Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint

[Mike Phillips]

Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint

Anyone that's been to one of our classes, (car and boat), or read any of my articles concerning polishing paint, (or gel-coat), knows that I always stress the importance of using products that use great abrasive technology.

Why?

This picture tells the whole story.





In the above picture of my buddy Jeff Bell buffing on the trunk lid of a neglected 1969 Ford Thunderbird.

Here's what you see IN ORDER of what touches the paint.

1: The first thing you see "touching" the paint is the compound.

2: On top of the compound is the buffing pad.

3: Behind the buffing pad is the tool.

4: And the last factor in this process is the person behind the tool.

Of course skill is important but skill is not touching the paint. It is the abrasive technology or in other words, the stuff in the bottle, that is touching the paint.

So when it comes to polishing paint here is what I believe based upon my years of experience to be the most important.

1. Product
2. Pad
3. Tool
4. Person

I know a lot of guys that are detailers are also a tick on the Alpha Male side of personality characteristics, you could even say some are a tick ego-driven because for hobby or a living, they take a swirled-out car and through their hard work, they restore a show car finish.

I get it, I've taken a lot of trashed-out cars and restored them to better than factory new condition myself. There's a sense of pride and satisfaction that comes from doing this type of restoration work. Some, (including me), would even go as far as to say that,

Polishing paint is an art form


When polishing paint is taken to an extreme degree, it is the human elements of care and passion, caring about our work and a passion for perfection, that takes the normal step required to polish paint and crosses over a line to where it is now an art form. We invest a part of ourselves into every car we detail.


I've had young people, old people and people from all walks of life attend my classes that have NEVER machine polished a car before. Yet their very first time have produced professional results that rival the best among us. These people did NOT have any experience and thus they also had no real skill to draw from. What they did have going for them was the fact that I ensure in all my classes we only use products that use great abrasive technology.


After abrasive technology
Once you have a good product, the other three factors, pads, tools and technique, are just a matter of,

Pads - Matching the right pad to the product to the job. For example in most situations, if you're using a compound you would choose a cutting or compounding pad and a tool powerful enough to work the pad and product.

Tools - Most tools on the market and sold by Autogeek have enough power to do both paint correction and polishing as long as you use the correct size and thickness of pad.

Technique - When machine buffing paint the basics apply no matter what product, pad or tool you're using.


Buffing technique for most polishers

Start with a Test Spot
Make sure you can remove the defects in one small area to your satisfaction before buffing out the entire car.
How to do a Test Spot


Start at the highest point and work your way down.
This is usually the roof followed by the hood and trunk lid. Next tackle vertical panels like fenders and doors.
Knock out the roof first


Break large panels into smaller sections
After working a section, move onto a new section and overlap a little into the previous section.
How to divide larger panels into smaller sections


Overlap your passes in a crosshatch pattern
When buffing a section, use overlapping passes and work the section using a crosshatch pattern. If you're working a thin panel that is not large enough to use a crosshatch pattern then simply move the polisher back-and-forth along the length of the panel, try to overlap a little in this back-n-forth pass if possible.


Make 6 to 10 Section Passes
In most situations, especially when removing below surface defects, you will need to move the polisher over one section at least 6-8 times and sometimes more.


Don't buff to a dry buff
Always have a wet film of product on the surface right up to your last section pass. Anytime you buff until the surface goes dry you risk micro-marring the paint because you've lost lubrication.

All these things lead to success but it starts with the stuff that touching the paint.



I know a lot of you guys will disagree and say skill is the most important factor but I know for a fact that some products are better than others when it comes to abrasive technology. Lesser quality abrasive technology will micro-mar the surface of a clearcoat finish when working on black paint it will turn it a shade of gray. This happens because when you scratch something clear the scratch appears to our eyes as opaque. Opaque = whitish. So when you micro-mar a clear coated finish you are turning the clearcoat opaque or whitish and when it's on top of a black basecoat the effect is the paint will become a shade of grey.


This same thing happens to ALL paint it's just harder to see on lighter colored cars.

The goal when polishing clearcoat paint systems is to maximize both gloss and clarity and you do this my remove all defects, both topical and sub-surface.

The goal when polishing single stage paints is also to maximize gloss and clarity as well as bring out the full richness of color and the same techniques you use on clearcoats you use on single stage paints.

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....

And just to show you what happened to the old T-bird using abrasive technology from 3D


How to restore a Barn Find - 1969 Ford Thunderbird - #7 Rub Out + FLEX = 3D products


The car that started out like this...









Ended up looking like this...







Here's the trunk lid Jeff was working...





And for what it's worth - there's enough information in this single write-up to write an entire book.

How to restore a Barn Find - 1969 Ford Thunderbird - #7 Rub Out + FLEX = 3D products

[Mike Phillips]

Shared here,


Buffing pad comparison chart

[Mike Phillips]

Shared here,

POLL - What's the number one most important factor when it comes to polishing paint?


My observation is that many, not all buy many detailers are in the Alpha Male group. And the way that applies to car detailing is they tend to think it is them and their great technique that makes car paint look good.


I take people, young, old and in-between that have NEVER polished paint before in their lives and with great abrasive technology they turn out just as professional of results as anyone of us on this forum including me.

The have ZERO technique.

[WristyManchego]

Good argument for office dwellers to buy some gear and become a professional.

[Mike Phillips]

Shared the below in my poll on the most important factor when it comes to polishing paint, going to share it here too.


I get asked to TEST new comounds and polishes for outside companies. Sometimes I give them a good report and sometimes I have bad news for them. I have a protocol I follow that has "controls" in place so all of the results are based upon the abrasives in the product.


I only show products I trust in all my classes and when I play Demo Boy at car shows, like I recently did at Barrett-Jackson, I always use a black demo hood and I only demo products I know and trust 100% have great abrasive technology. Thus I'm able to demo and demo and demo the product and the results are always 100% flawless.


I don't recommend this to others but here LIVE I'm pulling #2000 Grit Sanding Marks out of the factory black paint on a rental car using what I would consider a relatively weak tool. The Finisher is NOT called the BEAST for a reason, it's for FINISHING. I did couter the less aggressive free spinning action by using a foam cutting pad, (broken in), and did this LIVE over and over again for 3 days.

[Mike Phillips]

Shared this article here,

Review: Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

I recently tested 2 products that don't use great abrasive technology. No amount of "technique" is going to turn bad abrasive technology into good abrasive technology.


Pictures of Micro-Marring - DA Haze - Tick Marks - Compounds - Polishes - AIOs - Clearcoat Paints


Some pictures I took today showing what micro-marring looks like on black paint. You will also see people refer to this as,

Micro-marring
DA Haze
Tick Marks
Shadow Effect
Greying
Hazy


The first picture is using a SCANGRIP light and the second picture is using the flash on my Canon T6i


Medium micro-marring




This is a close-up cropped out of the original.

[Mike Phillips]

More...

When you look at what other's "think" I guess I'm wrong?


POLL - What's the number one most important factor when it comes to polishing paint?


And "yes" I voted for abrasive technology.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

More...

When you look at what other's "think" I guess I'm wrong?


POLL - What's the number one most important factor when it comes to polishing paint?


And "yes" I voted for abrasive technology.

Nope. Im with you. The most important part IS the abrasive technology. Its what connects you the user of machine and pad to the surface you are working on. You can have high end equipment but with lackluster abrasive technology the finished result wont be as great.

Think about an automobile. The tires are what connect you to the road. You can have a great car but with lackluster tires its not very safe to drive.