How low is too low - in polishing paint

[MobolWerks]

You are polishing, not compounding. First of all, the DA you are using was pretty minimal "cutting" ability (the amount of defects it can remove - which also means you can't remove much paint or clear coat).

Second, you are using a white pad, which has very little "cutting" ability as well, so really, all you are doing is maybe removing .25 - .5 Microns, and that's only if you're manually shaking the crap out of the DA while polishing - shaking it gives it slightly more "cut"

I would not be to worried about your procedure

hope that helps

[mcpp66]

You are polishing, not compounding. First of all, the DA you are using was pretty minimal "cutting" ability (the amount of defects it can remove - which also means you can't remove much paint or clear coat).

Second, you are using a white pad, which has very little "cutting" ability as well, so really, all you are doing is maybe removing .25 - .5 Microns, and that's only if you're manually shaking the crap out of the DA while polishing - shaking it gives it slightly more "cut"

I would not be to worried about your procedure

hope that helps

Yes and no, it makes me feel better but I worry about everything all the time.

[MobolWerks]

That's funny Honestly, to make yourself feel better, go grab a hood or body panel from a junkyard, and do your best to get "through" the paint down to the actual base coat or even primer, using just your 7424 and an orange pad with a compound.

My guess is this will not happen... You may "burn" the paint by keeping your DA in the exact same place for an extended period of time, but that's not something you would ever actually do in real life, so its fairly irrelivant...

Try it out!

[mcpp66]

That's not a bad idea.....maybe I could buy a rotary and practice on that.

That's funny Honestly, to make yourself feel better, go grab a hood or body panel from a junkyard, and do your best to get "through" the paint down to the actual base coat or even primer, using just your 7424 and an orange pad with a compound.

My guess is this will not happen... You may "burn" the paint by keeping your DA in the exact same place for an extended period of time, but that's not something you would ever actually do in real life, so its fairly irrelivant...

Try it out!

[MobolWerks]

Now that's an entirely different ballgame - using the rotary... With a rotary you could do a boatload of damage

I was talking about the 7424, just to give you some piece of mind...

By all means do it, but keep in mind it is doing a heck of a lot more than your DA is....

A quick note, if you're gonna do a rotary, I have heard that the Flex Lightweight is the absolute easiest rotary to learn on.. Just a thought.

[mcpp66]

Oh I'm not going rotary yet........I don't even know if I'm ever going to have a need for a rotary. It was just a thought.

[cadd]

Hi guys..I just got in on this thread, and found it very interesting and posing some questions as well. Just how often is it safe to polish your vehicle? I am sure it depends alot..like Mike mentioned, if its a DD or a show car. My customers are all DD's...so would using a AIO polish every couple of yrs. be ok?

[benjamin3]

Since this is your first post...

Welcome to Autogeek Online!


First... what are you working on?

Second, as long as you use good quality products and follow the sage advice of,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"



Then you don't need a paint thickness gauge, it's a handy tool for some in the detailing industry but not a top priority just to detail your own car.

Thanks Mike, I've learned a lot from your videos and am going to purchase the Porter 7424XP. My wife's car is a 2008 Lincoln MKX (unfortunately it is black) and it has a lot of swirl marks that I think actually happened when it was detailed at the dealership when we purchased it. I have a 2004 BMW 330Ci (silver metallic) which the paint is in pretty good shape.

My car was detailed weekly by a detailer up until about 2 years ago. He waxed it with some kind of machine (I didn't pay attention back then). He always did a great job, but if he just was using the machine to wax, do I need to worry about the clear coat thickness on it if I find that I need to polish the paint in the future? Thanks for your advice!

[benjamin3]

Thanks Mike, I've learned a lot from your videos and am going to purchase the Porter 7424XP. My wife's car is a 2008 Lincoln MKX (unfortunately it is black) and it has a lot of swirl marks that I think actually happened when it was detailed at the dealership when we purchased it. I have a 2004 BMW 330Ci (silver metallic) which the paint is in pretty good shape.

My car was detailed weekly by a detailer up until about 2 years ago. He waxed it with some kind of machine (I didn't pay attention back then). He always did a great job, but if he just was using the machine to wax, do I need to worry about the clear coat thickness on it if I find that I need to polish the paint in the future? Thanks for your advice!

I forgot to mention that the BMW was waxed with the machine once a month for about 2 years.

[MobolWerks]

Hi guys..I just got in on this thread, and found it very interesting and posing some questions as well. Just how often is it safe to polish your vehicle? I am sure it depends alot..like Mike mentioned, if its a DD or a show car. My customers are all DD's...so would using a AIO polish every couple of yrs. be ok?

Essentially an AIO is a heavy cleaner wax, so basically you aren't really removing anything, you're just "filling"... Meaning that the scratches are still there, you just can't see them...

A quick way to see what I'm talking about is to clean and clay bar your car, and then follow that with an IPA wipedown (IPA wipedown is using a 50/50 mixture of 91% Iso Alcohol - found at CVS Pharmacy - and distilled water).... This will remove all of the "filler" products, such as AIO from all the little scratches and swirls that are actually in your paint....

After seeing this, you will understand that you aren't actually removing much if any clear coat..

Hope that helps