Polishing Fail, I feel like giving up before it even started.

[Mike Phillips]

I

FLEX 3401 on a white Lake Country CCS pad and Meg's #80.

This is just a guess... the Flex 3401 has a long orbit or through, you can see this yourself by simply grabbing the the face of the pad and rotating and feel the length of out-of-round orbit as it rotates/oscillates.

This makes the tool more aggressive as it relates to abrading the paint when using the right pads and products.

My guess is the M80 diminishing abrasives together with this long orbit are causing micro-marring and that's the haze or fog you're seeing over the paint. I've probably uses as much if not more M80 as anyone still living and while I'm very fond of it for restoring antique, oxidized single stage paints, like this...


Photos courtesy of MeguiarsOnline

Before



After


I don't ever use it on clear coat paints.

The above Mercedes-Benz is a car I led a team of people to detail for an "Extreme Makeover" and is currently the car you see on the Ultimate Compound label.

M16 doesn't really add anything to paint visually except gloss, some paints will clarify paint and this will show up as a darkening effect, M16 can do this a little but it mostly adds protection and gloss. I've used a ton of this stuff in my life, probably as much or more than anyone still living.

Get yourself some Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and Finishing Glaze and this should remove the haze and restore a clear surface. You could probably get away with one or the other as they both are very good at leave a haze-free finish when used with DA Polishers.

[Pristine Image]

Thank you Mike, I'll give some new products a try! And that's some great work on that Benz

[5.4 Shelby]

The reason I asked about IPA is maybe it is residual polish residue. It sounded like you could smear it around.

[Pristine Image]

The reason I asked about IPA is maybe it is residual polish residue. It sounded like you could smear it around.

I could. That's what was so weird. A little would be picked up by the microfiber but the rest would just smear to the edges of where I just wiped. Perhaps my MFs were a little damp from sweaty hands. During this detail I was guilty of not swapping out MFs as often as I should have because I didn't have very many clean ones available and I was sweating in my garage like no other. I didn't have a fan and it must have been in the 90's in that garage. The extra heat from the halogens didn't help either. I was drinking water by the gallons.

If it wasn't for the fact that I spent at least two hours trying to get all the Meg's #16 off because I put it on too thick (BIG mistake) I'd go do a IPA wipedown to see if it'd clear it up and reapply the wax. Meg's #16 sure does bead pretty though!

[5.4 Shelby]

I could. That's what was so weird. A little would be picked up by the microfiber but the rest would just smear to the edges of where I just wiped. Perhaps my MFs were a little damp from sweaty hands. During this detail I was guilty of not swapping out MFs as often as I should have because I didn't have very many clean ones available and I was sweating in my garage like no other. I didn't have a fan and it must have been in the 90's in that garage. The extra heat from the halogens didn't help either. I was drinking water by the gallons.

If it wasn't for the fact that I spent at least two hours trying to get all the Meg's #16 off because I put it on too thick (BIG mistake) I'd go do a IPA wipedown to see if it'd clear it up and reapply the wax. Meg's #16 sure does bead pretty though!

just try a small area to see if it works. Then wax back over it.