Re: The Definitive How-To Article for Removing Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots Using a Porter Cable 7424XP, G110v2 or Griot's Garage Polisher
Originally Posted by One2nine
This may be a pretty simple/stupid question, but how often do you need to reapply product?
No such thing as a stupid question on this forum and your question is a good one and a common one at that.
When you buff out a car using a Porter Cable "type" of dual action polisher, you divide large panels into smaller sections and then buff each section out at one time. After you buff out one section you stop buffing, wipe the residue off of that section and then clean your pad, apply fresh or new product and move onto the next section.
When you move onto a new section you overlap a little into the previous section for uniform material removal.
UMR = Uniform Material Removal
That is, you want to remove as much material, (material in this case would be car paint), in one area as you do all areas for a uniform, swirl free or defect free looking finish.
How I would section any body panel would be easier to figure out if I were standing right in front of the vehicle, that said, here's how I would probably divide the hood into smaller sections to polish with a Porter Cable type dual action polisher. If using a more powerful tool, rotary , Flex 3401 or Rupes, you could take the small section I've outlined and tackle more of them at one time. I'd still divide the center large mass of the hood into at least two section and possibly 4 sections depending how much correction is needed.
These, longer, THINNER sections of a body panel are the norm for a lot of cars, trucks and suvs and this is why I like 5.5" pads on tools like the PC and even 4" Spot Repair Pads and that's because smaller diameter pads fit modern cars better than large pads.
I drew lines to show how to divide a large hood into smaller sections. You would buff each one of these sections out one at a time.
After you buff a section, wipe the residue off the paint in that section and move onto a new section.
Before you move on, clean your pad with a pad brush or using the "clean your pad on the fly method".
Just like you removed the residue off the panel after buffing it, you're going to have residue on the face of your buffing pad. If you don't remove this residue, which is removed paint and spent product, it will build up and create a caked-up mess.
From my article list and also in my how-to book, ebook and ibook...
Re: The Definitive How-To Article for Removing Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots Using a Porter Cable 7424XP, G110v2 or Griot's Garage Polisher
Mike, thanks for your many tips. I recently bought a GG DA from you all, but haven't used it yet. I'm waiting for a whole day of good weather.
Anyway, before I use my pads for the first time, do I need to condition them with either QD spray or the polish that I'm using at the time? I hear so many options for conditioning. I'm going to be removing swirls with WG swirl remover and WG sealant and I also have the Klasse twins that I will be using on my truck.
Re: The Definitive How-To Article for Removing Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots Using a Porter Cable 7424XP, G110v2 or Griot's Garage Polisher
Originally Posted by rouxster
Mike, thanks for your many tips. I recently bought a GG DA from you all, but haven't used it yet. I'm waiting for a whole day of good weather.
Anyway, before I use my pads for the first time, do I need to condition them with either QD spray or the polish that I'm using at the time?
Pre-conditioning a pad with a liquid is an option that some like to use for cutting pads, both foam and wool.
Another option is to condition or "prime" them with the product you're going to use with them, this is what I tend to do.
Originally Posted by rouxster
I hear so many options for conditioning. I'm going to be removing swirls with WG swirl remover and WG sealant and I also have the Klasse twins that I will be using on my truck.
Just prime your pads using the polishes you have... like this,
1. Priming the pad then adding product to work with
Priming a clean, dry pad is considered the best approach for using a DA Polisher because it ensures that 100% of the working surface of the pad is wet with product and working at maximum efficiency when you turn the polisher on. I originally learned of this technique from my friend Kevin Brown.
Priming the pad also ensures that you don't have any dry portion of the pad working over the paint un-lubricated. This really isn't a risk because since you're just starting out you're going to be removing defects a lot more serious than would be caused by any portion of the pad that is dry and spinning against the paint.
Plus, after just a few passes, the product you apply to specific areas of the face of the pad will migrate over the entire face of the pad and it will do this rather quickly when you're on the higher speed settings.
Priming the Pad - For clean, dry pads
Start with a clean, dry pad and add some fresh product to be spread out to the face of the pad. Using your finger, spread the product out over the pad and then using your finger work it into the pores of the pad. Don't saturate the pad, just use enough product to make sure that 100% of the working face of the pad has product coverage.
Work the product around the face of the pad and into the pores
Any extra, take and apply to the outer edge until 100% of the working face of the pad is primed with product.
As an option you can also prime the outer edge. This helps if you're buffing around convex curves or around panels that the edge of your buffing pad may come into contact with, like spoilers, side mirror housings, curved panels etc.
Primed and ready to add "Working Product" to.
Adding "Working Product" to the primed pad
Some people will recommend 3 to 4 pea size drops of product as the proper amount of product to use and this can be correct for concentrated products or working small sections and if you follow this advice make sure you are not under-lubricating the surface being worked.
Pea size drops of product
For some products and paint conditions, you may want more product on the surface working for you. Here's an example of dime size drops of product.
Dime size drops of product
How much product to use after priming
Ample
You want an AMPLE amount of product when first starting out because you pad is dry and some of the product is going to seep into the pad leaving less on the surface to LUBRICATE and ABRADE the paint
Cut down on the amount of product AFTER pad is broken-in...
After your pad is broken in with product, clean your pad after each section pass and when you apply fresh product you can cut down on the amount of product you actually apply to the face of your pad.
Too Little Product Under-using product reduces lubricity and will make it more difficult for your pad to rotate efficiently.
Too Much Product
Using too much product will hyper-lubricate or over-lubricate the pad and will interfere with the abrasives ability to abrade the paint.
Keep in mind that you want enough product on the surface so you have,
Abrasives working for you.
A lubricating film between the paint and the pad.
Often times if you don't have enough product to work with you'll end up buffing to a dry buff. When you lose lubrication, friction increase and this can lead to micro-marring or hazing.
Tyler, age 15 removing swirls using a Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher
When you're first starting out machine polishing and learning to use a DA Polisher it's common to have questions about your results and your results are directly tied to your technique.
Here's a list of the most common problems,
1. Trying to work too large of an area at one time.
2. Moving the polisher too fast over the surface.
3. Using too low of speed setting for removing swirls.
4. Using too little downward pressure on the head of the polisher.
5. Using too much downward pressure on the head of the polisher so the pad quits rotating.
6. Not holding the polisher in a way to keep the pad flat while working your compound or polish.
7. Using too much product or using too little product.
8. Not cleaning the pad often enough.
Here's a list of the solutions in matching order,
1. Trying to work too large of an area at one time.
Shrink the size of your work area down. You can't tackle to large of an area at one time. The average size work area should be around 20" by 20". Most generic recommendations say to work an area 2' by 2' but for the correction step, that's too large. You have to do some experimenting, (called a Test Spot), to find out how easy or how hard the defects are coming out of your car's paint system and then adjust your work area to the results of your Test Spot. The harder the paint the smaller the area you want to work.
2. Moving the polisher too fast over the surface.
For removing defects out of the paint you want to use what we call a Slow Arm Speed. It's easy and actually natural for most people new to machine polishing to move the polisher quickly over the paint but that's the wrong technique. One reason I think people move the polisher too quickly over the paint is because they hear the sound of the motor spinning fast and this has psychological effect which causes them to match their arm movement to the perceived fast speed of the polisher's motor.
Another reason people move the polisher too quickly over the paint is because they think like this,
"If I move the polisher quickly, I'll get done faster"
But it doesn't work that way. Anytime you're trying to remove swirls, scratches, water spots or oxidation using a DA Polisher you need to move the polisher s-l-o-w-l-y over the paint.
3. Using too low of speed setting for removing swirls.
When first starting out many people are scared of burning or swirling their paint, so they take the safe route of running the polisher at too low of a speed setting but this won't work. The action of the polisher is already g-e-n-t-l-e, you need the speed and specifically the pad oscillating and rotating over the paint as well as the combination of time, (slow arm speed), together with the abrasives, the pad aggressiveness, and the downward pressure to remove small particles of paint which is how your remove below surface defects like swirls or scratches.
Removing below surface defects is a leveling process where you need the abrasives to take little bites out of the paint and to get the abrasives to take these little bites with a tool that uses a Free Floating Spindle Bearing Assembly you need all of the above factors working for you including a high speed setting.
4. Using too little downward pressure on the head of the polisher.
For the same reason as stated in #3, people are scared, or perhaps a better word is apprehensive, to apply too much downward pressure to the polisher and the result of too little pressure is no paint is removed thus no swirls are removed.
5. Using too much downward pressure on the head of the polisher so the pad quits rotating.
If you push too hard you will slow down the rotating movement of the pad and the abrasives won't be effectively worked against the paint. You need to apply firm pressure to engage the abrasives against the paint but no so much that the pad is barely rotating. This is where it's a good idea to use a permanent black marker to make a mark on the back of your backing plate so your eyes can easily see if the pad is rotating or not and this will help you to adjust your downward pressure accordingly.
Correct technique means finding a balance of applying enough downward pressure to remove defects but not too much downward pressure as to stop the rotating movement of the pad.
This balance is affected by a lot of factors like the lubricity of the product you're using, some compounds and polishes provide more lubrication than others and this makes it easier to maintain pad rotation under pressure.
Another factor that can affect pad rotation are raised body lines, edges and curved surfaces as anytime you have uneven pressure on just a portion of the face of the pad it can slow or stop pad rotation. This is where experience comes into play and experience comes from time spent behind the polisher.
6. Not holding the polisher in a way to keep the pad flat while working your compound or polish.
Applying pressure in such a way as to put too much pressure to one edge of the pad will cause it to stop rotating and thus decrease abrading ability.
7. Using too much product or using too little product.
Too much product hyper-lubricates the surface and the result is that abrasives won't effectively bite into the paint but instead will tend to skim over the surface. Overusing product will also accelerate pad saturation as well increase the potential for slinging splatter onto adjacent panels.
Too little product will means too little lubrication and this can interfere with pad rotation.
Again there needs to be a balance between too much product and too little product and finding this balance comes from reading articles like this one, watching videos an most important, going out into the garage and putting in time behind the polisher and as you're buffing with specific product and pad combinations, pay attention to pad rotation.
8. Not cleaning the pad often enough.
Most people simply don't clean their pad often enough to maximize the effectiveness of their DA Polisher. Anytime you're abrading the paint you have two things building up on the face of your buffing pad,
Removed paint
Spent product
As these to things build up on the face of the pad they become gummy and this has a negative affect on pad rotating plus makes wiping the leftover residue on the paint more difficult. To maintain good pad rotation you want to clean your pad often and always wipe-off any leftover product residue off the paint after working a section. Never add fresh product to your pad and work a section that still has leftover product residue on it.
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Originally Posted by One2nine
Awesome!
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