Buffing too much ?

[Inverted]

The PTG is an instrument that reads the total thickness from the metal to the top of the paint layers. Do a search on Mike Phillips articles on paint thickness. The gauge will NOT tell you the amount of clear coat left. As Mike tells it, a single sheet of a sticky note is thicker than your clear coat over your color paint layer. So using the PTG you will see a pattern that will vary where you read on the car surfaces.

I agree that most likely you are still safe but using a compound like 105 is aggressive and that you are still likely safe but can do this only a few times and you will see the clear coat starting to degrade if left in sun a long time. KEEP your truck protected at all times is my advice, my son's old Tundra cost me $2500 to remove the paint on the hood and cab because it went too long without care.

Thanks !

[tguil]

Dust nibs under the paint. Most likely from the factory and quite likely under both the base coat and clear coat. Don't mess with them. My white Tacoma has about a half dozen of them but most normal folks would never see them.

[Inverted]

Dust nibs under the paint. Most likely from the factory and quite likely under both the base coat and clear coat. Don't mess with them. My white Tacoma has about a half dozen of them but most normal folks would never see them.

Thanks. Are you able to feel any of them with your finger ?

[tguil]

Thanks. Are you able to feel any of them with your finger ?

Not on this Tacoma. Minor dust nibs can be leveled with very careful wet sanding. As a matter of fact, I have a very small paint flaw were a dust nib was wet sanded level at the factory. (Yes, I am sure that it was done at the factory.) It actually shows a spot of primer coming through. I didn't notice it until I did the first detail on my truck. Careful inspection showed the sanding marks. After seeing what happened with this nib, I decided not to attempt leveling any of the other nibs. Years ago, I managed to level 79 nibs on a 2012 Ram pickup, but that is another long story. You will be able to find nibs on almost every new vehicle....and lots of orange peel too. Best to use the "five foot rule"...if you can't see the flaw at five feet, it isn't there. Best too that you not go looking for gaps in body panels. Our Tacomas have them.

[Inverted]

So fist nibs can be felt with your finger, unless leveled. Ok, glad that’s what it is and not damage i caused. Thanks for the replies, appreciate the help

[Mike Phillips]

Now my question: How do I know if I’ve done too much and depleted the clear coat?

I see no visible signs. But I’m concerned that if I need to buff in the future , it will go through the clear coat.

I may have done 10+ passes on some areas with the orange pad and compound

I wouldn't be too worried about removing too much clear. I did a wetsanding project one time and documented the hell out of it and even after hand sanding using #2000 Nikken, compounding and then polishing I only removed between .4 mils and .5mils.

That's a LOT more aggressive than what you are doing.


Most important thing is to simply take care of the car/paint after any correction work to avoid having to do future correction work. And if you haven't read this, then I'd recommend reading it.


How, why & when to inspect your microfiber towels when detailing cars

[Inverted]

Great to know, thanks Mike.

Btw. Sometimes my Bauer DA backer pad doesn’t spin. Does anyone know why this is? I’ve tried adjusting my pressure and it just vibrates

[Eldorado2k]

Great to know, thanks Mike.

Btw. Sometimes my Bauer DA backer pad doesn’t spin. Does anyone know why this is? I’ve tried adjusting my pressure and it just vibrates

I’m assuming you’ve marked your backing plate with a Sharpie already?

[Inverted]

I have

[Mike Phillips]

Btw. Sometimes my Bauer DA backer pad doesn’t spin. Does anyone know why this is?

I’ve tried adjusting my pressure and it just vibrates

With these types of tool you must run them at full speed. If the knob would and could go to 11 then that's where I'd stick it.

Things that hinder pad rotation,

1. Holding the tool crooked so the pad is not flat against the paint.
2. Pressing down too hard on the head of the tool.
3. Too slow of a speed setting.
4. Too little product - no lubrication.
5. Too thick of a pad - thick foam pads the foam absorbs the power coming out of the tool and dissipates it.
6. Too large of a pad - smaller size diameter pads rotate better than larger size diameter pads.
7. Too weak of a motor.
8. Poor design for the counterweight.

The above is off the top of my head, I actually have an article on this topic. If you go to Skynet and type in the below it will pull up my article.

DA Troubleshooting Guide Mike Phillips