What am I doing wrong (Menzerna and PC)

[AudiOn19s]

I was all excited to get to use my new PC that`s been sitting in my living room because I`m simply too busy. Well now after hours of work on my car I`m disappointed at my results and wondering what I did wrong and what I can do better to achieve the results that I desire...or am I just expecting too much



Background on the vehicle first. Black 99 Audi A4. Been well maintained it`s entire life protected for most of it with Zaino BUT over the span of it`s 120k miles it`s starting to show it`s age. the paint has some minor scratches and swirling that were pretty unavoidable but minor.



Anyhow...set off to work after reading numerous tutorials on how to properly use everything. I plugged in the 1000w. Halogen and took a look at the paint to reveil everything. then went to work first with the PC/ white pad/ and Menzerna FP. I started with the white pad and the FP becasue i didn`t want to tackle the paint too agressively first seeing as though I`ve never used any of this equipment before. After finishing the portion of the hood that I was working on and inspected no visible differences...swirls still existed. So I switched up to the yellow pad and IP. I was hesitant at first...started with the PC set to 3.5-4...worked in the product a bit then fired it up to the 5.5-6 and went slowly over the surface (I`d say 1 inch per second). I stopped before the product had begun to harden and wiped off the area to inspect....less swirls BUT not what I had expected as many of the swirls remained. Well I went to work again...this time working the IP until it was essencially not there and was just a dusting on the surface. Upon inspection again the surface revieled that there are signifigantly less swirls than before BUT I`ve not even begun to touch the minor scratches in the surface.



Anyhow I finished up with FP and the white pad and toped with Zaino and the car looks great and better than before BUT I was very upset that I wasn`t able to remove more of the minor defects on the surface. there is 1 scratch in particular that I know was very light (I did it myself in the garage) after polishing the surface I cannot even feel the scratch with my finger nail BUT it will not come out. I was using the "Advanced" pads and even put a dab of IP down with the yellow pad and focused just on the edge of the pad and was still unable to remove the scratch. In all of this the IP and yellow pad combo NEVER once made the finish dull or milky even though I worked all of the sections of the car until the polish broke down and was merely dust. what I came away with was a car with signifigantly less swirls but some very noticable scratches still remain that I thought for sure I would be able to remove. Oh...and I`ve got a car that`s covered in dust from working the product sooo long so I had to completely wash everything again when I was finished polishing.



Sorry for being long winded...BUT can someone give me tips on what else to try? am i expecting too much from the PC?



Thanks for reading.



Andy

[Bill D]

Audi paint can be highly frustrating. I`ve spent 45 mins straight on a single scratch, probably similar to one your talking about, with the PC :eek:



I also use FP as my very last polish before my LSP but I use 1z for the main defect removal, although mostly effective sure is tedious still :mad:



I`m more and more convinced the Menzerna is best reserved for the rotary ,especially IP or the even more abrasive stuff

[l33]

This brings up a couple of question,

Does a PC really remove defects, and if so how long do you have to work it?

Does Menzerna work best (and properly) with the rotary?



Personally i`ve never found the PC to remove many defects, just cover them up for the time being no matter what i use fillers or not. I`ve worked scratches that you swore were gone, but re-appear 2 weeks later. Once you get a little more comfortable with it, don`t be afraid to pump it up to 5-6 for swirling.



I use Menzerna a lot, in fact its all i use, when you use it with the rotary you truley see how it breaks down fast and cuts well. I only really use FP2 with the PC for minor swirling and marring. Don`t let menzerna dust, work it till its still wet, it works in very fast. If you find it beginning to dust, re-apply a small amount or wet the pad with some water.

[Bill D]

To confirm if a PC has indeed removed defects just use an alcohol mix or a Prepsol-like product, if they confirm they`re gone, I don`t see how they can reappear unless new marring takes place in the same spots :nixweiss

[AudiOn19s]

So would you guys recommend working a small area with more product. I felt like I was using ALOT of IP when i was working on my car But I was also working fairly large areas when doing so. I split the hood into 3rds, fenders into halfs and what not but I found that after a couple of passes at 4 to work the product evenly onto the surface when I cranked it up to 6 I was able to make only about 1 pass over the surface before the Menzerna would start to dust. I was thinking that it would take much less time to dust than it actually did (yes I was using quite a bit of QD as well to keep the pad moist). The reason that I kept working even after the product started to dust was because I felt that I hadn`t been at it long enough yet on that surface....That`s when I put a dime sized spot on the scratch in question and worked just that area with the edge of the advanced pad UNTIL IT dusted and still nothing.



I`ll keep at it though to see what I can come up with. I`ve got to find a method that works...maybe I`ll go do the hood of my 3 series to see if it`s just the darn Audi paint.



Bill are you saying that 1Z is more agressive than IP and might work better esp. with a PC. I have access to a rotary...but really don`t want to learn on my primary cars.



Andy

[detailbarn]

Bill D and L33 make some very good points.



1st Audi Paint is a PITA to polish , the very best I`ve gotten was 95% defect removal. That was on a dark blue A4 that was taken care of somewhat.



"Don`t let menzerna dust, work it till its still wet, it works in very fast. If you find it beginning to dust, re-apply a small amount or wet the pad with some water."



Very good advice I actually start with a pretty damp pad at a slower speed and then work up to 5-6. Also work in a small area no more than 2`x2` with Menzerna you can not do half a hood or whole door in one shot.



Does Menzerna work best (and properly) with the rotary? Yes it it will perform it`s best with a rotary in the right hands. Menzerna uses mechanical polishing not heat so you can get great results with a Dual-Action machine you just have to work it differently. (read longer)



Last but not least for those Audi owners looking to get the most defects out of there cars as possible , I have found this to work the best. A wool pad , Powergloss and a PC at speed 5-6. Mist the pad with water and work a small 2`x2` section until the compound begins to dry but not dust. If it dust quckly then you have too much product or your pad wasn`t wet enough. When you get to that point where it begins to dry out and begins to disappear then spray the pad with some water and work the same section a little longer and then buff out. So far this has worked great for me. The key is the aggressive nature of the polish and wool pad , the Audi paint needs that. I follow up with Ip and MP as it`s known here FPII.

[Bill D]

Detailbarn--



Thanks for the tip re: wool pads and power gloss, sounds like this is key for defects visible under natural light I guess most "normal" cars would have



Audion19s--



I believe I resorted to the IP only once when polishing that one defect for 45 mins. I used that in combination with both 1z PP and then MP and Menzerna FP, so it`s kinda hard for me to say for sure if it is moreaggresive than the 1z. When I polish micromarring, I usually try to spend a whole lot of time using the yellow cutting pad and PP rather than try something more aggressive. It can work, just tedious.