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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Apr 2011
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    Due to some large, short-duration incentives, I kind of unexpectedly wound up buying a Cadillac STS over Fourth of July weekend. It was a kind of partly cloudy day, and I did spend quite a bit of time looking over the paint, noting a few bird crap etches, and some badly swirled taillights. The car looked glossy. I brought it home and washed it, and it looked good. However, the next day in the full sun I discovered the car had a dealer-installed option I wasn`t aware of--







    The Dealer Installed Swirl Option!!!



    I took this stoically, even though my original intention had been to order a car and receive it untouched by dealer wash. I thought, mistakenly, that I would be able to polish them out with my PC. :waxing: I started out with an orange pad and SSR2.5, and found out that this wasn`t light swirling with a few deep scratches, it was a lot of deep scratches with some light swirling.



    Part of the problem is the light color and the difficulty in seeing the swirls except in just the right light. On the roof and hood which I can see ok in my garage lighting, it was taking several passes with SSR2.5 and a yellow pad to just get down to what I felt was a liveable number of scratches left on the small sections I was working. In a fit of frustration I ordered all the Optimum polishes and a yellow Wolfgang pad. I figured these swirls would have to submit to OHC and this pad, which was hard as a rock. Since it was hard to see my results, I did some more test spots, and it seemed that this combo would do it. I went over most of the car with it...then in the right light...still had the swirls. Some experimentation indicated my CMA yellow "constant pressure" pads, which are quite soft, seemed to do a little better...and were certainly easier on my hands from a vibration transfer standpoint. Although the SSR2.5 seemed to be marginally better, I stuck with the Optimum because the dusting was so minimal...although I found really no difference in cut between the OHC and the OC.



    So, this morning, I wanted to knock out most of the car with my "new" process. I pulled the car out into the overcast day, and went over most of the car with the CMA yellow and OHC, changing to the OC about half way through when some sun showed me some swirls. I was just finishing going over all the areas with a white pad and OP when the rain forced me inside...where I could still see swirls!!.



    This is killing me on a number of levels...this is a new car that looks like crap (at least to me), it`s soaking up tons of time that I don`t have right now (and I haven`t even started on the wheels... ), and it`s killing my arms. I gave up worrying about how much paint I`m taking off for a couple of reasons....one, I don`t think I`m taking off that much (although I stopped checking), and two, I have to take off as much as it takes until I can live with it.



    I did try a small area with SSR3 on a 4" yellow pad and scared myself with the squigglies it left which I took out with SSR2.5, although it took out the deeper scratches I was trying to remove. I`m afraid to use my Meg`s burgundy pads for the same reason.



    I`m a little too much of a DIY`er to sub this out to a pro Autopian to hit with a rotary, and this is far from a training car for me and a rotary. I`m not trying to get to 100%, but down to a few RIDS. Mostly I want the car clean so I know if I`m putting any wash-induced marring in...if I leave it the way it is I`m not sure I`ll be able to tell how I`m doing. I`m considering a Cyclo, although some recent threads I`ve been looking at have downplayed the middle-ground between PC and rotary that I thought the Cyclo represented.



    Just to answer some questions before they are asked, yes, I have halogens and a Brinkman...this color is just a ***** to see the swirls on. Yes, I was using plenty of pressure with the PC, speed 6, and slow arm movement. For the most part I was using very small amounts of the Optimum products due to the many comments about too much being counter-productive.



    So where am I going with this? Insane? Cyclo? Different polish? Different pad? If this wasn`t a brand new car I`d already have tried a Meg`s burgundy pad and/or SSR3.



    Sorry for the book but I`m kind of brain-dead after 7 or 8 hours of polishing today...and still not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    6,772
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    Menzerna Polishes *will* do the trick.





    I always found GM paint to be a bit tough to correct. The power (yet diminishing) abrasive in Menzerna have never really let me down.



    Start with Powergloss and move through the paces to FPII. IMO, you shouldn`t have a problem if you have the respective pads and the will to succeed .

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    NE Ohio
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    Yeah, some GM paint is pretty hard.



    Much as I love the Cyclo, I don`t see it as the anwer to this type of challenge.



    I`d try the PC with 4" pads and a more aggressive product. 1Z Ultra comes to mind, also the PC-friendly Hi-Temp products (IIRC their most aggressive PC leveler is the Heavy Cut). I`ve done some pretty good work with the 1Z Ultra, though sometimes it`ll take a few passes and yeah, it does leave wax/fillers behind.



    But for any serious correction I`d reach for the rotary. IMO you might oughta start considering taking that step. IMO you`d do OK; you`d find it *not* as daunting as you might expect- just pick the right products, and keep thinking, and you`ll do fine.



    Note that when I did the rent-a-Suburban I tried the PC/4" and the Cyclo before giving up and getting out the Makita, which was simply the right tool for the job.

 

 

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