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Welcome to the world of swirl marks. They are in the clearcoat of the paint and appear after washing with abrasive or dirty pads, brushes, etc. If I go to a car wash it is either the wash it yourself bay where I will bring my own bucket, mitt, wheel brushes, etc. Or I go to one of the Mobil touchless deals where the machines goes back and forth spraying the car with suds and letting them soak the dirt up.
This is usually only in the winter when because the water is shutoff outside my house and hoses are put away for the season. If you avoid brush washes you will notice a huge difference in swirl marks. Also washing at home requires a bit of know how such as using two buckets (soap and a water rinse) to keep the mitt clean.
Swirl marks are easily taken care of if you wash the car, dry completely and use a polish or swirl remover such as Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze or something similar before a wax coat. Wax simply protects the car, polish cleans it.
I took my new baby (3 months) to a car wash because it was covered in salt. NOrmally I would wash it at home, but it's been too cold for too long.
When I got home I saw scratches on the hood, the bumper, the door pillar near the windshield and some on the door. The scratches are diagonal from the driver headlight up toward the center. Most are pretty short. The door pillar ones seem to be less of an angle.
Car wash says they are soft cloth and nothing would scratch and their cloths go side to side and back to front. He says it looks like a broom did it clearing off snow. I know I didn't use a broom, but can't swear they hubby (who is very anal about keeping car nice) did or didn't. He is away.
As a courtesy they will attempt to buff them for me this week, some may be too deep.
This is a car with 1800 miles. I don't want to paint it even if someone else paid for it because then I'd be faced with fading etc down the road and I plan to keep it for 6 years. It is a sort of shiny flat black, no sparkles or metallic to it. It's a Nissan
I considered using the black wax and then trying to maybe work a deal to trade it with the dealer for a different color!
DO you think these are car wash scratches? I don't know if it would be comp or collision with car insurance. If they don't believe it's car wash damage then I could be on the hook for an "at fault" claim....I would hope they would go after the car wash, but who knows how it would work out.
Advice and thought appreciated. Any suggestions for other places to ask for advices?
2 pics of the hood. The long scratches are near the center but angle toward the batch that is at the front edge of the hood. The bumper is hard to tell but they are a series of short vertical scratches where the bumper "bends" from the flat top to the front part. The pillar photo should be rotated so the windshield is on the left side. The scratches go back from the windshield towards the door window.
Please say you didn't use a broom to get the snow off your car? A snow brush only and don't be too agressive with it.
Just winter salt and road grime can scratch your car. That stuff is like sandpaper. Best bet is to use one of those u-do-it places and soap and rinse your car only. Touchless is ok but only you can get the stuff in your wheelwells and make sure it's gone.
Dark colors are the worst in winter. A good coat of wax in the fall goes a long ways towards protecting your paint.
Sorry to hear about your cars OP and bedtor. I remember when I lived in Detroit freezing my azz off all winter washing my car by hand in the coin op car wash. You weren't supposed to hand wash but it was so cold nobody cared. It was worth it for me to get a nice hand wash. Then it would be covered in salt again in 3 days lol.
so helpful....duh. I don't take it weekly. I just HAD to get it done that day and thought one time wouldn't hurt. My post was to ask if people thought the car wash could have done it. My husband swears he didn't use a broom, he is not a moron to use a broom or rough brush on a new car. I was willing to accept possible swirls and deal with that later, scratches were never expected. Been driving for 30 years and used car washed before, never saw this.
Sorry to hear... but those scratches look pretty deep.
As much as I hate auto car washes, from the looks of those scratches, I doubt it was them unless they had Wolverine on their staff.
I would only take my car to a car wash if it is done by hand or there is absolutely nothing touching the paint. Having a dark car just magnifies any imperfection. That's why I went with light silver
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could these be from car wash?
