Saturn DA Polishing Questions

[imported_RedlineIRL]

Spring hasn't arrived yet (wish it has), and I have already got people wanting me to detail their vehicles when the weather turns nice once again. If this warm trend keeps up, I may be able to squeeze a few in soon. That's fine with me, extra cash is always good.



Anyways, a friend of mine has a Saturn Ion coupe (black of course) that has seen its fair share of improper washes, and he wants get it fully polished and detailed. During the summer I did polish the hood, roof, and trunklid on the car, and they were no problem to do. The finish was typical hardness of most newer GM vehicles. What has me kind of concerned is polishing the rest of the car. For those of you unfamiliar with Saturn vehicles prior to the 2008 model year, most models had polymer plastic pannels for the fenders and doors. When using a PC 7424 should I go about polishing as I'd do with a metal bodied car, or are the polymer pannels more prone to heating up quicker and running the risk of burning through the finish sort of like polishing bumpers?



This car also has a lot of sharp edges on it followed by curves next to them, especially around the doors and ground effects under the doors. I have never polished another car before with edges as sharp as these. Here's a link to a larger picture of similar looking car I will be working on, that way you can see the details of the edges on the doors.



http://www.unocardealers.com/images/sell_car_img/ID_IMG281900_M.gif



Do you all think I should tape the edges of the body lines going the length of the doors? Or do you think that reducing the pressure and speed of the machine when using a 7424 should work fine, all while still being able to correct the surroundng areas?



Behind the front tires, the ground effect piece below the door has about a 1 1/2" wide horizontal section on it before it flows into the of the ground effect towards the back of the door. I know for sure that I'd have to tape the edges here, but is it even possbile to polish this area with a DA, even with a 4" pad? Or does this look like somthing that shoul be done by hand?



Thanks for any tips and suggestions you all can give me on this. I'd like to have a plan of attack in my mind before jumping into this without having uncertainties when actually detailing

 

[Richard Grasa]

You should be fine to treat the plastic panels the same as the steel panels. A PC won't heat up the paint or panels up enough to cause any damage unless maybe you hold it one spot for about an hour. I've hit some very sharp edges pretty hard with the PC and M105 and no threat at all of damage and no heating up of the panel to speak of. If it makes you more comfortable to tape the edges, then go ahead and do it, but I don't see a reason to, unless maybe the car has already been compounded multiple times and the paint is getting thin.

If you were using a rotary, it would be a whole different ball game.

 

[imported_RedlineIRL]

Thanks. I have been kind of nervous around edges from now on after having burned a tiny egde on a backside hood edge before with a 7424 on speed 6, pad must have caught just right. The car has never been polished on the side pannels at all, so it should be safe there.



I was thinking of breaking the door areas into three sections. This way I will be able to avoid transitioning from a flat surface to a curved on, and having uneven pad contact to where the pad edge could make contact. What I am thinking of doing is polising from the door windows down to the first top edge before the doors curved in as one area, then the curved in area, then the flat surface on the bottom door edge. Maybe I am being overly nervous about this, but I figure go the safe route even if it takes longer.



Does anyone know of a tape that has the lighter tack of blue painters tape, but in a much narrower width than it in case I decide to do the edges?