Learning the ropes with PC & SMW

[hckirchner]

Well, I coughed up for a PC 7336 with the polishing pad that comes with it. I am using the 3M SMW to attack the very light spiderweb swirls on my hood , and...



well, it has been a disappointment so far. The swirls are less pronounced, but they are still very much there. I am using very light pressure (basically the weight of the PC) and moving around an area of about a square foot at a time for about 20 seconds or so.



Qs:



Should I use more pressure?

Take more time?

Wrong product?



Thanks for any help.

[JasonC8301]

Most people think the pad that comes with the PC sucks, well I think it does.



You want to wrok the 3M SMR into the paint. Start out at a slow speed (2-3) with moderate/heavy pressure, 10-15 seconds moving the PC back and forth slowly across the secion. The turn up the PC to 4-5 with medium/light pressure, for about 20 seconds, this is where I think the polish really starts to work for you. Then for 10 seconds make a few passes at 6 with just the weight of the PC. Roughly 45 seconds per section to totally work in the polish.



If you still have swirls but they are less pronounced, do the section again. you may have to move to a more agressive pad and/or polish.



It took me 4 work ins of 3M Finesse It II, a foam cutting pad, and the PC to get rid of 85% of moderate swirling on a 2 year old car. Looked great though, guess with these dark finishes gotta live with some swirls here and there.



Jason

[hckirchner]

Thanks for the tips. That`s about what I`ven been doing. I am getting an increasingly hazy look to the paint and I still have most of the light swirls left after three treatments.



I wonder if the quality of the pad has anyhting to do with it.



I am getting a little fretful about burning through the clear coat. Any real chance of that? (new car)

[JasonC8301]

With the PC, no. you will not burn through the clear.



Several factors can contribute to this hazing. Temperature, pad, paint type, etc. etc.



Some car finishes react differently to different polishes.



If it is spiderwebbing, its can be under the clear, you can not remove them. you`ll just have to live with them.



Pinnacle PCL and maybe Klasse AIO may remove this hazing issue.



Jason

[Preachers Sheets]

I had the same problem for months upon months on end, I couldn`t get my finish even close to perfect until I read how someone else used the machine and from there on I could give you 50.00 to find a swirl and you wouldn`t be able to.



1.) Set the Porter Cable to 4 or 4.5 and make your first pass using a good amount of pressure moving at the rate of one inch per second. Let the motor work (don`t sit on the machine but let it do some work).



2.) Make your second pass a little faster.



3.) Make your third one inch per second but less presuure.



4.) At this point the product SHOULD start to haze over, this is where you make the final pass just letting the weight of the Porter Cable apply pressure to your paint and move a little faster over the surface.



This is what I used to medium swirls... if your cars not that bad scale down the pressure and kick up the speed it takes you to pass over the paint, no need to keep the machine working where it`s not needed.



Like I said before, it`s not the machine it just takes some time to get used to. I`m a little slow, I am extra careful, thats why it took me months :scared . I was just operating the machine incorrectly.

[hckirchner]

Getting the hang of it now, thanks to all the good advice. Pretty awesome. I may soon again enjoy a black car.

[99323ic]

Excellent advice in this thread...thanks guys !!

I think I`ll stop by International Tool (`http://www.internationaltool.com/`) on my way home tonight !!

[KWANG-SEOK]

Good thread, guys! I use the exact method that joed1228 describes for my red car and I get <em class=`bbc`>excellent[/i] results. I`ve found that SMR and the white polishing pad are very, very mild and sometimes two passes are required to remove even minor swirls.

I just read a thread about how somebody burned through their clear using Meguiar`s SMR and a random orbital :eek:. I hope that was just an isolated case because I can`t imagine having to give up my PC/SMR! I`m careful to use a very small amount of compound when I polish, though, and I never use anything harsher than SMR. The greatest number of passes I`ve ever done on one panel was four, and I`ve had no disasters so far (knock on wood).

Happy detailing! :bounce

[ru1thirst]

Well think I`m going to break out and grap a pc finally. Thanks for this info. Think it will come in handy.



Schwa72: Nice to see another HT nut in the detailing forum! I`ve got some of the same equiptment. SVS 20-39, Sony ES 400 cd player. Now if only the pc works and nice and clean as the SVS, I`ll be in business!! :xyxthumbs