I am doing a full paint correction on an exterior of a 71 Nova that was repainted a few years back and has a ton of wet sand scratches from where the body shop tried to sand out bits of trash in the clear. The entire roof is covered in sand scratches and the rest of the car pretty much does as well. I started with my DeWalt rotary on a white pad and Optimum Hyper Spray Polish. It did not touch the scratches or imperfections in the paint. I then went to Optimum Hyper Compound spray and white pad and it started to correct but took much too long. I then went to the foam/wool blend pad and Optimum Hyper Compound. This seemed to do the job but took double the time it usually does to remove scratches as if the clear was rock hard.
I did my typical compound follow up with Hyper polish on the white pad then followed it with a black pad and Hyper polish again. After this I went ahead and did Optimum Finish polish on another black ccs pad and then IPA wipedown. Inside under fluorescents, halogens, brinkmann spot lights, etc it looked very good with only a couple spots that still had cobweb swirls. I was going to pull the car outside and do a full wash on it to remove any dust, oils, etc before doing the Chemical Guys Creme Glaze w/ Acrylic Shine followed by paint sealant and then wax. When I did I noticed very slight halos or buffer trails all over the entire car except the hood and trunk lid. You could only see them when the sun was almost directly above but as the sun went down you could not see them.
I pulled the car back in, changed all my pads and started with black pad and Optimum polish. Pulled back out and same thing. I tried longer working time, still same problem. Shorter working time and still... I tried 3M swirl remover, Turbo Wax Swirl Remover, etc on black pad and still. I went ahead and moved up thinking the clear was so hard to buff before that maybe it needs a more aggressive approach. I did the white pad and Optimum spray polish and it seemed to make it worse.
Last thing I tried was black pad again and Optimum Finish Polish and they seemed to lighten up some but still there ever so slightly even with longer working time and shorter work time thinking maybe I am working the stuff too long.
Anyways sorry to drag on here, I just wanted to give as much detail and info as possible to hopefully get some help here on removing these buffer trails! It seems that the clear is rock hard but when finishing it is super soft. Any suggestions? Keep in mind, I am by no means a beginner with a rotary or paint correction. I have been using a rotary for 6.5-7 years and have probably ran into this kind of problem 4 times and one other time recently but not nearly this bad at all! I usually can figure out some kind of method to fix finicky clear but this time I am totally stumped... Any help/info is GREATLY appreciated since I need to have this car done tomorrow afternoon and have worked on it for 3 days now.
I did my typical compound follow up with Hyper polish on the white pad then followed it with a black pad and Hyper polish again. After this I went ahead and did Optimum Finish polish on another black ccs pad and then IPA wipedown. Inside under fluorescents, halogens, brinkmann spot lights, etc it looked very good with only a couple spots that still had cobweb swirls. I was going to pull the car outside and do a full wash on it to remove any dust, oils, etc before doing the Chemical Guys Creme Glaze w/ Acrylic Shine followed by paint sealant and then wax. When I did I noticed very slight halos or buffer trails all over the entire car except the hood and trunk lid. You could only see them when the sun was almost directly above but as the sun went down you could not see them.
I pulled the car back in, changed all my pads and started with black pad and Optimum polish. Pulled back out and same thing. I tried longer working time, still same problem. Shorter working time and still... I tried 3M swirl remover, Turbo Wax Swirl Remover, etc on black pad and still. I went ahead and moved up thinking the clear was so hard to buff before that maybe it needs a more aggressive approach. I did the white pad and Optimum spray polish and it seemed to make it worse.
Last thing I tried was black pad again and Optimum Finish Polish and they seemed to lighten up some but still there ever so slightly even with longer working time and shorter work time thinking maybe I am working the stuff too long.
Anyways sorry to drag on here, I just wanted to give as much detail and info as possible to hopefully get some help here on removing these buffer trails! It seems that the clear is rock hard but when finishing it is super soft. Any suggestions? Keep in mind, I am by no means a beginner with a rotary or paint correction. I have been using a rotary for 6.5-7 years and have probably ran into this kind of problem 4 times and one other time recently but not nearly this bad at all! I usually can figure out some kind of method to fix finicky clear but this time I am totally stumped... Any help/info is GREATLY appreciated since I need to have this car done tomorrow afternoon and have worked on it for 3 days now.
