new pc user needs help

[t-bone]

I just got a order from Autogeek and had to put it to use. I was pressed for time so I tried half of the hood of my silver Jeep Liberty. I have the edge2k pads and xmt 3, 1 and glaze. I have some pretty bad scratches so I tried to use the geen pad and xmt 3 then followed that with the finishing glaze on a blue pad. Overall I guess I was expecting better results. the swirls look alot better but most of the scratches are still there. A few of them I can cacatch with my finger nail and did not expect to do much with them. I guess I am in search of advice. Also I was trying to figure out how much pressure and the pc SEEM to stop with just a little or is this just an illusion??? Any help would greatly be appreciated.

[killrwheels@autogeek]

The PC is very safe, and thus does not transfer any real heat. As such swirls take alot of time, patience, speed (high), and sometimes a second run. Pad choice (med to heavy abrasive) and your polishes should work well. Never move down to lower abrasive pad/polish prior to making sure polish did what you wanted it to do.

[Nica]

First of all welcome to Autogeek. Sounds like you got your self set up right.

As for the polish and the results, I agree with killrsheels. Some times additional passes are required but not all scratches will be removed with a PC. Some scratches require more of a profesional tuch but if your patient and keep working it you should be able to remove majority of them. I found this out as well. It does improve the paint but it takes patiance and lots of time to get it at 100%, specially when your just starting of like I am.

well that's about as much advise as I can provide. I'm curious to see what other memebers will say about the preasure question you had. I too noticed this but I assumed it to be a illusion because of speed. The PC does go fast, fast enough to creat an illusion. One way to test it though is to place a plastic pease on your pad. I've tried it and well it still looks as though it's not spinning but it does work so I'm curious to see what others will post.

[Jimmie]

This has to bring back memories to the experienced guys. Three of us new PC users talking about it. Just did my car this last weekend and I guess that some of it was beginners luck. Used Optimum Polish with a white pad. Worked each 2'x2' area for approx. 5 min. using a cooking timer(sometimes a little under or over the 5 min). The timer gave me the confidence that I was in the ballpark with time since it was hard to tell exactly what breakdown looked or felt like. When it came to the proper pressure I remember that Nick19 said to apply pressure until the pad stopped and then let off until it spins. I know that if I would let off pressure until it came up to close to max. RPM's it would start to vibrate so I kept it in between. Anyway, swirls are gone. The paint was so clean and shiney I'm thinking that I "jeweled" it. Not sure. Can't tell if it could be taken any farther. Still a head scratcher, but it sure is fun and rewarding for hard work. Took me forever. (Seven hours and I think that I'm looking at another five; SUV or that's my excuse).

[gandblah]

Going back to my first time experience - I understimated the time required to get a good finish. A PC is safe but at the same time it translates to more work time to get the results one desires. My advice would be to chop the work across weekends.

Practice a couple of combinations on a portion of the car and settle down on things like the technique, amount of time, number of passes, amount of polish to use. Once you have that settled then replicate on the rest of the vehicle in sections.

Do not be under pressure to finish up your vehicle in one go. That could lead to dissapointment especially after seeing the work of pro's here. After reading all these posts - it's easy to assume that a couple of passes with a PC and polish and the car will come out all shiny and scratch/swirl free.

With regards to your process:
I haven't used XMT 3 but that seems to be an aggressive polish by the number. That by itself can induce micromarring in the process of removing bigger scratches. You might need to go over again with a white pad and XMT 1. The other thing you did not mention was what speed were u using to work the polish in. That might need tweaking to get the desired results.

Hope that helps.

[t-bone]

I ws using 3 to spread and 6 to work it in. I may need to try the timer trick. I also got some poli- seal and was wondering does it need to be worked the same as a regular polish. I am totally new at this and expect to have a big learning curve. Thanks for all your help guys.

[FloridaNative]

Originally Posted by t-bone

I ws using 3 to spread and 6 to work it in. I may need to try the timer trick. I also got some poli- seal and was wondering does it need to be worked the same as a regular polish. I am totally new at this and expect to have a big learning curve. Thanks for all your help guys.

I always take a kitchen timer out with me and it keeps me on target. You can get digital ones cheap at Wally World or Target. As for the Poli-seal, yes you work it like a regular polish and let it break down.

[bambo2888]

as for the xmt3, you shouldnt really need to worry about micromarring. obviously it depends on your clearcoat, but on my white acura it was LSP ready. as a peace of mind, it may be worth running xmt1 over it for a few minutes each. good luck.