I made a no no and I need your guys' help

[Ryry11]

Hey guys, Im currently using fg400 as a one step polish, and I absolutely love it. However, it is classified as a compound and not a polish, which kind of worries me. Here's the story, and bear with me as it's a bit lengthy:
I began polishing a daily driver in hopes of one step polishing and getting it ready for a coat of oc2. Now this car was polished just last year September, one stepped with m205 on a white polishing pad with great results. It was the first time the car had been polished, and btw the car is a 2010 Chevy Malibu and a daily driver. Fast forward to this past weekend, I planned on repeating what I had done last September, which was m205 and a white pad. Well I did a test spot, and found that it just wasn't producing the results I wanted for a one step for whatever reason this time. So I decided to go ahead and use an orange pad with 205. While the results weren't amazing, I decided they would be passable for a dd and a coat of oc2.0.
Well, it was getting late and I was committing the biggest no no, I was rushing. I wanted to have it done in one day and I had no chance. I rushed it, and I was settling with the results I was producing just so I could have a chance at finishing. I got to a point that I knew there was no way possible that I was going to finish in one day and became frustrated. Not only had I polish half the car with 205 on an orange pad, but I just wasn't as happy with the results as I should be. Throwing in the towel for the night, I decided to give fg400 a try on a panel, using rupes yellow polishing pad. Wow. I one stepped the rear quarter if the car using fg400 on a yellow rupes pad, using a rupes 21 and only making 3 passes, and the results were what I had hoped for in the beginning. It produced about 95% correction, as opposed to about 80-80% with 205 and an orange pad. Seeing these results, I decided that I was going to not only finish the car with this combo, but REDO the other half I had done with 205. The reason I didn't try this combo to begin with was I wanted to avoid going too heavy of a cut, as the car is a dd and not in horrible shape, just lots of washing swirls. I wanted to save as much cc as possible.
Now my concern...I know I know, sorry for writing a book, I'm almost done. Well my OCD is in complete control over this, and I'm starting to worry that if I go back over everything I already did with fg400, that I'm really cutting the cc thin. I know that the only real way to be sure is with a paint gauge, but I don't have one nor have money for one atm. My question to you guys is: having done one half of the car the way I did, do you think it's risky going over it again with fg400 on a polishing pad? I know menzerna classifies fg400 as a very high level of cut, but I'm assuming that's with a cutting pad? Would bumping down and using a polishing pad lower its cutting ability significantly? I guess I'm just a little fed up and a little worried over the whole situation and what I did. Oh, and i forgot to mention, i applied oc2.0 to a couple of panels, and being a new user to the product, a was left with a couple high spots that need to be polished off :'(. Looking for any sort of input/recommendations that anyone has. Thanks for reading anyone that has come this far, and if I learned anything out of this, it's that I WILL NEVER rush the process again. Live and learn I guess.

[Antihero47]

Nobody will really know unless you have a paint guage reader and readings from before the first polish. Even then, its really a guess depending on how long you spent on the panel and how low you shaved the CC.

I would think that since you only used 205 and never 105 or other heavy compounded you should be fine. I would just be careful about using such a heavy compound as an all in one and try to keep the section passes limited. Not all cars will be the same and some CC may be thinner on other cars.

hence why its beneficial to have a paint gauge reader to at least put you in a ballpark and tell you how much you removed.

[Wes Bremec]

You'll be fine trust me i have done the same thing on customers cars that I wasn't happy with:)m205 only takes a few microns off the cc. Assuming your the only one that has polished it i would say go for it, coat it, and get paid. You should never put a time frame when it comes down to correcting paint. If it takes more then one day who cares. Never adjust your work, adjust your price.

[Ryry11]

You'll be fine trust me i have done the same thing on customers cars that I wasn't happy with:)m205 only takes a few microns off the cc. Assuming your the only one that has polished it i would say go for it, coat it, and get paid. You should never put a time frame when it comes down to correcting paint. If it takes more then one day who cares. Never adjust your work, adjust your price.

Only thing is it's a family member car. I'm definately the only one who's ever polished it. It just kinda has me sweating bullets not knowing how much clear I've removed, then wanting to go back over it with an aggressive compound. 😕

[cardaddy]

I think you'll be fine. Like you said, you didn't do heavy cut the first time around.

What you DID do however was try and polish the car with one pad. That is a big no no! Even cleaning on the fly, you'll never get a pad to stay either COOL or CLEAN when trying to use it that much. There is a reason a clean pad finishes out better. ;)

Sounds like you did end up hitting on the solution. One little thing and it may not mean much but it does help to do some paragraph breaks. Makes it hard when we try to read a message and it all runs together. ;)

(Then again... I may be a bit punchy about now. Started the message an hour ago and had to run for cover. We just had a tornado warning. It came up VERY suddenly and blew through here so hard it sounded like it was just about on top of us! MUCH closer than I was comfortable with. Rain from all directions, INCLUDING STRAIGHT UP, and marble sized hail! :eek: )

[Old Tiger]

I think you'll be fine. Like you said, you didn't do heavy cut the first time around.

What you DID do however was try and polish the car with one pad. That is a big no no! Even cleaning on the fly, you'll never get a pad to stay either COOL or CLEAN when trying to use it that much. There is a reason a clean pad finishes out better. ;)

Sounds like you did end up hitting on the solution. One little thing and it may not mean much but it does help to do some paragraph breaks. Makes it hard when we try to read a message and it all runs together. ;)

(Then again... I may be a bit punchy about now. Started the message an hour ago and had to run for cover. We just had a tornado warning. It came up VERY suddenly and blew through here so hard it sounded like it was just about on top of us! MUCH closer than I was comfortable with. Rain from all directions, INCLUDING STRAIGHT UP, and marble sized hail! :eek: )
I agree. I would suggest a very under rated and reasonably priced polish, CarPro Fixer, it uses the cut of the pad. I even tried it for jewelling. Very few compounds will finishh well enough for a one step IMO. Sonax Perfect Finish is the new darling for one step but it costs $70 for a liter.

[Rsurfer]

Why not go back to 205 which is a finishing polish. Don't use a compound just because it finishes nice...least aggressive always.

[tuscarora dave]

I learned how to run a rotary on my Buick's clear coat, testing all the heavy compounds I use and most of the polishes/compounds I got rid of. I did eventually remove so much clear that failure is now occurring. I'm talking rotary buffing the car like 10 times over and with some pretty heavy compounds and wool pads at that. I'm sure you'll be fine with running a few passes to even out your work. Go for it.

[Rsurfer]

I learned how to run a rotary on my Buick's clear coat, testing all the heavy compounds I use and most of the polishes/compounds I got rid of. I did eventually remove so much clear that failure is now occurring. I'm talking rotary buffing the car like 10 times over and with some pretty heavy compounds and wool pads at that. I'm sure you'll be fine with running a few passes to even out your work. Go for it.

Same here Dave..no clear coat failure yet, but down to 80's, have to lighten up.

[Ryry11]

Thanks for all the input. Yea I just was freaking a bit because I wanted to get it done but rushed. Now I just feel like I wasted a whole day and got nothing accomplished, not too mention the thought of removing more clear. I'm just gonna go ahead and repolish it all with the fg400 and opticoat when I get another chance.