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Brettka7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2011
458
406
Hi there thanks for posting this. I recently tried to polish some scratches on my iPhone 12 Pro Silver using Autosol Metal Polish. However I seem to have created some swirl marks/scratches using the polish. I used a clean microfibre cloth and am using the Metal Polish variant (not sure if the stainless steel variant would prevent this?) any idea how I can fix the swirl marks? I’ve attached an image and a video. Maybe a bit hard to see as they only appear in direct light. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

View attachment 977115


View attachment 977116
A microfiber towel is too aggressive for polishing stainless steel in my experience. I would recommend having another go with a cotton pad as cotton seems to be soft enough for stainless steel.
 
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Kennyasdf

macrumors newbie
Nov 1, 2020
3
1
A microfiber towel is too aggressive for polishing stainless steel in my experience. I would recommend having another go with a cotton pad as cotton seems to be soft enough for stainless steel.
Thanks I tried this but seems to be leaving streaks on the metal based on the direction I’m polishing (whether it’s circular or straight line in one way) can’t seem to get the original finish where there are no visible lines/perfect mirror finish. Hope this makes sense. Is there a certain way I should be polishing?
 

Brettka7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2011
458
406
Thanks I tried this but seems to be leaving streaks on the metal based on the direction I’m polishing (whether it’s circular or straight line in one way) can’t seem to get the original finish where there are no visible lines/perfect mirror finish. Hope this makes sense. Is there a certain way I should be polishing?
Does your cotton pad look similar to mine? I find the fluffier cotton pads are actually harsher than the smoother, tightly packed pads. You could also be applying too much or too little pressure. The cotton pad should be folded in half or into fourths so you have a bit of padding for more even strokes.
 

TeeWrecks

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2015
168
192
Bronx, NY
I would never get silver because I don’t wanna spend my time in ownership sanding it down every time it gets micro scratches. I was at the Apple Store today because my brother had a genius appointment for his laptop and I looked at the phones again and silver was the only one that had scratches on it. Every single silver pro on display. Have fun with that I think I will beginning a gold Pro Max on order next week. By the way the graphite color had a tinge of midnight green when looking at it or angling It. So either get the pac blue or the gold. Don’t waste your time with the other two colors

why do you keep telling people what color to get lmao weird stuff..
 

ac921ol

macrumors 6502
Feb 1, 2011
330
108
why do you keep telling people what color to get lmao weird stuff..

Agree, lol

And the silver is amazing, also I don’t mind micro scratches on my phone, it’s like a watch, it’s gonna have battle scars, the thing is with the 12, cape cod cloth, and I’m good as new. If the other color get scratches. (Which they will) you aren’t going to be able to polish it up
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,399
Here
My Silver Pro arrived today. So far I love the return of this classic design. I’m fond of the contrast of the silver band with the black screen and wish they had this design with a black backplate.

The Pacific Blue didn’t look as good to me in reviews and I personally don’t care for Gold. I had a Space Grey 11 Pro and it’s meh, so I decided to roll the dice.

What I really want is for Apple to do brushed stainless steel (iPhone 4) or titanium so give it a complete matte appearance. Titanium would also make it lighter.
 

Sam in SoCal

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2019
762
1,031
My Silver Pro arrived today. So far I love the return of this classic design. I’m fond of the contrast of the silver band with the black screen and wish they had this design with a black backplate.

The Pacific Blue didn’t look as good to me in reviews and I personally don’t care for Gold. I had a Space Grey 11 Pro and it’s meh, so I decided to roll the dice.

What I really want is for Apple to do brushed stainless steel (iPhone 4) or titanium so give it a complete matte appearance. Titanium would also make it lighter
If you get a chance take a look at pac blue in person and tell us what you think. You don’t know for sure until you see them all in person
 

upandown

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2017
1,248
1,241
Does your cotton pad look similar to mine? I find the fluffier cotton pads are actually harsher than the smoother, tightly packed pads. You could also be applying too much or too little pressure. The cotton pad should be folded in half or into fourths so you have a bit of padding for more even strokes.
Can you recommend a proper cotton pad to use?

Also I have Blue Magic Polish Cream, would that work or is Autosol better suited for this job?
 

Brettka7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2011
458
406
Can you recommend a proper cotton pad to use?

Also I have Blue Magic Polish Cream, would that work or is Autosol better suited for this job?
I use generic cotton pads from the beauty section at Target.

I can’t say I’ve tried blue magic, but from what I read it seems to be a fine (vs. coarse) polish so it should work! If it doesn’t you can always follow it up with autosol or a cape cod pad.
 
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upandown

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2017
1,248
1,241
I use generic cotton pads from the beauty section at Target.

I can’t say I’ve tried blue magic, but from what I read it seems to be a fine (vs. coarse) polish so it should work! If it doesn’t you can always follow it up with autosol or a cape cod pad.
Definitely appreciate getting good advice from an expert in their craft. That’s what makes these forums so useful. Thank you!
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,399
Here
I haven't noticed any marks yet, but I stay at home and am careful. The silver is far more delicate, but I must admit that I love how clean this looks.

IMG_0056.jpeg


IMG_0058.jpeg
 

lwilliams

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2012
426
209
Athens, GA
I would not worry about PVD. My Kimber 1911 Saphire is flawless after a couple thousand rounds through it. If a 45 coated with PVD will hold up, I think a phone will.
 

Jim McN

macrumors regular
Nov 14, 2017
200
118
I always get the silver iPhones because I like how well they wear over time. I was really disappointed to read the silver 12 Pro may have the PVD finish that the other models had because that means there is potential for peeling/chipping and scratches cannot be removed from the frame.

First thing I did when I got home was test it out! Used a white metal polish on a white cotton pad and gently rubbed the lower right corner of the phone. Stainless steel residue did in fact transfer onto the cotton pad, which means no PVD finish!

Only a small amount of transfer is on the pad but rest assured, I only went as much as needed to confirm because the phone is less than 12 hours old at this time so it doesn’t need a polish yet.

View attachment 972797
View attachment 972798

EDIT:

I’ve now had the honor of double confirming this.

Today I was trimming my beard in the shower. Suddenly the water turns off and I’m covered in hair. I wasn’t about to get hair everywhere so I decided to wait for my complex’s water to come back on while browsing the web. Suddenly the water comes spitting out but it’s BROWN from who knows what, so my reaction was to jerk backwards. Dinged the upper right corner of my phone and get a little bummed out despite how minor it was.

Eventually I decided to sand and polish the corner already knowing it’s raw steel. Came out beautifully!

Small ding near the screen:

View attachment 974748

Sanded with 2,000 grit:

View attachment 974749

Perfect again!

View attachment 974750
Hi! that's great. Would you be able to put any link of the exact products that you're using in order to achieve this stunning result? Thx!
 

floriano8812

macrumors regular
Mar 26, 2018
111
66
I polish my XS with „Mothers Mag & Alu Polish“, it works good.

So, is the 12 Pro the same steel coating? Then it would work for you.
 

kp98077

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2010
4,145
2,653
Don't forget that the lighting in most stores is usually fluorescent and can cast a very different light on objects. Usually a greenish cast. When at the Apple store, and the color of something is important to me, I always ask if I can take the object over to the window with natural light. They usually are more than happy to accommodate me.
Walmart has the worst lighting ever!
 

kp98077

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2010
4,145
2,653
True about in store lighting but someone in the house here has the graphite, and although nice, everyone did comment it looks like the green from last year..
 

upandown

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2017
1,248
1,241
How did you get on with the polishing, any improvement?
So I just tried the blue magic with a cotton ball on the 12 Pro. It didn’t really work out for me. I’m not sure why but I have streaks and it didn’t take out the marks.

What do you think brettka7?
 

Brettka7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2011
458
406
So I just tried the blue magic with a cotton ball on the 12 Pro. It didn’t really work out for me. I’m not sure why but I have streaks and it didn’t take out the marks.

What do you think brettka7?

If you see what appears to be streaks, that means it was too aggressive to polish out to the point that scratches are invisible to the naked eye. The main causes for this would be:

1. Polish too aggressive. From what I read, this should be a safe polish to use, but I have not tried it personally.

2. Too little or too much pressure. It’s more likely this would be caused by too much pressure. The cotton pad should be folded in half or fourths and you should not be pressing into the phone as much as you should be gently grazing the sides.

3. Cotton pad is worn out or torn up. If you are rubbing it over buttons or holes and the pad starts to fall apart, it should be discarded. Change in texture will result in a change in aggressiveness.

I usually do all four corners first, then do the lower sides, then bottom, replace the pad with a new one, polish the top, polish the upper right side, then upper left side. So I split the phone into 10 segments that I work on individually.

I also count out my strokes, partially because of boredom but partially because I want to keep it consistent. Assuming one stroke is forward-backward, I do about 200 strokes total to make sure the polish breaks down. The last 20 strikes, I lighten the pressure until it is just barely grazing the surface.
 

upandown

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2017
1,248
1,241
If you see what appears to be streaks, that means it was too aggressive to polish out to the point that scratches are invisible to the naked eye. The main causes for this would be:

1. Polish too aggressive. From what I read, this should be a safe polish to use, but I have not tried it personally.

2. Too little or too much pressure. It’s more likely this would be caused by too much pressure. The cotton pad should be folded in half or fourths and you should not be pressing into the phone as much as you should be gently grazing the sides.

3. Cotton pad is worn out or torn up. If you are rubbing it over buttons or holes and the pad starts to fall apart, it should be discarded. Change in texture will result in a change in aggressiveness.

I usually do all four corners first, then do the lower sides, then bottom, replace the pad with a new one, polish the top, polish the upper right side, then upper left side. So I split the phone into 10 segments that I work on individually.

I also count out my strokes, partially because of boredom but partially because I want to keep it consistent. Assuming one stroke is forward-backward, I do about 200 strokes total to make sure the polish breaks down. The last 20 strikes, I lighten the pressure until it is just barely grazing the surface.
Thank you sir. I believe it was caused by too much pressure. I did one pass with way less pressure and although the scratches are still present I believe it’s getting better. I’m assuming it will take a few more times to even out the wear.
 

colinw123

macrumors regular
Jan 21, 2013
165
38
I picked up a blue pro max today and noticed a small scratch just under the power button, straight out of the box. Don’t think it can be polished out.
 
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