WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!!! Swirls galore :(

[Mike Phillips]

The paint looks foggy and has swirls.


It looks terrible ( to me) under fluorescent lights. Compared to an original spot under the rear spoiler that is normally cover and never detailed the difference is huge.

Going by the products you listed, the foggy look could be coming from the last machine applied correction product which would be the M205. The only way to know for sure would be to do some side-by-side testing against a different but similar type product.

I love Meguiar's products but I've seen M205 leave micro-marring on some paint systems when used with any type of DA Polisher. Other people reading this might not have had this experience but two things,

1. It's only going to show up on a dark colored paint - you won't see micro-marring easily on light colors.

2. You have to know how to inspect for the problem.

If your car was mine, I would re-polish the paint using Menzerna SF 4000 and a Lake Country 5.5" Flat Foam Polishing Pad. This combination of Fine Cut Polish with a soft foam polishing pad should remove any shallow defects causing the fog.

Then machine apply just ONE of these products.

• Blackfire wet diamond
  Meguiars Carnauba paste wax
  

You don't need to use all of the last step product you listed, at least not all in a single detailing session.

I would do a test spot with each one to a quarter of your Mustang's hood. Do one front quarter with the Blackfire and one front quarter with the Meguiar's and then inspect after wiping each product off and go with the one that looks the best in your eyes.

[Mike Phillips]

This is a major NoNo. As you do your correction, your pad is getting saturated/plugged up with spent product and clearcoat that you just abraded. You should at least use a nylon brush to clean the pad after each section and after four sections you should be changing pads or cleaning them with a pad washer before continuing.

Scott makes a very important point above. One of the best habits you can get into, especially if you own and work on a black or dark colored car is to work clean.

See these articles,

Why it's important to clean your pads often...

ANYTIME you're abrading the surface whether you're using an aggressive cutting compound of an ultra fine polish, you have two things building up on the face of your buffing pad...

• Spent product
• Removed paint

You need to remove both of these substances from the face of the pad and the panel you're working on before you apply fresh product. If you don't,

• Adding fresh product to spent product and removed paint adulterates the fresh product, it also dilutes it.
• Buffing with a dirty pad will be more difficult.
• The product will cake-up on the face of the pad.
• The product will become gummy on the paint and hard to wipe off.

How to clean your pads and other options to make buffing clean again...

• You can scrub the face of the pad with a nylon brush like a pad conditioning brush or even a nylon toothbrush
• If using a Dual Action Polisher or a Rotary Buffer you can clean your pad on the fly with a terry cloth towel
• You can wash your pads in a bucket of water
• You can wash your pads in a sink under running water
• You can wash your pads in a pad washer
• You can switch to a clean, dry pad
• You can switch to a brand new pad

I just buffed out half the hood on an oxidized 1959 Cadillac and used the technique along with a nylon brush and it works adequately enough to allow me to work clean and get back to work quickly.


That's the whole idea behind cleaning your pad on the fly... you can remove a majority of the spent product and removed paint and then get back to running the buffer... buffing out an entire car already takes a l-o-n-g time... stopping to do some kind of pad cleaning procedure that isn't quick and easy keeps you from buffing on the paint.


Fast methods include,

• Pad Washers
• Cleaning your pad on the fly with a terry cloth towel
• Using a nylon pad conditioning brush
• Using a Spur if you're using a wool pad on a rotary buffer

Slow methods, (they might work well but they take you away from buffing on the car)

• You can wash your pads in a bucket of water
• You can wash your pads in a sink under running water

And this one,

How to clean your foam pad on the fly

And I show how to use the above technique in this video,

Video: How to remove shallow RIDS and how to machine apply both a paint sealant and a finishing wax

I find it hard to believe that you are not seeing swirls before your LSP with this technique.

Good point and it should be discovered during the TEST SPOT

How To Do a Test Spot
(and why it's so important)

You have to spend the time to get your technique down.

Technique is everything...

Here is a step by step example. The only product I used that you don't have is Menzerna P085RD after the M205. It isn't a necessary step. It just adds some gloss to the shine.

I shouldn't have been to quick to recommend switching products. Scott is right in that the product you already have are great products that have a great track record. I worked for Meguiar's when M105, Ultimate Compound and M205 were introduced as Lab Samples, in fact I used the Lab Sample of M205 on Nate Truman's BLACK Batmobile and it worked flawlessly.

Just as important as having and using the right tools, pads and products though is working clean and in order to work clean you need to clean the face of your pads often. Simply running a stiff bristle tooth brush over the face of a used pad is more than enough to remove the majority of both spent product and removed paint so you don't re-introduce these two contaminants each time you move to a new section.

And seriously, you want to dial in your process for the entire car by doing a Test Spot. Don't tackle the entire car until you're happy with the results from your Test Spot or you may end up having to do the entire car over again.

[Bert31]

My car is a 2012 mustang gt lava red which looks black unless directly in the sun then its has a red metallic sparkle. Heres my problem.... I keep getting swirls no matter what i do or products i use.

I am getting conflicting views. Is the paint fine after polishing but swirls show up after washes (this would be wash induced swirling) or is the fog and swirls still on the paint after polishing (this would indicate a problem with the polishing)?

Lake country 6.5" pads (red,yellow&blue)

You have two finishing pads (red and blue) with a VERY aggressive cutting pad. My assumption is you are using the 105 on the yellow pad and 205 on either the red or blue pad. If my assumption is correct, the 105 on the yellow pad would leave quite a bit of haze on the paint that a finishing pad like the red or blue would have trouble cleaning up.

The could also be the cause of your fogging????

[Mike Phillips]

Use a tape-line like this to trouble shoot.

• Clean a foam polishing or finishing pad as best as you can.

• Wipe a horizontal section of paint clean.

• Shake your bottle of M205 really well and then prime your pad and add a few drops of "working product".

• Make a 4-6 section passes on one side of the tape line using 5.5 to 6.0 setting on your PC with medium pressure, slow arm movement.

• Wipe the residue off and inspect and compare to the paint on the other side of the tape line and then tell us what you see.

The paint should look better, the same or worse. This will help us to help you to troubleshoot where you need to tweak your technique or possibly switch to a different pad or product.

[SOREBACK]

Will do. Thanks. I will get on it tomorrow evening. I will post pics.

Looks like im doing a few things wrong. I didnt clean pad enough and wiping off the dust every other day isnt helping either. I really need to find a very soft fabric or indoor car cover. I will wash it with dawn and start all over again.

[SOREBACK]

The pads i have are. Cyan tangerine and crimson. I dont know if this makes a difference.

[RZJZA80]

The "fog" or "haze" you see is probably micro marring left after the compounding. Since you're using H20 pads, which are the best finishing pads I've ever used, I would say take more care in your finishing polish stage. You can even use 205 on the cyan and finish down perfectly, but if it's that soft, use the tangerine. Perhaps you aren't breaking down the polish enough or moving it around a little too quickly so as it doesn't have enough time to correct the micro marring, it's tough to tell, but with those pads, there shouldn't be any micro marring left behind, they're just too good.

[SOREBACK]

Ok since im a newbie im going to start fresh and wash with dawn. Now if someone can give me a run down on order of product usage along with pad selection and PC speed. If there is something in my product list that i should/need to achieve the best results please advise.
PRODUCT PAD CHOICE PC SPEED TIPS/SECRETS

[truckbutt]

The "fog" or "haze" you see is probably micro marring left after the compounding. Since you're using H20 pads, which are the best finishing pads I've ever used, I would say take more care in your finishing polish stage. You can even use 205 on the cyan and finish down perfectly, but if it's that soft, use the tangerine. Perhaps you aren't breaking down the polish enough or moving it around a little too quickly so as it doesn't have enough time to correct the micro marring, it's tough to tell, but with those pads, there shouldn't be any micro marring left behind, they're just too good.

M105 and M205 are SMAT products. As such, they don't break down. It is true that if you move too fast they won't get a chance to work. As to Pad/Product, I suggest that the OP follow the recommendations above in Mike Phillips's post.

[swanicyouth]

Concentrate on trying different products/techniques on your test spot only, which should be small, maybe 16"x16". This is really important. Once you have that Eureka! moment and your test spot looks great, repeat that procedure all the way around the car on areas only slightly larger than your test spot. You have to focus on this one spot only, if you just do the whole hood or trunk and are not getting results, you will get irritated, frustrated and start saying "all these products suck".