White Pearl Paint Problems

[conman1395]

I have an Acura TSX with Premium White Pearl paint. It's two combinations that make defects hard to see. My problem isn't just having trouble seeing defects; my problem is polishing my car, sealing it, and then parking under a street light when I go out on the weekend and seeing the areas I missed.

So yeah, I guess my problem is seeing defects. My girlfriend's problem is hearing me b***h about it when we go out.

Any tips? All I have is an LED light and I honestly feel like there are not any more angles to try and see the defects at.

[Hazcat]

It sounds like you need to upgrade your entire lighting system where you polish you car. A florescent light setup with T8 lights and some spot lights in addition otherwise you're going to keep running the same problem. You'll get a lot of opinions on which T8 lights such as 6500k or slightly lower.s

[allenk4]

You might start with the Husky LED lights at Home Depot

$99

Run cooler than Halogen

They get good reviews on the Forum

[conman1395]

You might start with the Husky LED lights at Home Depot

$99

Run cooler than Halogen

They get good reviews on the Forum

That's definitely something in my price range. I'll check it out, thank you.

[mcochris]

Turn off all the lights and use a single beam flashlight on white paint.

[conman1395]

Turn off all the lights and use a single beam flashlight on white paint.

What type of light? Led? I also have a MAGLite.

[The Guz]

Pick up an LED flashlight.

[HUMP DIESEL]

Turn off all the lights and use a single beam flashlight on white paint.

This is what I was going to say. With white, it is very hard to see defects with large amounts of light, because the white itself reflects so much back. Cut the lights off and use a single light, I use one off of my bicycle, and look down the panel as opposed to looking directly at where the light is hitting.

I feel you pain, I have a white Lexus IS300 and I had to do what I described above, but it was worth it. It will blind you.

HUMP

[swanicyouth]

Are you having an issue seeing areas you missed (as you stated) or are you discovering the defects aren't removed?

If your "missing a spot"... Just concentrate on overlapping your passes.

I have eight T8 halogen bulbs in my single car garage. However, there are certain very fine defects I can only see at night under gas station lights on my truck. I cannot see them in the sun, or with other types of lights.

What I do is just do a test spot, and drive to the gas station at night to check it under their lights. It's inconvenient yes - but if those lights are the only way to see the defects - they are the only way to tell if they are gone IMHO.

It's usually not a total wasted trip though, I'll get some Mac n Cheese while I'm there:

[2.ooohhh]

While I have plenty of light in my garage I've often been known to detail certain vehicles on a lift/ramps. It's the only way I've found to reliably get some panels closer to eye level where I can see them to properly work on them.