How to prep paint prior to compounding, polishing and wax/sealant?

[putszie]

Hello forumers, hows are you all doing?
I’m working on a car but for some reason i stopped working on it for a while. I already finished the entire hood with compound, polish and wax, but i’m planning resume working on it and also re do the hood because i did’nt do a good finish on it, i know i left some holograms on it which bad :-( huhuhu
What should i do to remove the wax from the hood? Or what are your advice for me to do?
I’m a newbie to paint correction so i wanna do this the right way through your help guys... Thank u in advance forumers :-)

[Mantilgh]

Sorry, I decided to look at your profile and previous threads.

First; the wax should not cause an issue at all, your compound or polish should remove it without any work at all. At a minimum wash and clay the vehicle, or panel, you want to work on first.

I was going to ask what type of machine you are using because I was not sure if you were not able to remove the tracers, or if you were putting them in.

After I snooped a little I read that you work at a dealership and have access to a rotary polisher and assume from what you are saying is that you are leaving tracers behind with compound step.

I also noticed that you have, or have access to, Meguiar's M85.

Is M85 the compound that you will be using?

Are you using a rotary?

And, are you using a wool pad?

If you are using these three together, please be careful. It is a very aggressive combination.

Back when I worked clean up/lot for a dealer I decided to clean up the oxidation on my old Datsun with their rotary. In short time I cut right through to the primer on crease on my hood.

Rotaries can cut fast and without mercy!

If you haven't, take time to read some good articles here and try to get some practice on a beater car first.

Maybe some others here can point you to some good articles or give you some tips.

[Mike Phillips]

M85 was good in its day but there a much better compounds on the market today that work faster, work better and are a lot easier to work with.

Holograms - Inflicted by a rotary buffer.

Tracers = Straight line scratches inflicted by hand sanding.


If you don't have a DA polisher or if the company doesn't have a DA polisher, then I'd recommend getting a DA Polisher like the Griot's or the Porter Cable.

You'll need some foam pads to go with it. Most important you need some "good" compounds and polishes.

If you're doing production work you need a one-step cleaner/wax.


How to choose and use a one-step cleaner/wax by Mike Phillips

High quality production detailing by Mike Phillips

[putszie]

Hey Mike, thanks for replying, im just waiting for my new visa debit and will order my MT300 pro kit soon, is that a good tool for me to start with? Thanks Mike

[putszie]

Thank you Mantilgh. No worries about checking my previous posts :-)
Not all of them are related in this latest post of mine, some of those posts are just info gathering for me when i encounter some situations regarding those posts.
I used the Megs DA power system, that’s all i have right now but will br ordering my MT300 pro kit soon at autgeek, it took me a long time to do just the entire hood so i decided to stop for a while and have to order better DA machine. The owner has a rotary so i bought a wool pad, polishing pad and finishing pad, and i started working on the driver side door panel but im always nervous while using the wool pad + M85 that i might burn or cut too much of the paint so i told him that i will stop doing it and will have to buy a new DA machine...
The things thag i remember that caused holograms are too much panel passes i think, possibly too much downward pressure, i think every small panel i worked has no even counts of panel passes due to newness to this hobby.
I work in a dealership but we don’t do much paint correction, my duty is to clean exterior and interior of new or used cars and trade in cars. For the exterior, we use degreaser, wash N wax soap, bug spray, and pressure washer but i got interested in doing beyond our duties like paint correction. Thanks again

[Mike Phillips]

Hey Mike, thanks for replying, im just waiting for my new visa debit and will order my MT300 pro kit soon, is that a good tool for me to start with? Thanks Mike

I think the Meguiar's MT300 is a great dual action polisher and a very capable machine.

I'd strongly recommend getting their thin foam discs and stick with their new compounds and polishes. Like the M101 and the M205.

See my write up here, it's very in-depth and shows over 100 pictures to document exactly what this little hummer can do....

NEW! Meguiar’s Foam Buffing Discs





On Autogeek.com

Meguiars 5 Inch DA Foam Discs



Here's the Camaro we buffed out and be sure to look at the BEFORE pictures as this thing was WIPE OUT!