Newbie questions

S

silkman

New member
Hi all,



This is my first post, although I've been reading Autopia posts for quite some time. From here I've been persuaded to buy a PC set (with Sonus pads) which I'm currently using with an almost-complete set of the Swissol brand.



I have been detailing my beloved Audi TT for some time (by hand) and I will be doing my friend's 20-year old 518 bmw (mostly for practice) this weekend. This car, as I said, is quite old and has quite a number of scratches and swirl marks so here are my questions:



1) I haven't been able to find info here on 3M rubbing compounds. I need to start with a compound (probably medium cut) with the orange Sonus pad and PC for the biemer.



2) When you mention "clearcoat", you mean the layer of varnish that is applied on top of the actual paint - or am I mistaken here?

This means that if you manage to "eat" thru that layer, you're fu***d???



Also forgot to mention that I am thinking of detailing as a business so any help will be greatly appreciated...



George

Athens, Greece.
 
First of all, welcome to Autopia!



Second, start with the least aggressive combo and work your way up.



Next, yes you will be in trouble if you go through the clear coat. And yes, the clear coat is the top layer of clear "varnish" on the paint.



As for the business part, that all depends on the supply and demand factor, your willingness to put up with other people's neglect, and your appreciation for beauty.
 
Hello again,



Thanks for the welcome. Sooooooo :(, here's how it went.



My friend with the BMW had ordered a set for swirls and scratches that included pinnacle swirl remover and swirl remover advanced, a white and an orange pad (probably called lake country) - the orange has almost similar cutting strength to my Sonus orange. He also bought as extras megs scratch-X and a 3M perfect-it swirl mark remover for dark paints (3M-39009)



After washing the car (dark green metallic) we both observed the number of scratches (it's a 20-year old car after all) and decided to start with the trunk. The paint was clayed 2 weeks ago so there was no need to do it again. I felt the paint with the palm of my hand and most if not all scratches were impossible to "feel" - hence they were not deep sctaches.



We set off with pinacle swirl remover and an orange pad on the PC and guess what? nothing!! I upped the PC to speed 6 and pressed it quite hardly on the trunk with no result!



At that point, we realised that we would run out of pads if we used the next orange with advanced swirl remover. So, we used the same orange with advanced swirl remover and with the PC at the max and medium to hard pressure - nothing again.



Same results with 3m on the (unused) sonus orange that's again NILL - not a single scratch, however tiny, disappeared :eek:



We didn't bother with scratch-x as it stated it was for hand-use.



Have to say that I tried many speed settings, pressure and moving patterns on the PC. We'd always spray a bit of QD spray on each pad we were about to use, always worked on the shade as directed. Oh, forgot to say that paint didn't get hot - only just a bit.



What did I do wrong? Maybe I should have gotten a rotary instead of the PC?



A bit disappointed now....



George

(sry for the big post)
 
Maybe I'm just clueless but I've ordered some new LC orange pads and SSR1, 2.5 and 3 to try it again.



Replies anyone? :o



George
 
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