Frustration kicks in, no luck with PC.

G

geminigsr

New member
Ok,

I'm beginning to get slightly frustrated. I'm no pro detailer and know it takes practice and experience to get to that level but I was hoping I would at LEAST be able to take hazing off my car. That, as of yet has not been the case - If not, it probably got worse since the last time I went over the car.

Rundown!

Car-01 Honda S2000
Color-Berlina Black
Products used - DACP, #80 Speed Glaze
and of course, the PC.
Pads - Meguiar's cutting pad and polishing pad.

To begin.

I went over this car 2 weeks ago with just DACP and a cutting pad to remove heavy swirls, at this point I was completly new to this and didn't realize I had to follow up with a polish with less cut to remove the marks left by DACP. 2 weeks pass I did some research and I went ahead and got Speed Glaze...

I washed, dried the car - Began working it again with DACP and the burgandy color pad.. made an effort to do small areas at round 5.. sometimes 6.. got most of the heavy swirls out the car..

Next up was Meg Speed Glaze and polishing pad! Time to remove that hazing right? Not..

I think my failure on this product and perhaps you guys can back me up once you read this story and give me tips is that I used TOO much product and didn't work it in as long as I should have.. I was getting impatient, it was night time and all I had was the garage light.. I could see the hazing on the hood but it almost felt as if CREATING some with the the glaze!

I never used the PC on more than 3.5 on the glaze, maybe 4 are you suppose to work this in as long/highspeed as DACP? How much product? When do you know when to stop? What speeds recommended for Speed Glaze?

I woke up this morning and pulled the car out the garage, hoping for the best.. I was amazed by the wetness of the car and how slicked it looked.. it looks awesome in shades.

Then the sun kicked in and I saw hazing all over the car, worse than last last time I did before even the Glaze.. but I was a lot more aggresive on the car with the DACP in hopes of having the glaze remove whatevers left..

HELP! I've spent over 200 dollars now in microfiber towels, products and the PC.. I know this all a learning experience and eventually I might actually be able to make a side buisness out of this but right now.. very frustraed..
 
Ouch. I think CleanDean did one of these a while back and said it was a toughie. I think the paint was single stage. Maybe you should try a chemical polish to try and remove the haze instead of an abrasive one.
 
The DACP is a somewhat aggressive polish, not bad, but more than many people realize. That and the cutting pad might be creating more problems than it corrects. The speed glaze is somewhat more abrasive than a swirl remover, but it does seem like it and a polishing pad should have left your paint ready to wax/seal.
It definitely varies from car to car, but I haven't needed anything more abarasive than a swirl remover with a polishing pad on any of our vehicles. In fact, I don't even own a cutting pad, just polishing and finishing.
Personal opinion, but I would stop with the DACP and see what you can do with the speed glaze and a polishing pad in one area.
With Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0, I use a polishing pad at a speed of 4.5. That might be a good place to start with the speed glaze. The #9 works best for me if I work it until it is about gone. If you continue to add product, I don't think the product "breaks down" and it leaves the hazing you are getting. :dunno

Charles
 
Pics..

sun was frustrating, and yes those r scratches pass my paint on my door

detail.jpg


detail2.jpg



detail3.jpg


detail4.jpg


There no wax on the paint yet so I will try this again tonight with feedback if not tomorrow..
 
How about DACP on a polishing pad? THe less agressive pad may help remove some of the hazing. Following up with Speed Glaze witha polishing pad would be the next step.
 
My neighbor has a black TL (assume it's similiar to your paint), and it was A BEAR getting the finish to look right -he's a perfectionist like the rest of us.

I'd be embarressed to say how many hours, products tested/used, etc... were put into the process. I'll just say that it took several frusterating attempts, over the course of several weekends to find the right products for his paint.

He now uses the menzerna line exclusively.

Power Compound - orange pad at 5.5 to 6 on the PC.
This will remove scratches like the one on your door.

Intensive Polish - orange pad at 5.5 to 6 on the PC. (Use this first, before moving to the power compound).

Final Polish II - white polish pad at 4-4.5 on the PC.

Menzerna Glaze - white polish pad at 3-4 on the PC.

FMJ - Apply by hand.

Wax - You pick the one you like. He uses liquid pinnacle.

Call Dwyane and order the menzerna kit. Yea, it's another $69.00 hit to the wallet, but I'm confident that you'll really like the results. No knock on Meg's products, but I've never had much luck with the DACP via the PC. I find that DACP works great via the rotary. -Just my experience. Hope this helps. Don't give up!!!!
 
A few things to add to my comments above.

The compound I mentioned is called "power gloss". It doesn't come with the kit (all of the other do). It's a great go to product for defects. I probably shouldn't have said it WILL remove scratches like the one on your door without seeing your car in person. But.. I'm confident that it'll greatly improve it! Again, best of luck!
 
I would agree with Scott p on this one ... Being the owners of Black Cars (I have a Black Mustang and if I remember correctly Scott has a Black Pontiac Grand Prix) there are times when things that look really bad aren't as bad as you think. Black shows everything weather it be something subtle or something massive.

Switch up to the polishing pad...I have even used ssr2.5 with a finishing pad and have acheived amazing results! Also your saying that you tried some small areas on 5 or 6. I would keep it at 5 I typicly do my entire car at 5 depending on product...
 
Megs does not recommend using a cutting pad with #83. However there are a number of people who do use this combo. When they do they usually follow-up with #83 and a polishing pad.

On my truck I did the following:
#83 with orange LC
#83 with white LC
#80 with white LC
NXT x2

Step 2 or 3 could either be swapped or eliminated.....I did it anyway. I just ordered some SSR2.5 to try. I am not happy with the results of #83. Over at Megs Online they frequently say that its "finicky"....I do not have the patience to deal with "finicky".......

Hope this helps
 
CharlesW said:
The DACP is a somewhat aggressive polish, not bad, but more than many people realize. That and the cutting pad might be creating more problems than it corrects. The speed glaze is somewhat more abrasive than a swirl remover, but it does seem like it and a polishing pad should have left your paint ready to wax/seal.
It definitely varies from car to car, but I haven't needed anything more abarasive than a swirl remover with a polishing pad on any of our vehicles. In fact, I don't even own a cutting pad, just polishing and finishing.
Personal opinion, but I would stop with the DACP and see what you can do with the speed glaze and a polishing pad in one area.
With Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0, I use a polishing pad at a speed of 4.5. That might be a good place to start with the speed glaze. The #9 works best for me if I work it until it is about gone. If you continue to add product, I don't think the product "breaks down" and it leaves the hazing you are getting. :dunno

Charles
Click to expand...
:yeah
DACP always leaves micromarring (hazing) for me, especially with a cutting pad. Following up with a less aggressive polish (like Speed Glaze) on a polishing pad is almost always a necessity. Try using the PC at 4.5-5.0 with a less aggressive polish. That should help clean up your DACP induced hazing.

If you want to try some different products, I've had very good results with the Poorboy's SSR lineup. SSR2.5 has similar cutting action to DACP, but doesn't create additional marring as long as you work the product until it fully breaks down. SSR2.5 with a polishing pad may leave you with a ready to wax finish. SSR2.5 with a cutting pad will probably require an intermediate step-down polish like SSR2 or SSR1.
 
I've more or less abandoned DACP and Megs polishes. I'll use it for rotary practice. The polishes I've used in order of frequency are :1z, Menzerna, 3m 1z PP followed by Menzerna FP does he trick for me but I also use the Cyclo now for all polishing and the PC only for applying AIO.
 
mgm2003 said:
A few things to add to my comments above.

The compound I mentioned is called "power gloss". It doesn't come with the kit (all of the other do). It's a great go to product for defects. I probably shouldn't have said it WILL remove scratches like the one on your door without seeing your car in person. But.. I'm confident that it'll greatly improve it! Again, best of luck!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that Power Gloss is the only Menzerna polish that is intended primarily for rotary use & is not recommended for use with a PC.

IMHO, I think the Menzerna products are excellent & easy to use.

I had better results using SSR2.5 after IP didn't get the job completely done using a PC at 4.5 , orange LC 7.5" pad.
 
Well, after reading some of the posts..

My mistake was using DACP with the cutting pad.. and not working the Glaze good enough.. So how does this sound and it's almost painful I have to do it again, but WTH..

I spent the most time on the hood because it was the only panel that had direct light on the garage - Naturally, I saw all the haze and I worked the glaze on the hood more than any panel.. there is minimal hazing on the hood now that I looked at in direct sunlight, but still some left.

My plan of attack now..

Wash
DACP on POLISHING pad at 5k-6k work till dust
then #80 at 5k and work it till it's clear..

If THAT doesn't fix my problem I'll be putting up my PC and all my products for sale so I can pay a detailer to do it haha..
 
I'd go with a Cyclo and/or rotary: invest in some scrap panels and practice. Seek out a body shop that could give you a paint thickness reading of the entire car before you are ready to use the rotary.
 
I have heard more than one person say that some of Honda's black paints are an incredible paint o try and get 'right.' I personally haven't had issues with the DACP/cutting pad combo, but perhaps I've just been lucky.

I've noticed that on black, sometimes at the right (wrong?) angle, the panit can look like a shiny 'off gray' look, even if it's been polished to perfection. The Dakota I recently did was like that.

I agree you might want to lay off the DACP and start working with an SMR or something similar.
 
Don't give up! After you get the hang of it, you will love the results. I have had some problems with DACP, but I still like it. IMO dampnes or humidity, can play a role in how well a compound works. Make sure you aren't putting to much compound on, it seems to gum up the pads. Once they are gummed up they don't seem to work. I found this to be even more true when it was damp or humid out. Plus don't get rid of the PC, get rid of the black car.

Just kidding, black is awesome! It is also one of the hardest colors to perfect. Take your time.
 
I'm not sure how DACP and Speed Glaze are, but i've read mixed reviews on them. Thats why when I got my PC, I just got SSR2.5. It really has been able to remove everything. I did 2 black civics(1 1999 1 2001), The 2001's hood was completely marred up because the owner rubbed TW Heavy Compound in circles and let it sit for a while then tried removing. SSR2.5 and a cutting pad took care of it and left the finish pretty clean. I followed up with VM on a polishing pad and it was perfect. The 1999 had some bad buffer burn marks on it, again SSR2.5 with a cutting pad quickly cleaned it up to perfection. Maybe you should look into trying some products that are easier to work with, that yield good results? I'm not telling you to buy every product we reccomend, how about as a last resort before giving up, set up some trades for samples amongst other members?? I'd trade you some SSR2.5 but don't have any more left. Just don't give up so early, once you find the products that work for you, you'll be happy you stuck with it.
 
I give up.

Instead of going around the whole car I narrowed it down to one panel (trunk)

I saw little to no improvement after DACP on polish pad for multiple passes, worked it in real good at 5-6...... then did #80 speed glaze, same results, LOTSA hazing in direct sunlight..

I even tried going back to DACP on the cutting pad and worked it till dust then went over DACP with polish and finally speed glaze and NOTHING!!!

So screw it :P - I'm going to sell everything I purchased which is well over $200.00 to have the money to HOPEFULLY find a capable detailer to fix what was already on my car and what I possibly might have added.

So if ne1 is interested..

Porter Cable 7424 w/ Velcro backing plate...

2 Meg's Polish Pad's
2 Meg's Cutting Pad's
about 15 microfiber towels..
Half DACP of the smaller bottle
1 quart of MEg's #80 speed glaze


The pads and porter cable have been used a total of 3-4x... towels, once..

Hopefully I'm not breaking rules by posting this but if I can get $150.00 for everything listed which would be just enough money to pay the proper detailer to fix my car... I'd be happy..
 
I am new to this forum thing, but couldnt help to add my 2 cents. Menzerna Inetensive Polish with a green pad and a high speed buffer at 1000 rpm. Repeat with Final polish. Use a blue pad at 1000 rpm to take off haze. One coat of paint sealant by hand your choice and one coat of carnuba your choice.
 
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