So Just What Is The "Perfect Shine?"

[bcbassn]

I've been detailing for years and have a question for my more experienced cohorts out there...



1) I placed Zaino (3 coats of Z-5 and 2 coats of Z-2) on the new blue 2002 Toyota MR2 this weekend. In the sunlight, the finish appears flawless. But when I parked it in the garage and turned on my Halogen work light and placed the beam directly on the paint....holy smokes. There were these micro small scratches going in all different directions. The lights actually acted as a microscope.



Am I being "too" critical. It's been said before you can never remove 100 % of the scratches because everything from a particle blowing in the wind to your towel can cause them.



2) When you rotary buff, is there actually product out there that "removes" the scratches....or does every product simply "fill" them in with fillers.

 

[imported_BretFraz]

Hey Mikey, wassup?



What you may be seeing are stress cracks in the clearcoat. It's pretty common; my car has them too but I only see them under very harsh lighting. I don't think they can be removed or filled easily because they are likely within the clearcoat itself. So without grinding off a significant amount of clear I think they're there for the long run.



As for polishes, actually most paint cleaners provide varying amounts of mechanical action. Sure, there are carrier agents and some fillers in some polishes. It really depends on what exact product you are referring to. A glaze is almost all fillers and oils. SMR has very mild cleaners, and other polishes have cleaners that are more aggressive. There are enough paint polishes and cleaners on the market to do most any job you can imagine short of grinding off your paint completely. Or getting out those stress cracks.

 

[rstype]

Bret nailed it as usual. Also take a look at this: http://www.heumann.com/paintcare/viewing.html



Happy detailing!