what am i doing wrong...light scratches

G

gtmustang00

New member
im detailing my moms orange svt focus. So far i have washed it, bug n tar remover, wash again, and clayed it. Now im starting using the poorboys ssr 2.5 and ssr 1. On the 2.5 with an orange pad on speed 6, i still seem to have light scratches that are about an inch long all over the hood (and car just learning on the hood). The hood took me about 5-8 minutes to do. Am i not working it long enough (im going till the product turns to "dust" like the bottle says to do?



pc 7424 btw
 
I assume that those scratches you are seeing were already there prior to your ssr 2.5 pass. If so, it may take multiple passes with the 2.5 or a more abrasive compound to correct the deeper scratches.
 
yea they were already there, it seems like some are gone but the majority are still there. you can't feel any of the scratches and you have to look at certain angles to see them. I wish i had a good camera.
 
Dusting doesn't necessarily mean the polish is broken down either. It could be flashing quickly. If you think it's drying out quickly, you can always add a little QD to the pad before you put the polish on.



What size pad are you using? This situation is why people do a small area to see if the polish is aggressive enough for the paint damage. You may need to go with a smaller pad and a more aggressive polish.
 
it seems like most of the time it looks "hazy" on the paint, and sometimes gets dusty like the bottle says. 6.5" orange pad on the ssr 2.5. white pad on the ssr 1. i was told by scott at speciality motoring products that the poorboys ssr 2.5 and ssr 1 will take care of almost everything and is a very good product.
 
I would try spurring the pad well and backing the speed down to a little over 5. Work the polish longer and try applying a little more pressure (unless you're already sitting on top of the polisher). Move slowly and maybe try the QD trick I mentioned before.
 
You're applying polish to the entire hood at once? Try doing no more than 1/4 the hood, and work the polish several passes. Repeat as necessary. You may spend a couple hours on that hood, before the scratches are really gone.
 
I get the same results on my black Dakota. Orange pad with 3M rubbing compound or Menzerna IP gets ride of the swirls, but not the deeper scratches.



A yellow pad works a little better, as it has more cutting power. It leaves a little more haze, but it's easy to remove with a white pad and Menzerna Final Polish.



Even then I still have some small scratches. But the swirls are gone so I'm happy.
 
gtmustang00 said:
The hood took me about 5-8 minutes to do. Am i not working it long enough
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The whole hood in under 10 minutes? You should be spending close to 5 miniutes of time on a 2x2 square to remove scratchs. The 2x2 sqaure up, then across, then down, then across. Each pass of the pad should overlap about 25%
 
Yup, using a 4" pad it should take at least 40 minutes to polish the hood perfectly, with a 6.5" pad it could take up to an hour.



Break the hood up into thirds, then concentrate a third of that third for about 5 minutes.





Should help! 2 or 3 applications is OK to get them gone.



This is why people use a rotary, ;) One pass could get them all with a rotary. Takes multiple passes with a PC.
 
cushdrive said:
It'll take ten years to get any correction out of a six and a half inch pad with a PC. Get some 4" pads and back off the speed.
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Ahh crap, I bought Adam's Polishes Absolute Essential Kit as well as their Machine Pad kit which includes 7.5 inch pads (orange,white and gray.) This past weekend I tried to correct my wife's black '98 Mustang which has scratches similar to the OP and I was only able to get rid of ~70% of the scratches with the orange pad and Adam's swirl and haze remover. I tried going over the problem areas many times and I made sure to cut the hood into 6 pieces. Looks like I'm going to need to get some smaller pads but can I keep Adam's backing plate? Also, are pad colors a standard as far as aggressiveness goes?
 
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