Hey Guys and Gal:

I was hit with a gallbladder attack last Saturday in Wal-Mart and have been really sick. Missed three days of work and appointment with the surgeon on Monday to see if the gallbladder must go or stay. Had to go to a fat free diet which has been no fun. Already loss 10 pounds in a week!

I took the Fit to the hand car wash today because still did not feel good enough to do myself. It was a sunny clear day and I pulled it up in the direct sun to dry it off. Almost got sick to my stomach again! I have a lot more swirl marks than when I stopped washing it myself. Before I only had a few places that were swirled now the entire hood and side panels are swirled. I will not be taking it back to the hand wash place again and I guess I will be looking at a huge detailing job this spring. Has anyone here complained to Honda about this issue? I know alot of people complain about the paint on our Fits but has anyone successfully had the issue resolved by the dealership? I am getting ready to take it in for my first oil change and was considering talking to the service department about this cheap paint. Hard to believe the car is not a year old yet and is already so badly swirled just from 3 visits to the hand car wash.

Cat :x

 

Sorry to hear about the swirls. Swirls make me sick to my stomach too. I used to wax the car in a swirl motion that left of course....swirls all over the car. I have a deep purple civic and a red prelude. (Still awaiting my TW Fit) I was dumb enough to drive my civic through a car wash with brushes last winter. The car was full of swirls. I started using a Hand Glaze from 3M to remove the swirls. I would apply it in a side to side motion. Then a coat of wax in the same motion. Then I parked them in the sun to look for swirls...it worked perfectly! Any little blemishes that was found was easily buffed off with a clean towel.

 

Our fits paint sucks..Bottom line. It chips easy and swirls really easy. My car is pretty covered in them aswell, and has been from the first day on. I dont think Honda can help us here, the paint they put on is the paint they put on..Hope you get better Cat.

Tyler

 

dam bro....hope you feel better. that sucks.

 

Mine is covered in swirls, but I did get a bunch of new car care stuff, will take a bunch of before/after pics and keep track of how good it worked.

 

you guys are doing something wrong. I run a detailing company and I have detailed thousands of cars. The paint on the fit is not horrible. It's not mercedes paint, but it's a $15k car.

Anyway, I'm approaching 1 year with my fit and there is no swirls to speak of. I detailed my buddy's black fit, and his has no swirls either. Are you using a brillo pad to wash the car or something?

Honda will just laugh at you if you try to get your paintjob warrantied. It's not a defect, it's owner neglect.

 

Look up a car care system called "System One", it will remove all your swirl marks...easily. Hope this helps.

 

I wish I could detail like a pro, NBP looks so good but swirls so easy. I need to get a microfiber mitt to replace my other mitt (it'll become my rim mitt :-D.) Just wax regularly and perhaps touch it up real quick when you don't have the time to completely wax it. I like to use ICE liquid wax for a quick shine and minimal/no swirls. Doesn't last long, but it works damn well.

 

I forgot where I was the other day, but I drove past a car wash place and saw a nice 986 sitting in front, with a few other cars. Towels strewn out on the ground. THAT is why I'll never let anyone else wash my cars!!

 

hope you feel better cat. i don't know if the dealership would do anything about a car being swirl mark prone. and swirls aren't really the result of wiping in circular motions (unless you just scratch a bunch of dirt into your paint with curcular motions during ONE wash). they're the result of lots of small scratches accumulating in different directions that overall, form a swirl. as long as you're cleaning the car properly before waxing, not rubbing dirt particles into the paint, you shouldn't get any swirl marks.

Cat is a woman haha.

 

I saw a post here that went into detail about swirl marks the key ingredient here is Mequiars next generation tech wax,it actually fills the swirls and then layers on top of the paint .Mequiars knows there stuff.It worked for me.

 

Cat my friend! What gives with the old gallbladder? I had to have mine out about 5 years ago. It's quite common in post-menopausal women (so much sucks about menopause). At least if you have to have it out, it's an easy surgery. I asked to keep it (for a mantel decoration or something) but the best they'd do was take a couple pictures right before they took it out. So see, good things do come from excisions! It sounds like you're sicker than I was. Mine just decided to quit working and gave me poor digestion and a back ache. My sister who's a year older than me had to have hers out a year before me. Genetics I guess

Swirl marks - like you don't have enough on your plate right now. I haven't even waxed my car yet so I can't help you there. But there's some good reading on this forum about it. I'm sure there's a resolution.
Hope you're feeling a LOT better soon!

 

I had a great aunt who had her gall bladder removed when she was 88 years old (she lived to be 102). She actually kept the gallstones, and actually considered having a jeweler drill them and string them like pearls.
Hope you're better soon, Cat :x !

If you move to Seattle, you will not notice the swirl marks so much, as the sun won't shine so often.

 

I would have liked your Aunt. Maybe she would have appreciated the toenail earrings I made (and painted red of course). Yes, they were my toenails. What? Me morbid? Nah........ I threw them away eventually.

 

You guys made my day! Thanks for all the laughing even though it hurts! Yup! I joined Meguiers Forum and will plan to do a good detail job with the Fit in the spring. I use a two bucket wash method, Meguiers Crystal Wash,
Auto Zone microfiber washing mits one for the top, one for the sides and one for the bottom and under the body kit. I only wash when the car is cold to touch and never in direct sunlight - I only had a few swirls when I was washing myself because I had gotten some cheap microfibers at Wal-Mart and I think they did the little bit that I had. I use the Absorber to dry and pre-moisted microfiber towels to finish up the job. I use Quick Detailer to treat any bird do or spots that need to be treated before removing. I plan to just take the Fit to the car wash and wash in plain water to keep off salt and junk until I can go back to hand washing. Just too cold to even think about it right now. I have visited the hand wash place for the last time - but for now I won't look so hard at the car in direct sunlight - Thanks Steeldog - it was overcast today and the Fit looked so great! Seeing my surgeon in the morning to see what the decision will be- the fat free diet is about to kill me! You guys rock!

Cat :x

 

Cat, do you have a "touchless" car-wash there? That's what I use when not doing it myself, and it does a decent job (except on the wheels - no automatic wash does a good job on wheels). Now that I'm taking care of a car, the house is dirty. I'm not sure I'm enjoying pampering a car so much, but I hate driving down the road with a dirty car. Maybe we should have a home automatic car-wash in the garage?

Take care of your gallbladder. Let us know what you decide!

 

Cat, hopefully all goes well with the doctor's visit. My wife, just turned 30, had her gallbladder taken out a few years ago. Up until that point, she would have terrible pains but all is well now....best of luck to you!

As far as the washing goes, pick up some of the sheepskin wash mitts at Wal Mart. As crazy as it sounds, they're really nice wash mitts. Once those swirls are in there though, they have to be polished out completely and then maintain the finish without adding more.

 

Thanks Davela - the verdict is to remove the gallbladder so in a few weeks that will happen and I will be off work for about 10 days per the
doctor. The guys in the garage have not had time to put my Mugen pedals on yet so maybe they can get them done while I am off. Anyway,
glad your wife got along well hope I do as well. Yup! I will have a big
job this spring to try to get the swirls out - I really wanted to show the car again this year and I just can't see doing that with the current condition of the paint. Thanks for the suggestion!

Cat : x