micro scratches

[epboi]

Hi everyone, I am a first time poster but a long time lurker HAHA



i started my first detailing with the new UDM that i bought a month ago, i also bought XMT 3, 1, and CCS orange, white, grey pads. so, i started with the orange pad w/ XMT 3 on my 2 yrs old black jetta, theni went with white pad w/ XMT 1 (all with speed 5 for 5 min) and Pinnacle liquid souveran for LSP.



it came out very very nice at first, but after a week, i see a lot of micro marring.. i mean LOTS... so i tried w/ a less gentle XMT1 w/ grey pad then pinnacle wax again on the same car, and the micro marring seems to be staying on the surface.i tried a lot of passes both w/ XMT 1 using grey and white pad still comes out with micro marring. I thought at first that i was using too little product and created dry buffing.. so i tried using more product on 2x2 surface, still same result.



All in all, does anyone know what should I do?? I basically tried the whole day today using a lot of different combination of pad and polishes but still not much improvement. Can anyone chime in??

 

[gmblack3]

VW has some hard clear coat. Can you take some pics for us to see?

 

[audicoupej]

I've had great results with OP and a white LC pad with both the PC and rotary on black VW paint. I work at speed 5-6 via PC and 1200-1400rpms rotary. As Bryan said VW clear is hard and it is suprizing you are getting micromarring. It sounds like the polish is either

a) not breaking down fully

b) the first step is not completely removing all the marring



Post some pics as Bryan suggested.

 

[coupe]

I would start over but try this:



XMT 3

2-3 pea sized dots on the pad

Very slow arm speed

12"x12" section

speed 5-6

as soon as the polish flashes/goes clear work it with no pressure for one or two more passes.



Repeat with XMT 1 and a polishing/finishing pad.



Im willing to bet you didnt fully break down xmt3 and in doing so the xmt1 just isnt strong enough to remove the micro-marring inflicted by xmt3. You may have to get xmt2 if what i suggested does not work.

 

[epboi]

Thanks everyone, I am probably going to try that out today or tommorow, but really, how can I know whether the xmt 3 has fully broken down or not??

Interesting thing is that the first time, after I finish using XMT1, the surface is perfect for 2 weeks, but I thought it does not have fillers. It seems like xmt 1 has fillers thats why I can't see the scratches?



I got some pics here, and those scratches are created after I finished using my UDM.