Please help me with holograms in my Honda paint

[BluBrett]

I have a 1995 Canterbury Green Acura Legend. I bought a Makita rotary, burgundy and yellow Meguiars pads, and I already had Meguiars Ultimate Compound and SwirlX, so i used those in hopes that they would come out good. My paint is now almost perfect, but there are very light holograms that are very hard to get rid of. I can get rid of them with SwirlX if I bring the speeds up to 1,500-1,800 RPM, but I thought I was supposed to go at low speeds to get rid of holograms? And also, these speeds make it impossible to get rid of holograms near the edge. Can anybody help me or tell me what OTC product I can buy to remove these holograms?

[Accumulator]

BluBrett- You might try 3M Ultrafina, some people like Scottwax claim it`s nearly Accumulator-proof for that job (I`ve never tried it). But I`ve never been able to finish out 100% hologram-free on b/c paint via rotary; I just do the final polishing via RO/DA type machines. And I`m not even working on paint as soft as the Acura`s.



Note that IME very few people can *really* finish out 100% holgoram-free via rotary. I`ve seen lots of "perfectly finished" cars that still had light (OK, often very light) holograms.

[BluBrett]

I think i can get a hologram free finish after testing it a little more. i only have one hologram left over from buffer hop, but i made 18 passes per 18 inch area at 900 RPM and I see no holograms. It`s possible that the metallic paint is camouflaging very light holograms, but there are none that I can see.

[Envious Eric]

IPA or prep sol the area in question, pull out in direct sunlight, or use a LED/florescent light to check, sun preferred.

[tom p.]

But I`ve never been able to finish out 100% hologram-free on b/c paint via rotary; I just do the final polishing via RO/DA type machines.

+1. This has been my experience too with that soft Honda/Acura clear. However, if you have the time and dedication to achieving it, I`d luv to hear as I`m sure others would.

[Accumulator]

IPA or prep sol the area in question, pull out in direct sunlight, or use a LED/florescent light to check, sun preferred.

The *ONLY* ways I can see holograms are:



1) natural sunlight

2) 3M SunGun in an otherwise dark shop



And sometimes I have to *REALLY* work at it to see `em under those conditions too. Sometimes it takes two people, with on person moving between the light source and the vehicle to affect a "shadow-to-illumination" transition.



But then, I`m not talking about "idiot with wool pad" holograms either, but rather, uhm..."Accumulator with his rotaries" ones

if you have the time and dedication to achieving [perfection via rotary on soft clear], I`d luv to hear as I`m sure others would.

Leaving aside that even Mike Phillips doesn`t claim to be 100% successful at that... Heh heh, I don`t think somebody`ll be lying on their deathbed thinking "gee, glad I spent so much of my life mastering that rotary". But hey, different people have different raisons d`etre..

[RaskyR1]

BluBrett- You might try 3M Ultrafina, some people like Scottwax claim it`s nearly Accumulator-proof for that job (I`ve never tried it). But I`ve never been able to finish out 100% hologram-free on b/c paint via rotary; I just do the final polishing via RO/DA type machines. And I`m not even working on paint as soft as the Acura`s.



Note that IME very few people can *really* finish out 100% holgoram-free via rotary. I`ve seen lots of "perfectly finished" cars that still had light (OK, often very light) holograms.

I agree.



However, I will on occasion remove the holograms with a DA first and then follow up with a rotary to jewel the paint further with UF and a blue LC pad

[Accumulator]

I will on occasion remove the holograms with a DA first and then follow up with a rotary to jewel the paint further with UF and a blue LC pad

Heh heh, I figure that *I* would re-instill the holograms if *I* were to try that [Insert your signature line`s quote from SuperBee364 here!]



Maybe I`m missing out on that last 1% of gloss, but I`d have to balance that against doing any more work anyhow (you know how I hate doing this stuff...).



Actually, what this *really* brings to mind is that my vehicles probably look, uhm....mighty un-Autopian since they haven`t been polished with *anything* since forever. You can only "just refresh the LSP" for so long, huh?

[BluBrett]

As I stated above, I used a yellow pad with a Makita and SwirlX and did 18 passes per every >18 square inches of paint on the hood. I checked the paint mid-day and at sunset and I can`t see any holograms left over, and this was after a wool pad with Meg`s Ultimate compound (to get rid of oxidation), then a burgundy pad with UC, then SwirlX.