pc and SSR3 not making a dent..

tumbler · 09-09-05, 08:36

hi all,
recently picked up an 03 trailblazer in dark/navy blue. unfortunately the previous owner did not take care of it as i am..

i can't seem to rid of its swirls that i'm afraid a rotary may be my only choice.

i recently went over 1/4 of the hood with SSR 3 , orange pad , pc speed 5 and still there were fine swirls.. i went over it and wiped it off about 3 times < sigh >

i then went to DACP x 2 using a different orange pad speed 6 and still the swirls appeared <sigh >

and i'm using fresh MF towels as well..

I then gave up as night fell.. sorry no pics..

any suggestions on what to do now ? at this rate, i'm afraid the hood alone may take many hours..

Scottwax , how the heck do you do this SMR work with a PC only and not a rotary ?

1SLOW50 · 09-09-05, 08:46

Wow, I can't believe that didn't make a dent. Maybe Chevy clear is hard.

Someone else could probably bring more insight but SSR3 with an Orange pad should definately take out swirls.

tumbler · 09-09-05, 08:53

^ exactly, that's what i've been saying.. < sigh >

1SLOW50 · 09-09-05, 08:54

How much product did you use? That seems to be a common problem with the SSR line and a mistake I made my first time using it.

tumbler · 09-09-05, 09:35

i don't think i'm using too much.. normal dabs on the 12, 3, 6 and 9 positions of the orange pad ..

i'm going to try slightly less product , and try to work it till dust maybe ?

DSVWGLI · 09-09-05, 10:13

I've been removing a lot of heavy swirls lately with ssr 3 with either an orange propel pad or yellow propel pad speed 6. You have to crank it up to 6 to get those bad boys out. Sometimes I'll use a 6" LC yellow cutting pad, has a little more bite because of the smaller size. Just make sure you do small areas at a time, and work ssr 3 for a while untill it starts to become translucent. If you only work it for a short time you don't get the full benefit of ssr 3. Also if you stop to soon you will get a lot more hazing. If you want to see what ssr 3 will do check out some of my recent details. Good luck

.

tumbler · 09-10-05, 06:41

thanks for the advice, I'll re-address the issue over this weekend.

03k20a2 · 09-12-05, 06:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSVWGLI

I've been removing a lot of heavy swirls lately with ssr 3 with either an orange propel pad or yellow propel pad speed 6. You have to crank it up to 6 to get those bad boys out. Sometimes I'll use a 6" LC yellow cutting pad, has a little more bite because of the smaller size. Just make sure you do small areas at a time, and work ssr 3 for a while untill it starts to become translucent. If you only work it for a short time you don't get the full benefit of ssr 3. Also if you stop to soon you will get a lot more hazing. If you want to see what ssr 3 will do check out some of my recent details. Good luck

.

do you use the 7.5" pads?

Mitchubishievo · 09-12-05, 06:25

All I can say is move slower...that was my problem when I tried it for the first time. I now go at about 1 inch per second and I can get some pretty good swirls out...but never like Scott; he does stuff with Megs polishing pad and optimum that I could never even dream of!

4830Deuce · 09-12-05, 06:35

I would try using a yellow pad...that extra bite might do it....not really a fan of the SSR line, I had the same experience as you with it and haven’t used it since.

Scottwax · 09-12-05, 06:58

The Meguiars burgandy cutting pad is the best heavy cut pad I have used. Combined with Optimum Compound, I got out (by out I mean around 90%) of the scratches in the hood of an ML430 that had a flourescent light shatter over it and then the glass shards were brushed off. I got some very minor hazing because I was bearing down pretty hard. Optimum polish with a Meguiars polishing pad finished it out really nicely. Most of the scratches were gone and the few remaining you only saw from certain angles and lighting.

Will that work on your Trailblazer?

My advice is to get hold of a burgandy Meguiars pad, once the product is spread out, crank the PC up to 6 (and you will notice at 6, the PC is definitely more aggressive than it is on lower speeds) and slow your passes down to no more than 1/2" to 1" per second for 6-7 passes (or less if what you are using starts dusting). Bear down too, don't just use the weight of the PC. You can push down harder without bogging when using the burgandy pad, btw. Push down until the motor noticably bogs, then back off just enough to get it sped back up and maintain that pressure. The main problems I see with people using the PC is the speed is too low, the passes are too fast and they don't use enough pressure.

Picus · 09-12-05, 07:00

Great advice. Everytime I read one of your posts about that burgandy pad it makes me crazy that I can't find one.