How to cut by hand

[01AUDI]

I am getting some McKees 360 soon and wanted to try it on the door handle area, along with other areas. What type of pad should I use when trying to cut best by hand? I have terrycloth applicator pads and foam pads, but can always get something else. My door handles and door jams are aweful and this will be a good test.
AND is there anything special I should know when using it by hand; apply in rows, circle motion, one pass, two, etc ?

[fightnews]

I wanna know too

[LEDetailing]

I’ve had good luck with HD Speed and cheap blue MF applicators. (Not sold at AG) Watch your pressure with these pads you can get a lot of cut with a MF applicator and moderate pressure by hand.

An example of how much cut you can achieve with a MF pad by hand. I helped a friend with paint transfer on his 2015 F150 tailgate. I couldn’t remove the paint transfer with anything, including compound and a MF cutting pad on my Rupes 15. Used the same compound on my MF applicator by hand and the paint was gone in less than a minute.

As far as how to move the pad, I would use small circular motions. Try to replicate the randomness of a DA polisher. Also, work clean. Clay the area first and if you notice a lot of color change to your pad, move to a clean portion of the pad.

[01AUDI]

Oh great to hear, I didn't think it would cut much by hand so thanks for that !

[VeloNYC]

I was thinking of getting M105 but not certain if it can help to get rid of light swirls by hand. I have megs UC and M205 but they sort of useless doing anything major by hand. I get the holograms with megs UC which I can smooth with M205, but swirls are still there.

[2black1s]

Most of my hand compounding/polishing is done using terry and/or microfiber towels cut to size and folded for the specific application. I'm more of a straight line guy when it comes to hand polishing but there are always exceptions. I've never used an "applicator" for hand compounding/polishing. It's always been a towel cut and folded to an appropriate size for the task at hand.

[01AUDI]

Ok so I got my samples in the mail yesterday from Briarpatch, thank you again!, and I got some great results. I don't have my DA polisher yet so I was just trying to clean up some of the smaller areas. I don't think I got enough pressure underneath the door handle to see a lot of change but I did notice that it did take the very light swirls out. Next time I will do it with more pressure and im sure it will take out some more, but i was very impressed seeing that i have never used anything like this before and it already showed some improvement.
I also have a hazy area on the side of my car, not sure from what, but i had two drops on the microfiber towel and did a small swirl area and it really made a big improvement ! I was trying to get a picture but its too sunny right now to see. You can clearly tell where my circle is and how it took that haziness out. Its not perfect but for a 2 second test, it was great! Once I get the polisher and really go at it, I am sure it will buff out very nicely and bring back some good shine to the car. I used the HD Speed on the haziness. I honestly wasn't expecting much from doing it by hand so i didn't use the Mckees 360 on the hazy spot, but I think tonight i will try another test spot and then you can see the difference in the Speed vs 360.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's something I wrote in 2005 on working by hand using ScratchX (which started out as a product to use by hand only)


The basic concepts still hold true today and work with any compound, polish or cleaner/wax that uses great abrasive technology.



How To Remove Swirls By Hand (http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7011)


The below write-up was taken from page three of this Saturday Detailing Class at Meguiar's where approximately 25 people witnessed the products shown below, applied and removed using the correct techniques to remove the gross rotary buffer swirls and restore a swirl free finish by hand.

San Diego Mercedes-Benz club at Meguiar's! (http://www.archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5310&perpage=10&pagenumber=3)


After selecting two Mercedes-Benz automobiles to work on, one being Tom's, we broke for a pizza lunch. After everyone had their fill of pizza and something cold to drink, it was time to re-gather in Meguiar's Garage to see what we could do with the gross swirls in Tom's recently painted hood.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2MB2HandDemo1.jpg



Often times when the topic of removing swirls is being discussed on our discussion forum, or some other detailing forum, it centers around the dual action polisher, foam buffing pads and somebody's compound or polish. Yet many people don't own a dual action polisher. So here at Meguiar's Garage, we like to show people how to use the what they already own... their hands!

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2MB2HandDemo2.jpg





Like most detailing enthusiasts, I personally love a challenge, and with Tom's car, I believe most people would agree, his car's finish presents a challenge!

BEFORE - 700 Pixel-wide cropped out section from an un-touched, original photo of rotary buffer swirls in a clear coat finish.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2MB2GrossSwirls1jRAW.jpg



Using some painters tape, we taped-off a section of the hood to separate the before and after results. Then, we applied three, well worked in applications of Meguiar's ScratchX (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?sku=G-103)all applied by hand using Meguiar's High-Tech Applicator Pad (http://meguiars.com/newproducts05/accessoryproduct_page.cfm?SKU=X-3070)

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2MB2HandDemo3.jpg



The secret to removing swirls by hand using Meguiar's ScratchX is all in your technique.

You see in order to remove swirls out of your car's finish, you need to remove a little bit of paint. If we we're to look at a horizontal view of what gross rotary buffer swirls look like in the paint, it would look something like the diagram below. In order to remove these below surface defects, (swirls), you need to remove enough paint from the finish to level the upper surface with the lowest depths of the swirls until you've restored the finish to a flat, level surface.


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2swirlsinpaint.JPG


To do this by hand with ScratchX, you need to,


1: Apply to a small section at a time.

2: First spread the ScratchX evenly over the area you're going to work (before working it in).

3: Work the microscopic diminishing abrasives against the finish applying a little passion behind the applicator pad.

4: Repeat this process with multiple applications after first removing the residue from each application after working it against the finish


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2MB2HandDemo4.jpg



Remember that Meguiar's paint cleaners, like ScratchX do not need to dry before removing. Drying adds no benefit. The only Meguiar's paint products that need to dry before removing are Meguiar's waxes.



Technique Tip

The question is often asked,

"Which direction should I move my hand when applying a Meguiar's paint cleaner?"

A common mis-conception, often espoused on other discussion forums, or by some car care product manufactures, is the technique of only rubbing a product in a certain direction to keep all of your scratches going in the same direction.

Meguiar's teaches that if the products you're using are non-abrasive, that is they are not instilling scratches into the finish, as such, it shouldn't matter which direction you move your hand!

If the products you're using are inflicting scratches into your car's finish, the correct thing to do is to stop using the product! Don't try to camouflage the scratches to your eyes by instilling them in straight-lines as determined by the movement of your hand.

ScratchX can be applied using straight-lines or circular motion and for this particular demonstration we used a combination of both.

Removing ScratchX using Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber (http://meguiars.com/newproducts05/accessoryproduct_page.cfm?SKU=X-2010) after working the product against the finish until the product has broken down, turned somewhat clear and begun to dissipate.


:)

[01AUDI]

Here are two of the best pictures I could get today. You can see the circular area that I had corrected. The concrete reflection is making it hard to see well, but its there.

6110461103

[01AUDI]

So based on those pictures, what could be the cause of the hazzyness in the paint ? Its not everywhere but is taking up a good amount of that quarter panel ?