New Member needing advice !!!

[dvjorge]

Hi guys,

I am a new member. I first want to thank all you for the time and dedication to help other people to be successful doing this job.

I need guidance to complete a project polishing my own car. The car is a light green Chevrolet which was completely re-painted 3 weeks ago with Matrix products.

I have decided to polish it myself with a rotary buffer since I worked for a body shop ten years ago and love this job.

My budget is limited, and after some research, I bought Presta Ultra Cutting Creme and Presta Ultra Swirl Remover.

I also own a Meguiars Cut and Shine wool pad and another wool pad by 3M. My other two pads are a Meguiars 8" yellow polishing pad, and a black Hi-Tech Finishing pad.



Well, I was anxious to see some part of the car done and did the hood yesterday.

Here is what I did:

1-Wet-sanding using a P-2000 grit without overdoing it.

2-Buffering the hood with Ultra Cutting Creme (designed to remove 1200 grit or finer) using a 3M wool cutting pad at around 1200 rpm.

3-Polishing it with the Meguiars Yellow Foam Pad and the Presta Swirl Remover.

4- Hand waxing.



At first, I was very happy with the results, but it was only when I could see the hood under a flourescent light at night when I saw a lot of circular swirl. I believe they were caused by the cutting action of the wool pad.

I didn't noticed sanding marks but those ugly hologram or circular marks.



Please, I want to eliminate them. I have some idea but will take seriously any advice. I am planning on buying a micro-finish compound such as the M-205 by Meguiars to be my final machine step. So, it will be this way,

1- Wet-sanding (2000 grit)- buffing with compound (wool pad)- polishing/swirl remover ( yellow foam pad)- micro-finishing polish (black foam pad with M-205)- hand wax.



Please, correct me or give me suggestions. I really appreciate your experience and tips. One thing, I can not spend more money buying pads and more products, so try to guide me with the products I already have.



Thanks a lot,

Jorge

 

[Accumulator]

dvgorge- Welcome to Autopia!



First off, if you're doing all this via rotary, I hope you have the skill to finish out hologram-free. Hey, no insult intended; I've used a rotary since forever and I can't do it!



Note that if you can see the holgorams/etc. under *fluorescent* light, they might be pretty bad. Even I can finish so that it looks OK under that lighting, but my work looks a lot less OK (to put it mildly) under other, more demanding lighting.



I'd rather do the final sanding with something milder than the 2K. 3K or 4K (love Mirka for 4K!) scratches are just sooo easy to buff out, so you can be more gentle and end up with fewer holograms.



Your general idea sounds OK except that even true rotary-meisters often have trouble finishing out OK with M205; it just tends to leave holograms when used via rotary. The usual answer here is to use 3M's Ultrafina for the last step, and even then you gotta do it right or the holograms will still happen.



Oh, and I don't wax repaints for at least 60-90 days. While the new paint cures/outgasses I don't want to interfere with anything lest it end up not hardening to its full potential. I've had (baked/etc.) paint get *MUCH* harder over 90 days.



Oh, and FWIW, speaking of hardening during the outgassing, I generally find that fresh repaints are a bit too soft to get a perfect finish. Sometimes you just gotta wait a month or so before things'll turn out OK. And even then, don't be surprised if it continues to harden for quite a while after that.



I generally just glaze stuff until it's finished outgassing, and do the real correction than.

 

[dvjorge]

dvgorge- Welcome to Autopia!



First off, if you're doing all this via rotary, I hope you have the skill to finish out hologram-free. Hey, no insult intended; I've used a rotary since forever and I can't do it!



Note that if you can see the holgorams/etc. under *fluorescent* light, they might be pretty bad. Even I can finish so that it looks OK under that lighting, but my work looks a lot less OK (to put it mildly) under other, more demanding lighting.



I'd rather do the final sanding with something milder than the 2K. 3K or 4K (love Mirka for 4K!) scratches are just sooo easy to buff out, so you can be more gentle and end up with fewer holograms.



Your general idea sounds OK except that even true rotary-meisters often have trouble finishing out OK with M205; it just tends to leave holograms when used via rotary. The usual answer here is to use 3M's Ultrafina for the last step, and even then you gotta do it right or the holograms will still happen.



Oh, and I don't wax repaints for at least 60-90 days. While the new paint cures/outgasses I don't want to interfere with anything lest it end up not hardening to its full potential. I've had (baked/etc.) paint get *MUCH* harder over 90 days.



Oh, and FWIW, speaking of hardening during the outgassing, I generally find that fresh repaints are a bit too soft to get a perfect finish. Sometimes you just gotta wait a month or so before things'll turn out OK. And even then, don't be surprised if it continues to harden for quite a while after that.



I generally just glaze stuff until it's finished outgassing, and do the real correction than.

Thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately, I can not afford the 3M Ultrafina (more than $40.00 a quart)

I have heard good things about the Meguiars M-205. Do you think it still is able to leave swirl ??

Is there any other product less expensive than the 3M Ultrafina that may do the job ???

I forgot, Does a cutting foam pad also leave swirl ??

Thanks.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately, I can not afford the 3M Ultrafina (more than $40.00 a quart)

I have heard good things about the Meguiars M-205. Do you think it still is able to leave swirl ??

Is there any other product less expensive than the 3M Ultrafina that may do the job ???

I forgot, Does a cutting foam pad also leave swirl ??

Thanks.

If you cannot get the Ultrafina, you might look at either Menzerna PO85RD (UF-4500) or in lieu of that Meguiar's M80 Speed Glaze. Both are excellent options for fresh paint (though 205's not too shabby either).



And yes, cutting foam pads will probably leave hazing on fresh paint that will need to be removed with something less aggressive.

 

[Accumulator]

Thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately, I can not afford the 3M Ultrafina (more than $40.00 a quart)

I have heard good things about the Meguiars M-205. Do you think it still is able to leave swirl ??

Oh yeah, M205 can/will leave light swirlmarks ("holograms") almost all the time, sure does for me. Maybe you're a LOT better with a rotary than I am though, people are. Watch that the oils in the M205 don't trick you into thinking things are better than they really are; even IPA/etc. won't really clean those oils off all that well and when they dry out you might have a nasty surprise.

Is there any other product less expensive than the 3M Ultrafina that may do the job ???

Maybe the PO85RD if you're good enough with that rotary (notice how I keep mentioning that!), but it's kinda expensive too.

I forgot, Does a cutting foam pad also leave swirl ??

Every pad there is can leave swirls of some degree, but cutting pads *really* do.



Honestly, I think you're trying to do something that just won't work out right. You really oughta be finishing out with a random orbital/dual action polisher unless you're sooo good with a rotary that, well...if you were that good you wouldn't have any questions about how to do it. Oh man, I hope that didn't sound nasty or insulting...I sure didn't mean it that way.