LC Yellow Foam & WG Uber working but...

[BudgetPlan1]

...maybe a better combo would be quicker. Black Corvette with etched water spots. Above combo knocks them down to acceptable levels but takes 3-4 passes with WG Uber Compound & yellow flat LC foam pad then 2 passes with WG swirl remover/orange LC foam and then 1 pass with WG Finishing Glaze/White LC foam.

Quicker options? Have some Meguiar's DMC5 5" DA Microfiber Cutting Discs w M101 available to me...perhaps a better/quicker combo?

That hood is plenty large...

Using 5.5" on GG DA...

Thanks for any thoughts...

[vobro]

Try the mf pads, Corvette paint is usually harder than most. Also depends on how long the spots have been on the paint

[custmsprty]

I pretty much always do 5-6 section passes whenever I'm correcting anything and I've been having excellent one step corrections. You're doing more passes based upon what you posted above but doing it with three steps. Personally I don't think one or two passes with any product / pad combo is very effective. Just my opinion.

[David Hayward]

I would for sure give the microfiber a shot. As stated corvettes are usually super hard paint. Along with I think Cadillac xlr because they have the same paint process as the Vette.

They are much more time consuming than meets the eye because of this. You can also shrink down your working areas and also make sure keep your pads as clean as you can for each section.

[David Hayward]

Also uber compound should be able to get the job done.

[BudgetPlan1]

Yeah, learning as I go. Noticing the difference quickly cleaning pad after each section makes as well, as well as working smaller sections.

Odd though that the Vette (a 2004 bought new) has been taken care of (Zaino) since day 1 and has these significant ?acid rain? spots where as a black 2007 Mazda3 daily driver which was hardly ever washed had none. They both kinda went the same places but the one that was always supposedly 'protected' ended up with the defects.

[David Hayward]

Water spots could be from hard water also. If they hosed them off and let them sit in the sun or possibly parked where a lawn sprinkler could hit them. The damage that can do to a car is nuts.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Noticing the difference quickly cleaning pad after each section makes as well, as well as working smaller sections.

.
Working clean makes a BIG difference. If you allow abraded paint to cake up on the pad, you will lose cut for sure. Smaller sections is a plus, too.

MF cutting pads will work much quicker than the LC yellow.

[BudgetPlan1]

Went at the back hatch area with M101 and Meguiars DMC5 DA Microfiber Cutting Discs. First half/side worked great, great results and pretty quick. Musta let the pad cake up a bit despite cleaning with compressed air cuz 2nd half/side not as good.

Will have to do better cleaning pad as the combo does work nicely when fresh pad. Slower DA speed with the pads, microfiber in general? Arm speed, machine speed, all seems slower with these pads. Think maybe a bit more and consistent pressure too.

In the end, results are there...my consistency, not so much.

Also, first glance the car seemed simple, didn't see too many sharp curves or edges...just what appeared relatively gentle curves, some flat panels.

Shoulda looked closer beforehand...oops. Lotsa contours I never noticed before.

[BudgetPlan1]

FWIW, acceptable results achieved w/ Meguires Microfiber Cutting disks and D300. On 2004 Vette, black, this seemed most efficient. Tried M101, WG Uber w/ foam pads as well as aforementioned cutting disks, D300 was 'easiest' and cleanest.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

Don't make assumptions based upon a car. You never know if a panel has been repainted unless you use a PTG or can visually see it.
I just did a black Mustang GT and used various BOSS pads from Orange to MF because I found out the hood and rear left qtr panel had been repainted.

Always do a test spot, that will help you dial in the proper combination. You may notice that using an MF pad will reduce or eliminate defects quicker, but you may also find (as in the most recent show-n-shine, corvette detail) that the MF left a haze, and you will still have to polish after.

Sometimes a shortcut really isn't. A tried and true systematic approach/workflow is always the best approach.

[BudgetPlan1]

Don't make assumptions based upon a car. You never know if a panel has been repainted unless you use a PTG or can visually see it.
I just did a black Mustang GT and used various BOSS pads from Orange to MF because I found out the hood and rear left qtr panel had been repainted.

Always do a test spot, that will help you dial in the proper combination. You may notice that using an MF pad will reduce or eliminate defects quicker, but you may also find (as in the most recent show-n-shine, corvette detail) that the MF left a haze, and you will still have to polish after.

Sometimes a shortcut really isn't. A tried and true systematic approach/workflow is always the best approach.

How true...got a Subaru, very soft paint, swirls if ya look at it wrong. Vette, harder paint. Kept doing test spots of bad area until I found what worked. Upside is I now have a variety of polishes, compounds and pads. Doing WG Swirl Remover, then Finishing Glaze, then Uber Ceramic after tackling the water spots so haze wouldn't have been a big deal. The D300 + Microfiber left the paint suprisingly haze, swirl free, likely coulda skipped Swirl remover but in for a penny, in for a pound. Vette paint looks amazing for 12 year old, mostly daily driven car so I learned a lot and the results are certainly worth the effort.