Some Newbie Questions.

[cptpez]

Hello all. This is my first time posting. I have decided to get into car-car and have just received a major delivery from Autogeek. I have been scouring the forums and have learned a great deal – but I still have some questions/concerns I was hoping the community could help me with before I begin work this weekend.

Some background: I have two cars. A 2005 Audi A4 convertible (Carribic Blue) and a 2002 Land Rover Discovery (Beige/Tan). I live in South Carolina – so weather is predominately hot/humid with lots of pollen in the springtime and virtually no winter. Both cars have always been garaged and the paint/finish on each is in faiyly good condition. Prior to my recent interest in car care – neither car was washed/waxed very often. Typically they were washed, if at all, by the Dealer during maintenance (or, in the case of the Rover, at a drive through car wash). I would say the Audi has been hand waxed 3 to 5 times in it life, and the Land Rover probably never. (hangs head in shame). That has now ended.

I purchased the Porter Cable/Pinnacle XMT package – so I have the buffer, XMT #2, XMT #1, the XMT Glaze, and the pad conditioner. As for pads, I have 1 orange, 1 white, 2 gray; a wool pad and several Microfiber bonnets. My wax is Pinnacle Signature Series II. I also picked up some Meguire’s clay with lubricant.

My plan of attack is:

a. thorough washing/drying
b. claying
c. polish (either just #1 – or #2, then #1)
d. glaze
e. wax

Ok – now my questions/concerns:

1. The Audi is in pretty good condition – you can only see swirls in certain light – and even then they are light. Should I try using just XMT #1 on a white pad first and see if I am happy with the result? Or – considering it is 5 years of basically neglected paint – should I start with #2 on orange pad, then #1 on white pad? Everything I read says go with the least aggressive combination needed – so I am leaning towards trying out just #1. Trouble is – I do not know “what right looks like” – using just #1 might looks good to me but using #2, then #1 could look even better without me having tried it. The Land Rover is 8 years old so I figure #2 is a good starting point for that car.

2. There is one troublesome spot on the Audi that needs to be addressed. I have a small (maybe 3” x 1”) rub/scuff mark on the corner of the rear bumper. Basically it is just a transfer of black rubber or paint. No deep scratching or real damage – just a light rub that feels like it will come right off – with the right product/method. So, what is the right product/method? What is the best way to remove/correct this? During claying? Should I try the #2 polish and the orange pad; Should I get some compound? Should I try correcting it by hand or with the PC? (see question #3) (what is the order in terms of aggressiveness that I should use). (NOTE – I drafted this prior to gaining access to the forums – Yesterday I worked on this issue. Claying did nothing for it, BUT, using #2 by hand removed the scuff completely.)

3. The bumpers on the Audi are painted plastic. Being a newbie – I am worried that I may damage them with the PC. Is this a valid concern? (I have seen the picture of the “folding” paint) I realize that I will have to be more careful with these areas than on metal – less pressure – quicker section passes – check for heat. Would it be better for me to just polish/wax these areas by hand?

4. The Audi has some minor body work done on a front fender. Should I be careful when using the PC in this area in case the fix job – which I assume involved re-painting - was not done to the same level of quality as the rest of the car at the factory?

Thank you in advance for your assistance and advice. This forum has opened my eyes.

[ScottB]

You have a nice kit and wax and should work well with both cars. I would personally do a 2 step on both cars first and then you can maintain as 1 step as needed (provided you demonstrate good wash/dry techniques).

As for the Audi, becareful on corners especially repainted areas as thickness of paint/clearcoat could vary. I might suggest trying to hand polish (use #2 and towel) to remove the scuff first as possible or reduce it. After paint dries/cures it should be pretty strong and allow polishing but remember the adage : less is more, never move to something more abrasive unless needed.

[Mike Phillips]

Since this is your first post...

Welcome to Autogeek Online! :welcome:






Ok – now my questions/concerns:

1. The Audi is in pretty good condition – you can only see swirls in certain light – and even then they are light. Should I try using just XMT #1 on a white pad first and see if I am happy with the result? Or – considering it is 5 years of basically neglected paint – should I start with #2 on orange pad, then #1 on white pad? Everything I read says go with the least aggressive combination needed – so I am leaning towards trying out just #1. Trouble is – I do not know “what right looks like” – using just #1 might looks good to me but using #2, then #1 could look even better without me having tried it. The Land Rover is 8 years old so I figure #2 is a good starting point for that car.




Interestingly enough, another new forum member joined today and in their first post asked some similar questions, since my replies pretty much fit your questions, I'm going to copy and past them instead of re-type what would be about the same ideas...

From this thread, note the emphasis on doing a test spot...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/25062-tackling-fine-swirls-blue-bmw-please-help.html



Regardless of which products you end up using the first thing you want to do is a Test Spot to one small section and dial in a process that makes the paint look GREAT!

Then once you dial in a process that will remove the swirls and restore the finish to better than new condition to one small area all you have to do after that is repeat that process over the rest of the car.


The XMT #1 is pretty light for a swirl mark remover but the idea is to always,


"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

You won't know what the least aggressive product is until you go out into your garage and do some testing. I alway recommend to people to apply a single strip of painter's tape onto a hood or trunk lid and then just work on one side of the tape line as you're doing your test spot and trying to find a process that works to remove the swirls on your car's paint. This will give you a very distinct snapshot of your progress.

Get some painter's tape and lay down a tape line like this,

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/796/TapeLine02.jpg


Make sure the paint is washed or wiped clean so there's no loose surface dirt on the paint. Then buff on only one side of the tape line using the technique shared in this video,


How to do a Section Pass using a Dual Action Polisher - Key to Removing Swirls (http://www.palmbeachmotoring.net/ascg-videos/section-pass.html)

The above is just part of doing the entire process which you can watch here,

How to Remove Swirls and Scratches using the Porter Cable 7424XP (http://www.palmbeachmotoring.net/ascg-videos/porter-2-20-10.html)


Test the XMT #1 with a white polishing pad on the 5.0 to 6.0 Speed setting and then inspect your results, if it's not removing the swirls and scratches fast enough or to your satisfaction then try the XMT #2 and so on.

You can also substitute a more aggressive pad like the light orange cutting pad.


If you find you have to use more aggressive products to remove the swirls then you'll have to re-polish the car using a less aggressive pad and polish to maximize clarity and gloss and then you can seal the paint.





2. There is one troublesome spot on the Audi that needs to be addressed. I have a small (maybe 3” x 1”) rub/scuff mark on the corner of the rear bumper. Basically it is just a transfer of black rubber or paint. No deep scratching or real damage – just a light rub that feels like it will come right off – with the right product/method. So, what is the right product/method? What is the best way to remove/correct this? During claying? Should I try the #2 polish and the orange pad; Should I get some compound? Should I try correcting it by hand or with the PC? (see question #3) (what is the order in terms of aggressiveness that I should use). (NOTE – I drafted this prior to gaining access to the forums – Yesterday I worked on this issue. Claying did nothing for it, BUT, using #2 by hand removed the scuff completely.)




Here's something I wrote on removing paint transfer, the same principals apply to removing rubber transfer... if you don't have XMT #4 you can try the XMT #3

Also read through the thread where I posted the below...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/24967-xmt-4-ssr3.html


Removing Paint Transfer
Another handy use for XMT #4 is anytime you need to remove paint transfer, that is for example if a panel of a car is accidentally run against some other item, like a fence post, or another car, or a wall, etc. and some of the paint comes off the other item and is transferred onto your car or your customer's car, the XMT #4 works really well for removing the transferred paint. Then after removing the transferred paint you'll need to polish out any scratching left by the XMT #4

I usually remove transferred paint by hand with a piece of terry cloth but remove the haziness left by the XMT #4 by machine. The reason for his is when working by hand you can exert a lot of pressure with your fingers to a small area and that's usually what you want to do with transferred paint.








3. The bumpers on the Audi are painted plastic. Being a newbie – I am worried that I may damage them with the PC. Is this a valid concern? (I have seen the picture of the “folding” paint) I realize that I will have to be more careful with these areas than on metal – less pressure – quicker section passes – check for heat. Would it be better for me to just polish/wax these areas by hand?


Just knock them out by hand, I don't think a PC would work very well anyway, if you put too much pressure on just an edge of the buffing pad in most cases it will stop the pad from rotating as that is the safety feature.




4. The Audi has some minor body work done on a front fender. Should I be careful when using the PC in this area in case the fix job – which I assume involved re-painting - was not done to the same level of quality as the rest of the car at the factory?


Just be careful and focus on the task at hand...


:)

[cptpez]

Thank you very much.