Noobie PC Question

FASTC5 · 05-13-06, 07:30

Good afternoon all,

I have a 2000 Torch Red Corvette, and am having a PITA with some small scratches, I went to another forum members house earlier this week "Gonzo" and he did my whole hood with his rotory and Menzerna. He was able to get out all of the swirl marks, fine scratches & "round off" the edges of some rather deep (to me) scratches in the clear coat.
Anyways, I have a PC and the pads and am using Meg's 83, what speed should I be using the PC on and I what color pad, (I have orange, white & black) I have been using the orange, with #83 at a speed of 4.5 but it does not seem to be working as good as I thought it would.

What exactly is the PC capable of? Does this sound like I should use a rotory for the whole job? Also, the scratches he was able to "round off" so they don't appear so deep, is there any way to totally remove those?

TIA!

Sean

Accumulator · 05-13-06, 02:33

FASTC5- Welcome to Autopia!

If Gonzo decided to leave some marring when using the rotary, I strongly recommend that you simply learn to live with it. He knows what he's doing and, as I often say, "Better imperfect original paint than a need for a repaint". You can only thin the clear so much and then it'll fail, and that "so much" isn't much at all (general rule is .3 mil, which is .0003"). And that's all you can take off over the life of the vehicle.

The PC is definitely limited in what it can do in a reasonable amount of time, and your car has pretty hard clear. Bump the speed up to 6, use the orange pad, and plan to spend a long time on each panel. It's not unheard of for somebody to spend literally several *hours* doing one panel with the PC.

Yeah, a rotary would be faster, but it takes a lot more skill than the PC does.

velobard · 05-13-06, 03:00

I'll second that, if a skilled detailer left scratches with the rotary, you're probably best off leaving them be. He most likely left them because removing any more clear would cause problems.

If the scratches are still bothering you, try something with some fillers. I have a bunch of 3M Fill 'n Glaze I can use for this and I believe sometime soon the new Sonus Scratchbuster polish is coming out. There's loads of stuff out there with fillers to help hide scratches and while most here prefer to remove the scratches, there's definitely a time and a place for fillers. (BTW, you can PM me if you're interested in some of the 3M stuff).

FASTC5 · 05-14-06, 07:31

Thanks a bunch guys! I went at it pretty hard with the PC yesterday and could not crack the scratches, I need someone with rotory skills to hit it for a bit.

Thanks again!
Sean