First Correction Attempt-Looking for advice/help!

[UR2SLO]

Hi.



The products I am using/have:



-Menzerna Power Gloss (Yellow Pad, Speed 5)

-Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (Orange Pad, Speed 5)

-Menzerna Super Finish SF4000 (Green Pad, Speed 5)

-Menzerna Power Lock (Gtechniqe Black Pad by Hand)

-Griots Garage Random Orbital

-Uber 5.5" and 4" Pads







I spent 3 hours doing the rear of my car (09 Dark Grey Sentra) to get about 85-90% of the scratches removed, but does this seem to long? I started to do pillars and near the gas tank but it seemed like I would use Power Gloss two times and the rest of the products once and end up with some scratches still there. These scratches are your regular swirl marks and random scratches you see people removing with ease. I hear that Power Gloss shouldn’t even be needed as it’s a heavy compound. Am I using the wrong color pads for the product? I am applying enough pressure I believe (max till you notice the pads is not rotating). The whole process today seemed annoying, like I wasn’t going anywhere, I fee; the products are right, but the way I am applying them is wrong perhaps. Should I swap the Power Gloss for M105?



***ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!***



Other Questions:



How often should I be cleaning my pads?



How should I be applying product to the pads? Example: X, dots, spread with finger?



How much of the defects/scratches should be removed using Power Gloss to give me an idea to move to Super Intensive Polish?



How many times should I be passing up and down/left and right?

 

[Accumulator]

Hi.



The products I am using/have:



-Menzerna Power Gloss (Yellow Pad, Speed 5)

-Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (Orange Pad, Speed 5)

-Menzerna Super Finish SF4000 (Green Pad, Speed 5)

-Menzerna Power Lock (Gtechniqe Black Pad by Hand)

-Griots Garage Random Orbital

-Uber 5.5" and 4" Pads







I spent 3 hours doing the rear of my car (09 Dark Grey Sentra) to get about 85-90% of the scratches removed, but does this seem to long?

Nah, I've spent longer than that on a single panel countless times. But I can understand how you'd like it to go quicker.



But you could probably speed things along nicely by turning the machine up all the way.



I've never used that Menzerna stuff, so I can't say whether it's slowing you down or not.

I started to do pillars and near the gas tank but it seemed like I would use Power Gloss two times and the rest of the products once and end up with some scratches still there.

With all the standard caveats about not overthinning your clear and all that...I keep using my aggressive combo until the marring has been replaced with micromarring from the compounding. Or until I get nervous about how much clear I'm taking off (see, I don't mind repeating that warning!).



IMO two goes with your aggressive combo isn't much at all; I'll do more than that with much more aggressive approaches. Eh, I think it's just gonna take even longer than you'd like to get the results you might be after.



Or you can settle for the ~85% and leave plenty of clear for another time's correction. I bet it looks really good right now, at least by "normal person" standards (and I'd rather think of this stuff like that than in some Autopian Perfection way).

These scratches are your regular swirl marks and random scratches you see people removing with ease.

A) don't give thought to other people's correction, and B) don't believe how "incredibly fast and easy!" people say they do correction....especially over the internet

I hear that Power Gloss shouldn’t even be needed as it’s a heavy compound.

I often have to use comparable stiff like M105 or even more aggressive approaches. Yeah, even for seemingly minor correction. It takes what it takes for *you* to get the work done.

Am I using the wrong color pads for the product?

I don't know from PowerGloss, but I don't like yellow foam cutting pads nearly as well as MF cutting pads and/or certain wool pads (yeah, wool via RO).

I am applying enough pressure I believe (max till you notice the pads is not rotating). The whole process today seemed annoying, like I wasn’t going anywhere, I fee; the products are right, but the way I am applying them is wrong perhaps. Should I swap the Power Gloss for M105?

If you're getting frustrated, and you don't mind spending the $, then I'd say to try something else. I'm not in favor of struggling to master something that just doesn't work for you.



M105 *does* cut, but IME it's not all that user-friendly. You might like Uno better, and I've done good correction with it, on hard clear. For both, I like MF cutting pads (study up, esp. with regard to backing plate size/fit).



But you should still plan to do more than two goes/"passes" with the aggressive combo.



And if somebody posts back with "nothing wrong with PowerGloss", well...OK, just tell us how to use it more effectively/efficiently

How often should I be cleaning my pads?

More often than you are now! Seriously, IMO people hardly ever clean their pads enough. Not like you can over do it. Get that old polish and cut-off clearcoat out of there!

How should I be applying product to the pads? Example: X, dots, spread with finger?

Any of those. I always like to distribute the product pretty evenly, but that's generally more important with non-diminishing abrasive products like M105/Uno/etc. (as is pad priming). But if you think about it I bet you can see how beneficial it can be to have the whole pad working in a uniform manner. No need to go nuts about it though.

How much of the defects/scratches should be removed using Power Gloss to give me an idea to move to Super Intensive Polish?

I dunno if I'd do that fine a step-down. If I needed PowerGloss I might try skipping the Super Intensive if the next milder one with eliminate any PG micromarring (again, I just don't know from these products). Yellow foam cutting pads generally leave somewhat severe micromarring, which is one reason I don't like them; I generally go from my aggressive step right to a pretty mild one.

How many times should I be passing up and down/left and right?

Until the product has finished doing its thing...whether that means "almost dried out" or "thoroughly broken down".