lighting problem

[mrmsmop]

just bought a new 500w quartz halogen light. have a question. car is black lots of swirls from dealer doing a supposed polish and seal to it it is horrible in daylight but when i shine the new quartz light on it... none show up. i put an outdoor floodlight in garage ceiling fixture turn it on and scratches show up everywhere turn quartz light back on scratches and they dissapear quess these 500 watt lights arent what there cracked up to be? cant think of anything i could being doing wrong. the lights are either on or off right?

[07RS4]

just bought a new 500w quartz halogen light. have a question. car is black lots of swirls from dealer doing a supposed polish and seal to it it is horrible in daylight but when i shine the new quartz light on it... none show up. i put an outdoor floodlight in garage ceiling fixture turn it on and scratches show up everywhere turn quartz light back on scratches and they dissapear quess these 500 watt lights arent what there cracked up to be? cant think of anything i could being doing wrong. the lights are either on or off right?

 

Do you have a picture of the lights you have? Dual 500w'ers?

 

I'm think your angle is off and/or your light combination with the overhead light? Have you tried both at the same time or just the halogens. Mine works great, and allows me to see how bad my paint is on my DD;)

[mrmsmop]

have tried both with both lights on just just the quartz and just the overhead garage light, have moved angles on the quartz light if i have the overhead garage light on then use the quartz to the light from the quartz light washes out the scratches. the light from the quartz light is usless by itself cant see anything. no pics at this time but there just the usual swirl scratches i see on other photos here.

[Doug123]

Hm. The halogens should show every little swirl. Guys here refer to them as "The Light of Truth". What kind of lights are the overheads? Florescent or regular light bulbs?

[Doug123]

just bought a new 500w quartz halogen light. have a question. car is black lots of swirls from dealer doing a supposed polish and seal to it it is horrible in daylight but when i shine the new quartz light on it... none show up. i put an outdoor floodlight in garage ceiling fixture turn it on and scratches show up everywhere turn quartz light back on scratches and they dissapear quess these 500 watt lights arent what there cracked up to be? cant think of anything i could being doing wrong. the lights are either on or off right?

 

The lights I got from Sears have a low and high toggle on the switch. First click is on-low, 2nd click is on-high, next click is off. Got them from Sears. I run dual 500w halogens.

 

The halogens show the swirls the most near the reflection of the halogen coming off the finish. I always look near the reflection. I keep the halogens about 4' from the surface I am examining and positioned so I can see the light reflecting off the surface to me. I like to have it to my left when I am working on the finish, and check the finish by moving to the right and looking around the reflection of the halogen in the finish.

 

Have you stripped and clayed the finish yet? That also will help reveal the swirls. Sometimes it is surprising how many you may see esp. after stripping and claying the finish, but no worries -the PC can really get the job done, and in a safe way. Mine was a mess before I got the PC, and I was really surprised to see what good results I could get with the PC.

 

No worries, the trick is to be able to see the swirls, and see when they are gone.

[Chris@Adams]

This might help!

<TABLE class=li cellSpacing=0 r="1"><TBODY><TR><TD class="pic p140 lt"></TD><TD class=dtl>Brinkmann Maxfire Dual Xenon Rechargeable Spotlight

Location: Florida

 

 

Returns: Not accepted

 

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Doug123]

Take a look at these halogen light reflections off of paint. Set it up so you can see the light off your finish in the same way.

 

http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/trucks/13796.htm

[3PedalMINI]

I have been toying with the idea of grabbing a pair of xenon headlight conversions and converting a Tripod light to house a pair of the xenon lights. Just because when i pull in behind my mini (with a car with xenon headlamps) i always see minor swirls that i dont ever see in the sun or even when I set up the lights.

 

The only thing thats holding me back is finding a 120v to 12v converter powerful enough to run the lights. i think if i do this it would be the ultimate swirl finder

[1anonly]

I have halogens, LED, and xenon lights. The halogens is all I need on black paint.

 

When you are looking for swirls, where are you looking? Do not look directly where the bulb reflection is coming off the paint. Your eyes will play tricks with you if you do. It's kind of like looking into the sun. You should look just to the side of it. Another reason why you may not be able to see them is the distance that your light is.

[MichiganSRT8]

if they are on a tripod, gotta move em up and down to get em at the right orientation to the car like said above. They were literally the light of truth when I attacked my jeeps intense swirls!

[mrmsmop]

thanks for all the input. have been reviewing the junkmans videos several times. have had all my gear for about a month. just got back from a road trip didnt see any sense in taking this on until i got back. tomorrow is the big day wil wash clay and begin with the pc think the junkmans videos are going tobe a hugh help. got the feel of pressure on the scales and the speed so we'll see how it goes :-)

[Doug123]

You are going to have fun! Enjoy!