HI...intro and question..

[dun4791]

Hi all. I have been trolling for the last few weeks here. I have a 2006 Corvette that I want to detail. The paint is in great condition, but there are clear coat scratches from the previous owner drying the car. There is only one scratch in the clear on the entire car that I can feel.....about 1/8 of an inch long.. Car is dark blue, looks black in some light. Want to really get the surface perfect.

Here is the progression I am planning as per searching..........

I have a PC orbital. A griots garage one from a few years ago. I am planning on purchasing a 5 inch backing plate and 5.5 inch LC pads...in white, and blue. Also planning on getting the Menzerna PO106FF and the PO85rd. From searching some say both of those will finish the same, but others say for dark cars use the 85 to finish with the blue pad. Going to hold off on the PO83(SIP) to see if the PO106FF will do the trick for me.....I believe it will, but dunno?

SO.........
Start with white 5.5 inch and 106FF speed at 6 moving slowly....back off speed to 4 after a few minutes with the first 2 foot section. Finish off with the blue and 85 rd speed at 5 going down to 4.

Sound correct?
Any ideas or hints would be greatly appreciated. After I get some input and order up the stuff I need I will post up pictures of my before and afters.........

Also I use P21S wax.
Thoughts on the california duster/detail spray microfiber after a short drive? Will this scratch the paint after I'm done? First car I have had with paint this nice and I want to get/keep it looking it's best..

Thanks everyone.

[Mike Phillips]

Welcome to Autogeek Online! :welcome:




Hi all. I have been trolling for the last few weeks here.


Always good to see Lurkers convert to active members!

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/lurking.gif





I have a 2006 Corvette that I want to detail. The paint is in great condition, but there are clear coat scratches from the previous owner drying the car.


New Corvettes have an established reputation as having very hard clear coats so great condition is kind of relative if it's filled with scratches, even light scratches. If you don't already own a Brinkman Swirl Finder Light you're going to want to get one. I purchased the below one for $30.00 at Pep Boys.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/722/Brinkman1.jpg





There is only one scratch in the clear on the entire car that I can feel.....about 1/8 of an inch long.. Car is dark blue, looks black in some light. Want to really get the surface perfect.


Probably ought to just improve that one and not try to completely remove it.




Here is the progression I am planning as per searching..........

I have a PC orbital. A Griot's garage one from a few years ago. I am planning on purchasing a 5 inch backing plate and 5.5 inch LC pads...in white, and blue. Also planning on getting the Menzerna PO106FF and the PO85rd. From searching some say both of those will finish the same, but others say for dark cars use the 85 to finish with the blue pad. Going to hold off on the PO83(SIP) to see if the PO106FF will do the trick for me.....I believe it will, but dunno?


This is never fun but honesty is everything on a discussion forum. My area of expertise is with Meguiar's products but my goal is to become an expert on all products based upon first hand experience buffing out multiple cars and working with the Reps for the specific company, so I'll defer to someone that's actually used these chemicals for their input.

As for the pads, you might need a more aggressive pad for your first step cleaning process as the white foam polishing pad is pretty gentle to the paint and if this is the factory, baked-on clear coat you're going to find it's more on the hard side than the easy to get defects out of side.

Not sure of the power the Griot's polisher offers as I haven't used it yet, (have one at my desk but I have a lot of new-to-me products at my desk), but removing swirls and scratches means removing paint and paint is removed best when the pad is rotating, not just vibrating against the paint.

Mark your backing plates or pads so you can easily tell if the pad is rotating versus vibrating as you're using the tool. Should have an article up tomorrow that goes over how to use a dual action polisher in detail including how to do a Test Spot which you're definitely going to wan to do.

Test Spot by Machine
http://www.autogeekonline.net/mikephillips/images/polish-1.gif





SO.........
Start with white 5.5 inch and 106FF speed at 6 moving slowly....back off speed to 4 after a few minutes with the first 2 foot section. Finish off with the blue and 85 rd speed at 5 going down to 4.


2 foot section might be too big, depends upon how well the pad is rotating under pressure and as it becomes wet or saturated with product. Again, the how-to article covers this in detail so I'll save typing time till it's posted and the share the link in a follow-up post.





Sound correct?
Any ideas or hints would be greatly appreciated. After I get some input and order up the stuff I need I will post up pictures of my before and afters.........



Whole bunch of ideas and tips in the two new threads to be posted tomorrow and maybe even some more cool content next week. Can't work fast enough.... :)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/mikephillips/images/wipe-1.gif


This is called breaking the wax or breaking the wax open.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/723/detail-148.jpg






Also I use P21S wax.
Thoughts on the California duster/detail spray microfiber after a short drive? Will this scratch the paint after I'm done? First car I have had with paint this nice and I want to get/keep it looking it's best..

Thanks everyone.


California Dusters and similar tools are safe as long as you're not pushing them against the paint, the correct technique is to loft the fibers over the paint, not use pressure to push the fibers against the paint.

California Dusters and mist & wipe detailers are for removing,

Light dust
Fingerprints
Smudges

Anything more than the above and you probably should wash the car.

:)

[dun4791]

New Corvettes have an established reputation as having very hard clear coats so great condition is kind of relative if it's filled with scratches, even light scratches. If you don't already own a Brinkman Swirl Finder Light you're going to want to get one. I purchased the below one for $30.00 at Pep Boys.



:)

I have a light like the one you suggest...thats how I'm seeing the scratches. The scratches probably aren't noticable to most........

Anyone have any product experience they can relay?

[Mike Phillips]

I have a light like the one you suggest...thats how I'm seeing the scratches. The scratches probably aren't noticeable to most........

Anyone have any product experience they can relay?

Just to note, it's usually best to "Introduce Yourself" in an Introduction forum group and then if you have product or process questions post a dedicated thread for your questions in the appropriate forum for the topic of your questions.

Clicking this link will take you to the list of different categories or groups of forums identified by their title.

Autogeek Online Forum Topical Groups (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/)


The first group on the page above is the Introduction group, that's where your post is right now, (the one I'm replying to).

Then after posting your introduction thread to introduce yourself to the community, you would next go to one of the groups in the list and start a new thread about the topic you have questions on, otherwise we could get rid of all the groups and just have one group called Introductions and everything else. :)


This is in no way intended to be hard on you just sharing how a discussion forum works. You can even copy and paste what you've already typed above and the post it into a group like this one,

Porter Cable 7424 & Buffing Pad Forum (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/porter-cable-7424-buffing-pad-forum/)

with a title like this,

Questions about removing swirls out of my Corvette using the PC 7424?


Or something like that. By doing this you end up helping yourself because more people will answer your questions and the title will tell another member what your questions are about so as to help them to know if they should click on your thread to help out.


Here's a thread on using the PC to remove defects like swirls, even though it discusses different chemicals and pads, all the principals are the same no matter which chemical line you're using and which pads you're using.

Tips and Techniques for using the PC 7424XP Dual Action Polisher to remove Below Surface Defects (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/expert-tips/20021-tips-techniques-using-porter-cable-7424xp.html)




:)

[Fred114]

Hope I did not miss this information when I read through this thread rather hastily, but on the older Griots polishers, you can not change the backing plate. I have one. It is a good polisher, but you will have to stick with 6" or 6.5" pads. The newest one just released you will be able to, which is something nice they did.