Still hazy —*What am I doing wrong?

F

fins&chrome

New member
Hi there,

Did a test strip on the trunk painted about 10 years ago with SS paint and the result came out a bit hazy. The swirls have gone down by about 60% but they are not completely gone. The paint I’m working on is not the original paint so I’m afraid to take out too much. Maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough....

Here was my procedure:

Using a Flex made 6 passes with Meg #80 on white pad at 5.5 speed. Then made 4 to 5 passes with Meg #09 on black pad at 5 speed, then 4 passes with Meg #07 on black pad at 3.5 speed. Looks ok, and I know I’ve gained some clarity (a touch less yellow in the hue) but up close...there is a slight haze. Should I have started out with an orange pad instead of a white? Then proceed to a white with the #09 to finish off with the #07 on black6



Any suggestions would be helpful. :(
 
fins&schrome- You're wise to be taking things slow and easy, no telling what that paint can/cannot withstand. Sure you don't want to just say "good enough"?



The M80/white combo is too gentle. I'd rather use a more aggressive product than try to "force" the M80 to, uhm...misbehave by using a harsher pad that that product really calls for. I'd either use M205 on the orange pad or...very carefully...M105 on the white pad (maybe the orange, hard to say).



I'd quit with the M09 (complete waste of time IMO, it's "swirlmark remover" name is a misnomer in almost every situation) and I wouldn't use M07 until the correction has been completed. M09 is functionally nonabrasive in almost every case (does do some filling), and M07 *IS* functionally nonabrasive period.



While M205 isn't all *that* different cut-wise compared to M80, the *way* it cuts is quite different, and it can be "forced" better than M80 can. OTOH, you can "dial back" M105 by using it with a mild pad. Since what you're trying isn't working, I'd go with those products.
 
What causes hazy paint when polishing



1. Do you use too much polish ? Excessive pad priming may be the culprit...

2. Moving around too fast ? Seems to be the cause for light micromarring/hologram IME...



3. IF and only IF you use diminishing abrasives... Not sure about M80 .. Do you stop too soon ?



I had this issue before.. I could only see the haze through halogen..but under the sun...nothing but glossy paint...:nixweiss...I cut back on amount of polish I put on the pad and it works a bit better...Being a weekend warrior every now and then figuring how much polish to use still takes me some time
 
Accumulator said:
I'd quit with the M09 (complete waste of time IMO, it's "swirlmark remover" name is a misnomer in almost every situation) and I wouldn't use M07 until the correction has been completed. M09 is functionally nonabrasive in almost every case (does do some filling), and M07 *IS* functionally nonabrasive period.
Click to expand...



Yeah, I saw absolutely NO difference at all after the M09 pass. In fact, it may even have looked better after the M80.

Got some Optimum products on hand, wonder if they’d do a better job?
 
sulla said:
1. Do you use too much polish ? Excessive pad priming may be the culprit...

2. Moving around too fast ? Seems to be the cause for light micromarring/hologram IME...

3. IF and only IF you use diminishing abrasives... Not sure about M80 .. Do you stop too soon ?



I had this issue before.. I could only see the haze through halogen..but under the sun...nothing but glossy paint.
Click to expand...



Me too! Paint looks nice and glossy in the sun. But under halogen...it doesn’t look that great. As far as your three points above...I could be guilty of #1 with a bit too much product or over-priming the pad. But I was making super slow passes and worked the product in until there was only a thin film left on the paint.
 
fins&chrome said:
Yeah, I saw absolutely NO difference at all after the M09 pass. In fact, it may even have looked better after the M80...
Click to expand...



No surprise, M09 isn't one of my faves whereas M80 is.



Got some Optimum products on hand, wonder if they’d do a better job?
Click to expand...



I've never been a big fan of Optimum's stuff (though I *am* intrigued by their new spray compound/polish combo!), but maybe that'd be a better approach :nixweiss



Using too much M80 is hardly ever a big problem, just takes longer to break it down (yeah, it does diminish, work it until it goes translucent/clear). That *can* make it a little less aggressive, but it's pretty mild stuff anyhow and I think you're expecting too much from it.



Note that *all* those Meg's products (M80, M09, M07) do some filling, but I don't think that's an awful thing in every case.
 
I guess, the next “safest” thing to do IMO would be to stick with the M80 but increase the cut a little by doing a first pass with an ORANGE pad, then follow it with M80 again but this time on a WHITE. I think that may be better than starting from scratch with a totally different combination of polish brand and pads. Trying to control the variables one by one and make small adjustments at a time may be the way to go.

After all, what I’m after here is to attenuate to swirls and light scratches a bit more and gain more clarity.
 
Well, this morning I tried to cut through the haze left after my first polishing session by going to a different polish brand altogether. I tried Optimum Polish II, followed by Optimum Finishing Polish. The haziness came out even worse. So I decided to go back to Meg #80 but used an Orange pad instead of a White. To my surprise, it not only took out the rest of the fine scratches and swirls but brought back the clarity in the paint. In fact, it worked so well that I could almost have just left it as is. But I still followed it with a pass of #80 on White, then #09 on Black with a final #07 Glaze. Now, for anyone out there with single stage paint on their car, I’m not sure if I can draw any conclusion from this but my guess is that when working with an “old school” SS paint job, it may be best to go with an “old school” type polish too...like the M#80. The Optimum line would probably work best on paint jobs with Base/Clear.

Anyone out there come to this conclusion too? I’d be interested to find out.
 
fins&chrome- I'm glad you found a combo that works! I bet it's looking great now.



Yeah, I often do match "old paint with old products". There are lots of variables, and it's not a hard-and-fast rule, but I do find that many single stage paints just do best with the older Meguiar's products. Also, those give slightly different look (could almost say "less shiny") that I consider more "period correct" on many older vehicles.



For the same reason, I seldom use sealants for the LSPs on single stage, just looks wrong to me.
 
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