results with Swirl X, but by hand, it did absolutely NOTHING. And let me tell you, I was working that stuff in like crazy. I must have looked like a crazed DJ on speed or something. I washed the car, clayed the hood (wasn't necessary, I pulled next to nothing off w/ the clay) and went on to vigorously apply the swirl x with a yellow, foam applicator pad. Now, I knew going into it that paint correction by hand is inferior to machine, but I just wanted to at least minimize the DISO. After doing a small section of the hood and wiping the excess product off with a microfiber towel..absolutely no change. I thought, OK, let me go insane with this and used two hands on the one applicator pad putting a lot of my body weight into it. After killing myself for a bit, I again wiped off the excess..again, absolutely NOTHING.

    So my review of Swirl X by hand on our Mirage paintjob: 1 stars out of 5. Total fail. Again, by machine I'm sure it works, but if that's the case that you can only get results with a machine, they need to take out the part that says 'by hand' as well.

    After my fail with the Swirl X, I decided to just move up to the highest abrasive product Meguiars has for paint correction, Ultimate Compound:

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    I've used ultimate compound in the past for spot treatments, NEVER for a full panel before. Swirl X is less abrasive than the Ult. Compound, and it's good practice to use the least abrasive product that you can to get the job done. But seeing as how I achieve literally zero results with the Swirl X, I knew it was safe to just ramp it up to the strongest abrasive available.

    In addition, I ditched the yellow, foam applicator pad and went with those circular, cotton terry applicator pads you can get mad cheap at Autozone/O'Reilly's/Advanced Auto:

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    Reason being that the cotton terry pad material would be stronger/more abrasive IE more paint correction ability than the pillowy, foam applicator pad. A lot people recommend against using these for this kind of job saying it will do more damage than good, but again, I've used ult. compound in the past with this same pad material with zero issues.

    My Swirl X failure was 3 weeks ago, so today I went at it again. Wash, skipped the clay stage since I knew my hood was smooth already from the Swirl X failure day, and went on to do my imitation of the crazed Disc Jockey on speed again..but THIS time with Ult Compound and the white, terry cotton pad.

    I did the same 'insane' technique of using both hands and applying a good portion of my body weight on the pad, with a good amount of Ult Compound and going at it like crazy. Again, paint correction by hand is probably not recommended if you have coronary issues like a heart murmur, palpatations, etc. I'm not joking when I say that I must have sweat out a quart of sweat. I was wearing plastic nitrile (spelling?) gloves, and when I was done and took the gloves off, the finger parts were all ballooned out from all the sweat volume in them.

    Anyways, final rating for Meguiar's Ultimate Compound by hand to remove DISO: 4.5 out of 5 stars!

    It actually worked! With one epic, insane pass of the entire hood with Ult Compound by hand, I was able to reduce the swirls by 75-80% !! It looks SOOO much better!! Ideally, I would have went for an additional pass on the whole hood, but as mentioned, just one pass on the hood by hand almost killed me. With the major swirl reduction plus application of Ultimate Liquid Wax (has filling ability to hide to an extent very light scratches), I achieved results I am content with and saved myself a couple hundred bucks from not needing to get a machine polisher. Now, if I ever had to do more extensive paint correction, say to the whole car, I am DEFINITELY getting a machine.

    My car after the epic 6 hour detailing session:

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    If anyone else is thinking of doing paint correction by hand and is thinking about Meguiar's products, skip the Swirl X and jump straight ahead to the Ultimate Compound, it IS safe!

    -Charlie-



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    Daox (07-05-2015)

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    Senior Member Charlie's Avatar
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    Forgot to add:

    In connection to the 'Paint Durability' thread and how the Mirage has such delicate paint, I was totally expecting the less abrasive Swirl X to provide at least some tangible result. I was quite disappointed to say the least..

    -Charlie-

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    Thanks for the review Charlie!


    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


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