Finally figured out how to polish my black car

[simplybao]

This past weekend was fun. It was the first time this year that I`ve had time to really work on my car. I`ve been on this site for about a year now learning from you guys and I really appreciate all of your help.



Accumulator has been awesome and has helped me so much! Anyway, last year I got a Cyclo and some 1z IP and PP. I tried a test panel and my results were crap. I got hazing and the finish looked worse than when I started. Over the course of the year I learned that I was using way way way too much product and nowhere near enough work time.



Just a note for the newbies reading my post. Watch all the videos online that you can and then remember that the videos are cut short. Most of the videos show someone starting polishing the panel then is edited to show the end where he is finishing the panel. I found the video on the gloss-it site to be the most informative because it also showed you how much product to use.



I`m not going to say that I have mastered this yet because I think I could still get a better finish. Practicing on your own black car is a very scary experience.



I am not too good at taking pictures and had a hard time capturing defects and getting good pictures to show you results. But I`ll share what I have.



My process:



Wash -- optimum wash (not the ONR) Of course, 2 buckets, well 3, I have a seperate one for the wheels.

Clay -- Mothers (I think I need something more aggressive because it seems like it took forever to remove some stuff)

machines -- cyclo and PC (for the small areas)

Polish -- gloss-it one step, 1z IP, 1z HG. (I`ll explain later).



This is what I started out with. This was all over the car so I didn`t take pictures of every panel. And to think, I caused all of this on my very own.



http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/before.jpg

and

http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/before_2.jpg



With just one hit of Gloss-it one step on orange pads:



http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/1_pass_Gloss_it.jpg



You can see in that picture that there are still some defects left. In person, you could tell that you could bring some more shine out and that you could get more defects out with a more aggressive polish.



So for the rest of the car I did a 2 step. 1z IP on orange(both the cyclo and the PC) then 1z HG on white (cyclo) and black (on PC). Each polish only got one pass.



This is what I got:



http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/mirror_shine.jpg

and

http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/mirror_shine_2.jpg%27.jpg

and

http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/reflection.jpg

and finally the entire car

http://kevinkramer.net/bao/polish/entire_car.jpg



Some thoughts and things I learned:



1. Those of you that do an entire car with just a PC are nuts. I used only the 4" pads in tight spots and it vibrated the hell out of my hands. I couldn`t imagine doing the entire car that way.



2. A PC with 4" can be crazy aggressive. At least it was with the products I was using. I had no idea I could get that many defects out with a PC.



3. The cyclo is really easy to use but it`s not completely dummy proof. On my first panel with the 1z IP I got some really bad buffer trails. After a few attempts, I figured out that I wasn`t working the polish long enough -- i.e. I wasn`t breaking down the polish. I know that there are some people that say you just know when the polish is broken down, but I`m still not sure. I just keep going for a few minutes and then wipe it off...seems to work so far. Is there really a way to tell that the polish is done breaking down?



4. Different polishes react differently. The Gloss-It stuff really doesn`t dust much at all and I really really liked it. Maybe because the gloss-it is a one step and it has an LSP component in it. I think I can tell when this stuff breaks down because you keep polishing until you can`t see the polish anymore. The 1z stuff really dusts...



5. I used to think you guys were nuts spending 2 days doing a car. After spending 8 hours on mine I think that if I spent another 8 on it, I could really get all of the defects out. As it is, with a single pass of each polish, I think I`m about 70% corrected.

[Danspeed1]

Your off to a great start, good job! You will find that time makes these projects easier; the more you do it, the more you learn!



As much as we learn here on the forum, it`s not until you actually get out there and give it a try that you really learn!



Good luck,



Dan

[simplybao]

Danspeed, you`re right on that. I actually went back just now and looked through some of my pictures and I think that I didn`t do as good of a job as I thought I did. In the my pictures I didn`t post, I used a flash and in those pictures, the flash shows some defects, DOH!!!! I thought it was just my photography skills, but I guess not :(.



So my question is, how come I can see the defects with the flash but not with the Halogens or out in the sun?



For my car this is okay because my car is a daily driver and there is no way I could keep it swirl free forever. But the defects are still there and it drives me nuts. Is there another light I should buy so that I can see the defects better?

[Darkstar752]

Danspeed, you`re right on that. I actually went back just now and looked through some of my pictures and I think that I didn`t do as good of a job as I thought I did. In the my pictures I didn`t post, I used a flash and in those pictures, the flash shows some defects, DOH!!!! I thought it was just my photography skills, but I guess not :(.



So my question is, how come I can see the defects with the flash but not with the Halogens or out in the sun?



For my car this is okay because my car is a daily driver and there is no way I could keep it swirl free forever. But the defects are still there and it drives me nuts. Is there another light I should buy so that I can see the defects better?



Camera flash in a dark area should reveal the finer defects. Do this, one of the first times I polished a car, I got about 90% correction, couldn`t see and real holograms and thought I was happy. Later that night, I can`t remember why but I brought out the halogens at night, pitch black out and it showed HAZE and HOLOGRAMS like crazy. Went back and corrected them the next day, but the moral of the stroy is that defects come out much better when its pitch black. Also, the haze was there because I didn`t take the time to finish down enough, as in going to lower speeds to take out the haze and maybe not working it enough. This was on a rotary.



If you want a LED light, like your camera flash, get one off of Dealextreme.com . I got a $20 one, works great. However, the batteries for it were 20 dollars also. Get one with adjustable settings, because too strong of a light will just wash out all the defects. I got the Ultrafire 602B or something, can`t check now because I`m on vacation. Even though you car isn`t fully corrected, it looks leaps and bounds better. I usually go for 90% instead of 100, no need to really take out all of the RIDS. Great job :2thumbs:

[jeteast99]

it looks great.

[WaxManRonnie]

Looks great & I love your car. I can relate to the PC and the vibration. I sold mine and went to a Flex. 2 weeks ago I used Zaino for the 1st time by hand only.

What a phenominal look I got. So many good products and techniques

you can`t go wrong on here.

I love it when people come up to me and ask "what kind of wax do you use"?

[Setec Astronomy]

Nice car, if I could stomach the new-car buying process again this soon (and if my car hadn`t depreciated so much) I would get one. I sat in one a few weeks ago, those side mirrors are such a weird shape! Are they as difficult to get adjusted properly as the STS mirrors?



Anyway, car looks great, even if you`ve got some marring in your flash!

[simplybao]

Thanks for all the replies. I`m very proud of the finish that I was able to achieve on my first full polish. In person, the black just really pops.



Setec:



The mirrors are easy to adjust -- at least I think they are easy to adjust. I simply love driving this car. I don`t get to drive it as much as the other half but I do get to drive it. My main job is cleaning it up, LOL. Now that I know what I`m doing, maybe I won`t mar the paint much anymore.



I just don`t see how you can possibly keep black defect free. With this paint, if you apply anymore than just a little bit of pressure with a MF you`ll get marring. It`s nuts. I`m never going to buy black again.



Waxman:



I want a flex too! But seeing as how both my Cyclo and PC were free, I can`t complain. All I had to do was supply the pads and polish :getdown :lol

[Accumulator]

..

So my question is, how come I can see the defects with the flash but not with the Halogens or out in the sun?



Is there another light I should buy so that I can see the defects better?



The flash provides "point source illumination" and makes for a greater contrast between illuminated/dark. As Darkstar752 pointed out, using a flash in an othewise dark environment works the best.



You can get sorta the same effect with an incandescent bulb in an othewise dark shop (that`s what I use).



I hear the Brinkman Dual Xenon is very good for this too...I didn`t have great results when I tried potent LED flashlights (Surefires) but it seems that experiences vary.



Glad you`re getting things sorted out, and yeah you need to be a little careful with the 1Z Pasta Intensiv; between the rocks-in-a-bottle initial grittiness and the need to break it down it can take some getting used to. I`ve pretty much retired mine in favor of Meguiar`s M105.

[simplybao]

I`ve been reading good things about M105. It sounds like a great product. I wonder if I should try that before I try the gloss-it.



Is the M105 easier to work with? The 1z IP can be a little finicky.

[GS4_Fiend]

Great thread Bao. I too have a black car and in posession of a PC. Really scared to start polishing without tutorial. How long does it really takes to do half a hood?

[Accumulator]

I`ve been reading good things about M105. It sounds like a great product. I wonder if I should try that before I try the gloss-it.



Is the M105 easier to work with? The 1z IP can be a little finicky.



I`d hate to steer you away from Gloss-It because a) people who use it seem to like it, b) it apparently doesn`t dust much, c) the community here could use more feedback on how it works, and d) it`s a Cyclo-centric product line.



That said...yeah the M105 is, IMO, much more user-friendly than the 1Z Pasta Intensiv, though the current M015 v2.0 is, I think, milder.



Noting that I don`t do all that much correction these days, I haven`t touched my 1Z PI since I got M105, and I`m usually all about how great 1Z stuff is.



Don`t get me wrong, the 1Z is still good stuff and I kinda like how it finishes out better than how the M105 does...but that`s *when* everything goes just right.



IMO M105 isn`t just a current fad; it`s something everybody oughta have on the shelf.

[jmkiang]

How`s the clearcoat on the newer Caddys? Doing an 09 CTS-V soon.

[Thats Fresh]

great detail on your car. youre ready for you next black car right? lOL

[efnfast]

Danspeed, you`re right on that. I actually went back just now and looked through some of my pictures and I think that I didn`t do as good of a job as I thought I did. In the my pictures I didn`t post, I used a flash and in those pictures, the flash shows some defects, DOH!!!! I thought it was just my photography skills, but I guess not :(.



So my question is, how come I can see the defects with the flash but not with the Halogens or out in the sun?



For my car this is okay because my car is a daily driver and there is no way I could keep it swirl free forever. But the defects are still there and it drives me nuts. Is there another light I should buy so that I can see the defects better?



Do you see them in sunlight? no? then don`t sweat it. You`ll probably end up needing to polish it once a year to remove the damage that occurs over a year`s use (especially if it`s a DD). No sense chomping through the clearcoat to go from 90% to 100%, which will only last for a few weeks.



I think though you`ll learn a very valuable lesson though - never a black DD again, never ever ever ;)