Another noob polishing question

mikenap

mikenap

New member
I've been playing around a bit w/ M105 and a PC XP on an old, abused 96 Civic before taking the polisher to my 2 newer cars. I'm having a bit of a dilemma though. I can't seem to get scratches completely out of the paint. The car is heavily oxidized and has TONS of scratches, some deep and some that I wouldn't consider deep at all.



I know you can't always try to get every little scratch out, but this car is for practice so I'm not worried about removing too much clear. I just want to be able to totally remove at least SOME of these smaller scratches. The problem is I can make them smaller and less noticeable but after several passes w/ a flat LC 4" orange pad and 105, they don't go away completely. Now, I know I'm not scratching or micro-marring with the 105 because I'm only focusing on existing scratches. I've followed with 205 and while it finishes up nicely, I can still see these scratches everywhere, albeit greatly reduced.



I'm also aware that people generally find Honda clearcoat soft but has that always been the case? Are older Honda finishes harder, or maybe the years of neglect have hardened up the paint somehow?



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This shows the tiny scratches around the halogen reflection that I can't seem to get out. When I say several passes, I'm talking about 3 or 4 of M105, with just enough pressure to keep the backing plate spinning. This car won't come near 100% correction just because of the neglect but with 105/205, I should be able to 100% at least one darn spot on the car. Please someone point me in the right direction.



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I can say I'm pleased with how it's cutting through the oxidation with ease though.
 
thats what i was thinking,

maybe try the PFW pad and give it a go. Being that its wool, it wont generate nearly the same heat a regular pad will, so this will allow more pressure if i'm correct.
 
No, I haven't tried wool pads but I did drop from an orange 5.5" CCS to a 4" orange flat pad because everyone says 4" will correct better with a PC. I almost feel like I've done too many passes to have it still looking like it does and more passes just don't seem to go any further. Also, I was under the impression that Honda clear is super soft compared to others but this hasn't been my experience. Maybe older Honda paint was tougher?



FWIW, I also tried XMT 3 followed by XMT 1 but that really didn't give me a noticeable difference from 105/205. Maybe a bit more light initial cutting but after several passes, I was at the same place. I honestly don't even care if I go through the CC since it's already failing in some spots and has crow's feet in others. I just want to be able to completely erase a couple of these scratches so I know what to do when I move to my wife's car and my other car.
 
mikenap said:
I honestly don't even care if I go through the CC since it's already failing in some spots and has crow's feet in others. I just want to be able to completely erase a couple of these scratches so I know what to do when I move to my wife's car and my other car.
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I felt the same way before and ended up wetsanding a few RIDS. Got great results and it was good practice.
 
Jam is right with the wool pad suggest mike. product wise, i use menzerna power gloss on jobs like those an it never ceases to amaze me it what it can do to really(an i mean really) deteriorated surfaces. You still may have to make 2/3 passes like i done three weeks ago on a 98 excel that had no polish since new (looked the complete opposite of "gloss") but the power gloss worked wonders!!
 
So have I just reached a point where successive passes of a 4" orange won't correct any further? I don't have any PFWs in my kit yet and my wife is figuring out what AG shipping packages look like. Any more show up on the doorstep any time soon and I'll have a LOT of explaining to do!



I guess I'll keep doing more passes with the orange for the time being and hopefully eventually see a result.



Jam, I also like the wetsanding idea. This is a practice car after all, and that's a trick I need to learn too. Thanks for the replies everyone.
 
mikenap said:
So have I just reached a point where successive passes of a 4" orange won't correct any further? I don't have any PFWs in my kit yet and my wife is figuring out what AG shipping packages look like. Any more show up on the doorstep any time soon and I'll have a LOT of explaining to do!



I guess I'll keep doing more passes with the orange for the time being and hopefully eventually see a result.



Jam, I also like the wetsanding idea. This is a practice car after all, and that's a trick I need to learn too. Thanks for the replies everyone.
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Even though it doesn't seem like it, successive applications of the same product with the same color pad (assuming the pad isn't so loaded that it can't cut) will always produce the same amount of cut every time. That cut might be so light that it just doesn't seem to be doing anything against a defect that's too deep. Think of it as trying to get a huge ding out of a piece of wood using 400 grit sand paper. You can do it, but it will take *forever*.
 
Yeayh, a 4" orange pad with M105 will go all the way to primer if you do it long enough (and do it properly).



Don't let the pad get loaded. Use plenty of product but not too much (that can be a bit of trick to learn at first). Note that the pads will wear after a while and lose cut (but not as much as you might think). Don't give up too soon (hey, ten passes might not be enough, or three might be too many...it simply depends).



Yeah, you can get more aggrssive (wool pads, wetsanding) but IMO this is in the "if you have to ask, you shouldn't consider it" category. Especially without an ETG.
 
Accumulator, you seem pretty versed in using 105 w/ a PC. Have you ever had to do more than 10 passes to clear up a defect? I'm not sure if you're kidding about the ten passes not being enough or not, I was always under the assumption that 4 or so passes would get ANYTHING out.
 
mikenap said:
Accumulator, you seem pretty versed in using 105 w/ a PC. Have you ever had to do more than 10 passes to clear up a defect? I'm not sure if you're kidding about the ten passes not being enough or not, I was always under the assumption that 4 or so passes would get ANYTHING out.
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Yeah, I'm sure some of the work I did on my pal's repainted '60 Jag took that many. Or at least they *would* have had I not reached for those 4" wool pads, which sure do take off paint. But then those leave some nasty marring of their own, which took a few more passes with the orange foam, which left some micromarring too...so yeah...ten passes with M105 isn't out of the question.



But note that since M105 doesn't break down, a "pass" can be of long or short duration, time-wise. When doing very aggressive work I'll stop early and check my progress more often so I can quit ASAP.



(Thinking out loud here: two/three passes with M105/orange..nope, switch to wool and do three more for total of six...switch back to orange and do two or three to remove the wool's scratches for a total of nine... then one final pass with M105/4" green and yep, that's ten passes with M105!)



The thing to remember here is that you *are* taking off clear. Maybe not as much/as fast as you'd like, but it's still happening. The thought "don't try this at home, kids!" comes to mind ;)
 
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