White spots after polishing single stage...

[StuDLei]

My best bud recently acquired a late 70's Ford pickup truck. I ONR'ed it and put on a coat of Powerlock, but before I did, I polished one area with a white CCS pad and M205. It cleaned up the paint a lot, but it seemed that I was left with these fairly pattern-like white spots. Honestly, it kind of scared me. The truck has a repaint from maybe a couple years ago. I have no idea what to make of it. My worst fear would be that I burned through (can you do that with single stage?), but the pattern of it makes me think that can't be it. I couldn't see it in the sun (but there's was some thin clouds when I looked). I took a pic, but you've really got to look to see what I'm talking about.

Anyone have any ideas? I've never worked with single stage paint.

You have to look at the full-size pic. Try looking at the top right corner of the beam of light to see what I'm talking about....

[StuDLei]

Only looking at the pic, you might think they're water spots, but you can't see them on the unpolished side (sorry no pics).

[Evan.J]

This looks like a burn through or close to it.

You can remove so much paint to expose the primer underneath the color coat. I wouldn't do any more polishing until you can get some readings with a paint thickness gauge.


I wrote this to explain why a Paint Thickness Gauge is such a valuable tool to have when polishing.

Why Paint Thickness Readings are Important

[StuDLei]

This looks like a burn through or close to it.

You can remove so much paint to expose the primer underneath the color coat. I wouldn't do any more polishing until you can get some readings with a paint thickness gauge.


I wrote this to explain why a Paint Thickness Gauge is such a valuable tool to have when polishing.

Why Paint Thickness Readings are Important

Yikes. Why the uniformity?

I've polished a few cars over the years as well as my own a handful of times. I've never burned through with a polisher, so I don't really know what it looks like when it's just starting, especially with single stage paint. My wife's car has a terrible cc failure, but it's obvious.

If what you're saying is true I feel terrible. I'm also pretty dumbfounded. A white pad with 205 is not that strong. The respray must have been super thin, and/or the paint is soft as butter. I have no idea.

I don't do this for a living, though I have started to think about starting a weekend business. If I do, I'll have to get a gauge, but up to this point, it's just not in the budget. Neither is a respray though.

[jmsc]

1. was the white pad pinkish or deep red when finished polishing?

2. which machine did you use (Rotary, Flex, PC...)?

[Evan.J]

Yikes. Why the uniformity?

I've polished a few cars over the years as well as my own a handful of times. I've never burned through with a polisher, so I don't really know what it looks like when it's just starting, especially with single stage paint. My wife's car has a terrible cc failure, but it's obvious.

If what you're saying is true I feel terrible. I'm also pretty dumbfounded. A white pad with 205 is not that strong. The respray must have been super thin, and/or the paint is soft as butter. I have no idea.

I don't do this for a living, though I have started to think about starting a weekend business. If I do, I'll have to get a gauge, but up to this point, it's just not in the budget. Neither is a respray though.

Any time you polish without knowing what you are dealing with you are polishing blind. In my linking thread you will see I was working on a porsche and had no history of the vehicle other than the hood was repainted.

On the driver side door had I not taken measurements of the paint and proceeded with the door as I did on the rest of the car (that was only just a polish) I can be fairly certain that a burn through would have occurred.

When polishing a car you can not assume there is always going to be enough paint on every panel. Finding out past painting, polishing, repaints, and so on is vital to save yourself any potential issues. Additionally, getting a paint thickness gauge (PTG) will help you even more.


While I was out training with Renny Doyle we had the opportunity to work on a 1935 Packard Limo. This was a barn find that had been at one point a restoration project. The car was a single stage blue, and on some spots had very little paint and minimal polishing on those areas would remove so much that it lightened the area.




On the area right below where Renny is polishing is the rear passenger fender, this was on of the problem areas. If I remember correctly I measured the paint in the area where it was thin and had a reading of 1.1.



Needless to say the paint was in bad shape.


But fixed safely and properly

[StuDLei]

1. was the white pad pinkish or deep red when finished polishing?

2. which machine did you use (Rotary, Flex, PC...)?

Orangish, same color as truck. That's why I thought it was single stage. Now I'm not so sure.

Flex.

First I've heard of anyone burning through with a white pad and 205. Burning through really didn't cross my mind with that combo, especially since it was my understanding that resprays are normally much thicker than OEM.

I mean, are we positive that's what this is at this point?

[Mike Phillips]

Those look like Type III Water Spots.

Do you have a copy of my how-to book?





If so turn to page 34 to see a picture and read what I wrote about them. If not then let me know and I tell you what I know....

[StuDLei]

Those look like Type III Water Spots.

Do you have a copy of my how-to book?





If so turn to page 34 to see a picture and read what I wrote about them. If not then let me know and I tell you what I know....

I do Mike, I've read it in its entirety, as well as having read most of your articles here at least once.

The paint looks great, even in the sun really, but if you put it under the flex light, WOW, it's really swirly. The side I polished really cleared up a lot, with the exception of those spots. I don't have the truck on me right now, so I can't go back out and look, but I do remember trying to see waterspots in the unpolished side and not having any luck. I'd like to look again though.

I know that cleaning up paint can cause the tough stuff to really stand out, i.e. the water spots, but I really don't know what to think. I'll look at the truck again at some point, but I'm super hesitant to try anything else before I get a paint gauge.

A few questions:

Can a cheaper paint gauge read single stage paint? What does single stage paint look like in general when you've burned through? Are repaints generally thicker than OEM paints?

I know we preach the least aggressive method around here. I could have started with a black pad and 205 or even black and SF 4500. Hell, I could have tried a cleaner wax by hand (is there anything less aggressive than that?)

I'm not a painter, so I don't know if I've removed just enough paint to let something show through (those flex lights really "pierce" the paint if you know what I mean) or what.

[StuDLei]

Just reread that page in your book Mike. IDK, maybe you're right. I really need to see it in person again.