Polished over wax; unable to remove haze

E

efnfast

New member
A week ago I polished (SIP, optimum poli-seal, pinnacle wax) my clearcoated carbonfiber dash. I left it in the way oof some fiberglass dust today, and when I went to wipe off the dust it left a few scratches behind (guess fiberglass dust is pretty hard).



Trying to save some time I took out some of my OPS and went over the area, then re-waxed it. No swirls, but, under certain angles I could see hazyness in the clearcoat.



So I washed the area, clayed it, and re-polished it (no wax), still haze in the same area.



More clay. Nothing.



Tried some rubbing alcohol. Nothing.



More polishing. Different products (M105, 83), nothing. haze is still there , not any better or worse, it just won't budge. I'm 100% certain it has something to do with polishing over the wax the first time, as when I wiped off the fiberglass dust and looked at it, there was no hazing. It only started after I applied polish over the wax, then re-waxed it. *sigh*



Don't know what to do now :nervous2:
 
Because I was grinding my fiberglass body and the dust floated forward onto my dash....so the dust (obviously) landed and settled on it (the clearcoat)
 
Sounds like you need to get all the wax off and see where you're at then.Some Dawn may be in order?
 
Well this isn't looking very good.



I picked one spot and pretty much emptied half a bottle of rubbing alcohol on it; didn't budge at all. I tried rubbing my clay bar on the spot for 5minutes, no difference.



Very frustrating; from a front-on angle, under any lighting it looks perfectly fine. But if I come from the side and tilt my head in certain ways, I can see all the hazey streaking. WTF; I've never experienced anything liek this before :hmph:
 
XRL said:
Sounds like you need to get all the wax off and see where you're at then.Some Dawn may be in order?
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Rubbed the area for 5minutes with Palmolive (odn't have any Dawn); no difference.
 
Are you sure that the haze was not there before? Polishing over a clean waxed surface will not cause hazeness. Maybe you are noticing now because you just waxed it and are looking at it from different angles? If you clayed, polished, Ipa wipe down and it's still there it might be under the clear, in that case it's permanant.
 
Probably beside the point at this time, but IMO this is a good example of why it's handy to have some good solvents on-hand. All that IPA, Dawn, etc....eh, I'd rather just wipe it once with some 3M Adhesive Remover/PrepSol/etc.
 
I might recommend stepping down to a less abrasive polish and see if that helps (FPII, 3M Ultrafina, etc). M105 and 83 are considered pretty abrasive and perhaps the hazing is from the polish. (just a thought) Try a finishing polish and see if that helps. I had the same thing happen polishing a nasty instrument panel. Kept looking hazy so I kept working the same aggressive polish. Stepped down to a finishing polish and the hazing was removed.
 
Carbon fiber can have areas of dullness. But I am sure you would have noticed those spots before. What I am thinking is maybe you went through the clearcoat with all of those abrasives. I usually find that clearcoated objects other than car paint tends to be pretty thin since it doesn't have to deal with outside elements. Also, it can't be thick because you would see the thickness in it. I hope I am wrong and very well might be but I would atleast give this some thought.
 
You're not letting the polish break down or you're letting it get to dry it sounds like to me. I'd use a polish with diminishing abrasives if you are getting hazing.
 
It's standard automotive clear, several layers of it.



It's only been polished once before, so there's no way I've gone through the clear.



This hazing was definately not there before - the area of haze follows the EXACT same path my buffer took the first time I ran it over teh wax, and it's confined only to the area I was working on.



I know it shouldn't matter, but I'm convinced it has something to do with polishing over the wax directly instead of first removing it, as I never had this problem before.



I've tried all my polishes onhand - SIP, 105, 95, 83, 80, OPS, HG, but the haze is not lifting. It's also not getting any worse, so it's not something I'm doing.
 
duke727 said:
I would take the earlier poster suggestion and try hitting it with a milder finish polish.
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I did - used some 1z High Gloss after soaking it (dash) in Palmolive. Didn't really change anything.



I'm almost beginning to wonder if this just isn't how the carbon is absorbing the light.



If I pull it outdoors I can't see it. If I stand behind it I can't see it. If I stand to the side, I can't see it. The only time I see these 2 hazey steaks areas is if I take my hallogen light, turn it about 80*, pointing a certain angle, and then turning my head70*. Then I see these 2 areas. Any other condition I can't (tried to photograph, it won't come out) ..... very frustrating. I may just leave it and see if I notice it when driving in sunlight.
 
duke727 said:
I would take the earlier poster suggestion and try hitting it with a milder finish polish.
Click to expand...



I did - used some 1z High Gloss after soaking it (dash) in Palmolive. Didn't really change anything.



I'm almost beginning to wonder if this just isn't how the carbon is absorbing the light.



If I pull it outdoors I can't see it. If I stand behind it I can't see it. If I stand to the side, I can't see it. The only time I see these 2 hazey steaks areas is if I take my hallogen light, turn it about 80*, pointing a certain angle, and then turning my head70*. Then I see these 2 areas. Any other condition I can't (tried to photograph, it won't come out) ..... very frustrating. I may just leave it and see if I notice it when driving in sunlight.



The one thing though, upon reflection, is I can't say for certain whether this was here before this time or not - all my tests for checking the area passed the first (and now second) time, but I'm fairly certain I didn't crane my head and light at all the angles I'm doing right now.



*sigh* Why'd I ever leave the 'normie' way of thinking - swirls are fine. scratches are fine. if the car looks clean it's good enough. lol
 
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