Rotary polisher to the rescue!

[Don]

Well, I THOUGHT I had polished out the damage from the car sitting outside, uncared for, for a month, while waiting for parts - I was WRONG.

I THOUGHT that by using an aggressive foam cutting pad and then a mild polishing foam pad on my orbital FIXED the issue - I was wrong

I went out this morning with my coffee, just to LOOK at the car (don`t act like most of YOU don`t do the same thing, once in a while), and I saw that the damage had "come back!"

Once I got over my initial, EXTREME level of irritation, I realized that my FIRST thoughts after seeing the condition of the top surfaces of the car were RIGHT. It would likely take either a rotary polisher or wet-sanding to "fix" the issues. Well, I DID NOT want to wet-sand the car, but I DO have a rotary - I just don`t use it very often at all.

So I get the rotary, and knowing I can quickly cause unrepairable damage if not careful, I decide on a light polishing pad (actually the only type of pads I have that are 6" - which is the size of the backing plate on the rotary) and the Turtle Wax, 1 and Done Compound and set the polisher to speed 2.5. I figure that would be fast enough to correct the issues (if they were correctable by polisher), but slow enough that it would minimize the odds of causing damage.

I did a test spot on the roof, since it`s the least `visible` if it didn`t work. Well it worked, and better than I thought. So I finished the roof and moved to the trunk lid/rear spoiler. Same results, so I moved onto the quarter panels (where they are horizontal), and they came out great as well.

I saved the hood for last, knowing that if there was a chance for a good 50/50 shot, it would be the hood. So I used the rotary on the driver`s side of the hood. I should mention that I knew I don`t have the experience with the rotary to polish a panel WITHOUT leaving holograms. So once I was done with the rotary on a panel, I would use my orbital, with a light cutting pad and more TW compound on speed 6, to clear up any marring from the rotary. That too, was successful.

So here are two pictures. One a 50/50 of the hood, showing what I saw when I went out with my coffee first thing, and after the rotary/orbital combo. The second picture is the hood, completed and the car washed (to get rid of all the splatter from the rotary). In the "finished" picture, it DOES look hazy around the overhead lights, but it`s not. The hood seems to have thousands of tin "pinholes" almost like sandblasting marks. PROBABLY because the car HAS been driven over 166,000 highway miles all year round, and it does look worse IN THE PICTURE. When viewed with my eyes, it looks really dang good.

[65chevy]

looks good Don

[Sizzle Chest]

Nice save!

[Older]

You saved it. A glaze might help a bit, too. Then protection over the glaze.

Maybe Scott can chime in here.

[Don]

You saved it. A glaze might help a bit, too. Then protection over the glaze.

Maybe Scott can chime in here.

I don`t know what a glaze would do, the car actually looks A LOT better in person (and out in the sunlight), than it does in the picture under the LED lights. The LEDs are even LESS forgiving than sunlight, and it shows ALL of the "sand blasting" the hood has undergone in 166,000 miles.

Here is a "completed" walk-around, after the top surfaces were re-waxed, out in the driveway. It`s not direct sunlight, but you can get the idea of how it really looks now.

[Older]

I was just wondering if a glaze like Black Hole would disguise some of the defects.

I’d does look excellent outdoors.

Nice job.

[Coatings=crack]

She looks good Don. Hard to believe she has 166k on her.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lonnie]

Don:
Is the 1&Done compound pad-type ( foam softness) dependent on the results? It sounds like you used it for both compound correcting and polish finishing with great results.
What rotary make& model do you have and what pad manufacturer and type did you use with the rotary and what specific pad did you with the orbital??

[Don]

Don:
Is the 1&Done pad-type ( foam softness) dependent on the results? It sounds like you used it for both compound correcting and polish finishing with great results.
What rotary make& model do you have and what pad manufacturer and type did you use with the rotary and what specific pad did you with the orbital??

According to Turtle Wax, 1&Done IS pad dependent. The Camaro was INITIALLY polished with a Meguiar`s maroon, thin cutting pad, then `polished` with a Lake Country orange `mild` cutting pad. But a few days later, the damage reappeared. As a "Hail Mary," I got out my rotary (Chicago Electric / from Harbor Freight) - variable speed w/a 6" backing plate (I never bought a 5" for it when I switched YEARS AGO from 6 to 5 on my PC orbital). I had accidentally bought some 6" Meguiar`s tan, polishing pads, AND knowing the rotary is SO MUCH more powerful than the PC, I decided that a light polishing pad (besides being the only ones I had that would fit the rotary) were the safest option.

I really haven`t used the rotary, except for the occasional door sill / bumper area that was too "thin" for my orbital. This BY FAR, was the `biggest` job I ever attempted. Keeping that in mind, I never took the speed of the rotary past 2.5 and ONLY used the weight of the buffer as far as pressure on the surface. I also WATCHED - EXTREMELY CLOSE, through the compound until the paint seemed to `clear up.` Then I stopped to check my progress. So it went VERY SLOWLY getting all that real-estate compounded. When I had compounded as much as *I* felt was safe, I switched BACK to the orbital with a LC orange pad to clear up the buffer trails and once again, with a LC white pad (all using the 1&Done). When I saw the results, I was VERY relieved. 1st, because I didn`t burn through anywhere, and 2nd, because it meant I wouldn`t have to wet sand the finish (which I`ve never done) - I was flying totally blind, NO paint depth gauge!

After I `repaired` the finish, I put 2 coats of TW, To The Max Wax on the entire car (waiting 24 hours between as per the directions), and over the next few days, two coats of their Flex Wax.

FYI, in the picture in my original post, the bottom half of the picture, is actually "after" the car was gone over TWICE with the PC.

[Lonnie]

Don:
For a daily driven Camaro with 166K miles on it, it looks amazing!! Then again the compounding and polishing you`ve done are to-the-next-level, representing the detailing work that goes into making your vehicle look like it does. The TW waxes really make your black "pop" and shine. Let us know when people ask " What do you use on you car to make it shine so much?"

[Don]

Don:
For a daily driven Camaro with 166K miles on it, it looks amazing!! Then again the compounding and polishing you`ve done are to-the-next-level, representing the detailing work that goes into making your vehicle look like it does. The TW waxes really make your black "pop" and shine. Let us know when people ask " What do you use on you car to make it shine so much?"

I kind of beat them to the punch. When people look at the car and realize it`s age / mileage. I ask: "Can you believe Turtle Wax makes it look like that?"