First Polishing Attempt This Past Weekend....

[YankeeFan]

Did my first polish for the very first time over the holiday weekend. Did my Honda Civic using the Flex, SIP and 106. Used a white LC CCS pad, and then used a blue pad with 106 at the end. Below are comments and issues I’m hoping people can respond to, to help me the next time as this took many hours to complete, need to better my process. I know it’s a long post, which I hate too, but if you can pick and choose what you want to respond to it would be a big help as I gotta cut out hours from this:

1. It was so much fun at the beginning as I had instant results. Started with the trunk just to get comfortable with the Flex and Menzerna. Started with 106 only but had to change to SIP and 106 as the swirls were deeper than I thought. My first problem was too much Menzerna product. Based upon the holes in the LC pad I overflowed two holes each time. Did the trunk and driver side doors. Drove the car outside in the sun and saw some holograms. Reread TOGWT’s sticky, decided I had too much product as what I was wiping off was too oily. Changed it to where I filled 2 holes in the pad to just barely reaching the top of the hole with product, this fixed the problem.

2. Time used to polish an approximate 2’ x 2’ area was about 40-60 seconds each with SIP first, then 106. Is that correct, as I remember past posts it took a PC minutes to polish an area? I applied the material using setting #2, and then upped it to 4 or 5 depending on the area. Rounded or small areas 4, big areas like roof and doors 5. Is that about right? Also, little difficult to distinguish between needing more polish time vs. when the product flashed, it all had a ripple appearance to me.

3. Frustrating doing this in the garage. Find I am caught between a rock and hard place as I can’t polish in the sun but difficult to see in the garage. Even with 1200W halogen lamps it was difficult to see swirls especially high places like the roof and trunk. Felt like I was polishing blind in some areas, hoping when I drove the car in the sun I had good results. Also, before polishing I used Kleen-Strip Auto Prep, which is nasty smelling stuff. What do you use to wipe with – a buffing towel? Had to soak my towels afterwards then wash longer to get the stuff out. Any alternatives, like DG 601, would that work to remove old wax?

4. Regarding wiping an area to see results. Are you just wiping enough to see how the area looks or are you trying to remove all the left over product? I left some thinking the 2nd Kleen-Strip Auto Prep treatment would clean it up, but did that the 2nd day. Is it bad to leave Menzerna on the car that long? Was thinking of getting Top Inspection to help here. Can that be used in place of Kleen-Strip Auto Prep?

5. After all the polishing was done, car looked fantastic!!!! All the scratches and holograms (they were very bad on the doors) I had seen the past year were gone! Washed the car, dust all over especially in door jams. I was very careful washing as I used a newly cleaned mitt and changed the rinsing bucket once. This went better than I thought, as there really was no dirt on the car, I assume the dust wouldn’t add any swirls. Because I’m adding a sealant I had to spray the car again with Kleen-Strip Auto Prep to remove Menzerna oils.

6. Major issue was taping. The door handles, around trim, emblems and windows. Used the 3M green 233+, which was recommended by a friend, but I believe it has an aggressive adhesive plus is difficult to tear. Because of that, I probably didn’t press down enough, so in certain areas when the polishing pad hit the tape, the adhesive side came up and glue smeared around. That glue plus left over glue on my windows and some painted areas (after removing the tape) were a pain in the butt to remove. Had to use 3M Wax and Adhesive remover but still saw some white glue today, 2 days after doing this. Any better options? Blue painters tape better?

Probably removed 97% of swirls/scratches. Next year will use an orange pad in some areas but as long as all the holograms and a large majority of the swirls are gone I’m happy with my first attempt. Used Four Star UPP as the sealant, 12 hrs later applied Souveran wax. At the end the fun turned into a job as I started on Saturday morning, finished Monday afternoon working on and off throughout. Took too long but the wax made life a little easier, as it’s WOWO, took only 45 minutes to do the car. This weekend will use the foam gun and cleaned mitt to try to add the least amount of new swirls. Sorry for the long post!!

.

[Meghan]

Ok, where's the pictures.....
We need to see the pictures!

[killrwheels@autogeek]

I too would love to see pics, Four Star and Souveran is an incredible combo after proper prep of your surface.

[trhland]

umm pics please and now!!!!

[rwisejr]

PICS PICS PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[67Customs]

Yeah man, lets see pics.

[YankeeFan]

I hesitate attaching these but maybe it will help if you tell me if the car has good "pop" or there is some haze. Not sure if that is possible with pics at sunset with 3 days of dirt and dust already

Howard

[charliehaley]

Looks amazing. Great job!

[sal329]

Car does not look bad. The pics do look a lil hazy. Im not to familiar with Menz besides what I read. But I think you need to finish off with FPII and a black pad.
Claying the car and polishing the car will remove the old wax. You can also use some Opt Powerclean (properly diluted), isopropyl alcohol/water will remove wax (also use it to wipe down the car after you polish to make sure the swirls are corrected not being filled). I think a finishing polish will help with a "cleaner, clearer" look to the paint. I really would not stress it, just wait till you feel like doin the job again, for now the car looks good. I woul dbe very happy with the results for my first car.

[YankeeFan]

Originally Posted by sal329

Car does not look bad. The pics do look a lil hazy. Im not to familiar with Menz besides what I read. But I think you need to finish off with FPII and a black pad.
Claying the car and polishing the car will remove the old wax. You can also use some Opt Powerclean (properly diluted), isopropyl alcohol/water will remove wax (also use it to wipe down the car after you polish to make sure the swirls are corrected not being filled). I think a finishing polish will help with a "cleaner, clearer" look to the paint. I really would not stress it, just wait till you feel like doin the job again, for now the car looks good. I woul dbe very happy with the results for my first car.

Thanks for the input. I can't compare the paint to another car as no one in the neighborhood does this but I think some of the pics are just hazy from the camera. Best pic is of the hood as the pic looks clean and crisp so it gives a good representation of the paint. I was thinking of getting Top Inspection and Final Polish for next year. Lastly, I agree, all this is for next spring. Shame CC isn't thick where we could just arbitrarily polish at will.

Thanks again,
howard