My first PC experience - Bittersweet

[BigFly10]

I tackled my sterling mist (silver) 2K2 Maxima a few days ago with my brand new PC 7424 and detailing products. I am new to Autopia and pretty much new to detailing in general, so my car was pretty swirled and scratched up from almost 5 years of neglect. As such, I went at with my PC, my orange LC 6" cutting pad, and my SSR 2.5.



Let's start with the sweet. The SSR 2.5 did a phenomenal job of getting rid of the scratches and swirls. They are not totally gone, but after shining the light on the paint there is an obvious improvement from before to after. I was also ready to use SSR 1 to followup the 2.5, but upon close examination I don't see any marring at all so I don't think it's necessary.



Now for the bitter. Please see attached pictures. I apologize for the quality of the pictures but in the first one that very light colored strip you see just under where the light is reflecting is paint primer. That's right......the paint has been completely stripped off by the PC and SSR 2.5. The piece you are looking at is a small trim piece attached to my rear side marker. I am not sure if maybe it was a faulty paint job or what, but in any case the paint was completely removed. This is the only spot on the car that this happened. I did not anticipate this after reading here that it was pretty much impossible to wreck paint with a PC.



Also, in the second picture, you see my brand new orange LC pad is pretty much wrecked. The velcro backing is almost completely separated from the pad already and the velcro also does not stick very well to the backing plate anymore. Is this all I can expect to get for life from these pads?



Thoughts?

 

[VroomVroom]

Is that a plastic trim piece in the first pic? Any chance you could share another shot, maybe a foot or two back? My first guess is that this piece may not have actually been painted, but you wore down the plastic. Sound possible?



With the pad, a couple of questions. Was it centered on the backing plate? And, do you have the correct counterweight for the backing plate you're using? I'm guessing your forearms would be really hurting if not, but I've not seen a pad separate like that.



I can tell you that my first experience with the PC was a little bit rough too - I damaged the outer edge of one of my tail lights, and got a bit carried away with the whole "make sure the polish breaks down" thing to the extent I had to spend another 15 minutes cleaning up round marks on the panel.



Anyway, congratulations on what sounds like an otherwise outstanding detail. What'd you use to top it?

 

[BigFly10]

Thanks for the response Vroom.



Yes, it is a plastic trim piece but I thought I could treat it the same as the rest of the painted surfaces? It matches the rest of the car so I assume it is painted and clear coated just like everything else. I will try to take a better picture tonight and post it.



I made an effort to keep the pad centered on the backing plate but occasionally it "slipped" off-center. When I noticed it was off center I would pull it off and re-center it. It is a 6" LC pad and the backing plate was purchased specifically as part of a package with the pad. The counterweight is whatever comes with the PC 7424 so I believe it is appropriate for this pad and plate.



I actually haven't had time to top the car yet so it is still sitting in the garage with only polish, but I am going to use Klasse AIO followed by Klasse SGx3 and some Collinite 845 IW as the LSP.

 

[-Lebowski-]

PM me, I can tell you a few things about the Maxima.