Well, today I got after it after the sun came out and warmed things up...
That warmth from the sun probably caused the difficulties. Hot panels + Detailing = Trouble.
... Maybe the paint was actually too hot - news said that it reached nearly 90 degrees this afternoon and I was working on a black car in direct sunlight, and the sheet metal got quite hot./
You don`t want the panels to get hot when you`re doing this stuff. I know, easier said than done, but still..
If unavoidable, I`d be working *VERY* small areas at a time, and I sure don`t mean something 2` square. And I`d stick with products that reputable Autopians say will work OK in direct sun (assuming such products exist).
..The TW instructions said nothing about heat or shade..
They probably assume nobody will use it in direct sun.
the roof seems to have a big problem. As I look at the polished roof I see thousands/millions of tiny - maybe - pits in the finished surface. From a distance it looks fairly good but close up at an angle it looks pretty bad...
Early signs of clearcoat failure. You won`t make that better, and/but you could easily make it worse. DO NOT ABRADE IT FURTHER. You want...need...all the clear that`s left to keep the deterioration from accelerating.
Hey, my beaters had that kind of damage when I got `em ages ago and they`re still no worse so it`s not inevitable that the paint will completely fail any time soon, but being outside all the time sure won`t help.
In a couple of roof sections I tried extra polish with extra machine polishing but it made no difference. Any idea what to do?
Taking off more paint isn`t what you want to do at this point, and it could precipitate wholesale failure.
Keep it well-LSPed, preferably with something that resists UV, and keep your fingers crossed. In a perfect world you`d limit its UV exposure as much as possible. The clock is ticking on the need to repaint so try to slow that down, not speed it up.
Also, I found it VERY difficult to EVENLY remove the haze after I polished sections. I tried to use only a little product but on those top surfaces, using the micro-fiber cloth, it still left slightly discolored marks where-ever the polisher had tracked. It did not seem to matter how much or little product was used or how much I ran the polisher in those areas.
So, some success but I about killed myself trying to wipe off the haze.
It oughta wipe off almost effortlessly. These days, most *EVERY* product oughta be that easy unless something goes haywire.
Noting that I`ve never used that TW product, such issues probably come from the heat and working too-large areas.
Again, if you`re gonna work in such conditions you`ll need a product (if it exists) that`ll accommodate that heat and not flash off quickly and be hard to buff away.
Sorry if the above isn`t too useful...you have a big challenge there with your working conditions and after decades in climate-controlled shops I`m sure no authority on how to deal with them
And, IMO, usually work too-large areas at a time under the wrong lighting.
). Its rich dark blue paint was so oxidized that the service records called it "gray" and it has numerous areas of complete clearcoat failure, a few are down to *primer*. BUT...after a Big Detail over a *decade ago* [Accumulator pats self on back