Under certain lighting conditions I can see lots of scratches on the top varnish layer on the bonnet of my new pride and joy, MK3 1.8 ( 2006 ).
It looks as if the previous owner, at some point may have sponged it down without jetwashing off the grit first, I have jet washed it, used Meguiars compound on it along with Meguiars carnuba wax , overall it looks good , until close inspection, but thats what i’ve got and its 13 yeras old.
Someone somewhere mentioned soft paint on the Mazda, is this what they meant? and is this something I should be aware of when cleaning and working on the car.
As usual any comments or advice would be appreciated
These are not your sparkly swirls, these are zig zag type scratches all over the varnish, going in all different directions, not obvious at first , but can be seen under the strip light in my garage
Mazda paint is soft and when people refer to this it’s usually to warn against using harsh or abrasive products on the paintwork. If you are able to post some photos this may help with advice on resolving the issue you are referring to.
Mazda flat paint is soft, but I’m not aware of any great issues with lacquer finishes.
Swirls are rare not to see on any “seasoned” vehicle anywhere…it’s caused by a huge raft of things from poor car-care ( including paint’s Death Sentence of mechanical car washes), to polluted areas of ownership.
It’s why the multi-million industry of corrective detailing exists.
People who think their brand new ND2 paint is minty fresh, and seal it with wax first weekend they can…are actually sealing in micro particles of pollution built up from weeks in transport.
Dealers usually just blast them with a Karcher and if lucky (?) give it a wipe with MERS.
I watched 2 fresh delivered Lambo’s at Alford years back being detailed by PolishedBliss and the black filth that accumulated on the pads & wipe-offs would neen to be seen to be believed…and a new Bentley was worse.
Yes, Mazda paint is quite soft therefore easily marked.
Strip lighting’s particularly unforgiving with regard to tiny scratches; the paint on my car looks very good outdoors - disregarding the inevitable chips all over the front bumper - but when it’s in my garage under the fluorescent lights many tiny marks are apparent despite the car always having been cleaned carefully & well looked after. A lot of those tiny marks were there when it was new, too.
I’ve noticed the same with other (non-Mazda) cars I’ve owned although the Mazda paint definitely seems more prone than the paint was on my previous Vauxhalls, Nissans & Fords.
You may have to resort to getting a pro in to sort it for you.
I tried on mine, the boot lid and bonnet had terrible swirls as did most of the panels, I gave up with trying to get those out but then again I didn’t have the right gear. So I got a nice chap in to give it the once over with his equipement, he spent all day and got most out all but one on the boot lid. He said he’d come to the limit on how much more he could go to remove the deeper scratches, he used a paint depth meter and quoting the soft Mazda paint as we all know.
He did make a splendid job or the car and I keep it looking good with careful washing/detailing on a very regular basis.
Thanks for Feedback, yes , me thinks the one bucket gritty sponge washing / scouring technique was used in the past, looks fine in daylight, just not right close up or under strip lights, looks good when polished and waxed which I do anyway, so I can live with it, just need to be careful of soft paintwork etc in future.
Its gonna get plenty of fuss, including roof fabsil when we get a dry weekend