I managed to get some swirl marks out of my paint by polishing it by hand and using those small yellow pads but now I noticed that on certain angles, you can see holograms. WTF! Are holograms the same as swirls (micro scratches in the paint) or are they caused by something else? I feel like it's a never ending battle to make your paint look perfect because there's always some defect that causes it looks bad. Maybe I should invest in one of those power polishers but the problem I have with that is I'm fearful of burning through my paint with one. I dont want to spend hundreds of dollars to have it professionally detailed so what else can I do?

 

Yes, it's still scratched. The holograms are from ultra-fine scratches. On a 15 year-old car with paint as thin as the RDs got, you are probably in above-average paint finish territory already. More polishing may be the cure, but that's not my area of expertise...



You probably won't do what I did to stop noticing paint defects, which is stop caring about the paint altogether!

 

Get yourself a polisher or random orbital. It will make things easier with less swirls or holograms.