Removing hazing with PC and XMT products

[OCDetails]

If you have purchased a Porter Cable 7424 or 7336 then you have the right tool for the job of attacking your swirls. On a car that I detailed a couple weeks ago I was reminded that just busting out with the machine and a polish isn't necessarily the best or proper way to get rid of swirls. Paint care isn't a one step process, so I thought I'd post a couple tips on what to expect.

You can get several different varieties of pads for your PC. I haven't really found a brand that I like better or worse than any other brand, so go with whatever is easiest for you. The important thing is that you get the right type of pad.

Pads are typically colored the same to indicate their cutting abilities. Orange is heavy cut, yellow is medium cut, white is low cut, and black is no cut. You would use the black for applying waxes/sealants, white would be for paint cleaners or mild cutting compounds, yellow is for swirl removal and oxidation removal, and orange would be the big gun for serious swirls and paint contamination.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/pads.jpg

Just the pad alone isn't enough to take care of your paint problems. You have to use the right polish in combination with the right pad. I haven't really figured out the best way to explain how to do that yet. What I usually do is start with a yellow pad and Pinnacle XMT 2 and see what that does. I start with a fender and spend about five minutes on it polishing back and forth and up and down. Here is the before and after result of that method on the fender of a 96 Trans Am.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Fender-Before.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Fender-After.jpg

Just one pass isn't always going to 'cut' it, if you'll excuse the pun. Sometimes you need to step down a level in abrasiveness of the pad and the polish. XMT2 and the yellow pad was causing a bit of hazing on the paint. Haze is where you get the swirls out, but you are left with lots of smaller scratches, or 'haze', that still cloud the paint. I step down from a yellow pad and XMT2 to a white pad and XMT1 to take care of haze. Hazing is exactly what I would get on my Legacy when I would polish, so stepping down and polishing out the haze is an important step to getting a perfect shine.

Here is the before XMT2, after XMT2, and after XMT1 on the hood.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Hood-Before.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Hood-xmt2.jpg

You can see the haze in that second picture. See how it still looks a little cloudy and the reflection isn't quite as clear? Here is what it looks like after a little work with XMT1 and the white pad.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Hood-xmt1.jpg

Not perfect, but not too bad either. A couple more passes with XMT1 and it looked pretty darn good. Here is the spoiler before and after the polishing steps.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Spoiler-swirls.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Jngrbrdman/TransAm/Spoiler-after.jpg

I have seen vehicle paint look worse, but I have also seen it be repaired too. If your paint is in that condition then don't give up hope. All you need to correct it is a PC and a couple of polishes. What you would have to pay a detailer to transform paint like in the pictures above would be probably around $150. The investment in a PC and a couple polishes pretty much equals that, so your effort will pay for itself after only one use. :) Gotta love that.

[FloridaNative]

Thank you so much for taking the initiative to write this thread. I'm sure it will help and encourage many people. :) I would just like to add one thing if I may since you used the color system pertaining to the Lake Country pads. For the Edge pads the colors are a big different....

For the Edge system the yellow pad is the heavy cut pad; the green pad is medium cut; the orange pad is the light cut; the blue is the finishing pad; and the white is the polishing pad. :)

[Reddwarf]

OCDETAILS - Thanks for posting these pictures and information. I find this to be very helpful. In the after photos there are a lot of white specks. Are those on the car?

[OCDetails]

For the Edge system the yellow pad is the heavy cut pad; the green pad is medium cut; the orange pad is the light cut; the blue is the finishing pad; and the white is the polishing pad. :)

Actually, according to this list (http://www.detailcity.com/edge-2000-foam-pads-dual-action-polishers.html) the order is yellow, orange, green, blue, white in order of cut. Green is softer than orange. Good point though. I wish the industry would get consistent so that it is easier to give advice on this kind of thing. lol

[FloridaNative]

Actually, according to this list (http://www.detailcity.com/edge-2000-foam-pads-dual-action-polishers.html) the order is yellow, orange, green, blue, white in order of cut. Green is softer than orange. Good point though. I wish the industry would get consistent so that it is easier to give advice on this kind of thing. lol

Oh snap!! You're right! I just checked the Edge site and the orange is the medium and the green is the light. My bad! :o

[OCDetails]

That's it... I hereby strip you of all your moderator rights, privleges, and powers. ;)

[FloridaNative]

That's it... I hereby strip you of all your moderator rights, privleges, and powers. ;)

LOL actually I'm glad this came up because I that means that AG's site is incorrect. I'll point it out to Meghan and we'll get it corrected. :) Thanks again.

[OCDetails]

OCDETAILS - Thanks for posting these pictures and information. I find this to be very helpful. In the after photos there are a lot of white specks. Are those on the car?

That would be dust from the polish. I knew that car would be great for before/after pictures, so I just polished out one area at a time and took pictures. The specs all over the hood is just the dust from the polish while I was working on the fender.

[san~man]

Oh snap!! You're right! I just checked the Edge site and the orange is the medium and the green is the light. My bad! :o

That seems strange. I went out to look at my pads, and the density of the foam on the orange pad seems much tighter, as if there are more, finer pores than the green. Seems closer in foam density to the blue rather than the yellow. The pores on the green seem bigger, in a sense that it seems like it's closer to the yellow (cutting) rather than the blue (polishing).

Just my observations.

[FloridaNative]

Okay, I got a definitive answer on this for you guys. I gave this link to Meghan so that the AG store site could be corrected and she reported back to me that the orange pad is made special by Edge for AG. What this means is that if you buy the Edge 2k DA kit from AG then the orange pad is indeed a light cut pad.

San-man your observations are correct, it is closer to the blue pad because it is one step above it. So just to clarify. If you buy the Edge 2K DA kit from Autogeek then the yellow is the heavy cut, the green is the medium cut, the orange is the light cut, the blue is the polishing and the white is the finishing.

I hope this clears up any confusion about the pads. :)

[san~man]

Okay, I got a definitive answer on this for you guys. I gave this link to Meghan so that the AG store site could be corrected and she reported back to me that the orange pad is made special by Edge for AG. What this means is that the if you buy the Edge 2k DA kit from AG then the orange pad is indeed a light cut pad.

San-man your observations are correct, it is closer to the blue pad because it is one step above it. So just to clarify. If you buy the Edge 2K DA kit from Autogeek then the yellow is the heavy cut, the green is the medium cut, the orange is the light cut, the blue is the polishing and the white is the finishing.

I hope this clears up any confusion about the pads. :)

Cool, I was worried there for a minute thinking all this time I was using the medium cut pad and not the light cut :cheers:

[FloridaNative]

Yeah, I felt the same way. I just used the orange pad thinking it was light cut. lol Well now we are all on the same page and there should be no more confusion. :)

[JCB]

i wish they would match the color of the pads and the polish compounds, an orange LC pad with an orange colored xmt#2, or something like that.

[sparkie]

I think my green pad has more cut then the yellow pad. Is this right?
Kit includes:
6 inch Yellow Cutting Pad
6 inch Green Medium Cutting Pad
6 inch Orange Light Cutting Pad
6 inch Blue Finishing Pad
6 inch White Ultra-fine Polishing Pad