Issues w/ breaking down polish (XP)

**Sixbanger** · 10-19-2013, 10:00 PM

Issues w/ breaking down polish (XP)

I went to Mike Philips class back in 2011, if you haven't had a chance to go, you should, very informative and shows you how to do it all.

Anyway, my last polish (4 months ago) I finally did the whole car the correct way thanks to mike and everything came out good. Last weekend I don't know what happened, I had to stop polishing after achieving only a small section of the hood. I washed it thoroughly and sprayed the car down with Griot's paint prep.

After, I prepped the car for polish and started on a corner of the hood. I used Menzerna FG 400 as polish and right after my second pass no polish on the hood at all, it all disappeared. Let me stress, everything is being done correctly! New LC 5.5 inch flat foam pads. My speed was at 6 and the pressure on the XP was correct.

After this happened, I re-applied more polish and the same thing happened again. I then proceeded with Meguiar's M205 to seal, after that it looked awful. I had to use alot of force to wipe off. Any input please. BMW135i

Here are some pics:

**allenk4** · 10-19-2013, 10:02 PM

How did you Prime the pad?

**Sixbanger** · 10-19-2013, 10:07 PM

3 nickel size dots then spread. 2 more drops to apply amd spread on car.

**Znig22** · 10-19-2013, 10:11 PM

How much heat exposure has your products seen while serving shelf life?

**Sixbanger** · 10-19-2013, 10:22 PM

I keep them inside one of my rooms inside a closet. Menzerna FG was just bought 3 months ago, however I did buy the M205 last year.

**Znig22** · 10-20-2013, 07:44 AM

Just do a iPA wipe down and do it in stages and see whats going on. Do a ipa wipe down after each stage.

**ski2** · 10-20-2013, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Sixbanger

I then proceeded with Meguiar's M205 to seal, after that it looked awful.

M205 to seal?? 205 is a polish not a sealant. It also has allot of polishing oils which could have compounded your problem.

**Sixbanger** · 10-20-2013, 09:03 AM

Sorry M205 to finish. I have 90% IPA at home, but I've never used IPA to wipe down my vehicle. Why? Because I'm just a little apprehensive about applying it to my paint. What's the safest ratio mix with water? If I must do this to fix this, then I must.

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**lawrenceSA** · 10-21-2013, 05:52 AM

I have used FG400 a fair amount and have found that:

1. Working it at speed 6 will lead it to drying out really quickly and dust a lot

2. Working it at speed 5 is a lot better, if you feel the need to work it at such a high speed at all. I did initially until chatting to Mike (Smack aka Mr BMW) one day and he suggested the lower working speed.

3. Working it at a lower machine speed (3 or 4) with a nice slow arm speed, will allow you to work a decent sized section and get at least 4 to 5 section passes out of it before it dries up.

You really need to slow the machine working speed down, as well as arm movement....

hope this helps.

Mike Phillips · 10-21-2013, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by Sixbanger

I used Menzerna FG 400 as polish and right after my second pass no polish on the hood at all, it all disappeared.

I replied to your Private Message and now to this thread...

I'm confident that whatever the problem is it's a simple fix. As soon as your schedule clears and I'm in town we'll get together and science this out.

There's a Thursday night project this week and a Thursday night project on WEDNESDAY October 30th for Tommy's Cuda.

So see if you can attend one of these Thursday night projects coming up.

Hang in there... I'm confident we can get this figured out.