Sean? Your RX7? WOW! Now, perhaps we should think about another post...paints used in various years, and which works best on what. Yeah Curt, it's factory Irish green, sprayed in July of '72. But it's a funny color...surround it with green, it looks almost black. Put it in a parking lot, it gets lighter...the pic was not retouched. Just mailed a photo to a friend, he scanned it so I could download & post. Photo processing done by a local drug store.

I've always heard that on a black car "When you can't tell where the glass ends and the paint begins...You've done it right" I have both an Astro air buffer..(wish my compressor could keep up) and an orbital electric buffer. I use the orbital for the finish work. My 944 is Montego Black and is definitely more particular than my Petrol Blue 911 when it comes to fine finishing of a polish/wax job.

Swirl marks are usually caused by a wool bonnet on a machine buffer. That's why a foam bonnet is recommended. What do the detail shops use? Sometimes whatever is expedient and what they're used to. Many shop will hide swirl marks using glazing compounds that temporarily mask the fine scratches. That's why a beautifully finished car might look **ity after washing and removing the glaze. A trick I learned from a detailer: spray some alcohol on a detailed panel, wipe off, then inspect. If glazing compound was used, the alcohol will dissolve it to reveal any physical swirl marks. Then kick the detailer's a** and take it to someone that knows better.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars
www.seinesystems.com

Black Porsches are a tough one to get right.I get outstanding results with The Wax Shop Safe Cut to remove swirls and scratches.I use this to polish the paint after a very good washing
with car wash soap.100% cotton towels (Wal-Mart) to apply and Flannel rags to remove.I just posted the procedure on Rennlist
that I use, too lengthy to do it again so go to Rennlist and give a look.I did a black Strosek Speedster for our Austin Hill Country Region (PCA) councours and won best of show... I admit I got lucky, the owner takes excellent care of the car so I really did not have to do that much, and it is a very beautiful car! I do everything by hand and I take my time.I hate to admit it but,
even though it is not a Porsche, the RX-7 does look fantastic ! as does R22tech's 911.I do not like to do black Porsches so owners of very beautiful black Porsches get my highest respect !

PWD collection time...
 

Paul ...I'm going to Cambria and take up a collection OR donation, so that you can have a Digital camera, and a scanner. I'm sure ALL will participate. We dig seeing that car from ALL angles. ):

HOOT! Thanks for the kind words, Curt...but I'm an old goat...even if I had those gadgets, I probably wouldn't know what to do with them. Heck, I thought it was high tech to snail mail a few pics to Jeff, who scanned them for me. Amazing stuff, these computers/the internet, all of that.

I broke down and purchased a cheap buffer from a local parts store. I got tired of doing of doing the buffing by hand and making little progress getting the swirls out. After two times using the buffer and Meguiars swirl remover I am making progress, but it is slow. At least my shoulder doesn't hurt after after each coat. I am going to try the 3M swirl remover designed for dark color cars next. Once I get all the swirls removed I can go back to the manual method!