Whats your paint detailing process?

[boywonder]

I am going to wash the Maxima, KSG it once more, and Souveran it. Time: 1.5 hrs.

[YoSteve]

PrinzII, I guess some people have longer weekends then others

[boywonder]

My schedule did not permit it and it started raining here.

[ThePriceofPerfection]

I tried to remove the swirls from the paint on the door columns of my car. Since they are black and my car is silver I thought this was a great place to try out my PC because my progress and results would be easier to see.

This was my first attempt to fix my paint. Now I`ve read everything I could find on TID, and its been great, but until you try something you don`t know what issues will come up.

I was using my PC-XP with Optimum Compound II and Optimum Polish II with Lake County Hi-Gloss 4" pads, orange and white. I followed the recommendation of starting with the least abrasive combo and moving up from there. I started with some Optimum polish and a white pad and a 3 1/5 speed. I then proceeded to try other combinations but at the end I wasn`t happy with my results. I think that one of the reason is that I should of removed the rubber window seal instead of just taping over it since the tape ended up lifting and my pads ended up black and I ended up washing them several times each.

So now I`m looking for some advice. What is the best way to move up in terms of abrasiveness? Is it first increasing the speed of the PC then moving to a pad with more cutting power and then moving from a polish to a compound on the least abrasive pad and low speed?

Secondly, I was able to remove a lot of the paint damage probably around 75%-80% but the paint looked sorta cloudy with cloudy streaks. I thought this was due to the compound and I did follow with a polish but it didn`t seem to be improving. I was getting a little frustrated at this time and felt that finishing for the day and doing some research would yield better results. What pad/speed should I try to remove this?

Lastly, when everything finally looks good what pad/speed/pressure should I use on my final pass to achieve the best results?


I know that with anything practice and experience are priceless and I`m hoping to get some advice because the results that I see achieved on this forum are breathtaking to say the least!!

[imported_Bunky]

In order to correct paint, you have to run the PC XP at speed 5 to 6 with decent pressure (maybe 12 to 15 lbs) to get correction. You say "3 1/5" which makes no sense. It is clear you are worried about removing too much by your least aggressive, low speed comment.

You say cloudy? Do you have a picture? Some black columns are matte black.