Audi s5 rock hard paint. Any suggestions

[Wes Bremec]

This paint seems to be one of the hardest clear coats I have yet to correct. I started of with 5inch LC light cutting pad blue m205 via the 3401. After 6 passes light swirls and scratches remained. I bumped it up to an orange pad with the same amount of passes and defects still remained. Any suggestions?

[Wes Bremec]

I'm sorry I used m105 for the s5 paint work

[Wes Bremec]

Maybe LC mf system, m101?

[Andr3wilson]

My Merc has a rock hard ceramic clear. I use Menzerna IS1500 and PF2500. Alternate between a white and an orange pad depending on the swirls. Try FG400, that will work.

[mg6045]

i have a 11' S4 with very very hard paint as well.

I usually go aggressive 'with the product choice' instead of bearing down extremely hard on the paint with the polisher with lighter products. Doing this will keep you from heating up the paint and having your products act finicky by flashing off early. It also helps save your pads.

I find that Meg's MF pads work very well for this technique along with D300/105 mix. basically a 75% D300 and 25% 105 mix on the pad.

If trying to remove any sort of defect usually anything under a LC Orange pad does not work. The Hydrotech cyan and tangerine pad system do work great on hard paint as well.

My polish's that work very well on my Audi for defect removal are :
D300 / 105
Menz 1500 / 2500

I also just bought some FG400 and Megs 101 but have yet to use them. So I personally would avoid recommending them myself at this point. I started machine polishing my cars in 2009. I have always had VW/Audi vehicles and when I got recommendations on Autopia forum back in the day nothing the forum suggested to me worked. So I became very discouraged (your probably feeling the same way). Back in 08/09 there werent as many quality compounds available like there are now, so not many people suggested them like they do now. So most all the meduim cut polish's that I bought did not produce results. Since then, there has been a trend of people going in head first with compounds more often then not. So many companys have followed suite and produced quality products. we now fortunately have many options for hard paint that work well, but more importantly dont scoure the finish forcing a 3 step regimin to refine the paint.

For polishing Megs 205 and Menz SF4000 are basically all I use.

To remove defects you really gonna have to go after the aggressive products to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time, just be aware of the body panel temp's. Which is why I like using very aggressive products so I can use reasonable (normal) pressure on the machines to keep everything cool and lasting long. if your only using a medium cut polish to remove defects your gonna have to use a ton of pressure to get results, which will wipe out your pads and be hard on your machine. Also the products become very unforgiving. forget 105 with that technique, it just bonds onto the paint and becomes concrete IME.

[swanicyouth]

I'm not sure why this isn't suggested more often, but just use a yellow LC foam pad. For me it makes all the difference.

[Ronnie]

I have to admit I find Audi paint not as bad to work with when using eh Microfibre system Personally I use the Megs cutting compound but use cool pads pads they are a wool/microfibre hybrid and I find give a far superior cutting power, dont heat up as much and unlike Megs pads dont fall to bits after half a car. As said let the machine do the work rather than leaning on it. slow small sets is teh way to do working slower to work quicker if you know what I mean. We have done a fair few S and RS versions of all Audi models and found this to be a really good combination. However for heavy defects, you can beat some Megs 105 on a spyder sandwich pad. Once corrected, we then go to teh rotary on a Yellow 3m pad and 105 then drop to 205 then drop to a blue 3M pad to finish. this will leave her glowing like a new car. Hope this hepls.

[mwoolfso]

I responded to your other thread for the same question. ;-)

[Dave Medvic]

I'm not sure why this isn't suggested more often, but just use a yellow LC foam pad. For me it makes all the difference.
Good call Swanicyouth, I was thinking the same thing. M105 on a 3401 should be making an impact. I just tried the LC Hydrotech Yellow pad the other day and it performed better then the Meguiars pad I usually use.

[mwoolfso]

Good call Swanicyouth, I was thinking the same thing. M105 on a 3401 should be making an impact. I just tried the LC Hydrotech Yellow pad the other day and it performed better then the Meguiars pad I usually use.

Yeah but you wind up taking off more CC than necessary. A better alternative would be to use Menzerna products, which address Ceramiclear better since you don't need a yellow pad for light-medium swirls.

Here is another thread I read last year...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/47152-ceramiclear-paints-careful.html

[Wes Bremec]

Well I don't have any menservants compounds available so I have the option to use pads an 105 as the waviest compound for defect removal. Does the cyan hydotech pad cut better then orange hybrid pads?

[Wes Bremec]

Menzerma

[Dave Medvic]

Yeah but you wind up taking off more CC than necessary. A better alternative would be to use Menzerna products, which address Ceramiclear better since you don't need a yellow pad for light-medium swirls.

Here is another thread I read last year...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/47152-ceramiclear-paints-careful.html
I read the link, bloody Germans have to complicate matters. Wes, it makes sense that a German clearcoat syncs up with a German compound. I'm going to have to have Menzerna or equivalent on hand myself to be ready for this, I haven't dealt with this Ceramaclear yet. I don't mind if the other team is starting a screwball pitcher, as long as my scouts let me know in advance what to expect.

[Wes Bremec]

Menz 1500 seems to be going backwards on the compound chart . According to the Autogeek chart 105 has more cut and people are telling me to use 1500. Does menzerna use different abrasive technology? According to the description of menz 1500, the product was in production for ceramic clears. But 104 cuts more. ### this is confusing. My fathers 911 paint is soft and I love that paint. Wolfgang twins brought that paint to showcar quality. Ceramic cc is a nightmare. I need one polish to purchase to correct this nightmare.
I

[Wes Bremec]

I'm not sold on the 1500 I'm more sold on the advice of the LC microfiber rotary buffing pada on the 3401 for cushion via 105 or maybe pg400