Brand new black Ford Ranger - Not polishing out! Tips?

[Quenga]

I am having the fight of my life with this truck right now. What was supposed to be a quick new car prep and Opti-Coat has turned into 6 hours of polishing with less than worthy results. I cannot seem to get rid of some light marring/haze to get that deep dark black. I've never done a Jet Black BMW, but I'm assuming this is what others have gone through.

I have HD Uno, M105 and D300 on a MF Cutting Pad or LC Orange CCS pad have never failed to produce good results for me. Right now, they are creating heavy marring. Trying to polish out with white/gray CCS pads and HD Polish or M205 aren't cutting it either. My 4" Meguiars spot pads are some how producing the best results, but I only have 1 set of them and there's no way I'm polishing an entire car with them! A detail supply shop is literally less than a mile from my apartment, so I'm going to stop by and pick up some large Meg's pads to see if that solves my issue tomorrow.

I can't find anything else about Black Ford Rangers. Anyone else have such PITA issues? I actually thought this guys truck was white when I agreed to do it (family friend). But I'm past making money on this, now it's a matter of pride. It's one of those days that test my emotions.

[Richard Grasa]

Seems you have some seriously soft clear there. I would try stepping down to a red or even a gold pad with the 205, using very, very light pressure. Are you using a DA or a rotary? You may have to do more of a jeweling type process to get that soft paint to finish down nice. Check out this chart for the CCS pads and try using one of the pads towards the bottom. Autogeek Buffing Pad Comparison Chart

If you still get marring/hazing with one of those pads you may need to find a lighter polish than the 205. Or you could try going the other way and use the gray pad you have with a lighter polish, but personally I would try a lighter pad first.

[Quenga]

I've used DA and rotary. MF pads, orange, white, black, blue ccs pads and even some CG hex-logic pads (which actually produced the worst results). My Meguiars spot pads were doing a better job. The best I've been able to achieve is M205 on a LC Black Pad speed 3.5-4 on my PC.

I pulled it out in the sun and you have to get close to see it, so I think I'm going to cut my losses. I mean, it's a truck. My main concern is I'm using Opti-Coat. I've only used it on white, silver and light blue - cake details basically. I've polished out black and my worst was a Subaru, but even that produced better results in the end.

Not to mention, for a brand new car...man this thing has a lot of scratches. Tons of swirls, and as soon as I buff 90% of them out, they start popping up like weeds.

The only lighter polish I have is Poli-Seal - which would just get in the way of Opti-Coat. I think I'm going to pick up some 3m finishing polishes. Never used them, but I've never had to use anything past 205.

[Quenga]

My girlfriend says I'm being too anal, and maybe I am. Problem is I've only seen bad detailing and my detailing, which I usually get jobs because of bad detailing. I'm feeling like a bad detailer today. It's midnight and I'm still polishing. Time for bed, my neighbors probably hate me. Anyone in SD wanna come over?

It's hard to capture on my phone, but you can still see the outlines of this finicky paint. Not to mention my MF towels are linting like crazy all over this car today.

[Quenga]

... You may have to do more of a jeweling type process to get that soft paint to finish down nice. ...

This ended up being the answer. I finally got down to the level I was looking for. I was using a blue pad with no results and this morning I started cleaning my pads for try #2. One of my white pads it taking on a yellowish/gold tint and BAM, light bulb went off. I have Gold pads! DUH. I busted them out and re-read a thread by Todd Helme (thank you baby Jesus) about jeweling paint. I decided M205 is probably more aggressive than HD polish and I might be right!

I worked 3 dabs of HD Polish on a Gold CCS pad (which, turned into a flat pad after 1 wax job) in for about a minute at 15-1800 RPM, then brought it down to 1200 and then 6-900 on the Flex PE-14. I've been working each section for 3-4 minutes and I'm now satisfied.

1/3 of the car is done and I have 5-6 hours to finish 2/3's of it! Breakfast is over, time to get back to work.

[Thomas Dekany]

Welcome to the club! Flat black paints are always different from all other colors when it comes to polishing. you will get used to them

I did a 2012 mustang in that color with 37 miles and took 30 hours to correct. I finished with HD POLISH and a black pad.

Also if the pad is not clean clean, with the rotary especially you will have issues

Always have a bunch ready.

[Quenga]

Thanks Thomas, having experienced people chime in makes me feel a little better. You know I thought about logging into the 3D website to see if that "This is Thomas Dekany, Can I help you?" Message box came up, lol.

Uno/Orange pad is causing too much additional work, so I stepped it down to Uno/White pad and just hitting it twice. I'd like get to more, but I don't have the time to do that. Then HD Polish/Black pad for two passes, second pass adding a pea size amount of polish. Then Polish/Gold with 2 pea sized drops of HD Polish for the first time. After primed, I just press the pad to the panel a few times and start off at 900, add a drop if it doesn't look "moist" enough.

I've been cleaning pads by pressing them against a MF towel after each pass and switching them out after each section. I only have 2 Black and 2 Gold though. I used to have more, but I'm not sure where they all went. I have 6.5 or 7 inch pads, but I don't using them.

[Thomas Dekany]

LOL!

I'd get more black and red pads like this: 7.5" Red Flat Finishing Pad - 100 ppi

Also you will find that most paint reacts differently.

Good job!

[Quenga]

Yeah, I've never needed anything beyond black and I think sometimes I was just thinking I needed it, lol. I can usually finish on white. I finished a black Subaru on white and M105 on my PC and that paint was a PITA to wipe product off! Well, drink break over...back to work. Still got the trunk and roof...