After spending a fair amount of time reading every post on the forum, before I actually got my car, I went and looked at almost every dealership in the Dallas area. The cars they had on their showroom floors all had massive swirls, most noticeable under florescent lights. So I told my dealership not to wash my car, in fact leave the plastic wrap on it. They thought I was crazy (i.e. a PITA). I know it’s too late for you, but my best advise to new buyers is, don’t let them clean your car, unless they are a real Vet shop and know what the heck they are doing. Also, the micro fiber towels are a must. Other than that, I don’t have any swirls yet, so I can’t give any advice on cleaning them up.

 

That's true, or dirty ones. Make sure you take a new towel often. Immediately if one brushes the ground or you drop it.
The other alternative is getting a silver or white car... No problem with swirls then.

 

If the swirl marks bother you how do you deal with the f'ing orange peel. GM paint sucks, but I guess it is a small price to pay for the fun of driving it. Before anyone chimes in and says that theirs doesn't, all I can say is every C6 I have looked at has it to some extent, and I have looked at 100's of them. I am sort of fixated on it I guess, every time I see a C6 it is the first thing I look for and I have yet to see one that does't have OP.

 

I've got 4 months on the car... zero swirls... dealer prep wax is amazing, car still beads and looks mint even after several multi-hundred mile trips in rain, sleet, salt, etc. I think I washed it twice since I've had it using nothing more than typical Zip Wax car wash soap and water. Finish looks like new. Perfect.

I think the KEY is to just not wash and wax the paint so much (especially if you have a garage). Seems that the more you mess with the finish, the worse it gets over time.

My other two cars are several years old and see lots of use. I think I may have waxed them ONE time in over two years, and wash them only when they get VERY dirty... which may be every 3 or 4 months minimum. Paint looks like brand new on both cars, zero swirls, no fine scratches, etc.

I have to agree with SHOOTER 49, just drive `em! That's what they're for! As I've stated before, sometimes those who obsess over caring for their cars do more damage than good. Just DRIVE... it's really the best thing you can do for your car.

 

Micro fiber

 

Mine's black and it's a pain to keep clean. Clean it looks FANTASTIC...and easily the best color there is for a car, but it's a hell of a pain to keep nice.

I don't mind washing, polishing it...I enjoy it on a nice day.

The problem is...you can't really do anything about the swirls or spider webbing that results from keeping your car clean and polished.

On lighter colors you don't notice it as much but on black it's easily spotted...particularly by the owner.

I think next time I'll get a lighter color...

 

I'm in the process of giving up on microfiber...I think it's causing more harm than good...

I'm going to switch to USA made 100% cotten bath towels.

 

I live near Monterey and Pebble Beach Golf Course where every year the Concours de Elegance is held. Cars worth well over $1 million are on display. There is a detailer in Monterey who preps a lot of these cars. I showed him my C6 and asked him the price for a Concourse detail. The answer: about $1200. He guaranteed a perfect, better than new appearance. Tempting.....but $1200?

 

I use the Mr. Clean autodry system when washing and drying the car. I personally think it's great. I also use microfiber towels for everything else. Never had a problem.

 

I've been using microfiber towels with the Mr. Clean Auto Dry System on mine since new. The car air dries (with nothing else coming in contact with the paint) with ZERO waterspots. So far, ZERO swirls, scratches, or spiderwebs. This is the first car I've ever owned that I've been able to make that claim about and the first car I've used this technique on.

Unfortunately, even if you adopt a procedure that completely eliminates putting in new swirls, the ones that are already there won't go away. Even if you make them "disappear" by using a "scratch and swirl remover" (3M One Step Cleaner Wax works very well, BTW), all this will do is fill them in. They'll stay reasonably invisible until the next time you wash the car, at which time the filler will be washed off.

 

Vic Red and about 4 months.

 

wax it and always make sure your mit is clean

heres a few shots of my 01s paint






use a PC...its almost impossible to burn the paint but i would still practice on a car i don't care to much about

 

No problem with my silver '06 at all. No swirls, etc.. Sometimes I think we attempt to apply wax, etc. to the surface to early. Paint has to breathe regardless of what the factory says. Best to keep in a garage early on and wash with one or two very clean soft mits and warm to hot water only.

 

I'm with him - I bought a Porter Cable random orbital. It will actually remove virtually all swirl marks by abrading away a very small amount of the clear coat. I use the PC on my black DD twice a year during a major detail - almost no swirls (I've never been able to get it absolutely perfect)

I will never buy a dark colored car again though. Silver for me!

 

can someone please tell me what the mr. clean system is . my c6 velo. yellow is on its way to my dealer. i'm planning on using rejex and zaino. do most people have good luck with that combo?

 

Wash and or wax in up and down motions (in the direction air flows over the car) this greatly reduces the occurence of swirl marks.

 

Try throwing a few doses of Viagra in the bucket next time...it might harden the paint

 

I have none on my DSOM. I use a new micro towel to wash car each time. Never use it twice. I uses new micro towels to dry it each time. If you drop one, throw it away. Never use a sponge. If you get even 1 small speck of sand in the towell or sponge, you'll now have swirls. I had a black trans am gt for 10 years and have almost no swirls using this method. When using wax you must use the same philosophy. Always use a new pad. When done throw it away. Same with towels. I've seen a couple of new vettes that already had swirls, because of the way they take care of their car. Last NO-NO. Never let the dealer wash your car or wax it. If so, you'll have swirls.

 

The Mr. Clean AutoDry System is for washing the car; it has nothing to do with waxing or polishing. Its beauty is twofold:

1. It uses ionized water during the final rinse stage. This allows you to simply let the car air dry (preferrably in a shaded area) without getting waterspots.
2. Because nothing comes in contact with the just-washed car during the drying process, there's nothing to produce scratches, swirls, or spiderwebs.

I've been using the system on my Corvette since new (picked it up in July, have washed at least 6 times since then) and it works very well. So far I have none of the dreaded scratches, swirls, or spiderwebs. In addition, I use only new or freshly-washed microfiber cloths to wash the painted areas of the car. I rinse them in clear water after washing each section.

I always start by using a plain terry towel and a pan of warm water and dishwashing soap to wash the wheels, tires, and wells. I then dump the dirty water and throw the towel into the washing machine.

Next step is to fill a clean bucket with clear, warm water for rinsing the microfiber cloth. I then wash and rinse the car one section at a time, using the Mr. Clean System and following the directions. It's very easy. I rinse the microfiber cloth in the clear rinse water after each section of the car.

After washing the car, I finish the Mr. Clean process by "painting" the entire car with ionized water, again just following the Mr. Clean instructions. It's simple and takes only 5 minutes to do the entire car.

Following this final rinse, I've had great success just pulling the car into the garage and letting it air dry overnight. Having said that, I'll admit to investing in an inexpensive electric leaf blower that I now use to blow dry most of the water off the car before pulling it inside to finish air drying. It's probably overkill, but I do it anyway.

My previous cars all developed spiderwebs early on and they drove me nuts. It didn't matter what I did - 100% cotton U.S.A.-made terry towels with the edges cut off, chamois, you name it - the result was always the same. Of course, once the spiderwebs are in the finish they're there to stay unless you machine-polish them out. With the process I'm now using, they're not showing up at all (even under flourescent light). I don't know which is more worthy of the credit, the microfiber or the Mr. Clean, but I'm sticking with both from now on.

Here's a link to the Mr. Clean web page:

Link to Mr. Clean AutoDry System

Hope this helps. Good luck.