patsfan313
08-24-2015, 09:20 PM
Hey all! First of all I would like to thank auto geek and everyone on this forum for their wealth of knowledge and willingness to help others. Prior to embarking on my first paint correction I spend a great deal of time reading through the forums as well as Mike's instructional articles and book. I cant even imagine how many things I could have gone wrong had I tried doing this without any research.
So heres my situation. I am attempting to correct the paint on my Red 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 quad cab long bed (a lot of truck to work on lol). Unfortunately this all had to be done outside, but I dont have much of a choice in my current situation. I have owned it for a few years and will admit that the paint is very neglected. I dont use the truck for any kind of work but the owner prior to me most definitely did. Apart from the paint being neglected from utilizing self-service wash bays, it has definitely taken its share of punishment being a 10 year old work truck. The paint was filled with spider webbing, tar and loads of deep scratches some all the way down to the primer. Anyway to the good stuff, here was my process. I would like to add that I have not totally finished as of yet
-Wash (Pinnacle soap, bug and tar removing sponge)
-Iron-x (cant believe how much purple pooled under the truck)
-Rinse
-Clay with nanoskin DA medium grade pad. Utilizing their brand lubricant.
-Touch up hard to reach spots with mothers claybar
-Test spot, M101 on a flat orange 5.5 inch foam pad on a portercable speed setting 5.5, M205 on a flat white 5.5 inch foam pad speed setting 4.5, followed by collinite 845 on a red pad speed 3 (which looked good, although again I'm doing this outside and the lighting can be a bit tricky, was overcast when I began)
-Continued with the test spot combination on the rest of the truck
As stated I have not totally finished, however I dont have much left Im the MAN. I am VERY happy with the results thus far, although I'm not 100% thrilled. I believe I am doing something wrong in the process that is causing some of my issues, but I'm having trouble identifying exactly what. After watching many videos I was very mindful of SLOW arm speed, working small sections, priming the pad properly, using the proper amount of product, cleaning my pad on the fly after finishing my passes (cleaned every time to every other time depending on conditions for example if I noticed appreciable dusting from m101 I would make sure to clean ASAP). After doing the section passes I wiped down using a cobra gold microfiber and never really needed to apply any pressure to remove M101 or M205.
The problem I am encountering may be difficult to pick up in pictures but I still have some scratching (kind of looks like mini spiderwebs) maybe da haze (maybe that isnt the proper term). I really dont know why this would happen as I was very diligent during the polishing phase. As I said it might be hard to see in pictures but if you look really hard around the phone flash you may be able to see it. It is fairly pronounced under heavy sunlight or at night under lighting but the cell phone camera doesnt seem to pick up on it. Any advice would be much appreciated
Before
http://i.imgur.com/PORwWsd.jpg
After
http://i.imgur.com/P7cw8lX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/X2DMfFF.jpg
So heres my situation. I am attempting to correct the paint on my Red 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 quad cab long bed (a lot of truck to work on lol). Unfortunately this all had to be done outside, but I dont have much of a choice in my current situation. I have owned it for a few years and will admit that the paint is very neglected. I dont use the truck for any kind of work but the owner prior to me most definitely did. Apart from the paint being neglected from utilizing self-service wash bays, it has definitely taken its share of punishment being a 10 year old work truck. The paint was filled with spider webbing, tar and loads of deep scratches some all the way down to the primer. Anyway to the good stuff, here was my process. I would like to add that I have not totally finished as of yet
-Wash (Pinnacle soap, bug and tar removing sponge)
-Iron-x (cant believe how much purple pooled under the truck)
-Rinse
-Clay with nanoskin DA medium grade pad. Utilizing their brand lubricant.
-Touch up hard to reach spots with mothers claybar
-Test spot, M101 on a flat orange 5.5 inch foam pad on a portercable speed setting 5.5, M205 on a flat white 5.5 inch foam pad speed setting 4.5, followed by collinite 845 on a red pad speed 3 (which looked good, although again I'm doing this outside and the lighting can be a bit tricky, was overcast when I began)
-Continued with the test spot combination on the rest of the truck
As stated I have not totally finished, however I dont have much left Im the MAN. I am VERY happy with the results thus far, although I'm not 100% thrilled. I believe I am doing something wrong in the process that is causing some of my issues, but I'm having trouble identifying exactly what. After watching many videos I was very mindful of SLOW arm speed, working small sections, priming the pad properly, using the proper amount of product, cleaning my pad on the fly after finishing my passes (cleaned every time to every other time depending on conditions for example if I noticed appreciable dusting from m101 I would make sure to clean ASAP). After doing the section passes I wiped down using a cobra gold microfiber and never really needed to apply any pressure to remove M101 or M205.
The problem I am encountering may be difficult to pick up in pictures but I still have some scratching (kind of looks like mini spiderwebs) maybe da haze (maybe that isnt the proper term). I really dont know why this would happen as I was very diligent during the polishing phase. As I said it might be hard to see in pictures but if you look really hard around the phone flash you may be able to see it. It is fairly pronounced under heavy sunlight or at night under lighting but the cell phone camera doesnt seem to pick up on it. Any advice would be much appreciated
Before
http://i.imgur.com/PORwWsd.jpg
After
http://i.imgur.com/P7cw8lX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/X2DMfFF.jpg