when PC, LC cutting pad, and PG arent enough...

**Envious Eric** · 10-21-2006, 10:07 PM

What should I do? I have a 1999 Ford E250 van that I am detailing....(thought I would be done in 8 hours, but i spent 9 on it today and have to go back tomorrow)....

I spent 1.5 hours on the hood alone, yeah a 2` x 5` section took me 1.5 hrs....with a LC cutting pad, PC, speed 6, and menzerna PG straight! while i got it 95%, the OCD in me wants to get the rest of it out, but the owner is overly stoked on it, and said it looks amazing....so its time to move on to the rest of the body!

I then hit the fender and start working on the sides....NOTHING is correcting the 7 year old unwaxed, mal treated car washed paint....NOTHING!!! not PG, not OC, no orange pad, no yellow....without spending over 15 hours on the whole van on just the outside, I decided to stop with the PC and bring out the rotary tomorrow, while still new to the rotary, I feel confident enough to use it....anything will be better than the PC at this point!

::::QUESTION:::::

what do you guys do when the best you have is not enough....call it quits and say this is the best I can do? the owner was really happy with the way the van was coming out, but I wasnt, so I stopped and helped on the inside, polished the chrome, and dressed the tires instead....polishing to commence tomorrow....

any tips? it was a 99ford E250 WHITE van - took 3 hours with two of us to clay it 98% using sonus blcok clay (couldnt reach the dead center of the van).

**fdizzle** · 10-21-2006, 10:21 PM

wow - you have your hands full . . .

im no pro . . . but if you have a rotary whip a orange or yellow pad on that B*&^H and tell the paint its about to get owned. I have a 01 Accord with a hood so bad it would make a blind man scream . . . PC coulden`t touch it with Hyper Compound and a yellow pad . .

Even the rotary with a yellow pad at 2K RPM would not take some defects out. My option was use lambswool or whip out the white pad with OP, follow with Souveran and live with it . . .

After 1 hour on the hood (with a rotary!) I gave up. I removed enough paint for one season . . .

Good luck man . . .

**coltagious** · 10-22-2006, 12:06 AM

been in ur position one time too many. Its always a case of getting a balance between gloss and defect removal. If your work is good enough in the eyes of the owner, then I guess its time to stop as too much buffing is no good for the paint as well.

For the really crap panels, I usually crank up my hitachi rotary to speed 3 on a LC yellow pad with PG, but applying zero pressure on the machine and move it just a little faster. It usually cuts well, but I have used this method only on the flat surfaces like the roof n the boot. Watch the curves man!!

**Envious Eric** · 10-22-2006, 11:47 AM

bringing out the rotary today and keeping it at 2.5 or about 1400....we`ll see what happens

**imported_GregCavi** · 10-22-2006, 12:12 PM

Once in a while I will encounter paint conditions that cannot SAFELY be corrected to 100%. I always do the best work possible but also have to keep in mind the longevity of the clear coat and how old the car is. I wouldnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want to compound for days on a newer car just to get a few hardly noticeable defects out, because I would like to see and the client certainly wants to see that there clear coat will last longer. Any time I cannot correct the paint safely I let the client know that for safety reasons I will not be able to correct to 100% for doing so would be jeopardizing the clear coat. Every time I have encountered this the client is still thrilled with the work because itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s usually 90-95% corrected.

Greg

**Accumulator** · 10-22-2006, 12:40 PM

Playing around on the new beater-Blazer (on which I did most of the serious work by rotary), I stumbled across a good, aggressive combo for use with a PC/ 4"cutting pad:

H-T EC with a little 1z Ultra added in to increase the work time without diminishing the cut. The combo if this product mix and the 4" pad was mighty aggressive, by far the most aggressive I`ve ever experienced with the PC. Still finished out OK though, just needed a follow up with a light-medium pad/product combo.

The 4" pad makes a huge difference IMO. You can apply pressure to the point of "gee I`d better back off" without it bogging down.

**LeadingEdgeDetail** · 10-22-2006, 12:52 PM

Agreed. With a 4" pad, the point of which you`re worried about denting the panel comes before the machine bogs down

**Envious Eric** · 10-23-2006, 05:48 PM

well i tried hitachi, LC yellow, OC and got no where, and I didnt want to jump it up to PG on the van because I didnt want to burn the clear in attempt to remove the defects, so I settled for great in the customers eye and finished with megs 80 (hoping for some defect hiding help) and megs 21 sealant and topped with OCW...came out really good....

there is a similar van parked next to it at school, and before i started it, they looked the same...bad color, oxidized, swirled to hell.....NOW - it looks white again, swirls and scratched removed about 70%, and the owner is TRILLED with how everything came out!!!

customer happy - yes

am i happy - not really, but in the end, its what the customer thinks!!! PLus he wasnt expecting me to get out what I did, he thought it looked better than he thought possible.....I get to do his wifes ford SUV next...."money well invested" in his eyes

**Accumulator** · 10-24-2006, 12:41 PM

Well, better imperfect current paint than a need for a repaint

I give you a big :xyxthumbs for resisting the tempation to do "just a little more" with the Hitachi. The thin clear on my MPV keeps me from removing stuff that I`d knock out on any other car...just gotta know when to say "good enough".