Black F-150 - What did I do wrong?

[Tusin]

Originally Posted by BigFly10

Thanks Accumulator, this is the kind of information I need. I don't have a frame of reference for how product is the "right" amount or how much time it should take for a panel, so specific information as per above is very helpful.

I can tell you that I used most of the 16 oz bottle of SSR1 for one pass over the entire truck, so it DEFINITELY sounds like I used too much.

Oh wow, yeah, you used WAY too much product. And you didn't work it in long enough...especially with the much product.

I'm not sure if SS1 is a diminishing abrasive or not (never used it) but if it is, it needs to be worked fully or little swirls or hazing can become apparent.

The GOOD news is that it'll be an easy fix. The BAD news is that all your previous work is for naught.

[Setec Astronomy]

Originally Posted by Tusin

I'm not sure if SS1 is a diminishing abrasive or not (never used it) but if it is, it needs to be worked fully or little swirls or hazing can become apparent.

I don't think there is any hazing or marring from the SSR1, it hardly has any cut anyway--I think any swirls in the pictures are simply pre-existing and unremoved, from not working the polish enough or the polish not having enough cut. As for the rest of the stuff, I simply see unremoved AIO and #16.

[abbeysdad]

Originally Posted by SuperBee364

I'm just going by the pictures he posted. I would use the above process to correct the paint as shown in the pics. I'd use the same process with a rotary, too, except that I'd use purple foamed wool for the SIP, and then either the blue 3M waffle foam or white finishing wool with the 106FF
And since he posted pictures showing defects that he wasn't happy with, I'm assuming he wants the paint completely corrected. If you don't want paint corrected, why use an abrasive polish at all?

If you do some research I think you'd find that there is a grunge layer (anyone that's ever removed a front bra can confirm) of contamination, minor oxidants and just plain grime that just doesn't come off with a wash and detail clay (even if you use the dreaded dawn wash).
Polishing gets rid of this grunge layer, leaving a squeaky clean surface - not all polishing is done to remove swirls and scratches.

[Tusin]

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

I don't think there is any hazing or marring from the SSR1, it hardly has any cut anyway--I think any swirls in the pictures are simply pre-existing and unremoved, from not working the polish enough or the polish not having enough cut. As for the rest of the stuff, I simply see unremoved AIO and #16.

I agree with you, but on a soft-enough clear even SS1 can leave some marring. I would, from the get go, assume that it is unremoved product though...I think the CC would have to be pretty butter-soft to get marred up by SS1 and a white-pad.

[scary bill]

I have a 2004 f 150. Sonic blue (dark) and using a pc always leaves a haze that *I* can see. Maybe I am crazy here, but a white pad will not IMHO finish down compleatly haze free on dark ford paint. I even get haze if I use a lc white w/ AIO.

I would repolish w/ a white pad first. I you still have the haze try a blac/blue pad. I get best results using less polish than I think I should.

After never being 100% satisfied with the finish I got I purchased a rotary. On *my* paint it works much better.

I have gotten better rusults on other vehicles with a PC before, though. I think they were harder paint. I use the PC to apply non abrasive suff. I did try 3m UF with aLC blue by PC on an area I didn't want to do with the rotary, I'll see how that looks next time its in the sun.

[evolutionwc3]

To echo what Bill said- a few weeks back I did an '07 F-150 (in the C&B section) and relied primarily on 106FF/LC White via rotary and the truck was very pleasant to deal with....absolutely no surprises and it finished down perfectly. I think with a little more working time, you'd get great results.

[cruster]

WASH THE TRUCK! I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago with my '04 Miata, silver, trying to get it ready for spring. First time using AIO, on a PC with a white pad, and when I was done with the hood I saw all kinds of what looked like swirling. The car has always been well cared for and the paint is essentially flawless, so I was really disappointed...and a bit surprised given that that combination should be really mild. I mixed up a bucket of Gold Class with a couple drops of Dawn and rewashed the hood on a hunch...problem solved, the swirling was gone. What I'd seen had been swirling not in my paint but in the massive amounts of product left on my car. I took another stab at it with less product and more time, and got the results I had expected in the first place.

[Accumulator]

I dunno folks...every time I see a newbie (no offense intended, BigFly10) being advised to switch from a PC to a rotary I shudder and think that a) that's not likely to make things overall *easier* for him, b) he's not likely to go buy (and learn) a whole new polishing system anyhow, and c) there just aren't all that many cases where you can't get an acceptable finish without using a rotary. When somebody just wants to get their vehicle looking OK, I genuinely believe they can almost always do it without using a rotary. Just my $0.02...hope it didn't sound too


BigFly10- Glad you found my response helpful, though IMO it wasn't as specific as I woulda liked as I just don't know about SSR1 or Ford clear.

But yeah, that was way too much product (I only use a few ounces at most to do a Suburban) and way too little time (it'd scare your pants off if I told you how long this can take via PC but it's a *LOT* longer than the 3 minutes).

Try using just enough product to lubricate the pad and work it until it's almost gone. Generally, you don't want to go until it's dry (dry polish can leave marring) but you *do* want to work it a good long time.

While I try to stay away from this kind of advice in cases like this, I can't help but think that if you were using 1Z brand polishes you could get things dialed in *very* quickly with far less frustration. If I were there advising you, we'd do the truck with 1Z Paint Polish. If that didn't leave a good enough finish (i.e., if we got hazing) I'd go over it again with 1Z Metallic Polish with Wax. Or *maybe* just do the truck once with the Metallic Then, no AIO, just wax. I'd utterly confident that things would turn out super with a minumum of frustration. Just something to consider if you decide to try a different approach.

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by abbeysdad

If you do some research I think you'd find that there is a grunge layer (anyone that's ever removed a front bra can confirm) of contamination, minor oxidants and just plain grime that just doesn't come off with a wash and detail clay (even if you use the dreaded dawn wash).
Polishing gets rid of this grunge layer, leaving a squeaky clean surface - not all polishing is done to remove swirls and scratches.

Doh, sorry if I misunderstood... I thought he was posting pictures of the swirls because he wanted help in getting rid of them.

[scary bill]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

I dunno folks...every time I see a newbie (no offense intended, BigFly10) being advised to switch from a PC to a rotary I shudder and think that a) that's not likely to make things overall *easier* for him, b) he's not likely to go buy (and learn) a whole new polishing system anyhow, and c) there just aren't all that many cases where you can't get an acceptable finish without using a rotary. When somebody just wants to get their vehicle looking OK, I genuinely believe they can almost always do it without using a rotary. Just my $0.02...hope it didn't sound too

Well, I didn't really mean for him to get a rotary. It is just what I have come across. I do think that Ford clear is soft enought to be picky, oddly I have not gotten as bad of a haze on our 2006 Honda CR-V. Maybe it was easier for me jump back into rotary polishing because of some previous experiance, and I find a PC very unenjoyable to use. That somtimes drives what I post.

I have done some thinking about the OP's haze issue( as with my own) in using his PC. If repolishing with SSR1 and the PC works then ignore my ramblings.
**start ramblings**
There must be a polish that will work well with PC on picky paint. I have tried OP/OC/OHC with the PC and got great results on some cars.
Megs #80/#82/#9 all seem fine, on all but the F-150 Lightning
only #9 with a finishing pad will not leave behind micomarring on the Lightning, it also has no real correction

I did try 3m UF by PC w/ blue pad, I have not had the Lightning in the sun yet but I didn't see any micromarring with the hologen so far. I also used the rotary on the top of the door to see how well that works.

Maybe the 1z polish or 106ff would work, I don't have any to try.

[99MustangGTVert]

Im no expert by any stretch, but it does look from the pictures provided that what Im seeing is a lot of left over rpoduct, not marring. Look at the second pic in from the left. The middle of the door there is a upside down hand print! LOL.

[Accumulator]

scary Bill- Thanks for not taking my post the wrong way. I sometimes get a bit exasperated when really serious detailers suggest "expert-level" approaches to newbies, who I feel are likely to just say "oh, forget it...", and I didn't mean to take out my frustration on you or anyone else in particular.

Yeah, we all have our favorite machines; mine is the Cyclo, I simply like it better than either of my rotaries I agree about the PC, I don't like using that vibration-machine much either but I put up with it for small spot-repairs.

And yeah, sometimes even the white LC pad is just a bit too aggressive. Much as I generally prefer polishing pads to finishing ones, sometimes only the softest pad is gonna work.

When I've had *super* soft paint (it was a repaint that took forever to cure/harden) that even #80 hazed up, I used Griot's Machine Polish #3 and it worked OK. Worked a lot better by Cyclo than by PC though, and by PC it worked best with 4" pads (which is generally true IME).

Hmm..I wonder if the pad size might make a difference I've just hardly *ever* got those pigtail marring marks from a PC and maybe it's because I almost always use 4" pads with mine.

I think the 1Z High Gloss would work OK for this, but I don't work on super-soft paint hardly at all so I don't really know. I'd be astounded if the 1Z Metallic Polish didn't work, and some people have found it has enough cut for mild correction on soft paint. And it'd probably fill the mildest marring anyhow. Ditto for products like Autoglym SRP.

Back in the day, there were some black lacquers that were *SOFT*, and we were able to get 'em OK by hand, with some pretty crude products- "hand rubbed lacquer" and all that.