So got my new model s. Freaked to take to car wash for fear of scratching/damage. So did a hand wash. Used microfiber car cloths (the good ones) . Look at result. Hahaha. Spider Web looking scratches everywhere. Any advice? Can I get rid of em or is it just the soft paint everyone talks of. Can only see at certain light Btw-but annoying.
Did Tesla not detail the car before delivery? If it arrived like that ask them if they could detail it for you and hopefully they'll go away.
Looks pretty typical. I now use a slightly pre-moistened ChemicalGuys waffle weave drying cloth (Amazon.com: Chemical Guys MIC_781_01 - Waffle Weave Gray Matter Microfiber Drying Towel, 25: Automotive) and zero pressure (throw towel across surface and drag it around). That seems to have helped. No new swirls since. There's also a good chance those were already there. Mine came a pretty swirly from the factory, presumably from them drying it after wash/detail. I had it fully detailed shortly after and it looked amazing. Fortunately minor swirls like that buff out easily.
Use a wool wash mit and make sure it stays clean, also hose vehicle off well before applying car wash soap. Maybe think about paint correction with Opti-Coat.
I see. There are a lot of Zaino fans here but many other great products too I'm sure. There is a thread here as well about this topic somewhere.
Buy some McGuiars "Machine Glaze" and go over the car with CLEAN cloth, then wax or opticoat. Note that Opticoat does not correct the paint. That has to be done first before sealing it.
I did the same on the same dark blue paint using my old wash brush that I used on every car because I didn't know better on the soft paint on this car. Here are the steps I took to get rid of scratches. Didn't get it all out but got rid of majority to presentable and acceptable 1. clay bar the car (you can probably skip this step since your car is brand new) 2. Went with Griot's polish system because I had friends that had show cars and use it often. Polish is very very mild and the applicator is designed to prevent amateur to mess up the paint (polish pads basically stops spinning if too much pressure). Polish basically smooth out the hard edges on scratch and/or remove it complete it from the top coat. 3. Use a filler after polish. Filler fills in the scratches and hides the sharp edges from the light 4. Apply wax You can also just take it to a detailer to do #1 followed by applying something like opti-coat. They will probably take a few hours to remove the scratches at $75?/hour. As for washing, after seeing how easy this car is to scratch... I decided to follow this detailer's method of washing a car. I followed this video Tesla Opticoat Pro Treatment - YouTube I learned the best way to wash cars is in multiple passes. Each pass remove bigger to smaller stuff. So I invested in a electric power washer + foam gun. Makes it go pretty fast. step1: power wash to spray down and get rid of big dirt step2: foam the car, gets rid of more dirt step3: power wash rinse step4: hand wash, 2 bucket system. If you use microfiber towels, be sure to remove the tag as they scratch. Best to actually use a microfiber wash mitten which has more depth to hide the dirt so they don't stay on the wash surface to scratch the paint more. By the time you get to this step, whats on the car is mostly just a film of dirt left on the car as prior steps already removed the big dirt that might get caught in your towel and scratch the paint. Wash from top of the car to bottom (where most of the bigger dirt is) step5: use a water blade to get rid of most of the water, microfiber towels to pat the rest off The best quote I heard from a local detailer is... you will be a slave to the car He suggested to detail it 2X/year (spring, fall) where I live (rainy Seattle)
Watch Junkman's 2 bucket wash videos listed here: Model S Delivery Checklist and Owners Guide I follow his advice and so far no scratches...
Omg. I just watched first 5 minutes of part 1(of 4) of the junk man's 2 bucket car wash technique. I'd sooner take the model s and drive it on the beach than deal with that. Hahahaha. Sorry I complained about my swirls. As another poster mentioned, will wax fix that?
Easiest and most expensive option is to have a detail shop correct it if you don't want to work on it yourself.
I have a huge fear of scratches, even with a white car. I use the two bucket method with grit guards. Never let the mitts touch the ground. Get a good mitt that you can throw in the wash when you are done to make sure any dirt is removed from the mitt. I also keep a second mitt just incase I drop one on accident. After I wash and try the mitts I put them in a plastic ziplock bag. I also keep microfiber towels in a ziplock bag and use them in combination with spray on wax. I also use this for drying the car: http://www.amazon.com/Absorber-Synthetic-Drying-Chamois-Natural/dp/B0000AY69V/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398107369&sr=8-1&keywords=drying+sham This thing is amazing. You just pat the car dry and it literally absorbs all the water anywhere it touches. One piece of sand in a microfiber towel will leave swirl marks all over the paint, especially it you are wipe drying vs. pat drying.
Please search these forums and also use volkerize.com over at TM for way too many threads on this subject. Many opinions on paint quality, quality of pre-delivery prep/detail, wash techniques, paint protection (wrap/film/coatings).
Someone taught me the "two bucket method" which sounds crazy but makes sense and helps prevent scratches and whorls in the paint: http://www.detailingspot.com/?page_id=15