Well, I broke out my Makita on my mother's Acura yesterday. It was definitely a day of learning, that is for sure...
I think I had glamorized rotaries in my head and convinced myself that what was achieved with a PC would easily be achieved in 1/4th of the time with the rotary... This may be true, but certainly not for a first timer!
I spent about 2 hours on her hood alone trying to get a feel for it and still didn't achieve all the correction I was looking for. I started with FPII on a white pad, stepped it up to IP on that pad and eventually IP on a cutting pad.
I definitely improved the situation, as her finish is beat, but I feel given the fact it had never been detailed before, along with the severity of the defects, I could have had much closer to perfection.
I pulled the car out into the sun to examine the hood under something other than my hallogen lamps and was greeted by a bunch of holograms on the hood. I think these were eliminated giving it another pass taking the abrasives to the zenith point and following with FP, but i lost sunlight and could re-examine.
At first I had some difficulty with the menzerna and diminishing abrasives, as the polish would repeatedly dry out not giving me enough play time. After working for about 4 hours I got a much better feel for spreading the polish before working it in, but I still need a lot of practice.
As the hours stretched on, I backed off on my goals for yesterday and started spot treating some of the more offensive blemishes and giving the whole car a once over with FP on a white pad followed by protecting it.
There is DEFINITELY a learning curve, but on the bright side my confidence is up (I don't think burning paint will ever be a problem) and I am getting a feel for how it moves.
Are the wool pads that come with the Makita any good? I suspect I'll have to step up to wool to achieve the correction I'd hoped for.
I think I had glamorized rotaries in my head and convinced myself that what was achieved with a PC would easily be achieved in 1/4th of the time with the rotary... This may be true, but certainly not for a first timer!
I spent about 2 hours on her hood alone trying to get a feel for it and still didn't achieve all the correction I was looking for. I started with FPII on a white pad, stepped it up to IP on that pad and eventually IP on a cutting pad.
I definitely improved the situation, as her finish is beat, but I feel given the fact it had never been detailed before, along with the severity of the defects, I could have had much closer to perfection.
I pulled the car out into the sun to examine the hood under something other than my hallogen lamps and was greeted by a bunch of holograms on the hood. I think these were eliminated giving it another pass taking the abrasives to the zenith point and following with FP, but i lost sunlight and could re-examine.
At first I had some difficulty with the menzerna and diminishing abrasives, as the polish would repeatedly dry out not giving me enough play time. After working for about 4 hours I got a much better feel for spreading the polish before working it in, but I still need a lot of practice.
As the hours stretched on, I backed off on my goals for yesterday and started spot treating some of the more offensive blemishes and giving the whole car a once over with FP on a white pad followed by protecting it.
There is DEFINITELY a learning curve, but on the bright side my confidence is up (I don't think burning paint will ever be a problem) and I am getting a feel for how it moves.
Are the wool pads that come with the Makita any good? I suspect I'll have to step up to wool to achieve the correction I'd hoped for.
