1 week, it's coming... ADVISE NEEDED! Waterspotting!

The Driver

The Driver

Detailers Workshop
So I opted to take a real challenge, 2007 Acura tl-S black. The car has 2 year old type 2 waterspots all over it. I've explained to the owner, this may or may not work but this it. If I cannot get them out the only option left will be a respray. I refuse to wetsand a whole car with oem clear, it's a death sentence. I'm doing a 2 step on it, compounding and then finishing.

My questions are, what would you guys use for this. I have ideas but I know I need a real cutter. Two, what should my expectations be? Two year old waterspots, 50,75,80% defect removal?

Thanks guys
 
I'd probably go with M101, M105, or FG400 on a LC yellow pad, Surbuf, or Meguiar's MF Xtra Cutting Disc. That's gonna be about as much cut as you can get short of a rotary or wetsanding...
 
The nice thing is you should be dealing with soft paint. That being said, it would be a good idea to do a test spot. You could probably start with PF2500 on a white pad and get more aggressive from there. I revived a trashed black 2008 Accord with just Megs UC and an orange light cutting pad on a GG6.

As far as communicating correction to the customer, I would take a paint thickness reading on your test spot before you start. If you get to 50% correction, take another reading. Stop when you get beyond your comfort zone and see how far you have corrected. Let the customer know where it is going to end up (maybe email some pics of the test spot) and then finish out the rest of the car. That's what I did on the trashed Accord. I was going to 2-step it then did a test spot with UC and texted some pics and told him it was coming out 85-90% with just the one step and would save him $20 if we do a refining polish next detail. This spring I just hit it with M205.
 
The amount of correction you can get is 100% related to the depth and width of the defect. It is really the width of water etchings that often dictate the need for sanding. Polishing is effect on narrow defects because it will effectively remove material from the top of the defect without removing material from the bottom of the defect, resulting in a more even finish.

With wide, crater-like water etching marks, the pad will remove material from the bottom and top of the defect. The result material removal without leveling.

If a respray is in order, then what is the harm in sanding first? When it comes to water etching removal, because of the precise leveling ability of using sandpaper, you can often get better results with LESS paint removed.
 
I have Detailed many and the best product for my needs here has been Optimum Hyper-Polish..

It cuts until you stop it and always finishes down beautifully...

Optimum makes a compound also, and I have some, but have never needed to go that hard..

It has its own version of product to keep it pretty moist so it doesnt dry out..

Another thing - if it was me I would use my Makita 9227C on this car with the L/C Hydro-Shred Cyan pad..

I love Menzerna products and have them all, but find they work best on German cars - but that's just me...

Good luck with this..
Dan F
 
Todd Helme said:
The amount of correction you can get is 100% related to the depth and width of the defect. It is really the width of water etchings that often dictate the need for sanding. Polishing is effect on narrow defects because it will effectively remove material from the top of the defect without removing material from the bottom of the defect, resulting in a more even finish.

With wide, crater-like water etching marks, the pad will remove material from the bottom and top of the defect. The result material removal without leveling.

If a respray is in order, then what is the harm in sanding first? When it comes to water etching removal, because of the precise leveling ability of using sandpaper, you can often get better results with LESS paint removed.
Click to expand...

The majority of water of water spots are about 1-2 inches. They are more like paint blotches at this point. I see what your saying about sanding. How the pad will obviously make contact with the lower areas as well, thus digging deeper where as sanding is just topical kind of like a train going over a bridge.

The thing is where trying to obviously avoid a respray, I don't think the client can afford a full respray either :redface:

Oh an Todd, I finally got comfortable enough to finally work with the denim pads. Very impressive, removed the orange peel from the lower half of my own car. The removal was very fast for sure, highly aggressive and worked flawlessly with fg400.

Dan, thanks

I have been eyeing opt hyper polish for a while. I'm very interested in the tech behind it. I watched a bunch of videos on it, very impressive stuff. I think you just pushed me over the edge, if it's good enough for Dan it's definitely good enough for me. I really need to expand my line up as far as polishes. Right now I mostly run all menzerna, I do love sonax 3/6 an 4/6 as well as hd uno for certain jobs. So looks like optimum will joining the group and soon blackfire. I just need to recoupe some funds. I just got the masterblaster from autopia, I love it to say the least.

Dan an Todd, :yourrock
 
In cases like these I'm a firm believer in clay and then polishing with a rotary using a polishing or cutting pad and a good chemical polish like PB PP.

I've seen few WS that I haven't been able to take out or correct reasonably with this method. At least it's a good starting point
 
IF you have a rupes 21... I'd use 205 and a MFFD. This sounds off but this is my goto for hard water. Where I use to have to sand I'm able to get them out like this much faster. Kevin Brown pointed me in this direction and after seeing it first hand.... You'll be shock. Has something to do with pad loading and excessive amount of abrasives and some water. You'll use a lot of product but you'll save tons of time. Or if you dont have a rupes 21 you can do it the other way
http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums...holy-water-spots-batman-coarse-its-black.html

Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to PM me or even call if you like and I'll walk you through it.

You can also read about 205 here method I speak of here
http://www.buffdaddy.com/files/1519...205 Professional Ultra Finishing Polish...pdf
 
I would fire up my Maskita with a half burned wool pad and have at it. Turn it to a pearl in about 2.5 hours. If you know what your doing with a wool pad you can do it WITHOUT creating wheel marks. After that I finish up with a sponge finish pad using my Flex lightweight. I use Wolfgang, Menzerna, Presta, with a Presta cutting PAD! Insane Ah....does get the job done. I create some mirrors with Black. I like to make folks Jaws hang to their feet in AWE!!! Black has always been a favorite of mine. I suppose thats why I come up at or near the top Searching: "AutoPolishing" Good Luck! Keep at it, and you will soon see the fruits of your effort. Machine polishing is not for everyone. One thing I can attest too, if your good you will never starve!
 
Jsmooth said:
IF you have a rupes 21... I'd use 205 and a MFFD. This sounds off but this is my goto for hard water. Where I use to have to sand I'm able to get them out like this much faster. Kevin Brown pointed me in this direction and after seeing it first hand.... You'll be shock. Has something to do with pad loading and excessive amount of abrasives and some water. You'll use a lot of product but you'll save tons of time. Or if you dont have a rupes 21 you can do it the other way
http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums...holy-water-spots-batman-coarse-its-black.html

Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to PM me or even call if you like and I'll walk you through it.

You can also read about 205 here method I speak of here
http://www.buffdaddy.com/files/1519...205 Professional Ultra Finishing Polish...pdf
Click to expand...

KB is the man for sure!
 
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