I did the unthinkable last week
 

Last week I HAD to run my vehicle (2006 X3, Saphire Black) through one of those brush style car washes!! I know, what the hell was I thinking?? I had shit (literally) sprayed on my vehicle from following behind a German fertilizer trailer. The only place I found to clean my truck was one of those brush washers. Well now I have swirls, marks and light scratches all over the paint. What do I do now?? Please help!

Mike

Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk!!

The damage is done.

You should get the car machine polished, perhaps even using a t-cut polish to get the swirl marks filled in. I would suggest you then have a protective coat put over the car - Supaguard etc etc.

And, whatever you do, never make the same mistake again. That short term fix (ie the carwash) is a long term disaster. But it can be fixed, at a cost!!

Here, in England, the BMW dealers put brand new cars through the bloody car wash. Idiots!!!! The darker the colour the bigger the problem.

Zanio bros works great, here's a link to one of there great polishes
http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=Zaino

I like Zaino for the durability, however, to remove scratches, you need an abrasive, which Z5 is not.
For swirls like you mentioned, I recommend theold formula 1Z Paint Polish, followed by the 1Z metallic Polish, then Glanz to protect the finish and shine you worked so hard to accomplished:)
Hope this helps...

Zaino!

I hope that it will just buff out with some Klasse that I have. The scrathes and swirls are not super bad, but bad enough that in the sun you can see them. I'm going to order a PC in the next week and give it a try when the weather gets a little better here. Sugestions on what pads to use? I have never buffed a vehicle with a machine before, so I would like to start with something that I can't srew up. Thanks.

For pads, you may want to try the Buff & Shine "6 pack"
We have 2 cutting pads
2 Polishing Pads and
2 Finishing Pads
For $49.99
They are top quality, professional pads (they are the pads I personally use)

Check out the Autopedia.org website which is dedicated to detailing.
http://autopia.org/forum/index.php?
There is an entire forum dedicated to the discussion of PC7424 and other buffers.

Out of curiosity, I think Porter-Cable is German, but do they make the 7424 to run on European voltage?

I thought about buying one over here, but the exchange rate is for shit and I want to use it when I go back to Colorado (retired) and have some free time on my hands (at least for a couple of months). Looks like I will just order one from Toolmart (I think that is who has the best deal at $109) and be done with it.

Something I have noticed is that the Germans who have high end cars don't do their own detailing (other than washing and the basic stuff), but rather send them to a shop who does all the work. I guess if I could buy a car that cost 100K Euro+ I could have someone else do the work. Although I do find it relaxing to detail my vehicles on the weekend.