Okay, here goes. Third time with the PC. First two were pitiful. I didn't do any damage but didn't help anything really either. Then I offered to do my friends Mustang as it is in terrible condition and there was NO way I could make it any worse. Its a nice green metallic and was showing every single imperfection. Figured it'd be a good practice vehicle plus he gets a free detail.
I started with a white CMA pad with PB SSR 2.5. I started on the top driver's side outside of the hood seam. There were two nasty scratches there and pretty severe spider webbing/swirls. This combo pad and polish did very little so I jumped up to yellow CMA pad with PB SSR 2.5. Better but after three passes still no significant results. Then I tried an orange CMA 4" pad with Menzerna IP. Why 4"? I was out of white & yellow 6". I had one of each. I've since gotten another set and have two of each CMA 6" now. Anyway, the Menzerna IP worked very well and by the end of the second pass the spider webbing/swirls were 85-90% gone. I concentrated on the scratches with the IP for a bit and got them very close to invisible. All the white was out of them and only a paint-colored groove remained. Good enough for free, I figured. I followed that panel up with a 4" white pad and Menzerna FP II. Ended up real nice so I figured I'd found my combo. Did the entire hood like this then ran out of time.
That night did some research here and other places and was hearing wool pads were acceptable with a PC for a novice. I'd been under the belief that wool was a no-no for anyone with less than 400+ hours of PC experience. Falling asleep that night I set myself to use a wool CMA pad the next day.
Next day got up got started. Yep, wool pad with PB SSR 2.5. Front PS QP above and behind wheel well. Pass one, very good. Noticeable difference in spider web/swirls. Pass two, goodbye spiderweb/swirls. No micro-marring or hazing or dullness on the panel at all. Ended up doing the rest of the car with this combo and then working the "deeper" scratches with Menzerna IP with the 4" orange pad again. Did well with some of the scratches and not-so well with the others. I'll be ordering the 4" wool pad soon!
A bit about techniqe and believe me, its a conglomerate of all that I've read here and other places and all the tutorials I've read plus a little of my own "feel" for it.
I worked small areas. Not quite 2' x 2'. Probably more about 15" x 15". I ended up figuring out, I think, that a little bigger than a fifty-cent piece spiral of product was about good. I spread it with the PC off then worked it over on speed 3.5 - 4 with overlapping passes until it hazed. Then I cranked to 6 and slowed my movement down a lot. I used quite a bit of pressure. I'd push till the PC started to strain then back off just a tad. Overlapping passes like this until the product was basically buffing off to clear. On some of the deeper single scratches I kept a very firm amount of pressure on the scratch and held the PC in place for 3 - 4 seconds then moved in small back and forths over the scratch then back to right on top of it with a LOT of pressure for 3 - 4 seconds. Some scratches were just to deep, some lost all their white and just turned into paint-colored grooves and some disappeared. All of this with CMA 6" wool pad and PB SSR 2.5. When I was done, the paint was very good. All spiderweb/swirls 90 - 95% gone. No micro marring or hazing.
I was basically up against the clock so I went straight to LSP (Zaino Z2 Pro x 2 with Z6 in between and last) I would have liked to finish with a full pass over the car with PB SSR 1 and a black CMA pad or maybe 3M SMR with a black pad but no time. I think I might have gotten a bit more POP out of the paint had I done this but it looked damn good without it.
The attached photos are towards the end when I realized that I should probably do some before/after photos for this post. You can see the severe spiderwebbing/swirls in the driver's door panel and then the same panel with none. The second set of pics aren't that great. They are of the top of the front DS QP where it meets the hood. You can see the spiderwebbing/swirls close to the sun reflection and then the other pic they're gone. Lastly, a few pics of the finished result. Wish I would've taken a pic of how it looked when he dropped it off but I just wasn't thinking I'd have much success at all and figured I wouldn't be posting anything except HELP questions.
Okay. I'm not saying that any of my techniques here are right or a good idea or whatever. I'll admit quick as anyone that I am a rookie save for intense study on this subject. Hands-on I'm only abut 30-40 hours behind the PC. I just wanted to put this up here for discussion and research for other people getting into the PC world.
Every dog has his day and guess mine was yesterday.
Mike
New Orleans
I started with a white CMA pad with PB SSR 2.5. I started on the top driver's side outside of the hood seam. There were two nasty scratches there and pretty severe spider webbing/swirls. This combo pad and polish did very little so I jumped up to yellow CMA pad with PB SSR 2.5. Better but after three passes still no significant results. Then I tried an orange CMA 4" pad with Menzerna IP. Why 4"? I was out of white & yellow 6". I had one of each. I've since gotten another set and have two of each CMA 6" now. Anyway, the Menzerna IP worked very well and by the end of the second pass the spider webbing/swirls were 85-90% gone. I concentrated on the scratches with the IP for a bit and got them very close to invisible. All the white was out of them and only a paint-colored groove remained. Good enough for free, I figured. I followed that panel up with a 4" white pad and Menzerna FP II. Ended up real nice so I figured I'd found my combo. Did the entire hood like this then ran out of time.
That night did some research here and other places and was hearing wool pads were acceptable with a PC for a novice. I'd been under the belief that wool was a no-no for anyone with less than 400+ hours of PC experience. Falling asleep that night I set myself to use a wool CMA pad the next day.
Next day got up got started. Yep, wool pad with PB SSR 2.5. Front PS QP above and behind wheel well. Pass one, very good. Noticeable difference in spider web/swirls. Pass two, goodbye spiderweb/swirls. No micro-marring or hazing or dullness on the panel at all. Ended up doing the rest of the car with this combo and then working the "deeper" scratches with Menzerna IP with the 4" orange pad again. Did well with some of the scratches and not-so well with the others. I'll be ordering the 4" wool pad soon!
A bit about techniqe and believe me, its a conglomerate of all that I've read here and other places and all the tutorials I've read plus a little of my own "feel" for it.
I worked small areas. Not quite 2' x 2'. Probably more about 15" x 15". I ended up figuring out, I think, that a little bigger than a fifty-cent piece spiral of product was about good. I spread it with the PC off then worked it over on speed 3.5 - 4 with overlapping passes until it hazed. Then I cranked to 6 and slowed my movement down a lot. I used quite a bit of pressure. I'd push till the PC started to strain then back off just a tad. Overlapping passes like this until the product was basically buffing off to clear. On some of the deeper single scratches I kept a very firm amount of pressure on the scratch and held the PC in place for 3 - 4 seconds then moved in small back and forths over the scratch then back to right on top of it with a LOT of pressure for 3 - 4 seconds. Some scratches were just to deep, some lost all their white and just turned into paint-colored grooves and some disappeared. All of this with CMA 6" wool pad and PB SSR 2.5. When I was done, the paint was very good. All spiderweb/swirls 90 - 95% gone. No micro marring or hazing.
I was basically up against the clock so I went straight to LSP (Zaino Z2 Pro x 2 with Z6 in between and last) I would have liked to finish with a full pass over the car with PB SSR 1 and a black CMA pad or maybe 3M SMR with a black pad but no time. I think I might have gotten a bit more POP out of the paint had I done this but it looked damn good without it.
The attached photos are towards the end when I realized that I should probably do some before/after photos for this post. You can see the severe spiderwebbing/swirls in the driver's door panel and then the same panel with none. The second set of pics aren't that great. They are of the top of the front DS QP where it meets the hood. You can see the spiderwebbing/swirls close to the sun reflection and then the other pic they're gone. Lastly, a few pics of the finished result. Wish I would've taken a pic of how it looked when he dropped it off but I just wasn't thinking I'd have much success at all and figured I wouldn't be posting anything except HELP questions.
Okay. I'm not saying that any of my techniques here are right or a good idea or whatever. I'll admit quick as anyone that I am a rookie save for intense study on this subject. Hands-on I'm only abut 30-40 hours behind the PC. I just wanted to put this up here for discussion and research for other people getting into the PC world.
Every dog has his day and guess mine was yesterday.
Mike
New Orleans
