what am i doin wrong? still minor scratches left

[touchdowntodd]

no matter what i seem to do i still leave minor scratching behind..

this isnt stuff that starts off major at all.. starts off minor and finishes improved but still there

i:

2 bucket wash
clay bar
205/orange oad when needed
105/white pad
working small sections, cleaning and switching pads
coat with 21 or pb nattys blue.. by hand or machine mf removal or blue pad


why am i still getting small scratches/swirls left behind..?
pressure?
speed?
need more product?
lighter pad with polish?

what can i try.. i know its hard but perhaps some ideas?

[cmoneyinc]

Are you doing it in that exact order? If so, it seems like you might be using 205 & 105 in the wrong order. You should be using 105 to correct, and 205 to finish.

[davey g-force]

That's what I was gonna say.

105 first, then 205.

[rmagnus]

Additionally the orange pads would usually be used with compounds and the white pad with polish. As stated above polish (M205) is designed to clean up compounding marks.

That's not too say ou can't used different pads but polishing will always come after compounding.

Another thought is you have soft paint and need to be less aggressive with it. Did you do a test spot first?

[lhuynh1210]

Definitely try 105 on orange for full/more correction. Then polish out marring/hologram with 205 on white.

Or, you can just do 205/orange when needed. And if you have hazing follow 205 with white pad.

This is what I did on my honda black paint and it did wonders http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/04/sepy5eba.jpg


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[spiralout462]

Pictures would help. As of now I would have to agree withe the other posters.

[cardaddy]

Todd,

I'm sure you meant to say 105 then 205 especially as you said "by hand or machine mf removal or blue pad". But you did say "by hand or machine mf removal or blue pad" which makes me wonder. Working with MF pad and machine will induce marring FOR SURE if you do that after you've finished it down with a white (or softer) pad.

Just keep doing your test spots. Write down your process, amount of passes, amount of pressure, speed of pass, speed of machine, product used, pad used, etc.

If one gets you close, then do the next one just a little different.

Make sure you're priming your pads as well. Dry buffing will wreak havoc on even hard paint.

If needed, divide your hood, roof, trunk, (whatever) into a bunch of 18" square panels. You'll be amazed sometimes at just how little of a difference in your technique will make a difference.

Once you have it down it'll become second nature (at least on that vehicle and others with the same paint). Fun fun fun is what it's about. :)

[touchdowntodd]

yeah srry i flipped the 105/205 LOL .. my fault! ...

the MF removal is by hand...

yes priming pads

and i tried that the other day i actually sectioned off a trunk with tape and tried slight differences in speed etc.. still not gettin results i wanted..

on my way to do another car now.. i will see what happens.. 2012 challenger in orange. .. thanks again guys.. hopefully with pics today

[EddieF]

M205 on a white pad still has a slight amount of cut and that combo could be making those marks. Try the M205 on a black pad, or any finer pad you might have.

[spiralout462]

M205 on a white pad still has a slight amount of cut and that combo could be making those marks. Try the M205 on a black pad, or any finer pad you might have.


Good point. I cannot finish with a white pad on my black Toyota. A Tangerine Hydrotech finishes nicer yet still provides some cut when needed.

[cardaddy]

Todd I'd say just cut out 105 all together. Unless you really need it it's just possible to use 205 with 2, even 3 different pads to do everything from correction to polishing.

That being said, with soft paint 205 will NOT finish down without hazing/micro-marring quite often. Try Megs UP as it'll work longer and is a bit finer. And of course green, blue, even black pads if needed.

Along those lines, try switching to a DAT polishing compound. Menz products are one that a lot of guy go to because they want the diminishing abrasives. Keep in mind though that it's a totally different work cycle / work flow with non-diminishing versus diminishing. Megs M80 is a great diminishing product that will work down really nicely as will M83 (really old school that one). ;)

For me, I've tried to (over the last few years) work with SMAT products as much as possible. I feel that (SMAT) non-diminishing abrasive products tend to produce more consistent results throughout the working period.

That doesn't mean that you can't get into trouble with them either. Probably easier to over do it in fact. But, there are risks with using diminishing abrasive (DAT) products, too. Polish too long with M105 and it cab take off an excessive amount of paint (with an aggressive pad) but moreover the paint and material that surrounds the abrasive particles fills your pad(s) and can cause even more marring.

Can you do the same thing with a diminishing abrasive product? You betcha'! The point being that you can have problems with any product pad combination that contains an abrasive and cutting properties.

I like SMAT because you can stop at any point in the buffing cycle. With a DAT product, you can stop too early in the cycle and the paint will not look as good as with SMAT would being worked the same amount of time, (as far as overall cutting goes) but because the abrasives have not properly broken down it (DAT products) hasn't started to show how they work yet. It just takes more working time, although they can (and often do) finish down better. Also, diminishing abrasives break down randomly. This means that you could be close to the end of the polishing cycle, yet some of the abrasive particles may not be at the same stage as others.

There is a place for both, even these days when we have literally hundreds of choices. The key is to work with one type of product and as many different pads as you can so you can get a better idea of what all it's capable of.

SMAT or DAT; both take their own time and work in totally different ways, but can both be used on the same job to attain your ultimate goal(s). Often if you're having hazing/marring problems when working with SMAT products for both compounding and polishing you can switch to DAT polishes and it'll help, just remember to work it down longer and change up the speed and pressure at the end from what you may have been doing with the SMAT product. (For instance, the last pass you can turn up the speed and really go light on the arm pressure to finish it down a bit better.)

What is so freaking confusing however is trying to switch from one to another. Just as confusing as working on one type of paint with one vehicle and the next one is totally different. It'd be great if everything was hard as it could be and there was only a hand full of products. If only we could be so lucky! :laughing:

Of course ymmv and most often does. ;)