DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option by Mike Phillips

These are holograms

Holograms are a distinct scratch patter inflicted into the paint by the misuse of a rotary polisher with a fiber pad.

Doing it wrong the first time
Sad to say but all too often after your car is "prepped" by the detail shop at some New Car Dealerships, you get what we all call DISO or the Dealer Installed Swirl Option.

Cars with perfectly good paint are machine buffed by a detailer using or rather misusing a rotary polisher. It's completely possible in the eyes of the detailer that the results they are producing look great! That's because the product they're using is masking or concealing the swirls they are instilling as they are buffing.

The unsuspecting owner is happy to pick up their bright, shiny car but then after washing the car a few times, the wax or polish begins to wear off and the unsightly swirls show up.

The owner is usually distraught and heartbroken at the sight of the horrendous looking paint on their car and at a loss as to how to undo the damage and restore a showroom new finish.


If they can't do it right the first time...
The honest truth is... if the detailer at the dealership that abused your car's paint couldn't do it right the first time... they won't be able to do it right the second time.

In most cases if a customer complains the dealership will offer to detail the car again and the manager will tell the detailer to do whatever it takes to fix the problem, but if the detailer doesn't know how to do it right the first time, then they actually don't know how to fix the problem the second time.


Masked and Concealed
Usually what they will do is simply apply more glaze or wax or both until the swirls are masked and concealed again and they feel confident the customer will accept the car. But as soon as the owner starts to wash the car the wax or glaze will wear off the swirls will become visible again.


More and more doesn't necessarily mean better and better
Even worse, if the detailer buffs it a second time, the same way they buffed it the first time, they will remove even more of your car's thin, precious clearcoat paint leaving less and less for you to work with to actually correct the problem the right way.

Paint is thin so be careful who you let work on your car.


The never ending story...
I cannot count how many times someone has come to the forum sharing their horror story looking for help. The sad thing is that with all the education and advancements in the detailing world, the problem continues undeterred.

There's a lot of reasons for this, enough that I could write an article about all the reasons but suffice to say, the people in charge of the detailing process at most body shops, dealerships and detail shops just don't care... often times the person doing the work cares but the products and tools they use are out of their control.

Luckily, in most cases the swirls can be removed using any of the popular dual action polishers currently on the market and a quality compound or swirl remover.


The IDA - International Detailing Association
This is one of the objectives of the IDA - that is to grow the professional aspect of the car detailing industry so that at some point - we no longer have uneducated people in charge of the detail department at a new car dealership and we no longer have uneducated detailers installing swirls at dealerships.


Pictures for this article coming this week as a 2024 GMC Denali is here to remove DISO.

Mike

 

[Don M]

It's not just dealerships, body shops tend to be the same way, and the reason is their bottom line, I.E. - how much will it cost THEM to detail the cars properly.

Case in point, there is a really decent body shop within easy (even for me) walking distance from my house. My wife and son were walking their dogs and noticed they had a sign advertising "Detailer Wanted." Since I'm now retired, the wife told me about it, thinking it would give me something to do (and get me out of her hair a few hours a day). So I went in with the black Camaro, all freshly detailed to my standards (as a reference to my abilities).

I talked to the receptionist and asked her if they were actually looking for a detailer who could make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - or just a swab-jockey to wipe down cars when the repairs were done. I then said my resume was the black car sitting outside and that I have a YouTube Channel about detailing.

She went to speak with the manager, then came back only to tell me that: "I don't think we could afford you." Never once did I mention or ask about the pay scale. That just confirmed it for me, they want a minimum wage employee to "clean up" the cars when the bodywork was finished, NOT a real detailer. Cheap wins over quality once again.

 

[Mike Phillips]

It's not just dealerships, body shops tend to be the same way, and the reason is their bottom line, I.E. - how much will it cost THEM to detail the cars properly.

Correct. Shoddy work for new dealerships, used car dealerships and body shops keeps professional detailers in business.

She went to speak with the manager, then came back only to tell me that:

"I don't think we could afford you."

Never once did I mention or ask about the pay scale. That just confirmed it for me, they want a minimum wage employee to "clean up" the cars when the bodywork was finished, NOT a real detailer.

Cheap wins over quality once again.

Yup. Sounds normal. I know there are some detailers at some dealerships that both care and know what they are doing, but these people are [at this time], the exception to the rule.

One of the reasons dealerships get away with turning out hack work is because the unwashed masses simply don't know the difference between a swirl or a squirrel. So dealerships act accordingly.

Mike