Soft black paint for Noobs

[Rsurfer]

Obviously the clear shot over the pure black is much softer than that they use to cover the metallic, referring to the newer GM paints from at least 2016 on. Trust me I’ve worked on a few of both.
In the case of the Subaru the metallic blue paint is on the soft side but not bad I would put it close to Honda paint, that pure blue is some of the softest paint out there, if you don’t believe me check with Nick at McKee’s.

How about a black Porsche, if you look at it, it will swirl.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Only on the higher end cars, I could see them using different clears on different colors.


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[ozzywannabe]

For all of you who assisted with your great advice. Thank you. Took me a while to find time to Do it. I also used dr colorchip to fix some chips, well a large rash, on the front. Final process. Foam with a combination of Bowdens Own Agent Orange + Snow job + a bit of Car pro Multix. Than clayed. Than Meguiars ultimate compound again than finished with car pro essence. I coated with CQuartz Lite. I got the car 90+ percent corrected. I had to hold back trying to chase each scratch. I also polished the wheels and exhaust and coated as well.

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[Paul A.]

Stunning! NICE work. Enjoy those beautiful beads for a long time with that finish.

You'll also enjoy it staying cleaner longer between washes too.

So you found CP Essence to finish out better than Meg UP?

[ozzywannabe]

Stunning! NICE work. Enjoy those beautiful beads for a long time with that finish.

You'll also enjoy it staying cleaner longer between washes too.

So you found CP Essence to finish out better than Meg UP?

Yes a little bit better. However it seemed to finish better than last time after Ultimate Compound. I used a less aggressive pad. I aimed towards essence to finish because I was using a cquartz coating. It also seemed to remove or fill the stubborn swirls and was that touch glossier than ultimate polish.

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[Mike Phillips]

Or, switch to a different polish.

Mike Phillips posted an article where he polished a 1996 Porsche with off paint.

He used Wolfgang Finishing Glaze on Lake Country black SDO pads.

Original BASECOAT/CLEARCOAT paint - 1996 Porsche 993

I believe the Wolfgang product is similar to Menzerna SF3500.

Menzerna is sort of my fail safe when finishing is a concern. I've had cars where no matter what I did, my M205 wasn't going to let me finish out how I wanted. In those situations, Menzerna PF2500 (with Lake Country Tangerine Hydrotech pads, or Blue Buff and Shine) delivered the results I was looking for. I reserve the SF3500 for show cars

The difference is abrasive orientation. The Menzerna products utilize some very advanced diminishing abrasive technology, which in most circumstances allows for very deep finishing. The abrasives in M205 / Ultimate Polish do not diminish, which requires sometimes different techniques.

I feel that the Menzerna polishes have delivered more consistent results on a wider variety of paints.

The above reads like I wrote it.


The paint on the Porsche was silly soft. I corrected it with a FINE CUT POLISH and a very soft foam "finishing" pad. Think about that combo for a second and when I say I corrected it I mean I removed all the swirls and scratches, I don't mean I spruced up already good looking paint.







Also - I don't really like coating super soft paint and the reason why is because the chemical stripping process is more likely to mar soft paint. That means, after you polish to perfection and then remove the polish without marring the paint, you now have to somehow wipe a SOLVENT over the paint and also NOT mar it.

I much prefer to use a quality one-step cleaner/wax and then top it with a wax or sealant as a quality one-step cleaner/wax is my Cheater Technique See here,

How to avoid haze and scratching when working on soft paint?

For everyone’s info, metallic paint doesn’t mean it will inherently be harder.

Anyone who has worked on Subaru Java Black will know the deal.

Completely agree. There can be trends that we all see in the hardness or softness of paints but a person should ALWASYS do a Test Spot. And for any newbies reading this, it's only after you get expeirnece by buffing out a lot of cars that the results from a Test Spot will really start to mean something to you. I explain this and a ton of other info in my how to book,

The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine

I’m not a fan of SOFT finishing pads on soft paint. Need a bit of firmness. I like the Rupes yellow pad, or LC thin pro white pad on soft black paint. Sometimes orange HDO.


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We're different in that aspect Mark.

I find with soft paints the pad itself will mar the paint. I call this,

Pad Haze


I demonstrated this at the Roswell, Georgia Roadshow Class but alas - I didn't take any pictures.

Pictures & Comments - Atlanta, Georgia Roadshow Class!



Basically on the Denali - I used this vehicle to teach One Step Production Detailing. For this the class used BLACKFIRE One Step. The car had a medium level of swirls and scratches.


My Test Spot

On the door I walked the talk. I always teach, type and practice using a foam "polishing" pad with a one step cleaner/wax. There' s number of reasons for this and if anyone is interested I'll type them out.

Get this - the foam "polishing" pad micro-marred the paint. I proved it to the class by using the SAME product with a black foam finishing pad and the black foam finishing pad REMOVED the marring. I also demonstrated a Lake Country 6.5" ORANGE foam CUTTING pad on the door and it micro-marred the HELL out of the paint.

I wish I would have had staff there to take pictures. Most of the time I'm actually teaching so I can't also play photographer. But the real-world testing in front of 15 people including Rick Goldstein from RaggTopp was dramatic and it taught the lesson that pads all by themselves can HAZE the paint.

By the word haze I mean scratch. Because it is very shallow scratches, I/we use the term micro-mar with the scratch pattern is inflicted into the paint use an ORBITAL polisher due to the specific scratch pattern orbital polishes put into paint.


While I don't have pictures showing the level of Pad Haze created by a soft foam polishing pad or the foam cutting pad - what I do have is pictures showing the class correcting the BLACK paint on the Denali using multiple tools but with one thing in common and that is the are ALL using soft foam FINISHING pads.


From Post #37


LOOK carefully - all the pads on the different tools are all soft black foam FINISHING pads. The class corrected the paint using soft foam finishing pads and a one-step cleaner/wax.


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Yep - another fully documented car detailing class. Who else does this in the industry?

[Mike Phillips]

And....


For everyone that will read this into the future....


If you want to put some type of ceramic paint coating on your car's paint. Then you have automatically ruled out using ANY type or BRAND of one-step cleaner/wax, or cleaner/sealant or AIO.

It's ridiculous to use this approach because it's going to be difficult to chemically strip the magic voodoo protection ingredients in any given brand of one-step cleaner/wax, or cleaner/sealant or AIO and there's NO WAY to know 100% for sure if you did in fact remove 100% of the protection ingredients off the surface of the paint.

And the reason this is important is because in order for a quality paint coating to make a proper bond to car paint it has to be surgically CLEAN and free from anything that would HINDER the bonding between the coating and the paint.

Protection ingredients, be they a car wax, a synthetic paint sealant or basically anything that would make water bead-up is going to hinder with the bonding.


So if you want to use a paint coating you need to stick with body shop safe compounds and polishes. Products that don't contain any substance that seals or protects and preferably are water and/or water and solvent soluble.


Make sense?


If it weren't so - I would prep paint with BLACKFIRE One Step due to it's excellent correction ability and ease-of-wipe-off. (I'm lazy)

[TheBigGuy]

BUMP
What brand finishing pads are the two first pictures with the gentlemen using RED pads? All the rest are black, like you said.
Thank you