2pennies
06-13-2016, 03:02 PM
Hello all.
First, thank you to all the AG forum members for all the knowledge. It has helped me improve my skillset 10 fold since I joined. Thanks!
A couple of years ago, I purchased a 2004 Black Buick Lesabre Custom with a black ragg top. I looked for this car for exactly 14 months before I found it with 63,000 miles on it in great condition. I get a ton of compliments on how clean it looks, however on inspecting the paint up close, it is TERRIBLE. I thought I could try my hand on DA polishing so I researched and read for the last couple months. Yesterday was my second try at polishing on a test spot: The hood.
I chose the hood because it seems to be in the worst condition of all. I had to clay it 4 times in the past 2 weeks to even feel comfortable trying the DA on it. I used Mother's clay bar system as well as the Nanoskin autobuff sponge. The sponge was amazing and pulled off a lot of grime.
I used my Torqx (I already know! PC is my next purchase) with 5.5" Buff n Shine foam pads (Orange, white and Black). I combined with M105/205 which I found to be light years ahead of the CG VSS line of compounds and polishes. Here are some befores:
492424924349244
As you can see, the swirls, webs and scratches are profound. In a certain area, I began to think maybe the clear coat was gone and the pain was wearing away because of the rough, bumpy and thin feel of the paint. It doesn't feel like it anywhere else. I decided to face my fear and use the DA on a small portion of that area included in my taped off section (off to the top right corner).
I started with m105 and an orange pad to cut. Speed setting 1 to spread, setting 4-5 to make my passes (M105, in ANY amount of warmth dries FAST. Did not realize this, but I used a little griots speed shine on the surface if it got too dry, which helped me tremendously). I moved slow and I made 5 section passes then wiped down. I made 2 more applications (m105 with 5 section passes and a wipe down) before I did the exact same process with m105 and a white pad (3 applications of m105 and 5 section passes). It wasn't until my 6th application of m105 that I started to see results with a lot of the swirling going away and the scratches looking better.
I moved to m205 on a black pad and made 3 applications with 5-6 section passes. This really made the area looked so much better than it did before. Afters:
492494925049251
While it is not perfect it is much improved. What I am confused about is, since I can still see a bunch of swirls and spiderwebs in the paint, how much more compounding/polishing should I do?
And back to that curious build up...the compounding and polishing, seemed to do some good, but not much. It looks like just spent product but that is actually in the paint. Any ideas on how to get this stuff out? Might this be the "orange peel" I keep hearing about? In the photos below, you can see it to the left of the tape in both images. It does not seem to want to come out. Any ideas/suggestions? Any advice helps! Maybe this is a question for Mike Phillips?
4925249253
First, thank you to all the AG forum members for all the knowledge. It has helped me improve my skillset 10 fold since I joined. Thanks!
A couple of years ago, I purchased a 2004 Black Buick Lesabre Custom with a black ragg top. I looked for this car for exactly 14 months before I found it with 63,000 miles on it in great condition. I get a ton of compliments on how clean it looks, however on inspecting the paint up close, it is TERRIBLE. I thought I could try my hand on DA polishing so I researched and read for the last couple months. Yesterday was my second try at polishing on a test spot: The hood.
I chose the hood because it seems to be in the worst condition of all. I had to clay it 4 times in the past 2 weeks to even feel comfortable trying the DA on it. I used Mother's clay bar system as well as the Nanoskin autobuff sponge. The sponge was amazing and pulled off a lot of grime.
I used my Torqx (I already know! PC is my next purchase) with 5.5" Buff n Shine foam pads (Orange, white and Black). I combined with M105/205 which I found to be light years ahead of the CG VSS line of compounds and polishes. Here are some befores:
492424924349244
As you can see, the swirls, webs and scratches are profound. In a certain area, I began to think maybe the clear coat was gone and the pain was wearing away because of the rough, bumpy and thin feel of the paint. It doesn't feel like it anywhere else. I decided to face my fear and use the DA on a small portion of that area included in my taped off section (off to the top right corner).
I started with m105 and an orange pad to cut. Speed setting 1 to spread, setting 4-5 to make my passes (M105, in ANY amount of warmth dries FAST. Did not realize this, but I used a little griots speed shine on the surface if it got too dry, which helped me tremendously). I moved slow and I made 5 section passes then wiped down. I made 2 more applications (m105 with 5 section passes and a wipe down) before I did the exact same process with m105 and a white pad (3 applications of m105 and 5 section passes). It wasn't until my 6th application of m105 that I started to see results with a lot of the swirling going away and the scratches looking better.
I moved to m205 on a black pad and made 3 applications with 5-6 section passes. This really made the area looked so much better than it did before. Afters:
492494925049251
While it is not perfect it is much improved. What I am confused about is, since I can still see a bunch of swirls and spiderwebs in the paint, how much more compounding/polishing should I do?
And back to that curious build up...the compounding and polishing, seemed to do some good, but not much. It looks like just spent product but that is actually in the paint. Any ideas on how to get this stuff out? Might this be the "orange peel" I keep hearing about? In the photos below, you can see it to the left of the tape in both images. It does not seem to want to come out. Any ideas/suggestions? Any advice helps! Maybe this is a question for Mike Phillips?
4925249253