First time polishing with the Flex 3401

**mats** · 09-19-2018, 01:01 AM

Hi All! Thank you for a great forum where I have found a great deal of information when finally entering the world of polishing. I have always been fond of keeping my cars in pristine condition both inside and outside but when it comes to polishing I have only done a few attemtps with cheap DA machines. Mostly I have relied on experts. But a while ago I decided that I should learn to polish both my cars and my boat. Did a lot of research on equipment and was set on buying quality stuff from the beginning.

I decided upon the Flex 3401. I bought Mike Phillips Ebook on this tool where I learnt a great deal. I also bought polishes (Menzerna) and pads from Flexi pads and Lake Country (Hex pads) + some wool pads for the boat.

First time polishing with the Flex 3401-img_3642-jpg

All set, and the first test was to remove some very annoying clear coat scratches on my Passat. This is a large, clearly visible scratch that was caused by tree branches that scratched the entire side of the car.

First time polishing with the Flex 3401-img_7820-jpg

I decided to test on one of the doors door. I used Menzerna Heavy Cut 400 and the Flexipad Maroon pad on speed setting 5. Started with 6-8 passes, sprayed on paint inspection.

First time polishing with the Flex 3401-img_6244-jpg

From a distance you cannot see the line/scratch anymore. But if you are close up and have right lightning you see some very thin lines in the clear coat.

First time polishing with the Flex 3401-img_8432-jpg

I did two more rounds with Heavy cut and then one round of Menzerna super finish plus and then called it a day. It is not perfect, and would maybe require one more round of polishing if you really want to make the scratch invisible in any light and from any distance. Anyway really satisfied with my first test of polishing!

BTW, maybe I should have used another pad for this car / clear coat? In order to minimise work? Wool?

**Sonic Pilot** · 09-19-2018, 01:09 AM

Well congratulations on your new toy!! Continue your research here in the forums regarding polishing technique. There is a HUGE amount of readily available info from a wide variety of experienced Detailers. Mike's book does seem to be the Bible for many!
No matter what......enjoy the process and have fun with it!

**MarkD51** · 09-19-2018, 04:51 AM

I would say you've probably done very good. That it might be very likely that even a seasoned pro would not have gotten much better results.

Hard to determine just how much paint, or should I say clear coat you have left to play with? Only way one would really know is with a paint gauge.

It might be wise to leave it be at the moment, and live with your results that you have gotten.

I'm not sure just how much "paint filling qualities" a good ceramic paint coating might give, but perhaps others might suggest such to lessen the slight visibility of this scratch, and as well offer the best-longest paint protection.

Oh, I forgot to mention also, welcome to the forum!

**mats** · 09-19-2018, 06:44 AM

Thanks for the feedback! I was afraid that someone would point me in the direction of buying a rotary with more cutting power, but spending an additional 500$ would not make me popular at home :-)

**SWETM** · 09-19-2018, 07:24 AM

Hej

The Passat is known for extremely hard clearcoat. Then you can stumble on one with a softer. But that is very unusual to do. It's most if it has been repainted you experience that.

If you are satisfied for now. I would let the scratch be as is. Maybe go over it one more time with a wool pad you got. The HC400 is not the highest cutting compound 8 of 10 grade scale. Their SHC300 is their highest cutting compound they have. But have in mind that the more aggressive you are with the combo of pad and compound. The more clearcoat you take off.

Could you feel the scratch easy with your fingernail before you started to polishing it?
That is often how you measure without a paint thickness gauge. If you are able to compounding the scratch down. And did you clay the scratced area first? Sometimes you have both tree residue and the scratch to handle. And it's easier to clean it up first so you can only focus on the scratch it self.

Try not to getting all of the RIDS (random isolated deeper scratches) of the first you do. The chasing of a defect free paint could end in a disaster. With going through the clearcoat or and thinning it so you get an early clearcoat failure. The Passat has the harder clearcoats. But if you do one with a soft clearcoat you can level down the clearcoat very fast even with a DA.

Welcome to the forum fellow swede

/Tony

**mats** · 09-19-2018, 10:14 AM

After seeing the car in daylight today I'll leave it be, it is massive improvement! The scratch can be felt with the finger nail but they are not deep. But since since scratch covered the entire side of the car in one long line, it was very visible and looked really bad. I'll just keep doing the rest of the car and then I will probably do the rest of the car with 2800 medium and finish off with the Menzerna power lock.

**MarkD51** · 09-19-2018, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by mats

After seeing the car in daylight today I'll leave it be, it is massive improvement! The scratch can be felt with the finger nail but they are not deep. But since since scratch covered the entire side of the car in one long line, it was very visible and looked really bad. I'll just keep doing the rest of the car and then I will probably do the rest of the car with 2800 medium and finish off with the Menzerna power lock.

Sounds like a good game plan to me.

I agree, and think you've done the best that can be done.....at present. Who knows, maybe 6-8 months from now you'll feel like the car might be ready again for another paint correction process with a milder polish-pads, and you'll see even further improvement then?

**Kamakaz1961** · 09-19-2018, 02:58 PM

Way cool to see that you went with a great DA. I use Menzerna compounds and polishes as my go too's. I use mainly Lake Country Hybrids as they work best for me. But what you did looks great! More pics please! Especially the boat when you get to it!

**mats** · 09-20-2018, 04:06 AM

I removed the rest of this scratch yesterday, this time I used the orange CG Quantum hex pad together with Menzernas Heavy Cut. Went very well! I have some other scratches that I will try with the Lake Country twisted wool pad. Really fun to be able to do this by yourself!

Mike Phillips · 09-20-2018, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by mats

I removed the rest of this scratch yesterday, this time I used the orange CG Quantum hex pad together with Menzernas Heavy Cut.

Went very well!

Good to hear. Now get some form of paint protection over this area and moving into the future wash carefully.

Luckily this is a vertical panel. The horizontal panels take most of the abuse from the sun and weather plus wear-n-tear. So you want to avoid making the horizontal panels too thin.

Just to share,

YEARS ago, I tried to work out a single scratch in a Hummer and a Acura TSX, for both cars I worked slow and methodical. Both scratches were on driver's side verticle panels. Sad to say... I removed to much paint in my effort to remove the scratches and buffed through the clear on both vehicles.

Both vehicles had to have these areas repainted.

Me? I confirmed with both owners the risk and they both said "yes" go ahead and try. The scratches bothered them so much that they understood the risk and confirmed that if I buffed through the clear they were already willing and expecting to have these areas (doors) repainted.

The experience for me was priceless and moving forward I now caution people to

improve defects, don't try to completely remove defects

Unless you're willing to go through the repaint process.

It's called... the school of hard knocks