M205 and Rupes marring...then not

[dnoraker]

Subject: black Honda S2000

Equipment: Rupes 21, Megs yellow polishing pad, M205

Process:
- prime pad by lightly, but completely saturating the pad
- slow, overlapping passes three times each direction, then wipe
- blow out pad with air compressor
- work next section

Results:
- defects removed, but micro-marring (as expected). BUT THEN....
- after two sections, the third section DIDN'T have micro-marring
- I scratched my head. This stumped me, as I don't remember changing anything.
- I tried just re-polishing the first two sections with a fresh application of M205 on the pad. Micro-marring.
- I tried re-polishing the same section WITHOUT adding anymore product and just used what was in the pad. Virtually NO micro-marring.

What just happened?

[HUMP DIESEL]

Was it on another panel?

If so, could have been a repair.

HUMP

[Mike lambert]

Repainted on that panel, I do several of those, very soft sticky paint. 205 on a finishing pad at 3 should be good

[dnoraker]

It's all original paint. I checked the paint thickness- it's all 100-120 microns.

This was all just on the hood, too.

I normally follow with Menzerna 4500, LC blue, and the rotary to get the most gloss and darkness, but I've had some luck finishing with M205 on the Rupes on some cars. Not all. I did a black Lexus right before this with the same M205/Rupes/Megs yellow and it looks great. I did a test spot with 4500 and it wasn't enough of an improvement to warrant the extra cost for the owner.

[dnoraker]

I just headed back out to the garage and started up again. It looks like the whole hood still has a little bit of micro-marring, but I know for sure that the area I re-polished after wiping the panel, but without adding more product, marred a lot less.

Still, there is micro-marring. Off to 4500 I go.

[RaskyR1]

Residue control. Give Kevin Brown a call and he can help you dial it in. :dblthumb2:

[Kitoy22]

Since m205 is SMAT, remaining m205 must have clumped in the pad, have you tried spritzing a bit of water on the pad or paint surface?

[GoodFella]

MAKE SURE you test for soft/hard paint. I have worked on vehicles before where panels where harder than others. test the area using softest process than working your way up. also if your noticing that other sections are looking better without reapplying polish than working on residue control would most, most likely, be another issue. Kevin Brown has a amazing process, its worth the read. Understanding residue control will definitely help you achieve that beautiful finish your looking for. hope this helps.

[dnoraker]

All the paint thus far is reacting the same way. I've tried varying degrees of amount of product, speed, spritzing water, blowing out the pad after polishing the section, wiping the product off blowing out the pad and then re-polishing the section, and a few other things. I seem to get a little less marring when I wipe off the panel after a few passes and do a few more passes, and similar if I also blow out the pad and keep polishing the same section.

I took a Megs finishing pad with some Menzerna 4500 on the Rupes and it took care of the marring easily. I tried the same combo on rotary and it wasn't buffing as smoothly and actually didn't finish quite as well. I may also going to try rotary/4500/LC blue, which is my go-to on just about anything on the soft side (or anything), but I'm concerned about holograms on this one.

[dnoraker]

I wish I had time to try a bunch of things on this car. But unfortunately, it needs to get out the door by tomorrow morning to make way for the next car. I have a string of cars for a few weeks ahead and if I blink too much I'm going to get behind. So much for my side/hobby business!

[GoodFella]

Would love to see a pic

[GoodFella]

Dont give up. Remember that this car is a mobile advertisement of your work... time can effect us all. How did it come out after going with rotary/4500/ lc blue?

[dnoraker]

I'm trying to upload an image through Tapatalk and it fails every time. I just downloaded the app, so I don't know how to use it yet.

I actually made a slight course correction with the final step. I'm sticking with the Rupes, Megs finishing pad, and 4500. It's working pretty well if I do a few passes, wipe off most of the polish, and do a couple final passes. It's a tiny increase in gloss, but pretty much eliminates the visible micro-marring.

I forgot to mention this car is a return client. I worked on it a couple years ago and he brought it back in after a dealer ran it through the car wash when it was in for some service and swirled the crap out of it.

[conman1395]

I don't ever finish soft paint with M205 if it's a dark color.

M205 is not a fine polish. In the past I used SF4500, but now I use HD polish.

For soft paints, I find that I need a stiff pad to get best results. The soft pads flex and don't allow the abrasives to move over the surface very well. This leads to marring. The Meguiar's yellow polishing pad benefits from it being thin and helps with this issue, but on some super soft paints, I still don't like the way it finishes sometimes.

[dnoraker]

I never finished with 205 until I got the Rupes, as I felt that the finish was better with the long throw orbit than a traditional DA. I've finished with 205 on a rotary and it looks fantastic on Megs yellow or black, though I never did that on the darkest colors. It had a ton of gloss.

I've heard great things from Rasky about HD (we live pretty close). I have so much polish on hand I need to use up before I go that route, however.