hyper compound overrated.

well Mr reflectionz, I won't give you any flack as life's too short to be negative or harsh to people IMO.

I'll just say that I respectfully disagree with coupe in regards to polishes and say that optimum, either old formula as I have or new (don't have yet) is a great line and you only need to add one or two dabs on a 2 by 2 ft area to start, then work it for a fairly long time.



From there, one dab should do same or bigger area

Its extremely economical. I did an obsidian black 04 WRX STi with really heavy gold metal flake with OHC, menz IP, 85RD and finished with VM and it was markless in full sun and IMO had the best finish of any car with a factory finish in the autosalon indooor car show



it came to me in really bad shape and proved to me that OHC, while only stated as a 1500 grit compound, works brilliant.



My tip to you. apply a dab or two of optimum, lube the pad and start the rotary at 600 to 800 rpm and quickly go from right to left with the left side of the pad tilted up off the paint slightly and then get the pad completely flat again, do one horizontal pass, speed up to 1000 to 1400 rpm and two vertical and horizontal passes but keep the pad movement to an inch per second.



Too many detailers cover a two foot wide area twice in a second or so. way too fast

when doing doors, put one of your hands on the head of the polisher when doing a vertical pass.



Finally, FP II is real nice but 85RD FP or 106FF are a level above FP II and FP 1 PO87MF can leave a better finish sometimes.





Good luck
 
I still suggest you go to showcardetailing or meguiars so that you learn the proper technique with the rotary. From what you are describing your technique is the problem not the product lines.
 
Unless I missed it, nobody's talked about pad selection.



Reflectionz, Optimum polishes are a different breed of polishes to the more traditional ones, like Megs and Menzerna. I use both and they have a place in my arsenal, especially Menzerna.



I haven't used Optimum but, it form and function, sounds very much like Mothers PowerPolish, which I've used and like. These newer polishes are much more pad dependent than the traditional ones. Also, they need a more aggressive pad than you would normally use. They have much more lubrication which allows more polishing time, but also requires a more aggressive pad.



To illustrate: Using Megs #80 to remove light swirls and leave a nice finish, you'd use it with a white pad. Using PowerPolish (and by extension, Optimiums equivalent) you'd hit it with an orange pad. This will give you similar cut and finish. If you use a yellow pad, you'd achieve more paint correcting, but still leave a decent finish. If you tried the same with #80, you will achieve more correction, but you'd end up with a dull finish and the polish will tend to gum up as the heat generated by the more aggressive pad will prematurely dry up the lubrication.



Basically, these type of polishes enable you to go from a wool pad to a light-cut pad without changing your polish. This isn't ideal, but very convenient to allow the pad to do the work, while the polish adds lubrication and some cut.



I hope this makes some sense and help you out. Maybe you should give OHC another chance, but step up 1 or 2 grades in pad aggressiveness. You never did tell us what pad you used. If you used the same pad as you used with the Megs polish, its probably too mild.
 
Not like this. Try FP with a wool pad, or Megs #4 with a black finishing pad. They'll make a real mess. I wouldn't call them pad dependent simply because they can be poured onto a pad. These polishes rely on the correct pad to make the polish work. The new generation polishes rely on the polish to make the pad work. I know that's simplifying it and more is involved, but in essence, they work in an almost opposite theory.



That's why they are trully pad dependent. They have the chemistry to support a much broader range of pads than conventional polishes, and leverage off the pad material to a far greater degree.
 
Pad dependant was probably the wrong term to use.

What i mean is this.



Lets say your using a finishing polish (regardless of brand) and thats all you have. You need just a little more cut to remove some deeper marring. You can easily use a heavier cut pad and bamm you have more cutting strength to get the job done.



Or lets say you have a medium cut polish but you dont need as much cut as it will provide. So you can easily use it on a finishing pad and get less cut.



The latter is kinda dumb but you get the point. And that is any polish can have more or less cut if you up or down the cut of the pad your using.
 
OHC worked great for me, 1st time using my pc even. Here's some nasy marring I nearly erased completely with just OHC and an orange LC pad.



BEFORE

s3500029nx6.jpg




AFTER JUST OHC Orange LC @ 5-6

s3500033fr1.jpg




Works pretty decent IMO.
 
Looks good Scooby.



Looks like after that OHC you would just need a good finishing polish, maybe something like 106FF (seems to have decent bite but finishes nice) on an orange Edge pad or something and then you would be set. As far as Optimum goes, I have OHC and OC coming to my doorstep in the next few days, will have to some before and afters on some rough cars in the stable. I have heard quite a few recommendations for them though. I do have Menzerna IP and 106FF right now, and have been happy with their performance, the 106ff seems to finish nice.
 
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