Help me with order of least aggressive to most

[1953hogan]

Hi all,

Still very new to this hobby and am working on my 2010 Acura TL, black paint. I'm inexperienced but since it seems to swirl when I just look at it wrong I think the Acura paint must be on the soft side.

I have just one photo of the trunk that I can share. Correct me if I'm wrong but I have Mike's book and I would rate my paint about a 3.5 on his paint condition scale (1 being show car, 10 being trashed).

http://thunderkids.smugmug.com/Other/Camera-Awesome-Photos/i-RLSB92W/0/XL/CA_01171313315610-XL.jpg

Anyway, here are the products I have available to me:


Menz PF2500
Menz SF4500
LC CCS white pads 5 1/2"
LC Hydrotech Tangerine 5 1/2"
LC CCS Red 5 1/2"
Griots orange polishing pad 6"


I did a test spot on the front fender with the 4500 and white CCS (I counted 6 section passes, I think) and while it is better, the swirls were not completely removed.

Here is what I think is the order of options I could try from least aggressive to most aggressive:


4500 on tangerine pad
2500 on white pad
2500 on tangerine pad


Do I have this order correct? If so, I think I might do a test with 4500 on the tangerine and then follow it with 4500 on the red pad, not wanting to step up to the 2500 if possible. Is this thinking sound?

Your advice would be appreciated, and thanks very much to all of you in advance for this great forum.

Steve

[SON1C]

That looks pretty swirled
You have the order correct
2500 on tangerine is probably your best bet and that's really not all that aggressive compared to say 105 on a cyan pad

[1953hogan]

That looks pretty swirled
You have the order correct
2500 on tangerine is probably your best bet and that's really not all that aggressive compared to say 105 on a cyan pad

Thank you!

[Xplosive Detail]

Acura/Honda paint is tremendously soft. I also have a Black TL. If you wash improperly you create massive swirls on that car.

Your best bet, take it from experience and from owning many honda's including a black TL. Try your best to correct the car as well as you can, then use a permanent coating such as cquartz which will fight against swirls.

With what you got there i would use 2500 on the white pad (pad selection is as important as product. M105 very high cut compound on a black pad wont do much cutting if any at all) So 2500 on a white pad is not very aggressive at all. You may even need to go at a section twice if your not getting the results you want and are realy reluctant to using the orange pad. Then go over that with 4500 on your white or red pads, You should be really happy with the finish.

- Acura super soft paint
- Pad selection equally important
- Do some research on permant coatings (because of first bullet)
- Permanent coating
}Opti-Coat 2.0
}Cquartz
}Gtechniq exo

[1953hogan]

Acura/Honda paint is tremendously soft. I also have a Black TL. If you wash improperly you create massive swirls on that car.

Your best bet, take it from experience and from owning many honda's including a black TL. Try your best to correct the car as well as you can, then use a permanent coating such as cquartz which will fight against swirls.

Thanks! Last night I read CEE DOG's very long thread on Opti-coat vs Cquartz and came to that very same conclusion. Once corrected, I'll probably go with Opti-coat.

The one complication is that the front bumper now has some minor road rash. Between fixing swirls and repairing that, I may be several weekends into this process before I can coat the whole thing.

I was actually thinking of correcting a section at a time and then coating just that section, giving myself plenty of time to meticulously fix the car a panel at a time. Does that make any sense?

On your Acura, are you using Cquartz or Opti?

[Xplosive Detail]

I'm using cquartz. I think opti coat has the most durability, BUT I think cquartz has the most gloss and wet look when clean. Also I personally don't mind polishing the coating off and re applying it after 2 years or so.

[Xplosive Detail]

Don't get me wrong, you can do the same with OC2.0 as well