Best way To polish plastic front and rear painted bumpers

[Wxc]

Hi all

Sorry if this has been asked but I couldn't find how to search the forum for the answer.

Has anyone any thoughts about getting rid of minor/medium/deep swirls and scratches on the rear and front painted plastic bumper? This is on an Audi A3 but equally applicable to most cars.

I've tried with Flex 3401 with a blue hydro tech compounding pad with Meg 105 at speed 1 to spread and speed 5 to work the polish but it's proving difficult, it does correct the minor swirls a little but but visually theres not much different.

Any idea what's best?

Thanks
Will

[lawrenceSA]

I have never had a problem removing swirls out of these types of bumpers, although sometimes they can be noticeably harder than the rest of the car.

Being an Audi these cars have *generally* pretty hard clears.

What other pads/polishes do you have at your disposal

I am not too familiar with the inner workings of 105, but have used a lot of Menzerna FG400 combined with either a MF (for heavy cutting) or an Orange LC pad with great success.

[HateSwirls]

If the defects aren't too bad try the Meguiar's D-151.
I find it works well on bumpers for some reason.

One thing I know would work for you and it's the Wolfgang Uber Compound, it finishes down almost like a fine polish:dblthumb2:

I've always been a big fan of the Meguiar's 105 and still use it but only if the Uber doesn't do the job for me but it's not often.
The Uber is a compound that works great either by hand, with a DA or rotary.
So versatile :)
Oh, it wipes off like a dream:dblthumb2:

[Wxc]

I have never had a problem removing swirls out of these types of bumpers, although sometimes they can be noticeably harder than the rest of the car.

Being an Audi these cars have *generally* pretty hard clears.

What other pads/polishes do you have at your disposal

I am not too familiar with the inner workings of 105, but have used a lot of Menzerna FG400 combined with either a MF (for heavy cutting) or an Orange LC pad with great success.

Hi Lawrence

I have Meg 105 and 205 and Menzerna FG400 and SF4000 along with L.C hydrotech pads (Blue compound, Orange polish and Red polishing pads) with a Flex 3401.

You're right, Audi's have super hard paint and i'm now wondering if my Flex 3401 is good enough for the job (May be a rotary Flex will be quicker?). Any Advice on the speed setting to apply on the paint and also on the plastics. I know heat dissipation is less on plastics so you need to move faster to prevent too much heat building up on one spot.

So you would suggest MF pads (from Meguiars?) for compounding Hard paint? (not a compounding pad?) I am finding it takes a lot of passes using a compounding pad with 105 to level the paint, random deep scratches are impossible to remove it seems.

thanks

[HateSwirls]

A rotary would make the job go much faster IMO, more so using a wool pad followed with a DA along with a finishing pad and Meguiar's 205 Ultra Fine Polish.

I know the wool pad and my DeWalt 849x made the job much easier and faster than using a DA to cut on the 2010 Benz e550:)

[Wxc]

If the defects aren't too bad try the Meguiar's D-151.
I find it works well on bumpers for some reason.

One thing I know would work for you and it's the Wolfgang Uber Compound, it finishes down almost like a fine polish:dblthumb2:

I've always been a big fan of the Meguiar's 105 and still use it but only if the Uber doesn't do the job for me but it's not often.
The Uber is a compound that works great either by hand, with a DA or rotary.
So versatile :)
Oh, it wipes off like a dream:dblthumb2:

Hi

Would you say the wolfgang Uber compound is the better choice when used on Hard and soft paints?

I used Meg 105 with a compound pad on Audi Hard paint and it took longer to complete than I would like, I am now thinking of a MF cutting pad like Lawrence mentioned. Again I use a Flex 3401 so it's powerful but not sure if I should switch to a Rotary for a more effortless job on Hard paint, either that or MF pads..

[Wxc]

A rotary would make the job go much faster IMO, more so using a wool pad followed with a DA along with a finishing pad and Meguiar's 205 Ultra Fine Polish.

I know the wool pad and my DeWalt 849x made the job much easier and faster than using a DA to cut on the 2010 Benz e550:)

I bought a L.C foamed wool pad 110mm but then realised it was designed for rotary not with a Flex 3401. I used it anyway to test but it didn't do anything in terms of correction, just lots of purple strands of wool flying about because it was 'new'.

The Sling you get from that is also a learning curve, I primed it but had obviously put too much 105 on there

[parttimer]

I bought a L.C foamed wool pad 110mm but then realised it was designed for rotary not with a Flex 3401. I used it anyway to test but it didn't do anything in terms of correction, just lots of purple strands of wool flying about because it was 'new'.

The Sling you get from that is also a learning curve, I primed it but had obviously put too much 105 on there

You would want the lc hybrid for your flex.

Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2

[Wxc]

You would want the lc hybrid for your flex.

Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2


There seems to mixed opinion about L.C hybrid or L.C hydrotech, in the end I went for hydrotech, it does the job on hard paint but takes a lot longer than I had anticipated with the compound pad and 105.

[The Guz]

I have found that meguiar's microfiber cutting pads and D300 work well on hard clear coat.

[Wxc]

I have found that meguiar's microfiber cutting pads and D300 work well on hard clear coat.

Which machine polish did you use by the way?

[tuscarora dave]

Here's something I wrote some time ago on this subject, from this thread... http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/54346-2001-blue-corvette-convertible-paint-correction.html


For those of you who may not have worked on these C-5 Corvettes yet, the very front and very rear of the car (in front of the hood and behind the trunk lid) are made of a material that is kind of a cross between plastic and rubber with the very same super hard clear sprayed on them, however these sections have had a flex agent added to the paint to allow it to be more resilient in the event that the plastic is stressed so the paint doesn't crack.

This paint still takes a long time and a lot of buffing to level out the paint defects just as the rest of the car. These front and rear sections, because of the nature of the substrate get very hot very easily, and this substrate material doesn't dissipate heat well at all so if not handled correctly they're very easy to overheat and could cause the paint to wrinkle or melt right off of them.

My technique for working on them is to buff them with lots of M-105 to keep the 4" pads on the wet side, but not so wet that I am slinging compound everywhere or hyper lubricating the pad. I work a small section for about 2 section passes then move to the opposite side of the car and work a section over there while the first section that I worked has sufficient time to cool off. I then jump back and re work the first section, continuing in this fashion until all of the defects have been removed to my satisfaction.

This takes quite a bit of time to accomplish and working with this little H.F. pneumatic rotary allowed me to do it with precision and control.

[The Guz]

Which machine polish did you use by the way?

I use a porter cable 7424xp.