Help!! Just installed buffer marks on my car!!!

C

C-MDX

New member
So I bought my PC and I havn't really use it much so I decided to use it yesterday. Some of you may know that my garage has little to no lights at all so it's very hard to see what I'm doing. After I wash and dried my car I putted in my garage and started polishing the doors (both driver side doors). I used IP w/ yellow pad, FP w/ orange pad, AIO and SG. When I was polishing with IP I set to speed 5 and sometimes 6 :eek:. I wait until it turned into powder then I wipe the recidue off with a MF. As I said, my garage is very gloomy so I don't know what I'm doing. Then I move on to FP, speed set to 4, then AIO and SG by hand it looked good so I went back home. The next day (today) I putted my car outside and holy crap, light buffer marks all over the doors :eek:. I don't know what to do!!! What caused the buffer marks, did I set the wrong speed and used a too aggressive pad?? did I use too less product (a dime size per 1/2 door)?? Did I moved too slow?? Is it because I did the figure 8 motion?? This is the first time I ever used the PC on vertical panels (only used it on the hood before). What can I do to remove it?? Should I get some white pads (I only have 2 yelow and 2 orange)?? btw, I didn't put any presure on the pad at all.
 
Well I will take a stab and say that using FP and an orange pad ( cutting ) is a backward step after using IP and a yellow pad ( polishing ). Please note that this is dependant on what brand pads you have.......



And put some lights in your garage, pointless doing something if you cant even tell what the results are as you progress. You be constantly assessing and re-assessing as you work. If somethings not working or causing a negative, you stop and try something new / different.
 
C-DMX, to improve your lighting situation, consider getting a set of 1000watt halogens from a hardware store. I have very ample flourescents in my garage and often times the simple halogen light stand does a better job showing me defects!



I would try using FP white the white LC pad to try to get out the marks. Hope this works out for you :up
 
6cyl's_of_fury said:
Well I will take a stab and say that using FP and an orange pad ( cutting ) is a backward step after using IP and a yellow pad ( polishing ). Please note that this is dependant on what brand pads you have.......



And put some lights in your garage, pointless doing something if you cant even tell what the results are as you progress. You be constantly assessing and re-assessing as you work. If somethings not working or causing a negative, you stop and try something new / different.
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I used LC yellow and LC orange.
 
iF anything shine the most powerful flashlight you got after your passes. It's been working for me till I get better lighting. If I don't see it with the flashlight, I don't see it in the sunlight.
 
Amen to Bill D.



White LC pads and FP. You *may* even need to go back to IP on an orange or white pad, but that is an assessment you will have to make. Try the least aggressive first and work up the aggressive scale if the results desired are not eventuating.
 
Go to Sears and get a halogen on a tripod. They cost less than a bottle of decent wax and they will show you what you are doing. Recently the 500W versions were selling for like $15.
 
jfelbab said:
Go to Sears and get a halogen on a tripod. They cost less than a bottle of decent wax and they will show you what you are doing. Recently the 500W versions were selling for like $15.
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I always have a feeling that halogen lights will get too hot and will cause a fire, is it true??
 
6cyl's_of_fury said:
Amen to Bill D.
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Gee, thanks :o



Yeah FP seems to do the trick for me, I even used it by hand today on a very tiny spot and it worked out rather well but I think it was just an extremely shallow mark. I'm almost always having to reach for the PC for Audi paint but when I do, I usually finish off with 1z MP and/or FP. Sometimes the FP alone with the white pad is good enough for very light micromarring :up
 
C-MDX said:
I always have a feeling that halogen lights will get too hot and will cause a fire, is it true??
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They do get hot but have a metal cage to avoid contact with the hot glass. They won't start a fire unless you throw your towels over them. I've used halogens for at least 5 years and never had any problem whatsoever with their heat. In fact, the heat is an added bonus in the colder months.



Bottom line; nothing comes close at their price point to lighting up your finish and highlighting imperfections. Fluorescent lighting is for seeing and I have 18 40W fluorescents in my garage but their light does not bring out paint defects well.
 
I will also agree with getting the halogen lights. If they are creating too much heat or anything, turn them off while working and back on when your ready to inspect the work after each section. You could even use just one of the two lights and you would be okay while working.



I also think you need a bit more product than what you were using. David B put out an article really recently about the PC and he covers how much product to use. Look at what he does with 1z MP and kinda go off of that. Using more or less to go along with whats best for your polish.
 
Here ya go C-MDX .. Zellers .. $34



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First of all, before you start doing all this, are you CERTAIN they are buffer swirls? Sometimes if products smear (especially AIO) it appears as if it were buffer swirling or holograming. This happened to me the first time I used AIO/SG after polishing this happened, after stripping the Klasse off it was gone. I even posted it actually like a year ago, asking if I could have uncovered dealer swirling even after several months. Now that I am more experienced I realize a PC cannot create that type of marring, its impossible. Marring created by the PC just looks like rough patches, not holographic like buffer swirls.



My bet is its in the Klasse, I would strip it as my first action, then try polishing.
 
Hmm..that would mean it's just left over SG, if you use a good QD and a mf that should remove this hazing that resembles swirls ( the SG that has fully bonded to the paint will be intact)
 
I'm not dead sure but it sure looks like buffer marks to me. I applied AIO and SG in a vertical motion so I don't think it's Klasse?? I'll try to take some pics tomorrow since it's not very dusty yet.
 
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