My swirly first rotary experience

Kraig · 10-18-05, 02:01

I gave my hood a shot with Menzerna and a Metabo today. I used an orange pad with IP and then a green pad with FPII. I think they are DAS or Propel. Following are some pictures:

I can't seem to get all of those tiny specs off the hood, any idea what those are? I can reduce them if I go over it a lot with the IP but I never got them to all go away.

Why do I have so many swirls? I angled the pad so that it would hit only on one side, raised at maybe 5 degrees or so. I went with this side forward since this would leave a trail of polish behind it.

:

Obviously this was wrong, but at least I don't think I burned anything.

GregCavi · 10-18-05, 02:20

what speed were you running at? how many iches per second were you moving? how long did you work the polish? Was your pad and surface clean? did you use pressure? did the pad flop around or what it smooth?

Greg

Asonyexec · 10-18-05, 02:59

you didnt post before pictures but your paint doesnt look that bad. maybe you should have kicked it down a notch with the pads, orange may have been too much for the condition of your paint.

MorBid · 10-18-05, 03:24

The "swirls" are common enough when using a hi-speed polisher. You need to make your final passes with the least abrassive polish/pad in your arsenal at the lowest rpm's. Also make sure your not "dry" polishing

You should keep the pad flat against the panel when polishing. There are techniques for "angling" the pad but that's usually reserved for "picking-up" or "drawing-in" a line of polish on the panel into the pad when first starting off. Thereafter the pad remains flat to the surface. You could do some damage otherwise.

The white specks could be in the clear coat, like tiny rock chips in which case polishing won't get them out. Did you clay first to see if they are contaminants.

Not to shabby for the first time out, you'll get the hang of finishing it out after the defect removal soon enough.

HTH

Morbid

Kraig · 10-18-05, 04:10

Seems like I was moving the pad too quickly, and using too abrassive of a pad and angle. I went over it again with FPII and a gray pad pad laying flat on the hood. Most of the marks are gone except for where I did not spend enough time (I did the whole hood pretty quickly this time).

I did not clay the hood since I had clayed some spots before to get sap off. Those spots had some scratches from the clay and still had the same spotting as the rest of the hood. It was repainted a few years ago and I'm thinking that maybe it is a bad paint job.

Dent's & Details · 10-18-05, 06:17

You will find that if you are using a good final polish and swirls persist it is your pad. The green pad is too aggressive for a final on black. A worn pad will also cause this.

Kraig · 10-18-05, 07:25

Would the blue pad be ok for a final polish?

zey · 10-19-05, 01:10

Kraig, I think it's better to use a DA polisher to get rid of the holograms left behind by the rotary buffer.

Bence · 10-19-05, 01:40

With proper technique the rotary won't leave holograms.

Mosca · 10-19-05, 05:16

I've seen one guy get great results using the tool angled, and I then watched another guy get great results with the tool held flat, 5 minutes later. The one thing they both did was they used the lowest speed and kept the tool moving.

I'm pretty new to the rotary still, but for me it's easiest to keep the tool flat and slow and always in motion. I've very confident with it under those conditions. I think of it as a hot PC, or a fast PC, either way; it's like a PC on fast forward. One thing I noticed about those holograms, they cover a pretty long arc. Are you trying to work too large an area at once? I still divide a small hood into fourths, and a larger hood into sixths. It's easier for me to judge the ratio of product to area and time worked that way. But I'm still working it all out, still getting the feel for things.

Tom

zey · 10-19-05, 05:38

I always remind myself to be slow, steady and relax when using rotary buffer. This will prevent buffer burn and serious holograms.

SpoiledMan · 10-19-05, 05:49

Kraig, why don't you put your location in so that we can see if someone near you can help you out. You have the right tools you just need a little help using them properly.