Are compounding holograms inevitable?

Reflections · 03-28-06, 09:26

I'm still fairly new with my Metabo rotary. I have polished about 4 cars so far, all with heavy swirling. I am finding that when I use a cutting pad + a compound I get a lot of holograms, even when I feel the polisher is moving accross the paint well, in a controlled and effective manner. I seem to get far less when using a polishing pad with a compound.

After doing any heavy correcting, I follow with my PC and a polishing pad with a polish like Menzerna IP or Optimum Polish, and this completely removes the holograms.

My question is are these holograms inevitable at this stage or am I still doing something wrong? I have read that doing a second rotary pass with a polish at around 900 RPM is a good way to remove holograms as well.

Any thoughts or recommendations are highly appreciated. FYI I have various lake country pads as well as Optimum Compound, Hyper Compound, Polish, and most of the Menzerna line.

tumbler · 03-29-06, 04:38

hologramming in my view is not enough product on the paint and pad, at that specific time

have you tried different pad with same hologramming appear ?

have you tried using slightly more product ?

have quickly are you moving your rotary ?

Every now and then I get light hologramming as sometimes they are inevitable of which a pc and a lighter compound like vm or rmg removes.

RAG · 03-29-06, 04:49

Sure, technique plays a factor. But with compounding...halograms, or rotary swirls, are inevitable. So don't worry about this. The halograms show up more on darker colored cars, especially black. The more aggressive you are, the more the halograms will show up...a given compound with a medium polishing pad is not as aggressive as the same compound with a coarse cutting pad, and thus the halograms will be more pronounces as you have noticed.

It is best to use the rotary, and not the PC, to remove the halograms as much as possible and then, if necessary, use the PC. Heavy rotary swirls can take all day to remove with a PC. On black cars with soft clears, it can be nearly impossible to completely remove all traces of halograms visible under direct sunlight. Sure, you can find the softest polish made with a super soft pad, but that this point it would be safer to use a slightly stronger polish combo with the PC.

On a black finish, if you perform a heavy compound, you will need to follow with a light compound and then polish...at a minimum. On a white or grey finish, you can go straght from a heavy compound to a light polish and get away with not "seeing" the halograms.

Hope that helps.

mr.ikon · 03-29-06, 07:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAG

On a black finish, if you perform a heavy compound, you will need to follow with a light compound and then polish...at a minimum. On a white or grey finish, you can go straght from a heavy compound to a light polish and get away with not "seeing" the halograms.

Hope that helps.

what about red?

Accumulator · 03-29-06, 07:47

Mr. Ikon- You just have to (literally) see. It's not like the holograms aren't actually there on certain colors, just that some people don't worry about ones that're hardly noticeable. IMO white is about the only color where you shouldn't be very conscientious about stuff like this, and I'd sure look a white vehicle over carefully too.

Red isn't as unforgiving as black, but it's not like makes such stuff as hard to see as white either.

FWIW, when I inspect a silver car for holograms, I probably spend at least 10 minutes on every inspection, sometimes even longer- and a white car would take longer still. I keep looking for that one viewing angle that'll show 'em so there won't be any surprises later; if they're there I want to know so I can correct them. With colors/paints that don't readily show light marring like holograms, it's both a blessing and a curse- a blessing when it comes to casual inspection, a curse when it comes to rigorous inspection.

So I just generally assume they're there and give it a quick once-over with the Cyclo and a mild polish. That's usually sufficient anyhow.

Reflections · 03-29-06, 08:50

Thanks for the help guys. You've put my mind at ease. I'll try going over with a finishign pad on the rotary and a light polish first before doing a final inspection and switching to the pc if required.

Tumber- I'll try using a little more product and see what happens. I have RMG, I thought it was non-abrasive. Wouldn't using this product to "remove" holograms just hide them until the glaze wore off?

RAG · 03-29-06, 10:23

RMG won't to anything for removing halograms.

Depending on the pay, I try to polish every car as if it were black...black is just my measuring stick; just because I can't see them, doesn't meen the halograms (slight circular scratches from the buffer) aren't there...so if you want a perfect finish...stage down in aggressiveness properly.

wannafbody · 03-29-06, 05:20

I've removed compounding holograms with Mothers PowerPolish and a light cutting pad with a rotary.

gtbaka · 03-29-06, 10:30

Are compounding holograms inevitable?

In a word, yes.

Rotary + Cutting Pad + Compound = inevitable swirls.

But of course it shouldn't be a worry. If you are trying to finish off a polishing job from start to finish with those three components, I'd say you're using the wrong tools for the job. Holograms are wiped off like nothing when you step down to a milder approach after. So when I cut and compound, the least of my worries is holograms... just scratches, mild etching, deep swirls, bad buffer swirl from bad detailing, etc. I know the holograms will be easily removed in the final polish step.

Reflections · 03-29-06, 10:38

Cool thanks again for the input. Now that I don't have to worry about compound holograms, I'm free to focus purely on swirl correction, etc. Thanks for sharing your experience everyone.