Wolfgang DGPS 3.0 - did I mess up?

[UglyBetty]

So I planned to wash my car last weekend, ended up spending much more time on my Explorer, it's a newer White pearlcoat finish, with a decent, but not overwhelming amount of metallic in it. I've been using Colinnite 845 & 915 and the paint is in excellent shape. I used the swirl remover to take care of some very minor scuffs along with removing any existing wax.

I washed, clay bar, Wolfgang Swirl Remover (orange CCS pads & Flex), 12% IPA wipe, 2 coats of of WGDGPS 3.0, let set on car for about an hour before removing, and waited 18 hours between coats.

With that said, I'm happy with the finished product, it looks great, & the finish is slicker than snot, but it doesn't have the normal pop of 915 or 845. I expected the WGDGPS to have less POP than I'm used to. I had some WG paintwork polish enhancer, but did not use it or feel like I needed it.

In your opinion, did I shortcut by not using the polish enhancer, or is this normal? Will adding a coat of 845 or 915 restore the pop? Is this result normal considering the products I did / didn't use?

Thanks for everyone's help!

[Evan.J]

Here you go since you a a pearl coat this would apply to you as well IMO:

Making the Metallic Flake Pop! - Popping versus Muting (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/53021-making-metallic-flake-pop-popping-versus-muting.html)



One of the goals everyone has that owns a car with a metallic finish is to figure out how to make the metalflake pop.



Pop Definition
By the word "pop", people mean make the pretty, reflective shiny flakes in the basecoat easy to see through the clear coat.

Because the majority of all cars with a metallic paint job have a clear coat over them, there's no way to physically affect the actual metallic flakes under the clear layer of paint. So to get the metallic flake to POP you want to do two thing, the first is the most important.


Maximize the clarity of the clear coat
Maximize the smoothness of the clear coat
Maximize the clarity of the clear coat
The way you maximize the clarity of a clear coat finish is you remove as many of the topical and sub-surface defects as possible without compromising or abrading through the clear layer finish.

This is done through a combination of the below,


Wetsanding to remove defects and orange peel
Compounding to remove deeper below surface defects like swirls, scratches and water spots
Polishing to either refine the results from the compounding step or remove shallow below surface defects like swirls, scratches and water spots where a true compound isn't needed.
Maximize the smoothness of the clear coat
The way you maximize the smoothness of the clear coat finish is by removing any above surface bonded contaminants as possible and if you have enough paint on the car, then to remove as much orange peel or surface texture like mottling as possible without compromising or abrading through the clear layer finish.

Keep in mind, anytime you wetsand paint, which removes paint, you're then going to have to compound and polish the paint and both of these procedure will also remove paint, so it's vitally important that you are working on a custom paint job or you have the experience, skill and confidence to carefully wetsand a factory finish.

Maximizing the smoothness is done through a combination of the below,


Claying the paint or using a product like the Speedy Surface Prep Towel (http://www.autogeek.net/speedy-surface-prep-towel.html) to remove above surface bonded contaminants
Wetsanding or dampsanding to remove orange peel, surface texture, mottling
Compounding to remove and/or level surface imperfections
Polishing to either refine the results from the compounding step or remove shallow below surface defects like swirls, scratches and water spots where a true compound isn't needed.
Obviously, between the two different goals of maximizing clarity and smoothness there are some overlapping procedures that you can do and which procedures you use will always be determined by the paint itself and your skill level.

Wetsanding paint should be reserved for custom paint jobs where the top coat of clear paint is purposefully sprayed on thicker by the painter because he knows the paint will be wetsanded. Wetsanding can be used by professionals and serious enthusiasts for factory paint jobs if and when the desire is strong enough to overcome the hardness and thinness factors that make sanding factory paint risky.

Besides wetsanding though, the majority of us can safely do the following relatively safely,


Claying or using a product like the Speedy Surface Prep Towel to remove above surface bonded contaminants.
Compounding.
Polishing.
Making the metalflake pop!
Below are the results from the Test Spot I performed to an all original 1968 Firebird Convertible except that it has been repainted with a basecoat/clearcoat finish.

When the car arrived I inspected the paint and documented with video and hi res pictures that the clear layer was in fact filled with swirls and scratches and this was clouding the clear layer hiding the beauty and definition of the metallic flakes in the basecoat.

My Test Spot not only was used to prove my paint polishing system but to also show the owner what the paint could truly look like and in the process make the metallic flake pop.

If you have a metallic or metal flake paint job on your car, truck or suv, you can too can get the metallic finish to pop by evaluating the finish and then doing the practical and safe procedures appropriate to your car's finish and your skill level and maximize the clarity and smoothness of the clear coat.



For this project we used,
Optimum Hyper-Compound (http://www.autogeek.net/opt-hyper-compound-spray.html)
Optimum Hyper-Polish (http://www.autogeek.net/optimum-hyper-polish-spray.html)
Optimum Car Wax (http://www.autogeek.net/optimum-spray-wax.html)
Lake Country 5" Hybrid Pads (http://www.autogeek.net/5-inch-hybrid-pads.html)
Lake Country 5.5" Hydro-Tech Pads (http://www.autogeek.net/hydrotech-low-profile-pads.html)
Flex 3401 Forced Rotation Dual Action Polisher (http://www.autogeek.net/flex-orbital-polisher.html)
Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher (http://www.autogeek.net/griots-random-orbital-polisher.html)
Porter Cable 7424XP (http://www.autogeek.net/porter-cable-7424xp.html)

Any quality compounds, polishes, pads and tools will create the same results.


Test Spot Results

I taped off a section in front of the 400 emblem on the air scoop and then buffed on each side of it.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/FirebirdTestSpot001.jpg




Restoring clarity makes the metallic flake pop
The left side is the before side, the right side is the after side. Millions of fine swirls and scratches act to make the top clear layer of paint hazy and opaque, this hides the metallic flake in the basecoat.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/FirebirdTestSpot002.jpg



In the below shots you can see by where the overhead florescent lights are reflecting on the paint where the paint is hazy and where the paint is clear.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/FirebirdTestSpot003.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/FirebirdTestSpot004.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/FirebirdTestSpot005.jpg



Here's the high resolution pictures of the hazy, swirled-out paint before we duplicated the process used for the Test Spot.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird004.jpg


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird012.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird013.jpg


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird017.jpg


Here's the high resolution pictures of the paint after we maximized clarity and smoothness. Now the metalflake in the basecoat pops!

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird018.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird025.jpg


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird021.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird033.jpg



So if you want to really make the flake in your car's finish pop, focus on maximizing clarity and smoothness to the top, clear coat layer of paint.

This can be done by hand but it's best done by machine.


You can find the full write-up, process and pictures in the below thread,

Video and Pictures: 1968 Firebird Detailing Class at AutogeekOnline.net (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/pictures-autogeek-s-car-week/52708-video-pictures-1968-firebird-detailing-class-autogeekonline-net.html)


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1497/1968Firebird019.jpg


:)

[Iron400]

Sealants tend to have less "pop" than waxes, which is what 915 is, 845 is more of a hybrid. The reason you see so many people topping sealants with waxes is to get some of the depth and pop back. I'm not sure if it will work in your case, but this is the overall thought.

[Wes Bremec]

Try then topping with collinite. It will actually expand the duration of the durability of the dgps

[UglyBetty]

POP may be the wrong word, depth of gloss may be more appropriate. Think I will top it with 915 and see what happens.....I really don't think I screwed up the clear coat, I wasn't very aggressive and don't think the polish/pressure i applied was aggressive enough to do much.

I'm learning what most people here already know, white is difficult to find perfection with!