I just recently finished with the 3rd coat of SG on my silver '99 M3. It was washed before every coat and I preceded the first coat of SG with polishing using 3M FI2 with a light cutting and cutting pad on the PC. The finish now looks amazing. I really spent alot of time moving the PC very slowly and making several passes on the sides of the vehicle after noticing a very few amount of hairline scratches visible only under intense halogen lighting. These areas are virtually perfect now, however I still need to polish the lower section of the doors beneath the moldings and also the side skirts.
The horizontal surfaces of the vehicle are just as scratch free as on the sides now, but if you look close enough under strong lighting there are still only a very small amount of water spot etching visible. You'd really have to examine the finish very closely to notice, but I want it to be perfect. Granted, I didn't use the yellow cutting pad on the horizontal surfaces because at that time I was afraid of it being to aggressive, but after having to make several extra passes with the orange light cutting pad on the sides I decided to use the yellow the rest of the way. I didn't use the halogen lamp for the hood, roof and trunk. Instead I used the ceiling mounted lighting that is in my garage to judge my progress.
Also, when doing the hood, roof and trunklid I didn't move the PC nearly as slow as on the sides and made alot less passes as well. This was my first time using the PC, so I was still not all that sure on how to get the best results, but as my detailing session progressed I realized that time and patience is what makes or breaks the final outcome.
So, considering the remaining water spotting (very very minor), should i just continue polishing with the FI2? I also have some 3M Perfect It II in my stash as well. Would that be better to start with? The only bad thing about it is that I would be stripping my layer of AIO, 3 layers of SG and 1 coat of S100 that I labored over. At least it won't be the whole car though.
The horizontal surfaces of the vehicle are just as scratch free as on the sides now, but if you look close enough under strong lighting there are still only a very small amount of water spot etching visible. You'd really have to examine the finish very closely to notice, but I want it to be perfect. Granted, I didn't use the yellow cutting pad on the horizontal surfaces because at that time I was afraid of it being to aggressive, but after having to make several extra passes with the orange light cutting pad on the sides I decided to use the yellow the rest of the way. I didn't use the halogen lamp for the hood, roof and trunk. Instead I used the ceiling mounted lighting that is in my garage to judge my progress.
Also, when doing the hood, roof and trunklid I didn't move the PC nearly as slow as on the sides and made alot less passes as well. This was my first time using the PC, so I was still not all that sure on how to get the best results, but as my detailing session progressed I realized that time and patience is what makes or breaks the final outcome.
So, considering the remaining water spotting (very very minor), should i just continue polishing with the FI2? I also have some 3M Perfect It II in my stash as well. Would that be better to start with? The only bad thing about it is that I would be stripping my layer of AIO, 3 layers of SG and 1 coat of S100 that I labored over. At least it won't be the whole car though.