@STOKDGS, Thanks,
I hand wash w/a BHB and blow dry using quality microfiber. I had a half bar of Meguiars blue clay don`t remember the level, but use a speed shine as a lubricant and I use plenty of that, doing small sections of panel, followed with the wipe up of that.
I will say that the surface does feel smooth to the touch and I find no defects doing it that way. I did the baggie test as I thought this was a good way to detect some smaller contaminates.
The PC was an orange pad might be GG or Lake country and the machine no 3 polish was just an experiment just to see what level of improvement (if any),Speed 2-3 working in a line. I also thought this would be a good opportunity to evaluate the paint from baseline and know where I`ll be in the future. Maybe I`m overthinking this but would use the NP 3-6 if needing to go that route.
Thanks again.
@ LS Glide -
Thank you for your reply !
I looked at the Autopia Store and they only Meguiars clay bar they sell is not blue, so guess it is not that one...
Anyway,looks like your claybar work must have been good enough using what you did..
I only use Rotary Power to paint correct, but I also have a Flex 3401VRG machine from when they first came out, so I know enough about random orbitals too..
What I would do if I was using any random orbital, especially your Porter Cable machine, is get the compound, polish, etc., acquainted with the area you are going to correct, and then turn it up full speed, press down some on it, not so much that you stop the Pad Rotation, and go over the area like that, until the product is almost gone or gone... You Need Pad Rotation for the best results from both pad and product...
To keep the product from drying too fast, i keep a spray bottle of the foam pad conditioner I use, close by and if I see the product starting to dry, I just wet the surface a little and keep it moist enough to finish its work, before I stop, wipe it down and look at it...
If I don`t see the clarity and feel the smoothness I want, I do it again...
The best product I have used over and over for a few hundred vehicles has always been Optimum Hyper-Polish...
Yes, I have also used the Meguiar`s twins - M105 and 205, that are now a little different numbers, all the wonderful Menzerna line, 3M products, and the Optimum products, and finally settled on Optimum Hyper-Polish with a Lake Country Hydro-Tech Cyan (Blue) 5" Pad and a smaller one if needed, with an extension on the machine to allow me to get it into tighter places if necessary..
Lake Country also makes a Hydro-Tech Tangerine (Orange) pad that is finer and perhaps finishes even better than the Cyan pad does...
These 2 pads or even just one of them is all I need to paint correct (with the right correction product), and finish it really nice, clear, glossy, and flat, every time...
They are made of a foam that does not absorb liquids very fast, so they can go a long way before you have to change them out...
I always take a white cotton towel, and wipe down the pad after each of the several passes made on a section, and almost all or all of the product has been used up and is gone, and wipe the pad surface clean of all the dead product, paint, etc., that is now on it, so I can start off clean again on the next section...
My process is to paint correct and polish the best I can do one time if possible, and then keep moving all the way down the vehicle, until it`s done, and all I need to do now, is wipe it down again, carefully, and apply whatever the LSP is going to be, wax, sealant, coating, etc...
Of course, really good overhead and lighting from the side is important to see how the process is going on that section, and help me know when it`s time to spritz some liquid on that section if it`s drying too fast...
And cannot say enough about Pad Rotation... You have to have it to break down the product as it works against the paintwork...
Even on my Makita Rotary, I never get the rpm past 1,200 or so, because I don`t see any advantage to higher rpm, which just makes everything dry up faster, when it Could stick around longer and help the paint correct process ...
Hope you can get that beautiful Mopar paint looking great !! They have really good paint on them...Awesome, fast, loud cars for sure !!!!
Dan F
