Removing really bad rotary holograms...

I

imported_Picus

New member
Hey folks,



I'm having some trouble on a car I'm working on for a neighbor (1996 Audi A6, red). She took it in to her dealer to get the rear bumper re-painted. They did that then "detailed" the car with a rotary. It now has some of the worst holograms I've ever seen. I'll get some pictures as soon as I can, but just imagine all the really bad holograms you've seen and multiple them by 10. Really, the ones on the rear fenders and doors are just obscenely bad. She complained and they said they would do it again or pay for her to have it detailed by someone she chose. I originally told her to find a reliable detailer in the GTA with a rotary because I didn't think my PC would get the results she was after. She insisted I try, so I did.



So I went to work on them today with some Optimum compound via PC and LC cutting pad, speed 5/6 worked really slowly, applied adequate pressure, and I made some small progress on the hood after ~1 hour. I switched to SSR3 and a cutting pad and honestly it didn't do much more than the Optimum already had. I haven't even tried the doors/fenders yet.



Am I going to need to go with a rotary for this, should I tell her to find a pro with a rotary, or does anyone have any tips/ideas/things I might try with my PC?



Thanks.
 
sheesh, i've never had a hard time removing holograms w/ an LC polishing pad and FPII (@ 5 on the PC). but i've also never worked on Audi paint, just mostly Japanese paint. i can't imagine Audi paint being so hard that you can't remove holograms with SSR3 and an LC cutting pad...that's an abrasive combo that can take out moderate swirling. what else do you have on your shelf to use?
 
Maybe my definition of holograms is wrong, or maybe these aren't holograms but scratches/swirls that look like holograms because they're in the same pattern as holograms would be (as a product of being introduced by a rotary). I can't feel them with my finernail, but they are scratches. SSR3 is the most abrasive polish I have (I also have Menzerna PG and IP, though I think IP is more like SSR2.5, and PG is about the same as SSR3), I do have some 4" spot pads that I could try, but that would take days. I could get some Megs Diamond cut but damn...that's some abrasive stuff.



Maybe I should try to get some pictures since I don't seem to be describing this well. I guess imagine bad swirling in the same pattern as you normally see holograms (you know, that sort of up and down swooping patter, from the rotary movement). It's almost as if they use a cutting pad with no polish and just swirled the crap out of the clearcoat.
 
Whatever they really oughta be called, they're some kind of scratch in the clear. The factory Spies-Hecker paint is very hard, and with it, in my experience some kinds of problems really do require a rotary. The repainted areas will be a bit softer than the factory paint. If something won't work on those areas it won't work on the rest of the car.



An Autopian in CA from the old boards has a black Audi with holograms that he absolutely cannot remove with a PC, and he's tried a lot of products.



IMO you'd probably be better off working with a rotary and milder products, but you could try the 4" pad and something like the Hi-Temp line of "levelers" at TOL I'd guess that with anything larger than the 4" pad, the PC will be pretty much useless for this one.
 
That's what I figured. I'm going to go back down there tonight and try some Menzerna PG. If that doesn't do anything (and I kind of expect it won't), I am going to tell her to find a pro detailer with a rotary. I am sure I could do it with a rotary but I just don't want to take that step right now. Thanks for the replies guys.
 
Are you sure what you see is rotary holograming or could it be something got caught under the pad and scratched up the paint?



Normally, if rotary swirls aren't excessively deep, they come out pretty quickly via PC...but then again Audi paint is pretty hard. I had good results using Detailer's Pride Super Swirl Eliminator and a burgandy Meguiars cutting pad on an '04 S500 with PPG's CeramiClear paint.
 
I think maybe I need to try a more aggressive pad. The one I am using is a "light cut", it's the most abrasive one I have on hand. I'm going to give a Megs burgundy or LC yellow a shot tomorrow and see how it goes.



Scott - something may have gotten caught under the rotary pad, but it looks almost like they went over it with sandpaper. If a piece of rock or something had gotten caught it would be more like one solid scratch over and over - this seems like thousands of tiny scratches in the CC. Like I said, it's almost as if they got a really abrasive pad and didn't put any product on, almost like sanding the clear. Imagine wetsanding with say, 3000 grit sandpaper. That's almost what this looks like but it's a little less uniform. I'll take a picture if I can get it into the sun this weekend.
 
I ran across that with a Subaru I detailed a local Detailer did it to her car iwht a rotary because it's complete circles in a split 50 up and down stroke on her hood looked liek the person went really fast speed or at a horrible angle on the machine. Anyways I told her to bring it in and I'd have a look at it.



When all else fails try 3000Grit wet sand lightly 2 passes up and down then follow with #85 red pad and then follow # 83 with yellow pad and you should be fine with just sealing and waxing.

wish ya all the best



PS #85 and red pad is amazing :) I find anyways
 
I'll try and get pics before the weekend is up. She's out today, I noticed her car gone when I was walking my dog.



spitshined - thanks, I considered wetsanding. Im good at it so I wouldnt worry about messing something up. It would just take ages to do the whole car.
 
I'd sure rather use a rotary on it than wetsand ;) Rotaries work well on Audis, just use mild products and don't do anything really likely to induce the kind of marring you're trying to get out. Note that I hadn't used a rotary in over 20 years but I took it right out of the box and used it on my S8 with no problems.
 
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