Benefits of small sections with DA...?

[PSYS]

I recently obtained my GG6. I'm wondering what the benefit is in doing a relatively small section at one time with the DA? If the rule of thumb is one pad per panel, wouldn't it be feasible to simply do the whole panel at once? Why can't I just do the whole quarter panel at once? Why do I need to do a small 8" x 8" or 10" x 10" square on the panel? I watched the videos on AG here and they don't seem to go into specifics. I don't know if I'm reading too much into this or perhaps taking it too literally, but it specifically states a small section at a time and references this square model. Obviously, I'm not going to do the whole vehicle at once, but don't understand where the harm comes into simply doing one panel at a time. Thoughts...?

[acuRAS82]

I’m guessing this is just so you get the right amount of product per area, and doing too large of sections may cause the polish to dry up since you are taking longer to cover the larger area.

With that being said, I generally do ~2ft x 2ft or maybe larger on flat areas.

[PSYS]

I’m guessing this is just so you get the right amount of product per area, and doing too large of sections may cause the polish to dry up since you are taking longer to cover the larger area.

With that being said, I generally do ~2ft x 2ft or maybe larger on flat areas.

Ahhhhh... makes sense. I didn't think about it from the product perspective.
OK. Thank you. I'll use my best judgment and err on the side of caution with the smaller sized area you referenced.

[hooked]

I usually use the 2’ x 2’ area rule as well. If a panel is long and narrow then you can probably get away with doing it all at once.

Another consideration is that you want the polisher to stay centered with your body. If you don’t restrict yourself to a certain area, the tendency is to just reach your arms as far as you can out to the sides to cover more area before shifting to the next position. This is bad on your back and will fatigue your arms faster. Plus you won’t be exerting the same angle and amount of pressure on the pad when the polisher is at the furthest distance from your body.

[cwp2016nd]

Its mostly an experience thing on how large you can get away with doing and not dry the product up while still achieving the results you desire.

I mainly work my sections based on the shape of the panel and if I'm in direct sunlight or not.

[Bruno Soares]

I think it also has to do with heat. While you’re wiping away the product from a section, you give the pad time to cool down a bit. Same for the panel you’re working on. If you just kept on going, you’d generate too much heat on the pad, panel, and leave too much spent product and residue from the clear coat you just removed. The 2x2 section I think is a good method to keep temperatures under control and manage product wisely. Plus it allows you to focus better on the area right in front of you without making you walk chasing the polisher.

[PSYS]

Awesome info, as always, fellas... I appreciate your assistance! I've been reading up more and more and just want to make sure I've got the right thought process before I tackle my truck. I'm also in the middle of collecting product and want to do a thorough multi-step process.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

The reason for small section passes (say 10"x10" or 16"x16") is that you are trying to perform paint correction and abrade the paint while concentrating your energy (power to do work). Using slow arm speed and concentrating on a small sections will yield higher results rather than broad brush strokes. If you were doing a fast-n-quick AIO with minimal correction result expectations, larger areas swaths could be used.

The larger the swath, the more real estate you're trying to spread your pad, product and energy over and thus will result in less correction.

In other words, in terms of energy (power to do work), you are concentrating, pad product and energy in a smaller area thus getting the achieved results of the energy/work. Your section passes should be 50% overlapping as well. In addition, when you move onto the next section, be sure to overlap the area also just performed by 50%.

In terms of energy, the section passes in smaller areas maintain an balance of all said above, without damaging the paint. For example, if you even shortened your section passes to a much smaller area, the energy (work of the tool, heat, power and product) would build up. A lot of folks looking to do "spot buffs" while chasing scratches will ask why did they burn through their clear-coat. This is because they concentrated too much energy in a small spot.

Typically through years of trial and error, the average assumption is work in smaller sections, enough to disperse the energy to not burn paint, but enough to correct the paint.

Hope this helps!!!

[PSYS]

Makes perfect sense, Paul! Thanks for that!