Using a PC w/ polish. question on paint chips

[absoluteczech]

Hi, will using a porter cable with some polish to remove swirls affect areas were theres paint chips? Will it chip away more at the paint? will the polish be too abbrasive for those areas or is it fine?



thanks guys

[absoluteczech]

bump anyone? will using a PC and a cutting pad w/ polish make an area worse that has rock chips on the paint?

[mikebai1990]

Nah, it won`t make the rock chips worse.

[absoluteczech]

ok thanks, so im safe then, i was just worried it might make the paint chip or flake off

[violentveedub]

No you`re perfectly fine. Those MKV`s have a ton of rock chips though, huh? ;)

[absoluteczech]

No you`re perfectly fine. Those MKV`s have a ton of rock chips though, huh? ;)



yea the mkv are getting chipped easily...but im asking about my gf`s black bmw looks like someone sand blasted the front bumper :bawling:

[cshorey]

I just use a PC for the first time on my hood this weekend and its covered with rock chips (I feel your pain about the sandblasting note) and I had no issues at all. The PC didn`t make them any worse.



I am building up experience with my PC so I haven`t done any cutting yet, I just used the PC to put some meg`s #6 and after that some megs yellow wax.



It when pretty good and didn`t have any issues going over the rock chips.



chris

[leecm]

Guys, I`m in a similar boat here. I am considering using a DA polisher to polish the swirls out of my hood, but there are some paint chips towards the front of my hood. They`re not only chipped, but the paint is "raised" a little bit where the chip is. It kind of looks like a bubble, but with a track in the bubble where the paint chip is. Will a buffer tear off the area of paint that is raised up, making the actual chip more visible by exposing the hood underneath more than its already exposed?

[Accumulator]

..Will a buffer tear off the area of paint that is raised up, making the actual chip more visible by exposing the hood underneath more than its already exposed?



Usually not, though in some rare cases it will knock off very loose paint around the chip.



IMO it`s no biggie as any paint that can be knocked loose this easily will be coming off anyhow. Just watch that pieces of paint don`t get stuck to the pad as they might cause marring.

[leecm]

What about things like claying and waxing? Would I be able to perform those tasks without worrying about them removing the paint? By the way, thanks a TON for your input.

[Accumulator]

What about things like claying and waxing? Would I be able to perform those tasks without worrying about them removing the paint?



The claying *might do it more readily than other processes just by its nature; you`re sliding clay along the paint, hoping it *will* knock loose anything that`s in its way...including raised bits of damaged paint. Whether it knocks the paint loose or not will just depend on how firmyl adhered the paint still is vs. how aggressive the clay/claying technique is.



Waxing shouldn`t be a big deal as it`s a pretty gentle process. I`d worry more about residual wax making the chips more obvious (and I wouldn`t really lose sleep over that either).



I just approach it the way I suggested in my previous reply- if the paint around the chip is so fragile that it`s gonna come off that easily, then I`d rather it come off right away while I`m detailing and (presumably ;) ) in control of what`s going on. The additional chipping will almost certainly happen anyhow. Once the really compromised paint has chipped away, like...it`ll end up chipped back to where the paint is *NOT* compromised, it`ll stop chipping. It won`t continue to get worse and worse or anything like that.



So I`d get things as bad as they`re gonna get right away and see what I think. IF that uncovers bare metal I`d put a bit of rust converter on it and *MAYBE* consider touchup paint (but maybe not). I don`t mind living with paint chips, they just aren`t a big deal to me.

[leecm]

Thanks for your help. One more questions.



If I`m planning on using a touch up paint pen on my paint chips and deep scratches, should I touch up these areas before I use a compound or polish to remove the swirls from the paint?



A couple of the scratches between the front wheel and side mirror may require wetsanding as well to make the touch up look good. Should all of this touch up work be done first?



If I chose to just take the swirls out now and seal/wax it, I can always go back later and touch up those paint chips, scratches, correct?

[Accumulator]

..If I`m planning on using a touch up paint pen on my paint chips and deep scratches, should I touch up these areas before I use a compound or polish to remove the swirls from the paint?



A couple of the scratches between the front wheel and side mirror may require wetsanding as well to make the touch up look good. Should all of this touch up work be done first?



Yeah, I`d do the touchups first. Especially if you`re gonna do wetsanding or even Lanka/etc.


If I chose to just take the swirls out now and seal/wax it, I can always go back later and touch up those paint chips, scratches, correct?



Yeah, but you`d have to strip the wax first. And if you decided to do a little sanding prep before the touchup (say, to tidy up any rough edges around the problem areas) then you`ll risk causing marring that you`d have to repolish to correct.



I`d just get all that work done first, even if it doesn`t turn out perfect, and then detail the car. You might find that so-so touchups don`t bug you so much, at least after you`ve lived with them for a while, when the overall vehicle looks swell. And oh man I`d hate to go back and risk undoing the detail once it`s been done.



I`d do the touchups and then work around them while you detail the car, thus leaving them for last so the paint has a bit of a chance to dry (if not fully cure). Just get `em out of the way.