Did I screw up or am I just not done yet?

[radarcontact]

Hi guys, first time poster and overall newbie...

Long post, sorry in advance.

I have these micro-scratches all over paint and I know I messed up in a few places, don't know where to go back to to fix.

Here are my supplies (all except for car wash were bought from AG, of course!). I think I did good in this department, just not in applying it!

PC 7424xp w/orange and black (grey?) LC pads
pinnicle clay w/diluted opti no rinse as lube
chem guys citrus auto wash (clear)
pinnicle twins
klasse glaze
poorboy's white jar (?) wax

My car is a prior-owned black '06 bmw convertible, paint in good condition overall, but had bad/numerous light scratches from auto car washes and other neglect such as embedded water spots, etc.:cruisin:(sorry, couldn't resist)

So on Friday, I:

ENTIRE CAR
washed
clayed
washed
dryed

then on HOOD & TRUNK (time constrained)
pincl swirl rem using orange on #5 (many passes, just like in the DVD! lol)
(I thought it looked good, but lighting wasn't great as my halogens burnt out on startup!)
pincl polish, but just a once over with black LC pad, as if it were a wax on #3.5 (mistake #1?)
then klasse glaze, one thin coat with black LC pad on #2.5
then immediately (mistake #2) put a coat of wax w/black LC on #3. Removed by hand w/MF cloths.

So...I know (now) that the polish should have been used just like the swirl remover, correct? Keep using until I get a glass-like finish? Or are the micro-scratches from not going far enough with the anti-swirl? Don't know which product to do more work with.

Also, I (now) know that the glaze should have been left to cure for a day (or close to it), right? I don't think that caused any problems but it didn't help any either!

Any advice is appreciated. Unfortunately, I don't know how to describe the problems that I see in the car's finish very well, and I don't think my cell phone camera would do much better. Sorry.

[Emm]

I think you should have used a white LC pad with the final polish. Black pad is for wax or "jeweling" the paint

[Elite Pro]

pincl swirl rem using orange on #5 (many passes, just like in the DVD! lol)
(I thought it looked good, but lighting wasn't great as my halogens burnt out on startup!)
pincl polish, but just a once over with black LC pad, as if it were a wax on #3.5 (mistake #1?)
:welcome:
I'm not familiar with the Pinnacle twins, but usually I go from orange pad to white pad- as it has a little more cut to it than the black and will finish down nicely-keeping it at the speed I used on orange

[LuxuryMobile]

I would try polishing on speed 6. For me, it is always on speed 6 when polishing with foam pads. IMO, alternating pressure with a DA polisher is more effective than alternating speed.

[radarcontact]

Thanks to all so far...

So I need to buy a white pad I guess. Ok. Then go back to the polishing (not swirl removal) stage and use the white pad on speed #6? That will get rid of those little micro-scratches?

[radarcontact]

Stephan...you going past Crestview anytime soon??!! lol

[SeaJay's]

Your right about mistake #1 - you should use the final polish as you would your swirl remover or heavier compound. You'd start with some decent pressure then ease up as you do your passes. Typically I do 2 passes with decent pressure, then 2 passes letting up about half way, then a final section pass with little to no pressure.

But as others have said you may need to pick up a white LC pad. It has a little more bite. But I'd say try it again with what you have and see if you get better results.

[Mike Phillips]

pincl polish, but just a once over with black LC pad, as if it were a wax on #3.5 (mistake #1?)



The Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover is medium strength swirl mark remover and after using it in most cases as someone else posted you're going to want to use a polishing pad with the Advanced Finishing Polish on the 5 to 6 setting and re-polish each panel.

One thing I've been sharing with guys on the Internet since about 1994 is the idea of doing what I call a Test Spot. That is to test out the pads, products and technique to one section and make sure you're getting the results you want, hope for and expect before going over the entire car or even an entire panel.

If you're test spot looks great then simply duplicate it over the rest of the car, if it doesn't then you'll be glad you only worked on one small section and come back to the forum and get help.

Anyway, try the AFP with a polishing pad on the 5-6 speed setting and then check your results.


:)

[BobbyG]

:welcome: To Autogeek Online Radar!! :props:

[LuxuryMobile]

Radar...PM me. Maybe we arrange for me swing by and give you a hand sometime.

[radarcontact]

Radar...PM me. Maybe we arrange for me swing by and give you a hand sometime.

I am not one to ask for help, in fact I usually pride myself on being completely self-sufficient in life...I can usually learn what I need from reading and inquiring (I love forums and am a member of about 10 on different subjects). However, that being said, if you ever did have a chance to come by and share some technique with me, that would be awesome. I would learn more in five minutes than I would over the next year reading, I'm sure.

[example of what I learned already from this one post, that you guys probably didn't even realize you taught me: pressure matters; I might not have to go over it a million times like the pinn DVD but rather a 2-2-1 approach may suffice; Maybe I should do a small test spot before I tackle the hood again; Speed #6 is prob my best bet!]

To all, THANK YOU, I respect your replies and will heed your advice! I ordered a LC tangerine pad (comparable to the white pad according to AG). Should have it in a couple days, then I'll give it a second try. I'll wash, dry, then use the Advanced Finishing Polish just as I used the Swirl Remover, using the tangerine pad this time.

--and thanks, BobbyG! ;)

[SeaJay's]

I am not one to ask for help, in fact I usually pride myself on being completely self-sufficient in life...I can usually learn what I need from reading and inquiring (I love forums and am a member of about 10 on different subjects). However, that being said, if you ever did have a chance to come by and share some technique with me, that would be awesome. I would learn more in five minutes than I would over the next year reading, I'm sure.

[example of what I learned already from this one post, that you guys probably didn't even realize you taught me: pressure matters; I might not have to go over it a million times like the pinn DVD but rather a 2-2-1 approach may suffice; Maybe I should do a small test spot before I tackle the hood again; Speed #6 is prob my best bet!]

To all, THANK YOU, I respect your replies and will heed your advice! I ordered a LC tangerine pad (comparable to the white pad according to AG). Should have it in a couple days, then I'll give it a second try. I'll wash, dry, then use the Advanced Finishing Polish just as I used the Swirl Remover, using the tangerine pad this time.

--and thanks, BobbyG! ;)

No problem radar! That's what the forum is here for.

I'd definitely do a test spot prior to tackling the hood or anything else. Can save you a lot of time getting the process down first.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it comes out.

[conan777]

The compounding stage it the most important for removing the defects so make sure the deeper scratches are gone before you move on. Depending on the hardness of your paint you may need to do multiple passes and apply more compound polish and go over the same panel multiple times to get the results you are after. Not sure what year your Bimmer is but earlier models had really hard paint which takes longer to correct.

If you have done this and still see very small light scratches that look like tiny hooks and they are all uniform then that is micro marring caused by the compounding polish/Pad combo. This is when you are ready for your finishing polish which will remove all those small hook like swirl defects. You will not need as much finishing polish on your pad as you did compound. Very little goes a long way and buy several pads you will go through them often.

I typically use Orange for compounding and white for finishing, blue for sealant and black for wax. I know they have some new colors now but just make sure you have enough pads because as you can see it pretty much sucks to be in the middle of a job and realize you do not have the proper tools to finish it. I would try to keep at least 4 orange and 2 white pads on hand all the time. The LSP pads last much longer and you probably only need one or two. The correction pads get damaged alot faster as they will inevitably catch an edge somewhere and tear apart or fly off your polisher because the velcro backing stops working etc. Bottom line make sure you have some extra pads on hand for correction.
Good Luck!

[radarcontact]

The compounding stage it the most important for removing the defects so make sure the deeper scratches are gone before you move on. Depending on the hardness of your paint you may need to do multiple passes and apply more compound polish and go over the same panel multiple times to get the results you are after. Not sure what year your Bimmer is but earlier models had really hard paint which takes longer to correct.

If you have done this and still see very small light scratches that look like tiny hooks and they are all uniform then that is micro marring caused by the compounding polish/Pad combo. This is when you are ready for your finishing polish which will remove all those small hook like swirl defects. You will not need as much finishing polish on your pad as you did compound. Very little goes a long way and buy several pads you will go through them often.

I typically use Orange for compounding and white for finishing, blue for sealant and black for wax. I know they have some new colors now but just make sure you have enough pads because as you can see it pretty much sucks to be in the middle of a job and realize you do not have the proper tools to finish it. I would try to keep at least 4 orange and 2 white pads on hand all the time. The LSP pads last much longer and you probably only need one or two. The correction pads get damaged alot faster as they will inevitably catch an edge somewhere and tear apart or fly off your polisher because the velcro backing stops working etc. Bottom line make sure you have some extra pads on hand for correction.
Good Luck!

The micro marring is what I think I have. Very uniform, tiny, and seem to be "below" the clearcoat, although I know that's not possible. Car looks great 'till you get up close and look into it. Then there they are! I can also see a few long lines of more pronounced marring showing where (I am guessing) I used more pressure.

Hoping I can get it all looking good!

After I do, then I'll move on to the glaze. That seems easy enough...lol!:dunno:

[radarcontact]

I went back and polished correctly (I think). Here's a pic of the hood- one side done, one not:

http://tapatalk.com/mu/a6890b57-187d-6395.jpg

It is only a cell phone pic, and not very good, but if you look closely you can see one light has a lot more detail than the other. I followed up the polish with a thin coat of Klasse Glaze. I put it on, got ready for work, and then took it back off. I guess I should wait till tomorrow until I put a coat of wax on. Should I put on more glaze or go to wax?

To be honest, it looks good, but if I look closely, I can still see the outlines of where there used to be water spots. It also seems like the orang peel effect increased. Is that possible? I mean, the shine is fantastic now compared to before, and there are no real scratches to speak of, but I'm a perfectionist and I still see imperfections. The problem is, I'm worried that if I keep dicking with it, I'll either remove too much clear coat(?), or make it worse somehow! I'm such a p#ssy...lol.