Sticky Paint

[Rsurfer]

Anyone experience sticky paint on an 08G35 Infiniti? Meaning you cannot polish without gumming up the pad where it starts spitting up little balls. The person detailing has a lot of experience in detailing. Tried various pads and polishes from Optimum, Menz, and 3m and QDing the pad with no results. Could it be the new self healing paint? I was planning on getting an 09 G37 in black (I know), but if I can't polish it, I'm not buying it. Thanks.

[culinarian]

Did you clay first? Maybe try a test spot by hand and see what happens.

[agpatel]

Saw something about it somewhere else and he used 3m UK products with a white pad, it did gum up but said that you would just have to work slow and it will take a long time to get the car done. Not impossible but not fun at all.

[RaskyR1]

I this on a rotary?

My TSX has the "sticky" paint. The only pad/product combo I have found to work on my car via rotary is 3M Ultrafina with the UK 3M pads. I tried the US pads Wednesday night and they didn't work like the UK pads.

PO85RD, FPII, Nano, M205, M09 all generate LOTS of heat very quickly even when at slow rpms. The result is pad hop, squeal, and gumming of the polish. I have no idea what causes this but it drives me nuts. FYI, this was all after claying and an IPA wipe down.

I can however use a DA on my paint without any issues at all....weird.


Rasky

[loudog2]

Only a few things work. This is actually discouraging me from getting a new infiniti in 2 years. I think it should be a option.

[RaskyR1]

FYI....I looked into this a lot after having issues on my car. Dave KG seemed to have some of the best advice. ;)


Sticky paint means different things to different people, and ultimately its causes are various and many are not well known in that they have not been decisevely proven.

The effetcs of sticky paint are to cause the rotary polisher to feel like its dragging and sticking (hence the name), and the polish residue to flash and dry... You generally see high heats very quickly, owing I believe to an increased frictional resistance and this acts to dry out the polish by removing its lubrication... this then increases the heat yet further and in bad cases you get into a viscious circle where the polishing set can only be abandoned.

Various theories exist as to the cause of the sticky paint, from silicones in the paint to the paint itself - the actual causes are not definitely known but I believe there is more than one contributory factor... Having seen sticky paint on hard and soft paints alike, I dont believe paint hardness is a big contributing factor. Amusingly, spraying some plastic protection sprays with silicones in them caused sticky paint on my Toyota test car, and this result was repeatable to the extent I used this trick on one of my rotary tuition days, for amusement's value ;) Bear in mind, silicone is not a single one thing, but rather a name given to a family of "plastics", many silicones are highly beneficial in products and should not be regarded as a bad thing.

Cures for sticky paint vary also - I find that lightening the pressure and using slower speeds helps cure on most occasions, sometimes addition of oils or use of an oily polish works better, sometimes slower speeds work better, sometimes a bit of "brute force" actually yields the most efficient results - with so many cures and so many apparent causes, it is obvious to me there is more than a single contributing factor to the phenomenon of sticky paint... In fact, I am beginning to believe that its simply another "factor" of the paint being polished that you must adapt your technique to suit in the same way as some paints will finish sharper with one technique versus another.

[Rsurfer]

I this on a rotary?

My TSX has the "sticky" paint. The only pad/product combo I have found to work on my car via rotary is 3M Ultrafina with the UK 3M pads. I tried the US pads Wednesday night and they didn't work like the UK pads.

PO85RD, FPII, Nano, M205, M09 all generate LOTS of heat very quickly even when at slow rpms. The result is pad hop, squeal, and gumming of the polish. I have no idea what causes this but it drives me nuts. FYI, this was all after claying and an IPA wipe down.

I can however use a DA on my paint without any issues at all....weird.


Rasky
Yes, rotary. Same results as you. Claying, IPA wipe down, nothing seems to work. The UK 3m pads like you said works the best. And Ultrafina also worked the best. The problem is what happens when you need a medium cut polish! Gumsville!! Any one know about the new scratch resistant paint by Infiniti? Rasky, when you say you can use your DA without issues, does that mean you can use SIP or 106 with no problems? Thanks

[Rsurfer]

Only a few things work. This is actually discouraging me from getting a new infiniti in 2 years. I think it should be a option.
Yeah dog, I was really hot on getting a black 09 Infiniti until I came across this post. Very reputable person posting, so I'm even more concerned. I still beleive this has something to do with their self-healing paint. Maybe someone with an 08 or 09 can chime in. If I'm going to have this kind of problems polishing it why buy it.

[loudog2]

I've read that a DA is ok with most products. I forgot if you had to lower the speed on it. I know Nica has done a couple of these. The problem is mostly with the rotary.

It's self healing by ways of the sun. The instruction say to leave it in the sun to heal itself faster. The sun helps the clear move(melt) faster for repair. It only last for about 3 years. Then it won't heal itself anymore. I wonder if after 3 years, is the clear still sticky? Or does it just harden over time?

I personally don't want it. I mean how do you keep a nice LSP if the clear is always moving. That means you will always have gaps in your protection.

[RaskyR1]

Yes, rotary. Same results as you. Claying, IPA wipe down, nothing seems to work. The UK 3m pads like you said works the best. And Ultrafina also worked the best. The problem is what happens when you need a medium cut polish! Gumsville!! Any one know about the new scratch resistant paint by Infiniti? Rasky, when you say you can use your DA without issues, does that mean you can use SIP or 106 with no problems? Thanks


Yes. I can use my Flex or PC and have no "sticky paint" issues at all. I talked with Dave about it and he said others have found the same thing as me....though it may not always be the solution. :cheers:

[nrengle]

I've read a few resolutions to this over the Pro Details Before and After section on Autopia. And most of them involved the self healing paint, and I believe quite a few were Infiniti's and Audi's. So you guys might check out that site for a resolution. I remember reading one where a guy spent an entire 12 hour day trying to find the right combo...

[CakeDaddy]

Self Healing Paint !!! Wow! Glad I saw this. I have been asked to look at an 09 Black M this weekend that belong to a friends girl friend. The rear trunk lid has tons of scratches from the dealer (go figure). I may need to re-think my action plan to correct this.

[loudog2]

Self Healing Paint !!! Wow! Glad I saw this. I have been asked to look at an 09 Black M this weekend that belong to a friends girl friend. The rear trunk lid has tons of scratches from the dealer (go figure). I may need to re-think my action plan to correct this.
The 2009 M does not have the scratch shield paint.

[Rsurfer]

The 2009 M does not have the scratch shield paint.
Hey dog, do you know if all the G's have it, or is it an option?

[loudog2]

All the G's have it in 2009. At least here in the U.S. they do. I don't know about Europe. If you go to Infiniti's webstie and look under specifications. Under exterio,r it will say scratch shield paint as standard.