Some more newbie questions headed your way

mikenap

New member
I have 2 simple questions that I can't find while doing a search. Maybe I just haven't found the right combo of words but nothing useful comes up.



My first question is what is the best way to remove polish dust from paint and surrounding areas of a car during a detail? I got some dust on the wiper arms and the vinyl wiper tray on my wife's car and the stuff is tenacious. Even on the paint, I tried an ONR wash and couldn't get all of it off. QD works only a bit better but I can see that leading to problems as well. An IPA wipe didn't do much either. What tricks do you guys have to share?



My other question really has me pulling my hair out. My wife's Civic has been repainted on the hood, front fenders and bumper, and maybe the front doors. I'm not sure if the respray was a poor job, but this is the softest paint I've ever seen. I have polished the hood and one of the fenders but I've noticed that no matter what MF towels I use, when it comes time for an IPA wipedown, every MF I've tried has scratched the paint again. This is beyond frustrating. I've used freshly laundered towels, brand new towels, Vroom towels, Cobra towels, etc. I really don't know what to do with it at this point. The only thing that has come close was doing a final pass with Poli-seal and letting the PS pretty much disappear. There still is the spot where I lift the PC off the paint that needs wiped down and this always gets scratched too. Not to mention, I'm not sure if the Poli-seal is cleaning up any fillers left by the previous polish or not. Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated. It's kind of disheartening doing all the work and putting back scratches at the last minute. Thanks in advance for the advice.
 
the first question... I use glass cleaner and a power washer after compounding and polishing to get everything out of all the cracks and crevices. Works great.



The 2nd question... Sounds like a bad clear job that didn't get the right amount of hardner put into it. Might want to have the body shop look at it again and tell them the issue. They may have a solution.
 
All of my experience's with aftermarket paint are not good. If I would have to get a large panel on my truck repainted, I would sell the truck. It would drive me nuts.
 
Jakerooni said:
the first question... I use glass cleaner and a power washer after compounding and polishing to get everything out of all the cracks and crevices. Works great.



The 2nd question... Sounds like a bad clear job that didn't get the right amount of hardner put into it. Might want to have the body shop look at it again and tell them the issue. They may have a solution.



LQ9SS said:
All of my experience's with aftermarket paint are not good. If I would have to get a large panel on my truck repainted, I would sell the truck. It would drive me nuts.



Jakerooni, the body work was done over 5 years ago. I probably don't have any grounds at this point in asking them to fix it. LQ, I know what you mean. This is making me crazy. Thanks for the replies guys. I may just have to live with it.
 
I think you are saying that when you do your IPA wipedown after polishing, that is when you are "scratching" the paint again. Are you sure that the IPA isn't just removing polishing oils which are concealing your original swirls that weren't removed by polishing?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I think you are saying that when you do your IPA wipedown after polishing, that is when you are "scratching" the paint again. Are you sure that the IPA isn't just removing polishing oils which are concealing your original swirls that weren't removed by polishing?



No, the swirls are gone. When I'm doing my wipedown I'm getting long, very shallow and ruler straight scratches in the direction of my wipe. There are no swirls at all on these panels, just my newly-inflicted towel scratches. Loads of fun. :bawling:
 
I just had a thought regarding my problem, which would of course involve me spending more money but whatever. These shallow scratches are occurring during a final IPA wipedown regardless of which MF towels I use. Instead of an IPA wipedown, would some KAIO on a black LC pad do the trick of removing oils and polish residue?



Since this paint is so ridiculously soft on the resprayed panels I was thinking the KAIO on black might take the place of an IPA wipe. Then an LC red would apply my sealant or wax and a MF bonnet on my PC would buff the wax or sealant off. This way I never have to touch the paint w/ a towel and I don't go crazy chasing these scratches all the way to sheetmetal. Does this sound like a good idea?
 
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