Radar09
04-06-2021, 12:08 AM
First off I’d like to say WOW there is a lot of information out there for us all to view and take what we need to make our projects work out the way we want.
‘I was a weekend warrior 15+ years ago, now my kids are 13 & 17, so I actually have some time to work on detailing again (cause they don’t want to hang with boring dad anymore). I can tell you that re-entering the detailing world, the learning curve is providing me with a lot more experience and products and some really great new stuff on the market.
I decided to start with something simple😂, my wife’s black 2016 Yukon that she just sold (delivering tomorrow) had a nice surprise on Friday when the wind blew our garbage can into and left scratches and marring down the drivers side. “AWESOME” I thought to myself, there goes $1k off the selling price at least. Lucky for us we are in quarantine and I have nothing better to do so here went my experience.
I currently have the original PC 7424 and I have several different pads from foam to wool & microfiber (glad I do I used them all). I’ve been doing lots of research and watching videos. I enjoy Brian from Apex and of course the videos on AutoGeek. After completing one side of her vehicle with a lake country low lint wool pad and Sonax Ultimate Cut with my polisher on top speed 6 and a large amount of pressure and slow arm speed just to get the paint looking 80% clear of defects. Then I watched a video on clear coat depth that night. Well that scared the crap out of me and the next day I fought with different pad/compound/polish combos that I’ve accumulated over the years, I reduced the speed on the PC because Brian uses speed 3 on his Rupes, I reduced my pressure to a “firm handshake” or what I thought may be 15lbs of pressure. Well, what a day of trials and tribulations. I switched between 3D one, Wolfgang Uber compound, Sonax, I used yellow foam pads, purple foams pads (worked really well) Maguires microfibre pads, Uro Pads, and wool pads. None of the combinations was making much of a correction on the black paint. This paint has never been worked on, it was super hard to get the scratching and swirls out.
In the end (after a couple of hours or monkeying around) I cranked the speed back up to 6, put some weight behind the polisher, put on a purple foam pad with Sonax Ultimate Cut and got back to business.
All of this goes against everything I’ve been reading and watching.
Did I make a mistake on that vehicle? It looks great. I followed it up with 3D one with a white pad and some Klasse sealant.
The lake country wool pad was hazing on day 2, so maybe I didn’t clean it properly, or wore it out with my pressure on day 1?
When trying the different combinations the residue was very difficult to remove even using the same compound. When I hit the sweet spot it was easy to remove, is that normal?
If I didn’t have the PC on high speed it would stop spinning when I went over contours on the vehicle, so I left the speed up on it.
Okay, so I’m looking for someone to let me know how I should have handled that situation. Did I make a mistake about cranking up the speed and putting so much pressure on my polisher? Is that normal with the old PC7424? Did I expect too much by pushing it until the paint was defect free?
Don’t forget, the vehicle is sold so you won’t be hurting my feelings if you blast me for my way of that polishing job. I’d just like to know for the future how I should have handled that situation.
TIA
‘I was a weekend warrior 15+ years ago, now my kids are 13 & 17, so I actually have some time to work on detailing again (cause they don’t want to hang with boring dad anymore). I can tell you that re-entering the detailing world, the learning curve is providing me with a lot more experience and products and some really great new stuff on the market.
I decided to start with something simple😂, my wife’s black 2016 Yukon that she just sold (delivering tomorrow) had a nice surprise on Friday when the wind blew our garbage can into and left scratches and marring down the drivers side. “AWESOME” I thought to myself, there goes $1k off the selling price at least. Lucky for us we are in quarantine and I have nothing better to do so here went my experience.
I currently have the original PC 7424 and I have several different pads from foam to wool & microfiber (glad I do I used them all). I’ve been doing lots of research and watching videos. I enjoy Brian from Apex and of course the videos on AutoGeek. After completing one side of her vehicle with a lake country low lint wool pad and Sonax Ultimate Cut with my polisher on top speed 6 and a large amount of pressure and slow arm speed just to get the paint looking 80% clear of defects. Then I watched a video on clear coat depth that night. Well that scared the crap out of me and the next day I fought with different pad/compound/polish combos that I’ve accumulated over the years, I reduced the speed on the PC because Brian uses speed 3 on his Rupes, I reduced my pressure to a “firm handshake” or what I thought may be 15lbs of pressure. Well, what a day of trials and tribulations. I switched between 3D one, Wolfgang Uber compound, Sonax, I used yellow foam pads, purple foams pads (worked really well) Maguires microfibre pads, Uro Pads, and wool pads. None of the combinations was making much of a correction on the black paint. This paint has never been worked on, it was super hard to get the scratching and swirls out.
In the end (after a couple of hours or monkeying around) I cranked the speed back up to 6, put some weight behind the polisher, put on a purple foam pad with Sonax Ultimate Cut and got back to business.
All of this goes against everything I’ve been reading and watching.
Did I make a mistake on that vehicle? It looks great. I followed it up with 3D one with a white pad and some Klasse sealant.
The lake country wool pad was hazing on day 2, so maybe I didn’t clean it properly, or wore it out with my pressure on day 1?
When trying the different combinations the residue was very difficult to remove even using the same compound. When I hit the sweet spot it was easy to remove, is that normal?
If I didn’t have the PC on high speed it would stop spinning when I went over contours on the vehicle, so I left the speed up on it.
Okay, so I’m looking for someone to let me know how I should have handled that situation. Did I make a mistake about cranking up the speed and putting so much pressure on my polisher? Is that normal with the old PC7424? Did I expect too much by pushing it until the paint was defect free?
Don’t forget, the vehicle is sold so you won’t be hurting my feelings if you blast me for my way of that polishing job. I’d just like to know for the future how I should have handled that situation.
TIA