Polishing my black 2018 Acura RDX - seeking advice.

[theTown]

Background:

Hi everyone! This is my first time attempting to correct / polish a vehicle.

The vehicle is a 2018 Acura RDX and the paint is black.

I did a test on the driver side doors middle section and it is not finishing out how I expected.

Here is the paint condition BEFORE:
Tools:




* Griots G9 with stock 6 inch plate
* Griots black finishing pad (not boss)
* Griots Perfecting cream

Process:

The car was first washed, iron x-ed, and clayed.
I started with the combo mentioned above in a test spot:

* speed 3
* 3 passes - slow speed and trying to keep as even of pressure as possible.
* IPA wipe.

The result in the garage looked great:






I roll the car outside and it looks amazing...at first:




Again...paint looking nearly perfect upon initial inspection, I'm very pleased:






Ok, so I assume this paint is pretty soft considering griots least aggressive setup nuked 99% of the defects in only a few passes on lower speed right...?

Then I start bobbing my head around to reflect sun light at various angles and see TONS of micro marring. It almost looks like wax applied too thick. Re-IPA wipe. No Change.

I pulled it back into the garage and do a couple more passes. Same result - micro marring everywhere but its only visible in specific sunlight.

Micro Marring:




More Micro Marring:




Micro Marring different light:






My question(s):

What does this look like to you all and what would you suggest to finish out this paint?

Here are some of my thoughts as a novice:

1. Could it be deeper scratches and I need to go more aggressive? I'm doubting it since they're so fine and the second round of passes did nothing.

2) Could the Acura black paint be SO SOFT that my setup is marring up the paint as a I go?
What could I try that is even less aggressive to see if it cleans this up?

3) If 2) is true - could my panel wipe technique be marring the paint? Is there a more gentle way to do this?
Can anyone suggest towels for delicate paint (assuming this is the issue)?

4) Is my technique just way worse than I think it is and uneven pressure (or something) is creating this? The large 6.5 inch pads do feel a bit tough to work with.

Looking for some wisdom on steps to troubleshoot! Thanks!

[Forty]

IMO, your process and tools should not be leaving micro marring. What towels are you using for polish residue wipe off? Is wipe off easy (1-2 passes) or more challenging?

[noorth]

My first thought is that many professionals say you need a standard polishing pad to finish on soft paint - griots yellow or orange pad. Sounds counter-intuitive but I've seen it mentioned many many times.

A polish like gyeon primer is apparently very good on soft paint also.

[opie]

If you posted pics, they are not on there.

Also why are you doing an ipa wipe? Its a terrible lubricatant. That could be the source of marring

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[Forty]

If you posted pics, they are not on there.

Also why are you doing an ipa wipe? Its a terrible lubricatant. That could be the source of marring

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Agreed. Carpro eraser or Gyeon prep are two excellent panel wipes. No need to use IPA.

[Coatingsarecrack]

Yes agreed with IPA get something like mentioned before a dedicated prep wipe. Also agreed perfecting cream and a finishing pad will do nothing to remove swirl marks and rids.

Your car is 4-5 years old unless it’s garaged and has less then 4,000 miles on it and never seen a tunnel wash and hand washed with the best products with perfect technique your car has some to a lot of defects.

I think you are polishing to a nice shine which is making defects more evident.

If you have correcting cream and other pads I would try perfecting cream with yellow boss pad and then correcting cream with the black, then correcting with yellow.

If need more aggressive correcting with orange boss. You shouldn’t need fast correcting cream.

Also yes your pictures are not showing up. Download TapaTalk, it’s a Forum hosting site and you can post pics directly from your phone.

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[Flash Gordon]

You would've gotten better results if you had used a stiffer pad. I would also recommend bumping the speed up to 5, apply moderate pressure and then work in small sections (3'x3')

I wouldn't bother with the IPA unless you're applying a coating

[Bosko]

the pad and the cream are second and third steps for correction in Griots line up.... go with....CC cream and orange pad...

[98CayenneTA]

Make sure when you're applying polish to your pad you prime the very very outer edge of the pad and up the side a bit for that edge will make more contact when mild pressure is applied and it ABSOLUTLEY will cause micro maring on butter soft paint which your Acura does have.

Your process may be a touch aggressive and I would try giving the pad a couple sprays of water.

If that does not work try a wax pad like buff and shine red pad with Menzerna 3800 or Carpro Essence

[theTown]

Wow! So sorry the pics did not show up. I feel like that makes this post basically useless. They definitely show up for me which is odd. I will post a reply soon with pictures to go along with all those descriptions.

EDIT: Can you see the images now?