'04 black Tribute...fixing dealer swirls

W

White95Max

New member
My uncle brought me his Tribute that had terrible swirls and holograms in it from dealer prepping. He basically just wanted the swirls removed/minimized, and paint protection as well.



So the process ended up as:



SSR2.5/yellow via PC on 6

SSR2.5/green via rotary on 2.5

SSR2/green via PC on 6

NXT



The swirls were not coming out very well at all. The original plan was to do SSR2.5, RMG, and WG/UPP, then possibly top with Nattys.

Here's how it turned out...



Before polishing:





Swirls2.jpg


Swirls4.jpg




After SSR2.5 via rotary :eek:

AfterSSR2.jpg






After all polishing:

NoSwirls.jpg
 
A few after shots:



After2.jpg


After3.jpg


Hood.jpg


AfterNXT.jpg






There's my new aluminum workbench/stepladder. That's such a handy tool to have around, especially when trucks/SUVs are around!



WorkBench.jpg
 
I did the horizontal surfaces with the rotary, since those seemed to be the worst areas. I did one fender with the rotary too, but I left some hologramming, and I don't think the rotary was really necessary, so I went back to the PC for the vertical panels.



Some of the panels had swirls that could only be minimized. Also, there were a few RIDS that could only be minimized. My guess is that those were caused by improper washing. I saw a deep scratch across most of the hood, and did a test. I stood on the side of the vehicle next to the front fender and extended my arm over the hood. If I moved my hand in an arc over the hood, the scratch followed it almost perfectly. So I determined that it's most likely that the owner dragged a piece of dirt/grit across the hood to cause that scratch.
 
Flippin awesome! I love Mazda paint, really hard, but some dealer's seem to like to f stuff up.



One thing I noticed with Mazda is the orange peel....



Does your uncle prefer the Mazda Tribute emblems on the trunk? I took them off. Got in the way and without them the car looks a lot cleaner.
 
I don't know if he likes the emblems or not. He plans to wax the car himself every month or two, so he might appreciate the convenience of not having the emblems in the way.
 
Great job on the car, just have a couple of questions.



After using 2.5 with the yellow, what does 2.5 with the green do. I was thinking that you would want to remove the hazing caused by the yellow pad.



Or was it that you wanted to do a second pass with a lighter cutting pad?



Thanks.
 
I followed with the green pad because I didn't think I would need the yellow pad for that step since I was using the rotary. Also, the yellow pad is more prone to hopping when used with the rotary.



There really was no hazing from the yellow pad, even with SSR2.5.
 
An unfortunate update... :(



My uncle took the Tribute camping, and it got covered in dust overnight. When he woke up in the morning, he saw scratches and prints from a raccoon walking on the hood, windshield, and roof. :down
 
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