New to Polishing, please help!

[Wedgezilla]

Hi I purchased the Griots Garage 6 and 3 inch polishers, Griots orange pads and Pinnacle XMT fine swirl remover 2 from here to try and give polishing a go.

First I washed and clayed my car, and then attempting to follow the instructions on all those videos around here I went about trying to polish my hood. Basically it did get rid of the various waterspots and things, but instead of having a nice mirror finish I'm left with a very hazy very finely swirled hood. I thought maybe I was doing each section to long and the product might be drying or something so I tried even smaller section passes and instead of doing 6 passes only 4 and there was plenty of product left so it wasn't drying, but still the same thing.

I have no idea what I could be doing wrong, is the product maybe to aggresive and it requires a go over with a less aggresive product? When I bought it I looked at the chart and it was pretty low down so I figured I wouldn't but I'm prob wrong.

Any help would be appreciated please, this is very frustrating :(

[DaveT435]

Not familiar with Griot's pads...I assume your using a cutting pad...maybe ever a heavy cutting pad. Try going over it using a polishing pad now with the same product...most polishing pads are white...again not sure about the griot's.

[DaveT435]

If you have ultra fine swirl remover use that after the fine swirl remover...again with a polishing pad and that should give you the desired outcome...then you can go with their glaze followed by an LSP. Remember do a test spot and go through the entire process to make sure your getting the outcome you want before doing too much of the car...

[Mike Phillips]

If you have ultra fine swirl remover use that after the fine swirl remover...again with a polishing pad and that should give you the desired outcome...then you can go with their glaze followed by an LSP. Remember do a test spot and go through the entire process to make sure your getting the outcome you want before doing too much of the car...


Excellent advice.

I'm going to assume you have the Griot's brand orange and red pads? If so do all your correction/polishing work with the orange pads as these are the aggressive pads and use the red pads for applying either glazes or waxes as it's very soft and won't remove swirls.


Also, for removing swirls with a Griot's Garage 6" polisher, make sure you're on the 5-6 speed setting.

Then read this,

DA Polisher Trouble Shooting Guide (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/37769-da-polisher-trouble-shooting-guide.html)



And be sure to mark your backing plate...

Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-car-garage-how-videos/49489-video-mark-your-backing-plate-make-easy-see-pad-rotation.html)


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1423/MarkYourBackingPlate01.jpg

Here's a quick video that show how and why to mark your backing plate to see and monitor pad rotation while doing any correction or polishing steps.


And welcome to the Autogeek Online Discussion Forum!

:)

[Wedgezilla]

Yea the orange griot's pads are their polishing pads which I'm using. And nope I don't have the ultra fine remover but I'll pick some up, I'm hoping it's just the product I'm using right now and it'll be something as simple as using a less aggresive product, could there be any other reasons this would happen?

And Mike I read all of your articles I could find on here before purchasing stuff so I already had the backplate marked :D I try and match the rotational speed I saw in the 3 part video thats floating around here somewhere. I still have a bit of a problem with splatter though :| I feel like I'm holding the thing flat but obviously not :P

[BobbyG]

:welcome: To Autogeek Online!

What you're describing sounds like polishing haze. Try some fine polishing on a gray finishing pad on speed 4 and this should remove the haze leaving the finish radiant...:props:

[Paul_no_Longer_uses_this_account]

Hi I purchased the Griots Garage 6 and 3 inch polishers, Griots orange pads and Pinnacle XMT fine swirl remover 2 from here to try and give polishing a go.

First I washed and clayed my car, and then attempting to follow the instructions on all those videos around here I went about trying to polish my hood. Basically it did get rid of the various waterspots and things, but instead of having a nice mirror finish I'm left with a very hazy very finely swirled hood. I thought maybe I was doing each section to long and the product might be drying or something so I tried even smaller section passes and instead of doing 6 passes only 4 and there was plenty of product left so it wasn't drying, but still the same thing.

I have no idea what I could be doing wrong, is the product maybe to aggresive and it requires a go over with a less aggresive product? When I bought it I looked at the chart and it was pretty low down so I figured I wouldn't but I'm prob wrong.

Any help would be appreciated please, this is very frustrating :(

I just purchased the same polishers and here is what I used to get my results. After washing and claying vehicle, I first used Pinnacle XMT #3 Intermediate Swirl Remover with the Lake Country orange pad. Next step, Pinnacle XMT #1 Fine Swirl Remover with LC white pad. Next, Pinnacle XMT Carnauba Finishing Glaze. My final step, DP Max Wax with LC blue pad. Considering this was only my 2nd time using a polisher I thought I got pretty good results and I have a new found respect for people who do this for a living. One negative about the XMT products is they seemed to create a lot of dust. I don't know if it was my technique or the product and was wandering if others had same problem. The first pic is a hood shot. I had already finished polishing the hood but you can see scratched in fender.
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[Eandras]

The dust may be from overworking the product as well as not cleaning the pad. If you clean the pad between panels the spent product will not be left on the next panel in the form of dust.

[Wedgezilla]

I have the same problem with the dust and its probably just cause we're noobs :P It seemed like it was from not keeping constant even pressure on the pad, like when I'd reach or something. Just have to get used to using this thing :D

[ReflectiveAuto]

I have the Griot 6" Orange and Red pads...The orange pads I use for swirl removel and the red pads I use for polishing and waxing. No swirls for me.

[Mike Phillips]

Yea the orange griot's pads are their polishing pads which I'm using. And nope I don't have the ultra fine remover but I'll pick some up, I'm hoping it's just the product I'm using right now and it'll be something as simple as using a less aggressive product, could there be any other reasons this would happen?


Some paints are more sensitive than others... technique is a huge factor too...





And Mike I read all of your articles I could find on here before purchasing stuff so I already had the backplate marked



Good man...




I try and match the rotational speed I saw in the 3 part video thats floating around here somewhere.




Video: How-To do a "Section Pass" when Machine Polishing with a DA Polisher (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-videos/24074-video-how-do-section-pass-when-machine-buffing.html)




I still have a bit of a problem with splatter though :| I feel like I'm holding the thing flat but obviously not



Practice... and clean your pad often to keep it from having too much liquid in it. As the pad becomes saturated and then at high speed the liquid flies out.

How to clean your foam pad on the fly (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/20135-how-clean-your-foam-pad-fly.html)





I first used Pinnacle XMT #3 Intermediate Swirl Remover with the Lake Country orange pad. Next step, Pinnacle XMT #1 Fine Swirl Remover with LC white pad. Next, Pinnacle XMT Carnauba Finishing Glaze. My final step, DP Max Wax with LC blue pad.

Considering this was only my 2nd time using a polisher I thought I got pretty good results



Looks awesome!


:dblthumb2: