Polishing question , when no correction achieved, are we still removing clear?

[TrustJesus]

Hey Guys,
So I’m still learning and had this question.

For the pros, here it goes.

If I pickup a polisher and go to polish and see no results, does that mean that I didn’t remove if (any) clear coat?

In other words do we remove clear coat when we don’t remove scratches?

Yes I know my sentences are bad, English is my second language.



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[Eldorado2k]

My gut tells me the answer is no, if you’re unable to remove the swirls then you aren’t able to remove any clearcoat with whatever method you’re using.

There’s also rare oddball situations where the scratches you’re looking are underneath the clearcoat and that could be the reason you can’t remove them. We ran into that @Meguiars Garage when a few of us tried to fully correct the trunk of my 97’ Cadillac with a rotary and M105, M100, M101, nothing would touch the scratches until we declared they had to be underneath the top layer. It was wierd.

Another situation that makes me think is when I polished this car.. To this day this is the only vehicle with paint so hard that I couldn’t correct it.




Custom paint job and the owner did say that it had an upsurd layers of clearcoat on it, something like 7 layers of more... I’ve always figured whatever paint on it was hard as hell. But could it be that the reason I couldn’t correct it was because the scratches were actually underneath the layer I was polishing? I’ve never thought about that until now.

Maybe Mike Phillips can chime in with his thoughts on this.

Btw the swirls in that paint weren’t all that bad.. But my goal was full correction and it simply wasn’t happening that day.

[vobro]

Assuming you have a decent pad/polish combo and are practicing the proper procedure with the machine ie machine speed,arm speed and working selected polish correctly yes you are removing clear coat.

[TrustJesus]

Ric,
Interesting, I’m hoping others will comment on this. I’m curious now about your story.


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[Billy Baldone]

I ran into a black Audi a few weeks ago where the sanding scratches were deep in the clear on the hood. It was repainted. I told the owner they were too deep to safely go after and moved on. He knew the repainted parts were iffy

[TrustJesus]

@ Vobro
So it is possible that we remove clear coat without removing imperfections?


Billy, so the scratches were beneath the new clear coat?

[Craig Encinitas]

^
Perhaps the way to answer your question, would be to use a paint depth gauge before and after your attempt at correction. Otherwise, most of us are just going to be guessing at your situation.

Your thoughts?

[TrustJesus]

True, and I appreciate your response

To be honest, I don’t have money to buy one. There expensive

[Mike lambert]

First off, you are not removing defects. You are removing clear around them to minimize the appearance. If you use an abrasive on your paint , you are removing material.

[TrustJesus]

Ok, yes abrasives will remove clear coat.

Will light polish (complete polish GG) also remove any clear if you see no correction being done?