Swirl marks are scratches in the finish. Sometimes these scratches are microscopic in size and only visible in bright light, like direct sunlight or very intense artificial lights. Other swirl marks are very deep and are easily visible in just about any lighting condition.

Swirl marks can generally be placed in two categories, which describes the origin of the swirls.

• Cobweb-effect also called spider web scratches, car wash scratches, towel scratches etc.

  

• Buffer Swirl or Holograms

  

Cobweb-effect

Cobweb-effect is the term Meguiar's uses to describe the visual appearance of the thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of tiny scratches inflicted into your car's finish through normal, everyday wear and tear.

This includes:

• Such as working from the bottom up potentially dragging dirt that has accumulated on the bottom parts of the car to the cleaner upper section of the car.

• Using tatty, worn, dirty, or scratchy wash mitts, sponges, drying towels etc. It doesn't take much to inflict a scratch in today's modern clear coat finishes; every chance you have to prevent inflicting scratches should be utilized.

• Automatic car washes. Many automatic car washes still rely on spinning nylon bristle brushes to scrub your car clean. While these brushes may clean really well, they also instill many unnecessary scratches. Remember this also: any automatic car wash system that relies on some type of material that comes into direct contact with your car's finish has the potential to instill scratches. You see it doesn't matter how soft, or state of the art their system is, if the car or truck before you was 4-wheel drive dirty, the dirt removed from their finish can potentially still be in the system (imbedded in the brushes or what have you) whereupon it can be rubbed across your car's finish. Automatic car washes are usually not recommended if you want to keep your finish scratch-free.

• Hand Car Washes. Hand car washes while generally speaking are much safer as far as quality goes, you still have to insure the employees are doing quality work and have been trained how to best wash a car without instilling scratches. As a standard rule, anytime a wash mitt is dropped to the ground, it should not be returned to use but instead should be either discarded or cleaned.

To avoid the cobweb-effect type swirls and scratches, thoroughly wash all dirt particles from your finish before applying polish or wax. Always use a microfiber polishing cloth like the Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber or a 100% cotton, terry cloth towel for removing cleaners, polishes, and waxes. Microfiber polishing cloths and terry cloth towels have a "nap" (the little cotton loops), which draws and traps abrasive particles or contaminants on the surface up into the towel instead of allowing them to scratch the sensitive paint. Avoid taking your car to car washes if possible and wash your own car using premium quality wash mitts, car wash solutions and follow by drying your car using only premium quality chamois, 100% cotton towels, or Meguiar's new Water Magnet Drying Towel.

Buffer Swirls or Holograms

Buffer swirl, also referred to as holograms, are circular scratches grooved into the finish through either the improper use of a rotary buffer, or using the wrong pads and chemicals with the rotary buffer. Buffer swirls can either be very deep or very shallow, depending on how forcefully the were created and depending on the products and type of pad used while buffing.