Question about time necessary to polish.

[Damonsfcd]

Hi, I would like to know how long, in your experience, would it take one person to complete the following tasks:

1. Compounding, polishing, sealing

2. AIO

This is assuming washing, claying, and drying has already been accomplished.

Thanks!

Edit: "claying" not " "flaying"

[irvsmith]

This would depend on the size of the vehicle, level of correction needed, and whether doing it by hand or machine.

[davey g-force]

Some other variables would be hardness/softness of paint, what you're trying to achieve (or what the customer expects), your experience, what machine (if any) you're using, what pads, what products etc etc.

Probably not the answer you were looking for.

If you want an approximate guide, I'd say:

1. 4 to 8 hours
2. 1 to 3 hours

[Damonsfcd]

Ah, I see I was a bit vague. My apologies.

For this example let's assume we are working on a mid-size sedan, late-model with fairly hard paint. The first part will be used to correct moderate to severe swirl marks and the second part will be used to correct light swirl marks. ( edit to clarify; these are hypothetical variables )

Excellent point you made there and I am ecstatic you brought it up, because now I'll be able to use this data, combine it with field experience and mathematically scale it to match a variety of situations for more accurate time-management and pricing.

Much appreciated kind sirs and/or madames!

[Paul A.]

I'm with davey g's numbers, generally speaking. #1 being a 2 step cut and buff followed by a paint clean and sealant is anywhere from 4-8 hours and a simple AIO is maybe 1-2.5 hours.

And you've excluded any time for wash, decon and dry as your "assumption" but depending on what rolls up for work, that could be 1-3 hours as well!

And the ranges of times are dependent on what the customer wants as the final result.

[Damonsfcd]

I'm with davey g's numbers, generally speaking. #1 being a 2 step cut and buff followed by a paint clean and sealant is anywhere from 4-8 hours and a simple AIO is maybe 1-2.5 hours.

And you've excluded any time for wash, decon and dry as your "assumption" but depending on what rolls up for work, that could be 1-3 hours as well!

And the ranges of times are dependent on what the customer wants as the final result.


Exactly. I just wanted to know how long it took others. Here in the Texas heat, even under a 16- foot tent, the paint temp is very high. (Around 96-100+ degrees.) This forces me to work slower outdoors due to drastically shortened working time of compounds and polishes. I used M105 recently and it was an absolute messy nightmare. I was doing maybe 12" square at a time and while it was effective, the aftermath was reminiscent of a skier's wet dream.

I have found a light at the tunnel however, and that is Wolfgang Uber compound 3.0 and blue LC Hydro-tech pads. Makes the process a little more efficient.

By the way, under what conditions are y'all working? (Temp, humidity, pressure altitude, etc...)

[Paul A.]

I'm in Tampa, FL and work in my garage. Summer temps are 75-95F and at sea level. High humidity also. Humidity is usually anywhere from 50% - 100%. I love the winter months when we can get 35-45% relative humidities occassionally.

I suffer paint heat issues also especially on dark colored vehicles. After moving it inside after the wash, decon and dry i take a break and let it cool down a bit before i start any machine work.

[wdmaccord]

Temp humidity does play a factor for me. When it's hot and humid, I take my time and usually a break in the AC for a few minutes after each panel. Just did a 335i last weekend in these conditions. Just a mild polish (PF2500) to remove swirls and holograms (not deeper defects). I think it took me about 7 hours or so. The first hour was spent working a couple test spots, pulling out in the sun, etc. Kinda have to do that with jet black. Total job time was @ 18 hours. I had to do a couple rinseless washes during the process that I don't normally have to do, but the heat really caused a lot of dusting with the polish. I even gave the pad a squirt of water before each section. Sometimes I even had to stop after 3 section passes to give another squirt of water. But I had to work that DAT polish all the way. :)

[custmsprty]

I'm in Tampa, FL and work in my garage. Summer temps are 75-95F and at sea level. High humidity also. Humidity is usually anywhere from 50% - 100%. I love the winter months when we can get 35-45% relative humidities occassionally.

I suffer paint heat issues also especially on dark colored vehicles. After moving it inside after the wash, decon and dry i take a break and let it cool down a bit before i start any machine work.

This and it's soooooooooo sickly hot right now here in Tampa. A month ago even the killer HD Polish dusted on me. I put a temp out in my garge today it was 123!!!

[Damonsfcd]

It's hot here too, and all I have to work under is a 16' pop-tent that's only tall enough to fit a car under. Any recommendations for a tent that I can fit at least an F-150 under that is also easily transported, set-up and taken down? I can't seem to find any and doubt they even exist. Takes me five minutes to set up my current pop tent and fits in the trunk of my car no problem! I just hate having to turn down trucks. Maybe I'll do a night service for those so I can work in better conditions under an LED floodlight setup. Thoughts?