Continued...
August 25th, 2009
Okay, on Monday I did a
Test Spot on the rear trunk lid and once I was confident my system approach would work I'm ready to tackle the hood today.
I'm going to only work on one half of the hood and document how long it takes to do a multi-step swirl removal process by hand. The same process I tested and proved on the test section of the trunk lid yesterday.
One reason for doing this is because at almost every class I've ever taught, after explaining and demonstrating how to work a compound or paint cleaner by hand, the question often comes up,
"How long will it take to detail an entire car?"
Or more accurately, they want to know if they start in the morning,
- How long it will take to wash the car
- How long will it take to clay the paint (if needed)
- How long it will take to remove all the swirls with the compounding step.
- How long will it take to polish the paint with a less aggressive product to refine and maximize the clarity.
- Lastly, how long will it take to apply and remove either a wax or paint sealant.
In other words, how long does it take to detail a car. (Polish out the paint)
The reason this question comes up is because watching me apply a compound or paint cleaner to just a
small section of paint and the time and
passion behind the pad required usually surprises most people. As they watch me working a single small section, they multiply what they’re seeing in their mind’s eye and imagine how long it would take themselves to go completely around their own car or truck doing the same thing. And at some point it sinks in that it’s
not a 2-3 hour job.
As the class is watching me work the compound, that's when I usually add some comedy and say,
"Watching me apply a compound by hand is usually the best sales tool for the a dual action polisher!"
That's when everyone laughs. And while it may be funny, it's also true.
The above is a serious and accurate summary of the conversations that have been taking place ever since the first class I taught in a
formal classroom setting on July 31st, 2002
Here's the
link to the
sign-up thread on the MercedsShop.com discussion forum with a time stamp of
07-11-2002, posted by
placo1 who to this day is still a good friend because of that class.
So to help answer the question,
how long does it take to just remove the swirls and scratches out of the paint by hand, I thought I would track how long it takes me to remove the swirls and car wash scratches out of just half the hood of this black Lincoln.
Then, I'll use Meguiar's G110 Dual Action Polisher to buff out the other side using the same products and the same steps and then post the time for both methods.
You can then get an idea as to which approach is better as well as have an idea as to how long it would take to do a multi-step process to the entire outside of a car.
Just to note, even though swirls can be removed by hand and the paint polished and waxed to a high gloss and it will look a zillion times better than when you started, it's still never going to look as good as the results you can achieve using a dual action polisher.
As
Bill Murry said in the move
Stripes,
"That's the facts Jack"
Let’s begin…
I'm going to rub-out the driver's side of the hood by hand and before starting, I’ve
sliced up half of the hood by taking some painter's tape and taping off small sections to show you how to
break-up a panel to be worked by hand when applying an aggressive product to remove swirls and scratches.
As you can see, you can’t tackle half a hood at one time, you have to work
small sections at a time.
For reference, I also placed a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber polishing cloth folded in half to give you and idea as to the size of the major sections to be worked. Meguiar’s Supreme Shine Microfibers are 16" by 24" inches so the folded cloth you see on the hood is 16" by 12".
This is about as big a section you want to work at one time. You can tackle a 16” by 16” section or any size around these dimensions but you really don’t want to work a section any larger than this. The reason why is because you won’t be able to focus enough energy to do a thorough job of evenly removing the swirls. As a result the paint will still be all swirled out when you’re finished.
Now on this Lincoln, the hood has a raised thin panel down the middle with two hard body lines to be careful around. The sides of the hood also have thinner panels separated from the major section between the middle of the hood with a hard body line running most of the length of the hood..
As you can see the thinner panels are broken up into two thin sections. The thin panel of paint on the side is too long to work all at one time so I broke it into two sections.
Then there's a section in front of the driver's side A-Pillar that need to be it's own section as it’s joined to the major section in front of the windshield. (If that all makes sense)
Every hood, door, roof, trunk lid etc, is going to be different, so you have to do your best to figure out how to
slice-up each panel. The important thing to understand is anytime you're removing swirls out of a modern clear coat you must only work a small section at a time. You cannot physically rub-out a huge section by hand
and do a great job.
This is how I would slice-up the hood of this Lincoln
Now that I've shown you how I sliced-up this particular hood, it's time to remove the Supreme Shine Microfiber and the tape. Remember, I only placed the tape on the car as a visual tool to help show
you how approach the defect removal step by hand.
Note: You actually slice-up each panel of a car in a similar fashion whether you're working by hand or with a dual action polisher for the same reasons. And the reason for this is because modern clear coats tend to be harder than old fashioned single stage paints like the paint that would have came on a 1965 Mustang.
Even if you’re using one of the popular dual action polishers like the Porter Cable polishers, the Meguiar’s polishers, and/or the Griot’s Garage polisher, because these tools have a clutch which stops the pad from rotating if you apply to much pressure, you can only work a small section at a time when doing any kind of defect removal step.
Here's a safety tip that's a best practice to develop anytime you're using Painter's tape on automotive paints. When you remove the tape, pull it back at and angle, not straight up, off the paint.
First we're going to use Meguiar's Ultimate Compound for our
first step process with both the orange and the white
CCS Euro Foam Hand Polish Applicators. That's right, we're going to rub-out the paint using two different levels of aggressiveness in our foam applicators because we want the driver's side of the hood to look as good as the machine buffed side.
We'll start with the aggressive orange pad and put quite a bit of
passion behind the pad and then follow this with the white foam applicator pad and
lessen our pressure. After the compounding step we’ll do the polishing step, so this half of the hood is going to get 6 cleaning steps before applying the wax.
With a new, dry pad it's important to add an
ample amount of product to start with, as your pad becomes wet with product you can cut down a little on the amount of product you apply. Because you're going to be applying firm pressure with a quick hand movement, you need enough product to provide good
lubrication.
Start by spreading the product out over the area you're going to work so you have a uniform layer of product over this section. Sometimes you’ll see a film of product or patches of product on the paint, this is normal and
nothing to worry about.
After spreading the product out, begin to work it
over and
against the paint. Below is a somewhat thick looking layer of product, that's okay because there are a lot of swirls and scratches in this hood and they're going to need some
convincing to leave.
Work the product over and against the paint with firm pressure. You can work the product in circles or straight-lines. If your products of choice are non-abrasive in that they won't leave deeper scratches behind in the paint than they're removing then you can move your hand in whatever direction you fancy, either overlapping circular motions or back and forth in overlapping straight line motions.
Here's something
seasoned old-timers know about working by hand. It's easier to
spread a product out using a circular motion than straight-line motions. FWIW.
Personally I use both directions. I start out using a circular motion to spread the product out and then switch to straight-line motions to really work the product against the paint hard and fast. As I do this, excess product will accumulate at the end of my throw. As I see the product build-up, I'll take a moment to switch to circular motions to grab this perfectly good product and bring it back into the center of the area being worked so I can continue to work it. This also saves product. I’m not a cheapskate, but I am a spendthrift and I want to get the most bang for my buck.
Keep your hand moving at a fast pace and as you apply pressure to the pad you'll see the product on the surface go from a whitish, opaque film or layer of product to a clear, oily residue that almost looks and feels like you're applying mineral oil or Vaseline over the paint. This is normal and this is what you should see if you're working the product carefully and correctly.
I started at approximately 12:47pm and after this first section I've already used about 10 minutes just to rub-out this first section with two applications of Ultimate Compound.
After a few sections you’ll get a build-up of
spent product on the face of your pad. This is normal for
ANY compound or paint cleaner. You want to clean this build-up of spent product off the face of the pad before applying fresh product.
Here's I'm using
The Edge Foam Pad Conditioning Brush but you could also use a firm bristle toothbrush.
Continue working a section at a time and be sure to overlap a little into the previous section for good UMR
UMR = Uniform Material Removal
Circular motions
Straight-line motions and after working in straight-lines I
shmoo the area over by going back to circular motions.
It’s hard sometimes to use circular motions on thin, narrow panels, for this I’ll use straight-line motions and at the end try to do some circular motions to insure evenness of UMR.
Front portion of the narrow panel.
Rear portion of the narrow panel
It’s 2:30pm and I’ve rubbed out each section 3 times with the Ultimate Compound with the last
section pass for each section using
less pressure and
less product. Polishing paint is an
art form, not a grinding process.
If you have an upcoming project that you're going to rub-out by hand, spend a few weeks in the gym first and do plenty of Tricep Pushdowns.
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