about 40% still remain. I am detailing the E46 M3 and I used the 3M SMR on the trunk lid, hood, and roof and it only removed 60% of the light swirl marks. Doing that also made the lighter scratches and medium swirls appear better but the SMR wont get rid of it. I pretty much stopped there and going to continue tomorrow night.

I am getting my Griots Garage Polish Kit today and was wondering which one should I start with and do last.. Polish #2 or #3.

I will follow up with AIO, paint sealant, and S100.

If you don't want more product, try another pass with SMR. Otherwise, 3M Finess-It II or Meguiar's Dual Action Cleaner Polish.

SMR will eventually get rid of most of it, you just may have to work it harder/more...Which pad are you using (the cutting one I hope) - you are using a PC right?

Hal9000,

Yes, I'm using a PC with the yellow pad and I have gone over the section many times until the pad basically buffs out most of the product. I do vary pressure as well from heavy, medium, and light.

I'd hop it up to 3M FI-II Machine Polish.

Yep, you need to step up to a more agressive product. I use Meguiar's Dual Action Cleaner Polish (DACP) and love the way it works... its a breeze to remove if you buff it long enough too. FI-II MP is another good choice too.

Originally posted by Jon Caldito
Hal9000,

Yes, I'm using a PC with the yellow pad and I have gone over the section many times until the pad basically buffs out most of the product. I do vary pressure as well from heavy, medium, and light.

Ok, one more trick to try before changing products. LIGHTLY dampen the pad with water. It'll make whatever compound/cutting product you're using more aggressive. Otherwise, try DACP or FI-II

SMR is only for cars with near perfect conditions. It shouldn't have induced micro marring though. It's not aggressive enough. As others have said, DACP is great stuff.

I'm thinking I might have to try some of this DACP...

It's good stuff. Smells good tooo! Diminishing abrasive like Meg's SMR, just more aggressive starts out somewhere around FI-II and ends up the same place SMR does.

Hmm. Would Meg's DACP alone yield the same results as 3M FI-II MP and 3M SMR together?

You know how I vehemently believe that good things come in many steps...

Originally posted by Ben Carufel
Hmm. Would Meg's DACP alone yield the same results as 3M FI-II MP and 3M SMR together?

You know how I vehemently believe that good things come in many steps...

Yes, that's what I do on severely swirled cars.

Watcha mean? You mean that you do the DACP, or the two 3M's?

Originally posted by Ben Carufel
Watcha mean? You mean that you do the DACP, or the two 3M's?

DACP, I only use FI-II when I need to work on a scratch. DACP breaks down too quickly to take out a deeper scratch.

Ben, I'll let you try out some DACP if you let me try some FI-II :az: The only 3M product I've used in a long time is SMR and I'm not too impressed..... but you seem to be all about 3M stuff I'm a big fan of the Meguiar's so we'll see. :dunno

Sounds good to me...

SMR is just a final step in my opinion. I use it like a glaze, really.