How long does it take you to cut through an oem test hood?

I know the answer varies like crazy but I was wondering first how long it takes you to wear through the clear coat on your test hood. Then I figured that was probably painted with extra clear? So have you ever had a test hood you wore right through? How many times did you have to compound it roughly.

Does a medium cut polish or swirl remover have what it takes to cut through an oem clearcoat. Say with a finishing pad? Are we talking closer to 5-6 times or 50 times?

I know there is no exact answer since there are so many variables so I'm not trying to nail you down on an exact answer. Its just I read on another forum that it would taking literally hundreds of times to wear through the clear coat of a modern car with Ultimate compound. I've always wondered how true that is?

I know how thin clear coats are as in a post-it note but obviously they are very hard. They are not easy to cut though. At least not with a soft pad and milder consumer type compound like meguiars UC.

It really depends on the type of paint and the thickness. If for instance you take a hood from a japanesse car like a honda civic that has soft paint and very little of it, I would think you would cut through it rather quickly. On the other hand, if you take a hood from a car that has Ceramicoat on it, then you could get away with a loot more buffing sessions.

Here is what I would advise you do if you are planning on buying a test hood.

1- Get one with thick paint. If you have paint depth gauge, you can go through the scrap yard until you find something you like.
2- If possible get one from a german car. They usually have harder clear coats than japanesse or american cars (but not always).
3-Get a can of 2K clearcoat and after doing a 600 grit sanding of the hood, spray it with an additionnal layer of clear. Better yet, ask a local body shop if they can clear coat it for you. Would cost more but the coat would much thicker and the quality of the paint job would be a lot better.

I am thinking of getting one myself to do some promo videos for my services.

There is a limit to the amount of paint you
can/should remove. Besides the possibility
of unexpectedly “burning through” the top
film layer of the paint system...just the fact
of making it “too thin” could also compromise
the integrity of a paint-system to the point of
it being the causation of future problems.


•Besides that...IMO:
-If a person would go by MP’s principle of
“least aggressive first”...then the con-
tinual pounding away at a paint-system
with Ultimate Compound (in order to affirm,
or not, the premise of your thread-starter)
will become a moot point.



Bob

At a Rupes training event, a factory hood was machine sanded with 3000 grit and compounded with Zephir/Microfiber.

He said it was done fifteen times the prior day, and began to strike through after the first or second demo the day I attended.