Preparing for my First Polishing... Am I ready?

[BimmerFerret]

Hi guys (and gals),

I'm preparing to polish my black 3-Series and the swirls are kind of bad. I don't think this car has even been polished. Also, there are a lot of RIDS on the car. Mainly the trunk lid and roof. The front has a lot of rock chips that I feel that probably won't be fixed unless I use touch up paint. I wanted to share my product listing for this job and make sure I have enough, or if I need to get anything else.

Here is what I have.

Wash:

ONR
Microfiber mitt

Dry:

Leaf blower
Waffle Weave MF Towels

Prep:

IPA to take old wax off (or Dawn if I can't find any)
Griot's Clay bar
ONR 2oz mixture or Griot's Speed Shine

Polishing:

Griot's 6" Polisher
Griot's Machine Polish 3
Orange Pad
I also have Meg's Swirl X I believe

Wax:

Griot's Red Waxing Pad
Griot's Best of Show Wax

Feel free to give any thoughts / feedback!

[PAR Detailing]

John,
It looks like you have alot of the basics. Your wash seems good, same with drying and prep. Where I would add is in the actual correction. Machine polish 3 looks like it is more of a light polish (I have never used it) and if the paint is as bad as you say it is I am not sure you will have enough "bite" to correct it perfectly.

Black BMW's typically have soft clear so if this is the case for you then you are in luck because lighter polishes can correct very well but harder to finish down. There are no absolutes so you will have to find this out for yourself.

I would add some LC pads and possibly more polishes....

That is just my take

Any other questions, fire away

Jon

[Pristine Image]

Hi guys (and gals),

I'm preparing to polish my black 3-Series and the swirls are kind of bad. I don't think this car has even been polished. Also, there are a lot of RIDS on the car. Mainly the trunk lid and roof. The front has a lot of rock chips that I feel that probably won't be fixed unless I use touch up paint. I wanted to share my product listing for this job and make sure I have enough, or if I need to get anything else.

Here is what I have.

Wash:

ONR
Microfiber mitt

Dry:

Leaf blower
Waffle Weave MF Towels

Prep:

IPA to take old wax off (or Dawn if I can't find any)
Griot's Clay bar
ONR 2oz mixture or Griot's Speed Shine

Polishing:

Griot's 6" Polisher
Griot's Machine Polish 3
Orange Pad
I also have Meg's Swirl X I believe

Wax:

Griot's Red Waxing Pad
Griot's Best of Show Wax

Feel free to give any thoughts / feedback!

Hi John,

I'll take a stab at this and see if I can help you out a bit. I don't think there's any need for you to do an IPA wipedown since you'll be clay barring the car. The clay bar should take off any residue wax left on the paint.

Also, you're intending to use Machine Polish 3 with an orange pad which will remove some of the swirls but may also instill some marring during the process. If that happens you may need to do a lighter polish combo (for example Polish 3 with a white or grey pad) or use a lighter polishing pad with Machine Polish 4.

Hope this helps!

[TornadoRed]

Also, you're intending to use Machine Polish 3 with an orange pad which will remove some of the swirls but may also instill some marring during the process. If that happens you may need to do a lighter polish combo (for example Polish 3 with a white or grey pad) or use a lighter polishing pad with Machine Polish 4.

Hope this helps!

Machine Polish 3 is a finish polish, so you'll be fine. The Griot's orange pad will finish well too.

[Pristine Image]

Machine Polish 3 is a finish polish, so you'll be fine. The Griot's orange pad will finish well too.

I stand corrected, thanks TornadoRed.

[keepitclean]

Got to have music...........and something to sit on when you get low on the panels.

[BimmerFerret]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input!!

I'm looking forward to working on the car after Xmas!

[scrib13]

Good luck I was just in your position three days ago, give it a try, do a test spot to make sure it will do ehat you want, then have at it!!

If you run into problems or questions, just put them up in the forum and these guys will help you out asap! Good luck, i had a lot of fun doing mine.

[BimmerFerret]

Good luck I was just in your position three days ago, give it a try, do a test spot to make sure it will do ehat you want, then have at it!!

If you run into problems or questions, just put them up in the forum and these guys will help you out asap! Good luck, i had a lot of fun doing mine.

Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Polishing:

Griot's 6" Polisher
Griot's Machine Polish 3
Orange Pad
I also have Meg's Swirl X I believe

Wax:

Griot's Red Waxing Pad
Griot's Best of Show Wax

I just posted this for a new member in the "Introduction Forum" but it applies here too...


Read through this, although it's titled to address the first generation Porter Cable DA Polishers, the tips and techniques also help you to maximize your time, energy and results for any DA Polisher.

How to maximize the ability of the 1st Generation Porter Cable Dual Action Polishers


It's very important to learn how to do a "Section Pass", buffing out an entire car with a DA Polisher or ANY machine is a matter of buffing out section by section.


Here's how to do a "Section Pass" when trying to remove swirls, scratches and other below surface paint defects.

How to do a Section Pass

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70g83mnTn4]YouTube - How to do a "Section Pass" with a Porter Cable 7424XP[/video]

Visit Autogeek's YouTube Channel for more YouTube Videos

When talking about machine polishing on discussion forums or even in detailing classes, the below questions always comes up,

• What's a pass?
• How many passes do I make?
• What's a section pass?

The definition of a pass
There are two definitions of the word pass as it relates to machine polishing with any type of machine.


Single Pass
A single pass is just that. It's when you move the polisher from one side of the section you're buffing to the other side of the section you're buffing. That's a single pass.


Section Pass
A section pass is when you move the polisher back and forth, or front to back with enough single overlapping passes to cover the entire section one time. That's a section pass.

In most cases if you're removing any substantial below surface defects you're going to make 6-8 section passes to the section you’re working before you either feel comfortable you've removed the defects or you're at the end of the buffing cycle for the product you're using.


Buffing Cycle
The buffing cycle is the amount of time you are able to work the product before the abrasives have broken down, (if you’re using a product that uses diminishing abrasives), and/or the product begins to dry and you lose the lubricating features of the product. Different products have different buffing cycles depending upon the type of abrasives used in the formula and the different ingredients used to suspend the abrasives and provide lubrication.


Factors that affect the buffing cycle include,

• Ambient temperature
• Surface temperature
• Size of work area
• Type of machine
• Type of pad material
• Humidity
• Wind or air flow surrounding the car
• Amount of product used
• Technique

Wet buffing technique
Most compounds and polishes should be used so that there is enough product on the surface to maintain a wet film while the product is being worked. The wetness of the product is lubricating the paint as the abrasives abrade the paint and cushion or buffer the abrading action so the abrasives don’t simply scour the finish leaving behind swirls and scratches.


Dry Buffing Technique - Buffing to a dry buff
There are some products on the market where the manufacture recommends buffing the product until it dries. As the product dries you’ll tend to see some dusting as the product residue becomes a powder and the paint will have a hard, dry shine to it.

Although some manufactures recommend this, it’s important to understand what’s taking place at the surface level as you buff to a dry buff. As the product dries, in essence you are losing the lubricating features of the product and as this happens friction and heat will increase. As friction and heat increases, so does the risk of micro-marring the paint or instilling swirls either by the product residue or the pad material and/or a combination of both.

While we trust that the manufacture knows their products best, when we take a close look at what it means to buff on a delicate surface like an automotive clear coat, it doesn’t make sense to run a buffing pad on top of the paint without some kind of wet film to lubricate the paint at the same time. We always recommend that you follow the manufacturer's recommendations and use your own judgment.

Everyone new to buffing wants to be told some easily identifiable sign that they can use to tell when it's time to stop buffing and it's not that simple, so here's an indicator I've always used and taught to others,

Wet film behind your path-of-travel
As you're making a single pass with the polisher, the paint behind the path of travel of the buffer should have a visible wet film on it. If the paint behind the pad is dry and shiny, you've run out of lubrication and you're dry buffing. Turn the polisher off. Wipe the residue off and inspect using a Swirl Finder Light to make sure you didn't dull or mar the paint, you usually won't cause any harm, but pay attention when your running the polisher and don't buff to a dry buff. If you do, you can quickly re-polish that section by cleaning your pad and adding a little fresh product and making a few new section passes.


UMR
Remember, in most cases the goal is UMR or Uniform Material Removal. The reason for this is so that you remove an equal amount of paint over each section and in turn over the entire car. In order to do this you need a method that you can control and duplicate and for most people following a back and forth, side-to-side pattern works because it’s easy to remember, easy to do and easy to duplicate.


Resources
The above video segment is a 4 minute clip filmed during the extended version of How To Remove Swirls using any Dual Action Polisher like the Meguair's G110v2 and the Griot's Garage ROP and all models of he Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher, including the PC7424XP, PC7424, PC7336, G100


How to Remove Swirls using the Porter Cable 7424XP or any D.A. Polisher