Micromarring Driving Me Insane

[sftempest66]

Hey guys, well you saw the topic alright....I finally get a sunday to do my own car (2003 White Mach 1) and It will not finish out properly?!?! :hm :hairpull I washed the car with NXT wash, clayed with pinnacle poly ultra clay, and now I`m using the PC with a LC Orange pad from Lake and Country, using the Optimum Polish (take in mind that my car had some minor cobwebbing...) and it is now turning into this....

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c327/sftempest66/IMG_5994.jpg



I`ve tried stepping up to Optimum Compund/LC Orange pad, then finishing out with

a White cutting pad with the Optimum Polish and its finishing out even worse =/ Do you guys have any idea of whats going on? Its REALLY bothering me :sadpace:

[imported_Dave KG]

Micromarring is something that, in my humble opinion, the PC as a tool will always produce to a certain extent as its not a paritcularly powerful tool (free rotation DA), and therefore it can struggle to completely break down a polish resulting in very slight micromarring.. Now on the majority of finishes, this micromarring you cannot see as it is very very slight and easily hidden by metallic flake for example.... On solid colours though, espeically darks, the effect can be more noticeable.



In order to minimise this effect as much as possible, ensure that you fully break the polish down... The Optimum polishes have a long work time as they are very well lubed and I spend about four to five minutes on an 18" sqaure area with the Optimums slowly breaking down the polish by PC to get the best results... the resiude of the polish goes clear when it has fully broken down. Polish that has not broken down will lead to the micromarring which you are seeing.



Here`s a comparison shot on white paint of the results by PC achieved when not breaking the polish down thoroughly, and when breaking it down thoroughly (which I did to illustrate the effect):



Not fully broken down: micromarring:

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/7916/p1010007sk6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



Fully broken down:

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/7591/p1010008bm8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



Note the micromarring is still evident in the second picture, its just extremely slight! So ensre you are fully working the polish until the residue turns clear and keep your work area small to make thoroughly working the polish easier - 18" sqaure is the max area I will tackle at a time. Also, the movement speed of the machine should be nice and slow, about 1" per second.



My best finishes in terms of fully breaking down a polish and getting a crystal sharp finish have been achieved by rotary polisher.

[sftempest66]

Thankyou!!! I was just going to post a reply saying that I thought that I might not have been working in the polish long enough, it seems that the longer I work in the polish, the less micromarring I can see, very good response though, I`d figured as much, and was afraid that I might have to work in the OP that long to achieve the results that I want :thx

[imported_Picus]

Dave nails it again. :)



You will see this a lot with a PC, sometimes it just takes some experimenting with different pads and speeds.

[kpounds]

What a great explanation! My polishing just bumped up a couple notches! TKU! :bigups

[SilverLexus]

With an LC Variable Contour pad and Z-PC I have not really had a micromarring problem. I have had this in the past only when I was using lower quality sheepskin mitts and microfiber. I think you have to be careful with dirt contamination to prevent the marring. I also find that a clean pad and a higher speed on the PC help a lot.

[sevenrd]

Micromarring is something that, in my humble opinion, the PC as a tool will always produce to a certain extent as its not a paritcularly powerful tool (free rotation DA), and therefore it can struggle to completely break down a polish resulting in very slight micromarring.. Now on the majority of finishes, this micromarring you cannot see as it is very very slight and easily hidden by metallic flake for example.... On solid colours though, espeically darks, the effect can be more noticeable.



In order to minimise this effect as much as possible, ensure that you fully break the polish down... The Optimum polishes have a long work time as they are very well lubed and I spend about four to five minutes on an 18" sqaure area with the Optimums slowly breaking down the polish by PC to get the best results... the resiude of the polish goes clear when it has fully broken down. Polish that has not broken down will lead to the micromarring which you are seeing.



Here`s a comparison shot on white paint of the results by PC achieved when not breaking the polish down thoroughly, and when breaking it down thoroughly (which I did to illustrate the effect):



Not fully broken down: micromarring:

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/7916/p1010007sk6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



Fully broken down:

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/7591/p1010008bm8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



Note the micromarring is still evident in the second picture, its just extremely slight! So ensre you are fully working the polish until the residue turns clear and keep your work area small to make thoroughly working the polish easier - 18" sqaure is the max area I will tackle at a time. Also, the movement speed of the machine should be nice and slow, about 1" per second.



My best finishes in terms of fully breaking down a polish and getting a crystal sharp finish have been achieved by rotary polisher.



Great explanation and examples, Dave.

[imported_rydawg]

on ford and gm paint I have found that a pc will not take most of these out. A rotory is definately needed and then finish with a pc to a swirl free gloss.

[RAG]

Yes, Dave has it right. Though I don`t really use a PC much, I really don`t have a micromarring problem anymore except on black, but even then I`m able to avoid it completely at about 50% of the time. A key for me has be polish and pad selection...PO106FF because it contains the best "finishing" abrasives I know of, and the Green foam pad from American Buffing (the low PPI (about 70) adds up to microscopic pockets that don`t tend to slam the abrasive particles into the paint as bad. I`m also very careful not to apply too much pressure and I "encourage" the pad to spin so that the abrasives roll around more than get pushed back and forth where they tend to couge the paint, in which case it doesn`t matter how long the polish is worked for, the initial gouging will not be worked away.

[Scottwax]

Have you tried using a polishing pad instead? Cutting pads tend to leave marring and switching to another cutting pad won`t help. Switching to a polishing pad will probably make a difference.

[JavierC]

Wow dave, excellent work and did you do the comparison solely for this thread ?? If so, kudos to you

[imported_Dave KG]

Wow dave, excellent work and did you do the comparison solely for this thread ?? If so, kudos to you



This comparison I did for the large guide on paintwork defect correction I am currently writing, but I thought the pics would come in useful here. :)