Black F-150 - What did I do wrong?

BigFly10 · 05-13-08, 09:46

I attacked my 2007 black F-150 this past weekend for a full spring detail. My steps included:

- Wash with Meguiars gold class
- Mother's clay bar
- Polish with PB SSR1 and PC with white LC pad
- Polish with AIO
- LSP Meguiars #16

After an entire day and aching bones, I stepped back as the sun was setting to admire my work. Boy was I UNPLEASANTLY surprised!

With the sun shining directly on the side panel I could not BELIEVE the hazing! I almost started crying in my driveway.

I was trying to monitor the results as I was progressing and everything seemed fine (without the sun shining directly on it of course). And despite what you see in the pictures, without direct sunlight, the truck looks okay. But you can see in the attached pictures how BAD it looks in the sunlight (keep in mind that it's a bit dusty in the first 3 pictures....I cleaned off the dust for the 4th & 5th picture).

Anyway, I need to figure out what I did wrong and how to fix this. I can only assume this would have been induced by the SSR1. My technique was as follows:

- Apply a generous amount of SSR1 to pad
- Spread polish over area to be polished (about size of 1/4 truck hood) with PC on speed 1.
- Increase PC to speed 6 and work the polish in moving the PC about an inch or two per second. Apply reasonably heavy (10-15 lbs) of downward pressure on the PC while moving.
- Use overlapping strokes (about half the pad overlapping) and work the entire area 3 times (back and forth, then up and down, then back and worth again).
- Wipe clean and admire newly induced hazing.

Thoughts? Did I move the PC too fast? Too slow? Too much polish? Too little? Work the polish in for too long? Not long enough? Use too much pressure?

Please help! I have used this technique in the past on my silver Nissan Maxima with absolutely no noticeable issues. This black F-150 seems to be a different beast though.

Many thanks in advance.

integritydetail · 05-13-08, 10:08

was that just after the ssr1 or polish too?

Tusin · 05-13-08, 10:26

well, for one, aio is not a polish, it is a cleaner wax. It's really good for prep for some sg or a carnuaba, etc.

Anyway, I can't see the pictures too well since I'm on my iPhone but I'd be pretty darn surprised if ss1 and a white pad induced major hazing. This combo is very mild.

I will say though, it sounds like you didnt work the polish long enough. Three passes? How long did that take u? A minute or two? Since "generous" is a subjective term, you may have used to much polish as well. All u need is a bead around the pad.

Are u sure it's hazing? Its not left over polish, aio, or lsp that you didnt fully remove? If it is hazing, use less polish and work it in longer. This time, have a halogen ready, or the sun so you can inspect your work as u go, you could have saved yourself a lot of time by testing it on one panel first to figure out the plan of attack that u needed.

evolutionwc3 · 05-14-08, 02:16

BF- although difficult to tell from the pics it appears that something is left on the paint. I can imagine that if the polish wasn't broken down and fully removed then you threw some AIO into the mix- this is what the end result would be. Such a tough call. I would over-concentrate wash a panel, Prep-Sol it and run through the steps again.

My.02c

bwlucas · 05-14-08, 07:52

I recently just did a detail for a family friend on a black Montego that was only 3 years old. It was a pain in the ***, I've never worked on clear that was so hard before. If I remember correctly, there was a thread somewhere that had a chart of soft to hard clears, and I think Ford was right up there with BMW.

I had to use an orange pad + OC to try and even begin to cut through the heavy swirling with a PC. I only had time for one pass before moving on to FPII, so I couldn't get the even deeper stuff out. That could be the problem, I don't think SSR1 is an aggressive enough polish for Ford clear.

Accumulator · 05-14-08, 07:59

Noting that I know *nothing* about SSR1....yeah, it sounds like too much product, not worked long enough. And IMO 1/4 of a F-150 hood is one *mighty big* area to work by PC, not that others wouldn't do an area that large, but I wouldn't.

"Generous" sounds like *way* too much product to me

To go over the F-150 one time shouldn't take much product at all (and if SSR1 is as mild as I think it is, going over a black truck one time with it won't do much of any correction either), so if the bottle's not still nearly full you used too much.

Looking at the pics, if I were correcting that by PC using ~6" white LC pads, it'd take me a long, long time to do each panel (and I'd even be using stronger polish too). Many passes, each with relatively little product. I can't begin to guess how many times I'd go over each area, but it'd be quite a few. And each time would take quite a while.

Generally, you work a small area until the polish is almost, but not quite, dry.

With the AIO, I'd buff off its residue before it dries.

Oh, and I'd try to catch such stuff *before* doing all the steps...nip it in the bud as soon as something doesn't work right.

SuperBee364 · 05-14-08, 08:34

As Accumulator said, it looks like you just need to do a few more applications of the SSR1. You have *started* to correct the paint in those pictures, now you just need to finish. Also as Accumulator said, you might want to think about using a stronger polish to correct that paint.

If I was doing that truck with a PC...

1. 4" LC orange pad
2. Menzerna Super Intensive polish. At least four (and probably five) applications
3. 4" LC white
4. Menzerna PO106FF Nano Polish. At least two applications (and probably three).
5. AIO if desired
6. LSP

Even when you are correcting paint with a rotary, it's unusual to be able to get the paint looking it's best after one pass with a polish and one pass with an AIO; you need more than that. And when you're using a PC, you need to plan on at least double the amount of polish applications as what would be required with a rotary.

Those pictures show that you definitely have a good start on the correction. It just needs to be finished.

bwalker25 · 05-14-08, 08:53

It really looks like to me that it wasn't broken down all the way to me! even seems like some buffer trails or hologramming.

As other have said...go with a stronger polish, I have some M95 and its a beast

with an orange pad!

abbeysdad · 05-14-08, 08:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperBee364

As Accumulator said, it looks like you just need to do a few more applications of the SSR1. You have *started* to correct the paint in those pictures, now you just need to finish. Also as Accumulator said, you might want to think about using a stronger polish to correct that paint.

If I was doing that truck with a PC...

1. 4" LC orange pad
2. Menzerna Super Intensive polish. At least four (and probably five) applications
3. 4" LC white
4. Menzerna PO106FF Nano Polish. At least two applications (and probably three).
5. AIO if desired
6. LSP

Even when you are correcting paint with a rotary, it's unusual to be able to get the paint looking it's best after one pass with a polish and one pass with an AIO; you need more than that. And when you're using a PC, you need to plan on at least double the amount of polish applications as what would be required with a rotary.

Those pictures show that you definitely have a good start on the correction. It just needs to be finished.

I'm not sure I agree unless there are signifiant defects. I just did my spring detail with OP on a yellow pad and only worked enough to..well.. deep clean the surface, not grind down to a new level.
<He did say it was a spring detail and didn't mention defects - right?>

It does sound like maybe there was too much product used and maybe a mild polish now will make things right again.

SuperBee364 · 05-14-08, 09:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by abbeysdad

I'm not sure I agree unless there are signifiant defects. I just did my spring detail with OP on a yellow pad and only worked enough to..well.. deep clean the surface, not grind down to a new level.
<He did say it was a spring detail and didn't mention defects - right?>

It does sound like maybe there was too much product used and maybe a mild polish now will make things right again.

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?

BigFly10 · 05-14-08, 09:27

Thanks for the input everyone.

I have to apologize somewhat for the pictures. I was in a hurry trying to get them while the sun was still up so I didn't have the opportunity to take the time to get a really good shot. Some of what you can see is definitely dust, but let me assure you that even after cleaning the surface thoroughly, the hazing is still clearly evident.

There were some swirl marks starting to show up in the black paint which is why I decided to do an SSR1 polish. Nothing major....just some minor marks I wanted to clean up. Most of those were corrected, but now the hazing I induced is much worse.

I did use a little more polish than just a bead around the pad. Maybe that's part of the problem. It probably took me about 2-3 minutes per section.

What I can find about the F-150 clear coat says is that it is very soft. Based on that conclusion with the feedback that I am getting, it seems to me that my problem was likely too much product not broken down long enough.

I am going try again on one panel with my halogen ready to inspect the results. I do realize that I should have checked my work prior to going so far, but everything "appeared" okay (the swirl marks I was working on were being corrected) until the sunlight hit.

BigFly10 · 05-14-08, 09:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Noting that I know *nothing* about SSR1....yeah, it sounds like too much product, not worked long enough. And IMO 1/4 of a F-150 hood is one *mighty big* area to work by PC, not that others wouldn't do an area that large, but I wouldn't.

"Generous" sounds like *way* too much product to me

To go over the F-150 one time shouldn't take much product at all (and if SSR1 is as mild as I think it is, going over a black truck one time with it won't do much of any correction either), so if the bottle's not still nearly full you used too much.

Looking at the pics, if I were correcting that by PC using ~6" white LC pads, it'd take me a long, long time to do each panel (and I'd even be using stronger polish too). Many passes, each with relatively little product. I can't begin to guess how many times I'd go over each area, but it'd be quite a few. And each time would take quite a while.

Generally, you work a small area until the polish is almost, but not quite, dry.

With the AIO, I'd buff off its residue before it dries.

Oh, and I'd try to catch such stuff *before* doing all the steps...nip it in the bud as soon as something doesn't work right.

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.