7 hours into Saturn Sky and still not happy!

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Drsuce

New member
Last night i decided to try out my new PC on my GM's old demo, a 2008 Saturn Sky Redline "Carbon Flash". The vehicle was used all summer and had just over 1000KM on it, of course being the GM for the dealership, the car was washed with "The Brush from hell" nearly daily and looked to be at least a year or two old. At first i thought it would be an easy job....NOT!



I could *not* find a combo with my PC that would correct the paint, it just was not happening! i tried SIP with 4" orange/yellow/white pads and then gave up on "correcting" the paint.I am not lying when i say that i would focus on a 1x1 part of the hood for a good 5 min, surley there is an easyer way! I decided just to focus on getting some gloss out of the paint with 106fa and it took me nearly 5 and some hours to go over the whole car!



Have i made a big mistake going with 4" pads? it takes *forever* to do anything! or am i not using enough pressure on the PC? I wish i had pics of the car, however my camera died with i tried to take the first pic :(



I am not going to lie, the car looked great when i was done, far better than if one of the "detailers" at my dealership had worked on the car, however i just was not pleased with the time consumed to not even do a complete job :(



*note* When i worked on my 96 Mustang GT (Lazer Red) i ended up using SIP and a 4" purple foamed pad and it seemed to really do the trick! However it threw fluff everywhere! if i had used it on the Sky i would have been cleaning the interior for hours (had the top down to prevent splatter on black canvas roof) so i opted not to even try it.



When i decided to purchase a PC it was pretty hard, i *really* wanted a flex, all i could think about was "what if i bought the wrong one, i dont want to waste $160, but i really dont want to waste $300!" Im kinda thinking that i wasted $160! I was afraid the flex would feel too much like a rotary (i have some... bad experinces with rotarys)
 
Have you tried Yellow/Orange with Powergloss yet? That might help you more than SIP I'm thinking. Also, try some more pressure with your stuff. I always put enough to bog it down some, but enough to keep the pad rotating and it always seems to work for me



And just a tip, never give up! My car has 19 hours logged into it with a PC and its still not to my liking :2thumbs:
 
Yeah, sounds like hard paint. If you are new at machine polishing, you may want to tape of sections so that you have a clear before and after section to observe. That's what helped me a lot.



Some guys throw a bedsheet over convertible tops when polishing to avoid splatter. Good luck.
 
I'd go with backwoods_lex on that and try to cover the top or opening. You can use an old sheet and secure the edges with masking tape...or stroll over to the body shop and borrow some masking paper. I know those dealer-installed swirls are hard to remove from GM clear...as noted you're going to have to get more aggressive with your pad and/or compound. As you said, the consolation is that in trying to remove the swirls you've glossed up the car so well that 99% of people won't even notice the swirls you have...that's where I left it on my car after untold hours of polishing.
 
It sounds like you need to step up to a compound with more cut. Menzerna Power Gloss, M105 or HTEC



A Flex wouldn't hurt either
 
Sounds like Rotary time
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[quote name='zaxjax']It sounds like you need to step up to a compound with more cut. Menzerna Power Gloss, M105 or HTEC



Agree. If a polish doesn't work then you need to step it up. I don't agree with using 4" pads though, as this will take forever and they are not as smooth and easy to use either. When I use to use a PC I did some major correction work on hard black paint with 6" cutting pads that took out all the swirls. It can be done, just takes a little longer. But not as long as using 4" pads though.
 
thanks for the advise! looks like i need some more product and pads! i will be sure to post pictures next time :), planning on finishing off my GT on monday!



also, i think im not using enough pressure... i wasnt getting close to bogging down the machine!
 
Drsuce said:
..also, i think im not using enough pressure... i wasnt getting close to bogging down the machine!
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Applying enough pressure to bog a PC with 4" pads can be asking for trouble; I've damaged clear with the PC/4" combo.



I'd step up to a more aggressive product too. I like 1Z Pasta Intensiv, but I bet more people like M105. HTEC isn't all that aggressive IMO, both the aforementioned ones have more cut.



Used with something like 1Z Pasta Intensiv, the little PFW pads oughta be aggressive enough (and mine quit shedding after a while). Anything they can't get out I'd maybe consider wetsanding. If the rotary isn't for you, maybe a very gentle wetsanding process (something you can then correct via PC) might be the way to go. It's not all that hard to exercise good control over wetsanding, it's one-pass-at-a-time so things don't go "oops!" as readily as they can with a rotary.



DSVWGLI said:
I don't agree with using 4" pads though, as this will take forever and they are not as smooth and easy to use either. When I use to use a PC I did some major correction work on hard black paint with 6" cutting pads that took out all the swirls. It can be done, just takes a little longer. But not as long as using 4" pads though.
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Different experience here; I've spent *hours* trying to correct Audis with the PC and 6-6.5" pads without success; I simply can't to it in a timely manner without resorting to the smaller pads :nixweiss



If I apply much of any pressure at all with ~6" pads, my PCs bog down and just jiggle.
 
Accumulator said:
Different experience here; I've spent *hours* trying to correct Audis with the PC and 6-6.5" pads without success; I simply can't to it in a timely manner without resorting to the smaller pads :nixweiss



If I apply much of any pressure at all with ~6" pads, my PCs bog down and just jiggle.
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I've tried using the 4" pads they just don't feel good to me, and the 4" path is just too small for a full detail imo. When I used the PC for correction work I would use a 6" LC yellow cutting pad with SSR 3. A couple of applications with a good amount of pressure would usually do it. I did a blue Vette once with that combo, took about 10 hours to complete. I think correction work with a PC on hard paint is pushing the limits of the machine. That's the reason I moved up to a rotary.
 
DSVWGLI said:
I did a blue Vette once with that combo, took about 10 hours to complete. I think correction work with a PC on hard paint is pushing the limits of the machine. That's the reason I moved up to a rotary.
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Well, at least you *were able* to do the work with that 6" pad, more than I can say :D And, heh heh, doing a 'vette via PC in *only* 10 hours is pretty quick IMO!



Yeah, doing a full-vehicle correction on hard clear with the PC is, uhm...well, a PIA at best. I too moved to the rotary when faced with doing the (entire) S8 as the PC woulda just been an exercise in frustration.



But for people who, for one reason or another, aren't gonna use a rotary, the newer pads and products (e.g., PFW/M105) can at least make the job *possible*. I was sorta surprised by how easily the PC/3.5" PFW/1Z Pasta Intensiv removed 2-3K sanding scratches on the DenaliXL. I used that combo on the (really trashed) '93 Audi I did recently, and I ended up quitting because I was thinning the clear, not because I gave up on being able to do the correction.
 
Accumulator said:
Well, at least you *were able* to do the work with that 6" pad, more than I can say :D And, heh heh, doing a 'vette via PC in *only* 10 hours is pretty quick IMO!



Yeah, doing a full-vehicle correction on hard clear with the PC is, uhm...well, a PIA at best. I too moved to the rotary when faced with doing the (entire) S8 as the PC woulda just been an exercise in frustration.



But for people who, for one reason or another, aren't gonna use a rotary, the newer pads and products (e.g., PFW/M105) can at least make the job *possible*. I was sorta surprised by how easily the PC/3.5" PFW/1Z Pasta Intensiv removed 2-3K sanding scratches on the DenaliXL. I used that combo on the (really trashed) '93 Audi I did recently, and I ended up quitting because I was thinning the clear, not because I gave up on being able to do the correction.
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I started using PFW earlier this year. The first ones I got were really thin and didn't cut too well after short period of use. I ordered another one from a different vendor and it was much thicker and also cut better for longer periods of use. It's funny though on a lot paint the LC yellow cutting pad seems to have more cut than the PFW via rotary :think:. I have some M105 coming soon, any advice as I here it can be finicky at times?
 
DSVWGLI said:
It's funny though on a lot paint the LC yellow cutting pad seems to have more cut than the PFW via rotary ..
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I found that to be true via PC too, and it kinda surprised me :think: I was using the Sonus cutting pad though, not the LC, and the PFW wasn't brand new, which probably explains it. But the PFW sure is *safer* than aggressive foam!



Can't help with the M105, haven't tried it yet.
 
Accumulator said:
I found that to be true via PC too, and it kinda surprised me :think: I was using the Sonus cutting pad though, not the LC, and the PFW wasn't brand new, which probably explains it. But the PFW sure is *safer* than aggressive foam!



Can't help with the M105, haven't tried it yet.
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I totally agree, PFW is much safer than the foam. You actually have to work at it to create any amount of heat, got to love that.
 
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