2012 Chevy sonic - Compounding help

[milesvdustin]

Wifes car is a 2012 sonic in summit white. The paint is pretty rough, swirl city. I washed it today, then iron x, clay, and now i am trying to get it halfway decent. It doesn't need to be perfect by any means, but i do want it to look presentable.

I have the HF DA polisher (on a budget) and LC flat foam pads in orange, white, and black. I did some test spots using meguiars UC and UP, the UC with the orange made the best difference on a test spot on the hood. Speed 5 on the polisher, with 6 passes.

Is chevy clear coat like diamond?

Now, it does look better, but there are still TONS of swirls. Do I need a more aggressive polish? If so, suggestions?

[Mike lambert]

The simplest thing would be to step up to a microfiber pad. I’m not a big believer in the hard or soft paint thing. It’s either easy to correct or difficult. Use a microfiber pad and on your first pass use heavy pressure and slow movements, clean the pad and do the same area again. This works for me all the time. Good luck!

[WRAPT C5Z06]

LC MF cutting pad and Griots Fast Correcting Cream.


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[milesvdustin]

Is the griots FCC a lot more agressive?

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[Goonie75]

Yes. Than UC IMO it's more aggressive.

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[milesvdustin]

I went ahead and just put a coat of 845 wax on it last night, I'll tackle it again later. If the UC didnt do much, would a one step like blackfire or HD speed be worth trying?

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[Mike lambert]

I agree with that, but I was thinking you had a budget?

[Mike lambert]

If a dedicated compound didn’t get what you want, an all in one won’t.

[Goonie75]

Probably not. Machine and pad selection can alter cut power some but most likely no.

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[milesvdustin]

Budget as in need to wait a few weeks before buying any more products, the recent flash sales destroyed my detailing fund for a bit! I also got the hf da instead of a pricier one since I am just a hobby detailer.

I'll re attack this car in a month or so when I can purchase something else to give it a whack.

I think I am just really surprised that the UC orange pad combo didnt knock out as much of the swirls as I was hoping. It did good on the hood, but almost nothing on the roof.

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[WRAPT C5Z06]

Budget as in need to wait a few weeks before buying any more products, the recent flash sales destroyed my detailing fund for a bit! I also got the hf da instead of a pricier one since I am just a hobby detailer.

I'll re attack this car in a month or so when I can purchase something else to give it a whack.

I think I am just really surprised that the UC orange pad combo didnt knock out as much of the swirls as I was hoping. It did good on the hood, but almost nothing on the roof.

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The orange pad is a light cutting pad, bordering a polishing pad. Not aggressive.


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[milesvdustin]

Ah, well then I will budget for some aggressive pads then. MF or the yellow LC pads?


Is there a real difference between the orange and white lc flats?

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[Dr Oldz]

I wouldn’t give up on UC just yet.

Let’s review your technique first....

What size pads are u using?
How big of an area are you working?
How is your arm speed? An inch a second or faster?
Try bumping up to speed 6.
Is it possible the paint is just that bad that you need a second set of compounding?
Perhaps there is a build up of wax, sealant or spray Detailer hindering the compounding process thus needing a second compounding.
How much product are you using?

[milesvdustin]

5.5" flat LC foams on a 5" backing plate.

Arm speed is indeed 1" per second

I am priming the pad with probably a quarter or a little more, then three dime size drops.

Doing sections that are about 18" square

Compressing the pad about halfway, backing plate is marked so I can see it's still turning well.

No buildup of anything, I strip washed it, then iron x, then clay. Zero beading anywhere.

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[Mike Phillips]

I have the HF DA polisher (on a budget)




Let me go over the basics and see if I can help...



The only time I used one of these was at a dealership doing some training for their staff. I showed their staff the Griot's Garage 6" orbital polisher and after demonstrating correct technique for using this type of tool, their "guy" grabbed their Harbor Freight DA polisher and proceeded to copy what I did with the Griot's unit.

The pad did not rotate


Yep... he had on the highest speed using B&S pads I brought with me and BLACKFIRE One Step, (a slippery product), and he could barely maintain pad rotation on the hood of a BMW.

So here's the deal. In order to remove swirls and scratches with a FREE SPINNING random orbital polisher the pad must do 2 things.


It must rotate
It must oscillate



If it's not rotating it's also not oscillating so this means you're not doing anything. Well... you're wasting time or give the paint a back rub, you know the pad is vibrating against the paint. :laughing:


So here you go, 7 years ago I wrote this and this little trick still works today.


Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-car-garage-how-videos/49489-video-mark-your-backing-plate-make-easy-see-pad-rotation.html)


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1423/MarkYourBackingPlate01.jpg

Here's a quick video that show how and why to mark your backing plate to see and monitor pad rotation while doing any correction or polishing steps.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM8PnDooZP8


NEXT - What size is your backing plate?

What size is your backing plate? The factory plate on the HF DA polisher is 6" and this FORCES you to use 6" and 6.5" pads. These pads tend to be too large in diameter and too thick so what they do is absorb all the anemic power coming out of your polisher and DISIPATE it. This shows up to your eyes as the pad is not rotation. It just sits there and vibrates against the paint. And again - if this is happening then you're not doing anything.

IF in fact you do have the factory backing plate then I'd recommend getting a 5" backing plate. This will help a lot.



Speed setting
For this tool you must be on speed 6. This will give the tool the best chance at maintaining pad rotation.




Wet pads?
I type a LOT on this forum about having lots of pads to buff out a car. Most people have 1 or 2 pads. As pads get wet and soggy, I call it pad saturation, they become heavy and do two things,

1: Don't rotate or oscillate very well, sometimes not at all depending on the above factors I listed.

2: Wet foam doesn't cut.






and LC flat foam pads in orange, white, and black.




What size? 6.5" or 5.5"

If they are the 6.5" LC Flat pads they are thick.







I did some test spots using meguiars UC and UP, the UC with the orange made the best difference on a test spot on the hood.

Speed 5 on the polisher, with 6 passes.



Bump the speed all they way up to the 6 speed setting and the make overlapping passes working an area about 16" by 16" - this is the size of your average microfiber towel. Trying to work a 2' by 2' area is a recipe for disaster as this size is TOO LARGE.

Use a SLOW arm speed, not fast.

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound is a great compound. I was still working at Meguiar's when this was introduced, heck I was there when its Daddy was introduced, M105. With a dry orange Lake Country foam cutting pad on speed 6 -IF your HF DA polisher can maintain pad rotation then you should be able to remove at least 90% of the swirls and scratches. Anything left will be RIDS.






Is chevy clear coat like diamond?



Paint hardness is an unknown variable. It's very different from one car to the next and one year to the next and also one car brand compared to others. I have written extensively on paint hardness and paint softness in my career and it is a real factor.

The only way to know the difference is usually 2 things.


You must do a Test Spot.
You must have experience working on lots of different cars



Most people don't like the second thing in my above answer but it's the truth. I also over this in my how-to book, The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine.


What I would really like you to do is to go back out to the car and find a NEW area to do a Test Spot and then do it like I show in this video.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWXODgg8V4



Hope the above helps.

Now, it does look better, but there are still TONS of swirls. Do I need a more aggressive polish? If so, suggestions?[/QUOTE]