the dev

so i decided to add the swirl mark remover into my normal routine. there's just too many swirls, especially on the hood. IMG and Blitz just isn't covering them anymore.

so anyways... i went down to pep boys today as they are the only shop that i know of in my area (socal) that sold 3M products. well they only have the SMR for dark cars version. i've got a pelican blue a4... which i don't consider especially light, but it's definitely not dark.

so am i safe using this stuff? at first i didn't think it would be a big deal, but then i looked at it and it's sort of a charcoal color. i don't want to ruin or stain the paint or clearcoat here. what's the difference between the light and dark version?

also... are they any shops in southern cal that anyone knows of that sells 3M products? otherwise i might just have to get it offline, and wait for detail another week if this stuff isn't going to work well.

thanks in advance

alsey

You can order 3M stuff on the internet with free shipping I believe directly from 3M. Are you doing it by hand or by machine? If machine, I reccomend getting the 3M Perfect it III machine glaze which will actually remove the swirls rather than filling them.

3M SMR is slightly abrasive and it contains fillers to fill in the swirls. The difference between light and dark is in the color of the fillers. I think Pelican blue should be fine with either one..generally blue is classified as a dark color. Don't worry about staining your paint, it definately won't do that.

the dev

so in that case i think i'll stick with the SMR.

now you say that the SMR will fill the swirls, and that the dark shouldn't make a difference on my car. what's the worst that could happen? swirls look dark or something, and i'd have to go back later and use the SMR light?

i guess my main concern is since this stuff is slightly abrasive... i don't want the dark cutting in the paint and leaving some distinguishing marks/streaks that the IMG wouldn't take out afterwards.

am i just being paranoid here?

alsey

Hehe, you are being slightly paranoid...

The worse that could happen is that probably what you describe but that won't happen! Light colors are classified as white, silver, maybe beige. Dark colors are basically everything else..

It will slightly abrade the swirls and fill in the rest with the fillers in the product. It won't make dark colored scratches ore anything. Fillers are basically oils and will be removed after the car is washed a few times. Worse comes to worse any paint cleaner will definately get rid of the oils/fillers in the SMR.

You probably won't need the IMG after you use SMR..but if you can tell a difference between SMR/IMG by all accounts use it.

alsey

If you want the SMR light, someone on
www.autopia.org is selling his new bottle for $8 with shipping..
just go to www.autopia.org and look at the aBay trading post.

RKA

it's fine...none of your worries are founded. The paint in question was heavily oxidized and swirled.

the dev

thanks for the responses guys