Tracers Tracers - RIDS - Pigtails - Cobweb Swirls - Rotary Buffer Swirls - Holograms - Water Spots - Bird Drooping Etchings - Micro-Marring Copyright ©PBMA - Autogeekonline.net® All Rights Reserved
Here's a list of the most common types of "Below Surface Defects" in the detailing world followed with suggestions on how to remove them.
Tracers
Deeper scratches left by the hand sanding process, usually in straight-lines because most people move their hand in a back and forth motion when wet-sanding. Tracers show up after you machine compound the paint and remove all the shallow scratches. After the shallow scratches or sanding marks are removed what remains in the paint is the deeper sanding marks and these are called tracers. Tracers are usually difficult to remove because they are deeper and removing them means either re-sanding to level the surface or re-compounding to machine buff them out. The problem with re-sanding is that you could remove one group of tracers only to leave behind a new set of tracers, so the problem can be a Catch-22 situation. This is why it's so important to use the highest quality finishing papers you can obtain, at least for your last sanding steps. It is possible to remove tracers using the
Feathersanding Technique if there are not too many of them.
RIDS
Random Isolated Deeper Scratches. These type of scratches come from normal wear & tear and there is no pattern to them. RIDS are like Tracers in that they are deeper scratches that show up
after the shallow scratches have first been removed through a machine or hand buffing process, usually with a compound or paint cleaner. After the shallow swirls and scratches have been removed, any deeper scratches that remain will now show up like a
sore thumb to your eyes because there are no longer thousands of lighter, more shallow scratches camouflaging them.
Pigtails
These types of scratches look like a
curly pig tail and are left in the paint by a DA Sander. Typically what happens is an abrasive particle gets trapped between the paint and the face of your sanding paper and because the backing plate that holds the sandpaper is moving in an oscillating fashion, it grinds the abrasive particle into the paint in a curly pattern that looks somewhat like the tail on a pig, thus the name.
Cobweb or Spiderweb Swirls
The term cobweb swirls or spiderweb swirls comes from the appearance of the swirls in the paint which can kind of look like a cobweb or spider web in that they have a circular or radial pattern to them when the paint is highlighted with a strong beam or focus point of bright light like the reflection of the sun or another source of bright light like a
Brinkman Swirl Finder Light. The scratches are not actually in circular patterns but randomly inflicted throughout the entire finish but when you place a strong, point of light on the surface the long running edges of the scratches reflect back towards the point of light creating the appearance of a circular pattern of scratches.
Rotary Buffer Swirls
Rotary Buffer Swirls, also called
Holograms or
Buffer Trails are circular scratches instilled into paint by a rotary buffer and usually a wool pad but they can also be instilled using a foam pad. While it is the direct drive rotating action of a rotary buffer that
can instill circular scratches into paint, this doesn't make them an evil tool, it's just a part of they
cause and effect from using a direct drive tool that rotates a buffing pad in a single rotating action.
It's possible to use a rotary buffer and not instill rotary buffer swirl if the operator has a high skill level and uses quality pads and products. If rotary buffer swirls are instilled into paint, a true professional will do a follow-up process to remove them using less aggressive pads and products and sometimes switch to a different type of tool with a different action. Rotary Buffer Swirls usually show up i a Zig-Zag pattern when exposed to bright light like sun light. Rotary Buffer Swirls mimic the path the operator moved the buffer over the paint
Water Spots - Type I, Type II, Type III
Water Spots are more complex than most people assume because there are different types of water spots. Some water spots are merely mineral deposits on the surface left behind after water with minerals has evaporated off the surface. These deposits can often be washed off the paint using a quality car wash soap. Sometimes these deposits can also leave an imprint in the paint in the perimeter of the spot and in these cases the imprint must be removed using a compound or paint cleaner as it's a defect in the paint, not simply a deposit on the paint. Some sources of water, be it rain with air-borne pollution mixed-in, or sprinkler water from a city water supply or well water, can have corrosive enough elements in it that it will actually eat into or etch the paint leaving a depression or crater in the paint where the water dwelled or dried. This is a Type II water spot and it can only be removed by leveling the surrounding paint by hand or machine with some type of abrasive compound or paint cleaner. Type III Water Spots are primarily a stain in the paint which looks like fading where water pooled and then dwelled for some measure of time. This primarily happens to single stage paints which tend to be more porous and thus will absorb water into itself. If Type III Water Spots are limited to only the upper surface of the paint then they can be removed by abrading the paint by hand or machine with a compound or polish.
Before attempting to remove water spots it is important to first diagnose which type of water spot is affecting your car's paint.
Type I Water Spots
Type I Water Spots are primarily a mineral or dirt deposit laying on the surface of paint. Type I Water Spots can be the results of minerals suspended in city water or well water that are left behind after the water evaporates off the finish. This can happen by washing a car but not drying the water off the paint or if a sprinkler goes off next to the car covering the car with water drop that are not dried off the paint. Type I Water Spots can also be dirt or pollution particles left behind after water from rain or inclement weather evaporates of the finish. Type I Water Spots can also be Type II Water Spots in that the water can leave both a deposit on the surface and an etching in the finish.
Type II Water Spots
Type II Water Spots are actual etchings or craters in the paint because something corrosive in a water source has landed on the paint and was not removed before a portion of the paint was eaten or dissolved by the corrosive substance.
Type III Water Spots
Type III Water Spots are spots that look faded or dull and are found primarily found on single stage paints after a water source lands on and then pools on the paint and is usually left to dwell on the surface for some measure of time before it evaporates or is wiped-off the surface.
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