XMT, how do you know to use 2 or 3?

[FMINUS]

I am a complete newbie at this and I purchased XMT 2 and 1 polish. However, after I was done, the swirls are still there, just less apparant.

Do you guys think I needed to:
Use more polish?
Polished it longer?
Polished it incorrectly?
Or should of used XMT 3?

I followed the instructions on the video....

Thanks guys!

[Rsurfer]

I am a complete newbie at this and I purchased XMT 2 and 1 polish. However, after I was done, the swirls are still there, just less apparant.

Do you guys think I needed to:
Use more polish?
Polished it longer?
Polished it incorrectly?
Or should of used XMT 3?

I followed the instructions on the video....

Thanks guys!

What pad did you use?

[D]

Might need a more aggressive pad or polish. Assuming you're doing it correctly.

[TjMonsen5]

XMT2 is very weak, i use it to remove the buffer swirls from XMT3. 3 will remove your swirls for sure and probably alot of scratches. I use XMT3 with an orange PC pad, then follow with XMT2 on a white CCS pad. After that, i use Klasse AIO on white pad, and finally Klasse SG on grey pad and the next day i apply my Pinnacle Liquid Souveran wax.

[Nica]

I guess it depends on the scratches, the rule of thumb is that if you run your finger nail and it gets caught on the scratch the scratch is to big and you may not be able to remove it with the PC. Perhaps with a rotary but back to topic. XMT #2 and #1 are very light but XMT #2 and a good aggressive pad should do the trick...perhaps bump up the pad...um...what pad where you using?

[orngez]

if swirls remain after correct polishing..upgrade to a higher cut polish or pad..or both...

[FMINUS]

I am using orange pad w XMT 2
white pad XMT 1
grey/black w mothers sealer
Blue w mothers wax

Whats the level of abrasiveness in terms of color?

[TjMonsen5]

from most agressive to least:
yellow, orange, ( i think theres a green now), white, grey, blue
if you are using a orange pad already, sounds like you need XMT3. yellow pad is mainly for really oxidized paint and nasty scratches. it might hurt your nice M3 paint. is that leguna seca blue?

[FMINUS]

Laguna Seca it is!!!

[Nuke33]

Did you let the polish bread down, Did u use slow overlaping passes moving about 1 in per sec and did u apply approperate prusure to the pad?

[FMINUS]

I better try again, how often should I polish the car so that it doesnt wear down the paint too much?

[TjMonsen5]

you can polish your paint ALOT with a PC and not hurt it. You remove such a small amount of paint that its almost not even measurable.
Just polish 2 or 3 times a year, basically when the swirls get too bad for you to stand them.

[ejflanag]

If your using the PC then you can polish alot, i dont recomend it. but with the PC you are pretty safe ive heard you could polish multible times and not need to worry.

[orngez]

with a pc you can polish quite often...i wouldnt worry too much about wearing down the paint...if you find yourself polishing everytime you wash your car because of swirls...time to learn a better washing technique

[FMINUS]

Good advice all around guys, thanks a bunch!