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  1. #1
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    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    OK, first post. My project is a Harley Street Glide, it's a few months old, dark blue (black with some blue in it). I'm prepping it to apply Wolfgang paint sealant. A few areas need polishing and I got a 3" Griots DA polisher and Chemical Guy's V36 and V38 for that. Other areas don't need polish (or are not accessible to the machine) so I got the Wolfgang product for these areas. I tried applying it by hand with a foam applicator (on the batwing fairing) and it left fine scratches in the finish. I tried it again on a test spot using a microfiber applicator, this time pre-coating the pad with the product, and it still left long sweeping scratches in the direction of application. Do you have any suggestions regarding application?

  2. #2
    Super Member 01GreyStangGT's Avatar
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    That product has no abrasives that I know of.


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  3. #3
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    It's acting like it has abrasives in it, either I'm doing something wrong or it's the wrong product for the paint.

  4. #4
    Super Member Desertnate's Avatar
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    It might not be the product and could be the applicator(s) you tried.

    I'm not familiar with Harley's paint, but I've encountered some vehicles where the paint is VERY soft and simply rubbing my finger on a spot could mar the finish. For the area you describe you may need a really soft MF towel and very light pressure to prevent marring the paint.
    Drop by to see the latest at The Car Geek Blog

  5. #5
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    Harley paint is notorious for being soft. I had a vivid black road king, and it scratched and marred just from looking at it. Traded it in for a 2017 Pearl white Street Glide Special, and never looked back. Good luck, I hope you figure it out.

  6. #6
    Super Member Bruno Soares's Avatar
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    Like said above, I bet it's not the product but instead the media you're using to apply it. It's marring the surface.
    Bruno Soares


  7. #7
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    Quote Originally Posted by coop creek View Post

    OK, first post. My project is a Harley Street Glide, it's a few months old, dark blue (black with some blue in it). I'm prepping it to apply Wolfgang paint sealant. A few areas need polishing and I got a 3" Griots DA polisher and Chemical Guy's V36 and V38 for that.

    Send me your shipping address. I will send you the Wolfgang versions of V36 and V38 and then I recommend you do your own testing and use the products that work the best on the paint on your Harley.


    Quote Originally Posted by coop creek View Post

    Other areas don't need polish (or are not accessible to the machine) so I got the Wolfgang product for these areas. I tried applying it by hand with a foam applicator (on the batwing fairing) and it left fine scratches in the finish. I tried it again on a test spot using a microfiber applicator, this time pre-coating the pad with the product, and it still left long sweeping scratches in the direction of application.

    Do you have any suggestions regarding application?

    Generally speaking - paint cleaners are non-abrasive. They clean via a chemical action and thus the category paint cleaner. They are only for removing topical substances like old waxes, glossing agents, light oxidation, staining from road film and surface impurities.

    Also - I use to teach "hand polishing" at Meguiar's. I quit teaching hand polishing when I came to Autogeek. The reason why is because we don't sell hands here at Autogeek - we sell tools.

    Besides that little nuance, after perfecting the art of hand polishing a l-o-n-g time ago, and after teaching hand polishing for 7 years at the Meguiar's detailing classes, what I learned is most people don't have the,

    1. Skill
    2. Muscle
    3. Patience
    4. Persistence




    To polish paint by hand. It's a lot more difficult than most people know. Also, for what it's worth - I never use paint cleaners. Why? Because for all the work it takes to hand or machine apply a paint cleaner, a "quality" fine cut polish will do everything a paint cleaner will do and do it better. It will also remove fine swirls and scratches. That's just me though, everyone can find their own way I'm just sharing my take on paint cleaners. Been sharing my take on paint cleaners for about 15 years now. Just wade through my 40,000+ posts and you'll find them.


    Also a paint cleaner is an either/or product.

    You either use a paint cleaner or you use a polish. You would NEVER use both this would be redundant.


    Here's my e-mail, send me your shipping address and I'll get it out today.


    mike.phillips@Autogeek.net



    And my guess is the paint is probably soft and if this is the case then just about anything rubbed over it will scratch it.




  8. #8
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    One more question....

    You say you're going to apply the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 for your LSP - my guess is, if the paint is soft, that even wiping off a polish can or might put toweling marks into the paint.


    Mike's Cheater Technique

    Here's how I CHEAT on soft paints. I use a super high quality one-step cleaner/wax. A quality cleaner/wax uses great abrasive technology. Correctly used, you let the product dry. When a "wax" dries it becomes a dry lubricant - in essence lubricating the paint as you wipe it off. Polishes and compounds cannot do this.

    By finishing out with a one-step cleaner/wax you can cheat the paint out of scratching it.


    This comes from the fact that I'm in part lazy. Have typed a lot about this cheating technique over the years.


    I'll send you a sample of a good one-step cleaner/wax and my guess is you can skip the "dedicated" polishes altogether and just use this product and after having it down as a base you can top it with the Wolfgang DGPS 3.0




  9. #9
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    So this is really enlightening information, especially about the amount of technique required for hand polishing. It's possible the scratches are occurring when I'm wiping off the paint cleaner.

    I'm using really nice microfiber towels. I might be putting on too much product or not letting it dry enough.

    I sent you my address, I'll take you up on your offer for the Wolfgang polishes, and the one step cleaner wax (do you apply that by hand or machine? I assume you're recommending machine application)
    Even the V38 is causing what I guess you would call micromarring

    I attached pictures. 1515 and 1516 are the batwing fairing polished with V36 then V38, then the paint cleaner (dumb, I know now), then more V36 and V38. Picture 1521 is the side of the saddlebag that I tried the wolfgang paintwork product, applied by hand with a microfiber applicator. picture 1526 is the front fender with nothing done to it.

    I really did not expect this process to be so difficult and fussy.


    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1521c-jpg

    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1516c-jpg

    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1515c-jpg

    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1526c-jpg



  10. #10
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint

    Quote Originally Posted by coop creek View Post

    So this is really enlightening information, especially about the amount of technique required for hand polishing. It's possible the scratches are occurring when I'm wiping off the paint cleaner.

    I'm using really nice microfiber towels. I might be putting on too much product or not letting it dry enough.
    Could be. It's easy to troubleshoot IF you can get the paint perfect to troubleshoot against. Basically you get some area of the paint perfect and then simply rub on a "section" of the paint with the towels you're using and inspect for scratches.



    Quote Originally Posted by coop creek View Post

    I sent you my address, I'll take you up on your offer for the Wolfgang polishes, and the one step cleaner wax (do you apply that by hand or machine? I assume you're recommending machine application)
    I got it, sorry I didn't get it shipped out last week, I was a tick busy documenting what you get to do when you attend any class I teach. I'm actually the only guy in this industry that teaches detailing classes and then also documents what takes place in them. I think all the rest of the classes available you have to "guess" what takes place.

    Pictures: May 2019 Detailing Bootcamp Class at Autogeek with Mike Phillips



    Quote Originally Posted by coop creek View Post

    Even the V38 is causing what I guess you would call micro-marring
    I talk about abrasive technology a LOT. Here on the forum, in my classes in general. It IS the most important factor in my opinion when it comes to polishing car paint. But according to the Poll I crated, I don't know what I'm talking about.


    POLL - What's the number one most important factor when it comes to polishing paint?





    Quote Originally Posted by coop creek View Post

    I attached pictures. 1515 and 1516 are the batwing fairing polished with V36 then V38, then the paint cleaner (dumb, I know now), then more V36 and V38. Picture 1521 is the side of the saddlebag that I tried the wolfgang paintwork product, applied by hand with a microfiber applicator. picture 1526 is the front fender with nothing done to it.

    I really did not expect this process to be so difficult and fussy.


    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1521c-jpg

    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1516c-jpg

    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1515c-jpg

    wolfgang paintwork polish enhancer scratches my paint-img_1526c-jpg



    Remind me - do you have any kind of dual action polisher like the simple Porter Cable 7424XP?






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