am i polishing too long?

W

white gecko

New member
I see a lot of you guys doing 2-3 stage corrections in one day, including wheels, interior, and engine bays too. It takes me 2-4 hours per stage. How are you moving so fast? The polishes have to break down and finish, but am I breaking them down too long?
 
Are you saying you have a 2-4 hour work time per stage??? How do you not burn up the product? I don't think you can even work UF that long. And as long as your customers like what you do in the time frame you do it there really isn't a problem. everyone works at their own pace.
 
a two step usually takes about 5-6 hours for me...a three step about 9 hours...4 hours compounding, 1.5 hours polishing, 1 hour final polishing, then all the little things like vacuuming, tires, wheels, dressing, windows, trim, wells, etc...this is for a small car by the way, a full size truck three step takes in the 12 hour range...



oh and if you are using optimum, that is your problem right there. On one hand its a good product to be used in the sun and via rotary, on the other hand, it royally sucks viz PC and in a garage as it takes WAY too long to break down via PC
 
Doesn't take very long with my Makita, but I always work as much as I can in the time alotted. I like to do 2-3 stage polishing over 2 days, just so I feel like I'm not rushed. I'm also that kind of guy who will spend hours doing the tiniest things to a car that will never get noticed.
 
Darkstar752 said:
Doesn't take very long with my Makita, but I always work as much as I can in the time alotted. I like to do 2-3 stage polishing over 2 days, just so I feel like I'm not rushed. I'm also that kind of guy who will spend hours doing the tiniest things to a car that will never get noticed.
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I'm with you on that. I use Menz and Megs for polishing/compounding. Makita and PC depending on the job. Anyone have a vid to show how quick you are using the rotary and/or PC. Sorry for the noob-like question. I'm experienced, but I just take a long time. Unless its a miata, I can't do a 2 step in 1 day.
 
Jakerooni said:
Are you saying you have a 2-4 hour work time per stage??? How do you not burn up the product? I don't think you can even work UF that long. And as long as your customers like what you do in the time frame you do it there really isn't a problem. everyone works at their own pace.
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Yes. But I don't have any UF. My schedule is the limitation here, if I can get a 2 step down to 1 day from 2 days, I can theoretically do twice as many cars. They are coming out exactly the way I want them, but I wonder if I'm spending 30sec-2min longer than necessary per panel?
 
gofast908z said:
Yes. But I don't have any UF. My schedule is the limitation here, if I can get a 2 step down to 1 day from 2 days, I can theoretically do twice as many cars. They are coming out exactly the way I want them, but I wonder if I'm spending 30sec-2min longer than necessary per panel?
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That really varies on the panel. You should be able to physically see the correction take place. Once it's corrected you can move on. But sometimes you just have to take awhile to get the correction. Do you change your speeds during your passes?
 
Jakerooni said:
That really varies on the panel. You should be able to physically see the correction take place. Once it's corrected you can move on. But sometimes you just have to take awhile to get the correction. Do you change your speeds during your passes?
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Each time I try to go faster, (usually with the PC) I don't get as good of correction, sometimes looking like the polish wasn't fully broken down. So I keep coming back to 2-4hrs/stage. No, pretty much stick with the same speed, though that speed is dependent on what kind of correction I'm doing.
 
You can kick up the speed of the pad. (I still don't really correct much with the PC so it could be a different process in the end) but keep your movements at a slower pace. And don't forget to varation of pressure also makes a huge difference.
 
also, I would rather add more product to get more cut and remove defects rather than spend the extra 2 min trying to squeeze the last bit of cut from the original product application
 
It just takes a long as it takes :nixweiss



Assuming you're working the product for the correct amount of time, you simply have to repeat the process until you get the desired result, maybe once, maybe a dozen times.



If it's taking longer than you'd like, *IMO* the answer is to get more aggressive. Usually, assuming it's safe to do so; sometimes the *safe* way is to work slowly and incrementally and in those cases you're stuck with using a lot of time and effort.



M105/wool is a pretty aggressive combo, no matter which machine you use it with. If *that* takes too long then you're next step is getting into product combos that you have to use with real respect. And in some cases, the time-efficient answer is to wetsand for the initial (very serious) step and then just polish out the sanding marks.



But in all these cases I'd start to wonder about how much clear is being taken off and how much is gonna be left when you're done.
 
I tried speeding things up a bit the other day.



On the rotary with M205 and a megs yellow pad worked it 1000-1500-1000 and did one stage with that in about 2.5 hours. I got 98% of the swirls out (Audi A6), and just left minor holograms. Second stage was PC with LC white and Menz FPII. Since it was just light holograms that needed removing I figured this is where I could safely shave time. I did the second stage in 1 hour and got the exact results I wanted and the paint looked perfect. Customer was extremely pleased. Thanks for the help guys!
 
The key is really just getting where you want to be. Speed comes with experience, if you are achieving flawless results then dont worry about it. I usually book cars for three days just so I can take my time. I charge more money to do it, but when your work is quality you can do this.
 
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