LF Detail: Black 135i Polishing with the Meguiars System

Woob

Woob

New member
Only took me 6 years to post a writeup. Here's a CPO'd 135. After polishing with D300/105 Meguiars I found deep etching and minor swirling which meant deeper cutting was needed with probably Surf Buf pads, etc. I decided for the recent life of the paint it was better off leaving it at 95%.

I love the DA MF System, unbelievable performance. The old mentally of DAing with Foam pads involves pure effort/pressure into the paint vs the MF system where the pad needs to freely rotate and allow fibers to work. Clean up is extremely good and the level of cut is so large. I've found cleaning the fibers/reloading/priming the pads are essential to allow the system to cut properly.

Process & Products
-Foam Wash with Poorboy’s Super Slick & Suds
-Tires with Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner x2, Power Clean 3:1. Tuf Shine Clearcoat 1.5 Times
-Wheels with Sonax Wheel Cleaner & Various Brushes. Sealed with OptiSeal.
-Paint Decontaminated with Special Yellow Elastic Clay
-Polishing via D300 Compound + Cutting MF Pads, Meguiars 105 Compound & Cutting MF Pads.
-Final Polish via Meguiars 205 & Low Profile Orange Pad.
-1 Layer of Optimum Poliseal, OptiSeal, Optimum Car Wax
-Finish Kare 425 Walk Around.

Before Pictures:
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In Process – D300/105 Cutting, Minor Swirling, Lack of Depth.
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After M205/Orange Light Cut Pad
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Final After Pictures
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Pics turned out great. Sometimes I wonder how much isn't being shown by photos. Seeing the car mid process then the final result I can say the improvement was a true 95%. I wish I'd had more time to to hang out for the process.
 
Looks like this was a write-up that was 6 years in the making! Great job, the 135 looks AMAZING! :bigups:yourrock
 
dwgcmc said:
Pics turned out great. Sometimes I wonder how much isn't being shown by photos. Seeing the car mid process then the final result I can say the improvement was a true 95%. I wish I'd had more time to to hang out for the process.
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Thanks for coming out, I'm sure I hate black more than you!

Awesome job. Car looks amazing.
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Thanks Pat! Nice to see you from the other Autopia over here.

Looks like this was a write-up that was 6 years in the making! Great job, the 135 looks AMAZING!
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It's no special work like your post/work Todd, but I'll strive to get there. Question, if you're cutting on moderately hard paint like this with D300 or 105 with CuttingMF and you're left with that minor swirling (not micro hazing) would you approach it with something stronger or weaker? Would you go with say Power Finish with a Polishing Pad, or bump up to Surf buf? I'm thinking it's either a deeper swirl that's hard to see or smaller swirling that can probably be corrected with a rotary/foam.

I did frequently clean out my MF pads with a brush and reprimed it per every panel.
 
Woob said:
It's no special work like your post/work Todd, but I'll strive to get there. Question, if you're cutting on moderately hard paint like this with D300 or 105 with CuttingMF and you're left with that minor swirling (not micro hazing) would you approach it with something stronger or weaker? Would you go with say Power Finish with a Polishing Pad, or bump up to Surf buf? I'm thinking it's either a deeper swirl that's hard to see or smaller swirling that can probably be corrected with a rotary/foam.

I did frequently clean out my MF pads with a brush and reprimed it per every panel.
Click to expand...

The only thing that makes my work 'special' is the fact that I have clients who are willing to pay me to take my time to do the job to the best of my ability. I am lucky to not have the restraints placed on me that most real world detailers do.

It's hard to say how I would approach it with out seeing the swirling myself. If you are removing the deeper defects, but are left with swirling, then it would be fair to assume (always dangerous) that the swirling is a result of the polishing process? (As opposed to swirl marks that where not removed?).

Looking at both examples:

Let's assume that it is swirl marks as a result of the polishing process. Clean you pad out with a brush or compressed air (leave the polish on the paint) and reapply at speed 3-4 for an additional 2-3 passes. This will clean up any buffer swirl.

Let's assume that it is the results of defects that are too deep to be removed with the process you are using. The first thing I would do would be to use a supplemental wetting agent (ie water). Buff for approximately half of your cycle, then mist the pad with water and continue polishing. This will increase you cut approximately 40-50% and should remove just about any 'swirl mark' defects from just about any paint.

The next step would be to go to M105 using the same technique. If you still are not getting the swirls out with this step you have either REALLY HARD paint or REALLY DEEP swirls. It is unlikely you have both unless the paint was scrubbed with a dirty brush.

At this point you can step up to a Sur-buff pad or a heavy cutting compound with a rotary and a wool pad to level the paint down. The Suf-buff/M105 is going to be about as aggressive as you can get with a ROB DA.

I hope this helps? Keep up the great work!:yourrock
 
Thanks for the info Todd. Pretty sure its just deeper swirls that are feint to see. There are etching but the car is so young I opted not to deeply cut. Nice info on the water spritz!
 
Good call on not going too aggressive. Some times it's hard not to go for perfection. Unless black is kept in a bubble it will need polished again.

The more refined the paint the easier swirls show. Eventually with future polishing they will be gone as long as it only gets minor marring and you will still have paint to work with.

I tell people with really bad paint (my really bad pretty extreme) You get one miracle after that it's only gets polishing.
The vehicle looks great by the way.
 
I tell people with really bad paint (my really bad pretty extreme) You get one miracle after that it's only gets polishing.
The vehicle looks great by the way.[/QUOTE]

I really like that statement. It's so true.
 
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