Rotary or PC

[imported_kuba]

Was wondering if a PC would take out the deep "swirls" "webs" and what not out of my paint?

Just learned over the weekend that if a scratch is beyond the clearcoat only thing i could/can do is touch up, but wanted to know about those swirls that are just borderline clearcoat and paint...and what would be better?

A rotary while faster and creates more heat, which means itll get through a lot sooner...is also something i`m a lil nervous about using.

But will a PC do the same job? Since it doesn`t create the type of friction(heat) a rotary would.



Thanks guys

[White95Max]

The PC can usually do the same job that a rotary could, but it will take much longer.

If you have a scratch that`s at the very bottom of the clearcoat, you don`t want to attempt to remove it.

[imported_kuba]

really? how come?

[White95Max]

I forgot what the percentage is, but you want to keep a certain percentage of the clearcoat. Go past that percentage, and you`re asking for clearcoat failure.

[Tanat198]

In order to remove the deep scratch , you need to remove the paint around it to the same level. Most people would probably try to hide and touch it up. Rotaray will defintely create better looking finish than PC IMHO. I never had a good luck with Rotary. I always follow up with PC to get rid of holograms anyhow. You could do the same by using rotary first then follow with PC.

Good Luck

[Accumulator]

Kuba- Rotaries are a lot trickier to use than PCs, they do take a bit of practice and as Tanat196 said, you often have to follow up with a PC anyhow. A lot of it depends on the paint too. The hard clear on some cars is almost impossible to work with just a PC. In those cases you *need* a rotary to really remove defects, but removing the defects isn`t always a good idea because it involves taking off too much clear.



It sounds to me like your marring is so deep you`d better think twice about trying to completely remove it. As White95Max mentioned, you need to keep a certain amount of clear for it to do its job. The general rule is that you shouldn`t remove more than "a third of a mil" which is about 0.0003", which isn`t much. Take off more than that and a) the colorcoat under the thinned clear will fade, no way to fix and b) the clear itself will fail. In both cases you`ll have to repaint.



Just doing *some* polishing with the PC should help the overall appearance considerably. Try to improve things considerably rather than make it perfect.

[togwt]

Not to detract from anything already stated by Accumulator - removing more that0.3 mil (0.0003") of clear coat will cause premature paint film failure. As a point of reference a sheet of copy paper is 3.5Mil (0.0035") a surface scratch that will `catch` your fingernail is approximately 0.004" deep

JonM

[imported_kuba]

yep...makes sense to me, you`re all right lol.

i was thinking that myself, but wanted to make sure.

i thought if i remove a lot of clearcoat then ill have exposed paint and that obviously can`t be good.

so i guess ill stick to really workin that PC with the polishes either AIO, Menzerna or Meguiars.

so lesson learned?...get a PC and just do the best i can...without taking out the clearcoat TOO much :xyxthumbs

thanks guys.