I don’t have a porter cable so I wanted to know what’s the best polish to use by hand for getting out swirls?

While working by hand is the least effective way to remove defects from your vehicles paint, thanks to the new line of Meguiar’s polishes with Super Micro Abrasive Technology, the task has now become easier and much more effective. These new polishes utilize very tiny abrasives which don’t break down like a traditional polish would. They continue to abrade the finish the entire time you work them, and since the abrasives are so tiny they also finish down very well.

Assuming that you’ve already properly washed and clayed the vehicle, my suggestion to you would be to pick up some Meguiars M105 and M205 polish. Along with these two polishes you will also need some foam, cotton, or microfiber applicators as well as plenty of microfiber towels.  Since I don’t know the severity of the swirls in your finish, I suggest first starting off with the M205 as we always want to use the least aggressive method to achieve our goal. If the M205 does not have the desired end result then you will want to move up to the M105.

When working both these products you want to keep the size of your work area to a section no larger than 8″ x 8″. Apply a quarter size amount of product onto your applicator and spread it over you work area evenly. Next begin working the polish in using a fair amount of pressure or “elbow grease” behind the pad as we are trying to remove swirls here and not just applying a coat wax. I find it works best to use a back and forth motion when you are working in the polish. You will want to work the entire section for about 45 seconds and then immediately buff of the remaining polish with a clean microfiber towel. You may have to go over a section a few times to get the results you are looking for.

Again, working by hand is a lot of work and your arm is probably going to feel like it’s about to fall off after an hour or so. My suggestion would be to break up the vehicle into sections and just focus on a panel or two a night.

Just a few additional things…

• If you need to step up to the M105 be sure to follow it up with the M205 as the M105 may leave some micro scratches of it’s own in the paint as it is rather aggressive.
• The cotton or microfiber applicators tend to be more aggressive and are usually better at removing swirls/defects than the foam. However, the foam will usually finish off a little better so I suggest playing around with them and see which one gives you the best result.

I hope this helps. Should you or anyone else have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reply in the comment box below.