porter cable emergency. Please advise

C

corvetteman

New member
On my black paint I applied 3m smr for dark cars via the porter cable then I removed it with a different pad. The speed wa a 4. After finishing there are a ton of tiny scratchs all over the hood which I did with the pc. They are like hair line flakes not long scratchs. When I went to the use the pad a bunch of old hardened wax flew off the pad and like an idiot I kept using that pad with all the dust on the hood.



Now I'm trying to figure out was it the old hardened dust that was on the pad that caused the flaky scratchs or is it possible that some old wax that was already still on the hood caused the flaky scratchs.



Also am I sunk or is there some way to remove them? I tried the smr again by machine. No help. Iwashed the car totally and now I'm trying the smr by hand. I even tried some rubbing compound on a area but that didnt seem to help. If anyone can help me I would appreciate it. If not I'll just hope that black wax will cover most of them.



Thanks in advance. I screw up more than I fix while detailing.
 
What i would do is wash the car again, make sure you have a clean pad, then apply DACP to the pad and a little line on the car, buff it until it is dry, then take a clean microfiber towel and wipe off any dusting/residue from the dacp. That should take care of it.
 
Can I use dacp by hand or does it have to be by machine? These scratchs while not very visable are real. I felt on with my nail although most cant be felt. Now I just have to find a place that carrys dacp.
 
I would do a test spot using a clean foam pad, and some DACP.



Wipe off and inspect.



If it removes the defects and the spot looks better than the surrounding area, then repeat to the entire area.



If it doesn't dramatically improve the appearance, then this might be a job for the rotary buffer.



Kind of depends on how hard your paint is.



You might try bumping your PC setting up to 5.0, even 5.5



Mike



p.s.



If you don't have any #83, I have been getting great results using ScratchX with both the Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher and the rotary buffer, it's cheap and available at most auto parts stores, might be worth trying.
 
Always use a microfiber or 100% cotton towel to remove residue. Use a PC to apply product, not remove it. Hit the car again with DACP, but use a towel to remove it this time. It should fix some of those marks.
 
I went to the suppliers but the commercial suppliers dont usually carry it only the professional. Ill try shrwin willimas.



By the way these scratchs are like scattered 1 cm lines and many seem to have like a dot or hole right in the middle. Has anyone heard of that before?
 
If they are evenly distributed over the area you buffed... then chances are good they were instilled by the polisher.



Hard to tell with out being their or a good close-up pictures.



ScratchX with a polishing pad, won't make things any worse, it would be a good safe test as to whether or not they can be improved, or removed.



Mike
 
its pretty evenly distributed. I went out and bought scratchx but no luck. It looks like if you mistakenly dried your car with a towel that had a lot of hair on it. now all the hair is on the paint. I'm going to try to clay it and see if that helps at all but I know its a long shot. If clay doesnt work I will just hope that black wax hides most of it. You dont see it unless you are looking down at the hood. If you are 1 foot away or more you dont see it.
 
i did what i could. I dont know what caused it at all. It could have been a dirty pad ( I was told they were clean) or maybe wax that was already on the car. Its a real shame but what are you going to do. Most people wont notice inless its a sunny day or they are looking straught down on the hood. I'm really dissapointed but what can you do?
 
These scratchs are weird. they are like scattered 1 cm lines and many have like a dot in the middle of them. Is that my paint or my clear coat? If my black paint even has clear coat. They look like a bunch of tiny thin hairs stuck in the paint
 
Can you take a close-up picture of it?



How far are your from Scottwax? Maybe you could run it by him and get his opinion?



A couple of questions,



* Factory paint?

* Basecoat/Clear coat?

* Age?



(Is this on your Porsche? or your Mercedes-Benz?)



If I were there, I would start a "Test Spot" process using the rotary buffer. I also might measure the film build if I had an ETG available.





Rotary buffer/1500rpm/W-8006/#83 DACP - Inspect



If that worked, repeat over all the affected areas. If that didn't work, then I would go right to,



Rotary buffer/1800rpm/W-7006/#84 CPC



If that didn't move enough paint particles around to remove the defects, then I would probably stop and re-evaluate the situation.



At this point, getting more aggressive by machine probably wouldn't be a good idea. Wet-sanding factory paint, and cured re-paint is usually not a good idea.



Might be time to either learn to live with it, or consider a new paint job.



Mike
 
Thanks Mike. This is the Mercedes. The Porsche is long gone. That was my car when I originally signed on. I'm near San Antonio. I dont know where Scott is from. I dont think I would invest in a rotary just to try it. It might do the job but with tons of black wax and glaze I think I can live with the hood being that way. The car paint isnt perfect looking (especially in the sun) but I dont want to throw a ton of money in to a paint job. I think the paint is a 7 on a scale of 1-10. Thats too bad because the body is a 10. Not one single ding. How do I measure the film build? What is the film build? What is an etg? I will try to take some pics so you can see sometime soon. Thanks for all the help! It is factory paint I believe and its 11 years old.
 
spree17 said:
How do I measure the film build? What is the film build? What is an etg? I will try to take some pics so you can see sometime soon. Thanks for all the help! It is factory paint I believe and its 11 years old.
Click to expand...



You measure film build with a tool specially made for measuring the thickness of your paint. The ETG is a tool we use but it's pretty cost prohibitive, about $500.00



Film build is the total thickness of your car's finish. This includes primer, sealer, color coat, and clear coat. So it's actually not a very good indicator of the thickness of the layer you actually have to work with. But... it is an indicator.



I usually only use it for documentation. Because if I decide to buff out a car, once I bring the buffer, (or my hand), down onto the finish... I'm committed, there's no looking back.



To tell the truth, by your description, it sounds like a case of what is sometimes referred to as, crazing, or lacquer checking.



It doesn't have to be lacquer paint to have lacquer checking, the term lacquer checking did start with lacquer paints, but it seems to carry over to modern paints as a descriptive term to describe little straight scratches evenly distributed throughout the finish.



Mike
 
Sounds like you're getting good advice, but here's my 2 cents on where you went wrong and what to do...



a.) Never use a dirty pad for anything. Pads should be washed between uses.



b.) You must buff off products with a towel. Technically you could buff with a terry pad, but NEVER a foam pad. Using a pad to buff is nearly pointless though since you would have to change pads constantly...you can't buff off polish or wax with a pad that's full or polish or wax. Just use a towel.



c.) If possible, use the same pad for the same function every time. Using a pad that was used to apply wax to buff off polish is not a good idea on ANY level.



What I would do if I were you (your own risk) is get a clean pad and some DACP. Put the PC on 6 and try it out on a small area. Buff outnthe polish completely...do not stop after a minute and think you're done! You may have to hit it with DACP more than once. I dunno though...if you can feel the marks you may be out of luck...



Good luck...
 
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