New to this, took my first crack at using my PC last night... need guidance

[DKO]

So I`ve been a lurker on this site for years, but never had anything to post and often used the search function. Most of the detailing I did was on my personal vehicle and it was done by hand. I felt I was ready to move up to a DA recently, and took advantage of an autogeek package. So... here`s what I did.



First my car is a 2005 Mustang GT in Torch red, and this is what I was using. The only body panel I`ve done is the hood. Felt like it would be a good canvas to perfect my method on and then move from there over the rest of the vehicle.



First I used my PC on 5-6 w/ M83 w/ LC Orange Pad and this pulled out a lot of my swirls and scratches, but not everything. Buffed the residue off by hand. I tried to control my pressure and I *THINK* I had 15-25lbs of pressure but I could be wrong. I`m afraid I might have had too much.



I followed this up with the PC on 4-5 w/ M80 w/ LC Orange Pad (Same pad, as used with the 83, don`t know if this is no-no?). Some more swirls and scratches were present, but again, not everything. Residue buffed by hand again.



I then used the PC on 4-5 w/ P21s cleansing lotion w/ LC White Pad w/ little to no pressure. Again, still a few swirls, paint really started to shine though.



Finally for a Glaze I put my PC on 3-4 and applied S100 paste wax w/ LC Gray pad w/ no pressure. Very fine swirl marks, but overall a nice shine.



Now... all of this was done in my garage last night which wasn`t well lit, but I used my Halogen light to help me out with this. And as far as I could see with the light, the results weren`t bad for a first time.



End result.. I go out this morning and I can still see swirl marks in the bright sun. Not as bad as before, the clarity is much better... but they`re still there. I`m also detecting faint hints of holograms!



So, based on your guys experience, what am I doing wrong?!

[stiffdogg06]

So I`ve been a lurker on this site for years, but never had anything to post and often used the search function. Most of the detailing I did was on my personal vehicle and it was done by hand. I felt I was ready to move up to a DA recently, and took advantage of an autogeek package. So... here`s what I did.



First my car is a 2005 Mustang GT in Torch red, and this is what I was using. The only body panel I`ve done is the hood. Felt like it would be a good canvas to perfect my method on and then move from there over the rest of the vehicle.



First I used my PC on 5-6 w/ M83 w/ LC Orange Pad and this pulled out a lot of my swirls and scratches, but not everything. Buffed the residue off by hand. I tried to control my pressure and I *THINK* I had 15-25lbs of pressure but I could be wrong. I`m afraid I might have had too much.



I followed this up with the PC on 4-5 w/ M80 w/ LC Orange Pad (Same pad, as used with the 83, don`t know if this is no-no?). Some more swirls and scratches were present, but again, not everything. Residue buffed by hand again.



I then used the PC on 4-5 w/ P21s cleansing lotion w/ LC White Pad w/ little to no pressure. Again, still a few swirls, paint really started to shine though.



Finally for a Glaze I put my PC on 3-4 and applied S100 paste wax w/ LC Gray pad w/ no pressure. Very fine swirl marks, but overall a nice shine.



Now... all of this was done in my garage last night which wasn`t well lit, but I used my Halogen light to help me out with this. And as far as I could see with the light, the results weren`t bad for a first time.



End result.. I go out this morning and I can still see swirl marks in the bright sun. Not as bad as before, the clarity is much better... but they`re still there. I`m also detecting faint hints of holograms!



So, based on your guys experience, what am I doing wrong?!



You may need to work the polish longer?

[DKO]

You may need to work the polish longer?



I was thinking maybe that was an issue. What would cause the holograms?

[eyezack87]

#83 tends to leave a ton of micromarring for some odd reason. I`ve had it finish down LSP ready ONCE, but thats about it lol



Those holograms could be micromarring thats popping up in random places when you look at it. I had that effect on a trunk I was working on in the past. I thought it was a hologram but it was actually micromarring

[Accumulator]

.. I used my PC on 5-6 w/ M83 w/ LC Orange Pad and this pulled out a lot of my swirls and scratches, but not everything. Buffed the residue off by hand. I tried to control my pressure and I *THINK* I had 15-25lbs of pressure but I could be wrong. I`m afraid I might have had too much...



As long as you weren`t bogging the machine down to where it merely "jiggled" you probably weren`t applying too much pressure. How many passes (polish worked to nearly-dry, residue buffed off) did you do?




I followed this up with the PC on 4-5 w/ M80 w/ LC Orange Pad (Same pad, as used with the 83, don`t know if this is no-no?). Some more swirls and scratches were present, but again, not everything. Residue buffed by hand again.



IMO the orange pad is a bit too aggressive to match up well with the #80. I`d use a white pad with that product. And using a mild product on a pad that`s previously been used with an aggressive product can be problematic; you need to clean *ALL* the #83 out of the pad or you`ll end up with a #83/#80 mixture.



Also, note that the orange pad doesn`t usually give all that great a finish on medium-hard/soft clear. Better to use a white pad before you move on to something like your next step.




I then used the PC on 4-5 w/ P21s cleansing lotion w/ LC White Pad w/ little to no pressure. Again, still a few swirls, paint really started to shine though.



The P21S GEPC is so mild as to be functionally nonabrasive in most cases. It`s a nice paint cleaner/glaze, but so is the stuff that #80 leaves behind. I dunno....if I use #80 I don`t then use something like the GEPC but that`s just me.




Finally for a Glaze I put my PC on 3-4 and applied S100 paste wax w/ LC Gray pad w/ no pressure. Very fine swirl marks, but overall a nice shine.



The wax won`t really add much of anything, but will help protect the finish you`ve attained through the previous steps. Well, it`ll add a little bit of gloss...but my point is that you don`t apply the wax until you`re satisfied with how things look.




..I go out this morning and I can still see swirl marks in the bright sun. Not as bad as before, the clarity is much better... but they`re still there. I`m also detecting faint hints of holograms!



So, based on your guys experience, what am I doing wrong?!





Short answer: you`re switching to mild combos too soon, you`re using a too-aggressive pad with the #80, and you`re over-complicating things a little by using the GEPC after the #80 (not that it`s a *bad* idea, but it`s probably not adding all that much while bing another variable and one more chance for something to go haywire).



The marring is still there because you didn`t do enough work with the #83/orange combo before moving on to the milder steps. Use the #83/orange until things basically look the way you want them. Then the #80/white will bring up the gloss a little bit and leave things ready-to-wax.



The "holograms" (scare-quotes intentional) aren`r *true* holograms; holograms are a rotary (only)-induced phenomenon. The pseudo-holograms you have are probably either a light hazing from doing all the (truly abrasive) polishing with the orange pad and/or residue from all the different things you have on the paint: the Meguiar`s products leave their Trade Secret Oils (and, in the case of #80 some paint-safe polymers) behind; the P21S GEPC also leaves oils, and some fillers, behind and probably cleaned off much, but not all, of the Meguiar`s stuff. The wax might`ve also left something undesirable behind if you didn`t buff it quite thoroughly enough.



A good wash might take care of that, but to make things easier next time, *I* would just go straight from the #80 to your wax, and I`d be meticulous about buffing off the #80`s residue.



If the wash doesn`t take care of it, then the issue is under the wax and will almost certainly get sorted out when you do more polishing. But wrap up the polishing with #80 on the white pad.



Oh, and Welcome to Autopia! I suspect you`re closer to the results you`re after than you might first think.