Cyclo Polisher VS Swirled Hood

A

Anthony O.

New member
Some may recall a thread I started on whether or not a Cyclo can remove swirls and scratches. Many people claim that it cannot do so while many others, myself included, believe that it can.



Now I will openly admit that the Cyclo (CP) cannot remove heavey swirls or heavy, deep scratches. A rotary is needed for that type of paint correction BUT I have said that the CP will do some impressive work if used with the right product and technique.



I am detailing this black Mercedes Benz and it looked like a good canidate for this type of a test. I washed the MB and then drove it outside to take a few pictures.



Here is the BEFORE shot
 
Now that is a pretty messed up hood, I am sure we would all agree. I then placed some green pads on my CP, the green pads are meduim cutting pads, and I applied some DACP to eash pad and went to work.



I also layed down a strip of tape to seperate the hood into halves. I started on the drivers half of the hood and went over the paint very slowly, really working the product into the paint. I actually built up a great deal of heat with the CP using my technique of slow steady passes.



Here is the hood after the green pads and the DACP, notice that there are still some swirls/scratches but the paint is now more even and also hazed up somewhat.
 
The next stage of polishing was with 3M's Perfect-It III and the CP white pads. The whit epads are said to be finishing pads but they are more like polishing pads, fine polishing pads more so than a true finishing pad.



Once again I was able to generate a great deal of heat using real slow passes.



Here is the hood after the white pads and the 3M
 
Now my last step was to use Menzerna FP and again work the product well.



There are still some light scratches but then again I never said that the CP will remove them all BUT if you dont have a rotary it can do some nice work.



There is no glazes on this finish and I also wiped it down with a water/alcohol mixture just any case any product left fillers behind.



I am pleased with the results.



Thanks,

Anthony
 
One last pic....this is a shot of the untouched half of the hood right after taking the FP side.



The FP side has no wax or sealant on it either



It shows the difference between the two.
 
Thanks for the post Anthony. How long would you say you spent on each section with the DACP. How long did this half of the hood take you in total? Sorry...just full of questions today. ;)
 
StickKing1 said:
Thanks for the post Anthony. How long would you say you spent on the DACP and how big an area were you working with? How long did this half of the hood take you in total? Sorry...just full of questions today. ;)
Click to expand...



I would say I spent about an hour to 45 minutes on the one half of the hood. It takes you longer with a Cyclo than say a high speed rotary and I will finish out the rest of the car with my rotary because it will be faster and also level more paint than the CP.



I would guess that I spent the longest time on the first and the last step. The DACP took about 15 minutes for the one half of the hood, The key is slow stead passes with a fair amount of pressure on the CP.



Anthony
 
Anthony:



Excellent work and write up! Thanks for such the documentation. I'm sure it will change many minds of Autopians who were skeptical about the cyclo.



How long did the whole car end up taking to do?
 
GSRstilez said:
Anthony:



Excellent work and write up! Thanks for such the documentation. I'm sure it will change many minds of Autopians who were skeptical about the cyclo.



How long did the whole car end up taking to do?
Click to expand...



Sean,



I only had time to do the hood test today. I will, or should, finish the whole exterior tomorrow but I will most likely use my rotary for the first initial steps of cleaning/polishing.



Thank you for the compliments,



Anthony
 
Nice work and thanks for the step by step process, including pads and polishes. Very helpful!



How much quicker will the process go using your rotary for the rest?



BTW, you did give the owner a swift kick in the shins for letting a Benz get like that right?
fingersx.gif
 
Woooh..



Many thanks. I have learned a new application for my cyclo. I also have the green pads, but never used.



I will test maybe with 3M fine cut compound and see what happens.



Congratulations, good thread!!
 
Anthony- Good post :xyxthumbs . Sorta funny how much more effective it can be, compared to a PC, huh?



Heh heh, did you pick all the velcro slubs out of the white pads before you used them?



Aqua- The Cyclo is *so* versatile...you really oughta start exploring its various capabilities ;)
 
Good work Anthony. I really don't think anyone can do a better job at disproving Buda's *expert* claims than you can!



You and Joed (& Accumulator) are really making me want to move on from my PC to the Cyclo.
 
Scottwax said:
Nice work and thanks for the step by step process, including pads and polishes. Very helpful!



How much quicker will the process go using your rotary for the rest?



BTW, you did give the owner a swift kick in the shins for letting a Benz get like that right?
fingersx.gif
Click to expand...



Scott........I work fairly slow on cars such as this one only because he left it with me and I can work on it slowly. He just bought a new SL 55 *Sweet Ride*:cool:



The rotary is faster BUT if you don't mask areas off then the time you save using the rotary will be lost cleaning up all the sling and dust.



If you guys decide to buy a CP you won't be dissapointed, great machine, well built, very quiet and well balanced, even with one hand and of course you can get wool pads and terry pads for metal polishing and also the brushes to use for carpets.



I'll talk with Irene at Top of the Line and if you buy one from her I'll see if I can't talk her into throwing in a sample or two of some products I use.



Thanks for the :up on the thread,



Anthony
 
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