First Makita Cut/Polish this weekend... Roof Technique??

**Jimmie** · 08-26-2011, 06:05 PM

I agree with the guys that recommend a platform. I give the circular the ultimate respect working head high. In fact rarely do it. Another consideration for much respect is keeping the cord clear. They can wrap a cord up before you know what happened.

opie_7afe · 08-27-2011, 12:15 AM

remember do a test spot! so then you can figure out what steps will work for a correction, and as mike phillips says, "start out with the least aggressive pad/product first". good luck to you and wish you the best....don't let the buffer control you, control the buffer

**Bimmerfan** · 08-27-2011, 09:08 AM

Rotary's much, much bettter than DA buffer and I do not like anything bigger than 6" pads. For heavier cut I prefer wool with 105 over foam and 205 for finishing

**courtdale** · 08-27-2011, 11:12 AM

Well, 3/4 of the way done with the cut. Driver's side is what I have left. Observations so far:

- Do not do this on the hottest day of the year, supposed to hit 97 today and I've soaked through 3 shirts already. The M105 is drying up too quickly and I'm having to mist every 15 seconds. Obviously not a good thing.

- I used the heavy cut foam (LC yellow) and m105 for the first run. I know many said to start lesser, but I wanted to get a feel for all products and range, so I went big. Unfortunately, I think I'm being too much of a girl with my technique and I'm probably not getting max effectiveness out of the abrasives. I haven't gone past the 3rd speed setting and have done most of the car with the first 2 (600-1000 or so).

- Lighting is poor, so its hard to tell how well I am doing. I'm in the garage with the door open, with a black car, details are hard to see. It does look like most of the low end imperfections are coming out, and the shine is popping more, but the larger scratches don't seem to be budging. Hoping to make more progress with them in the medium cut/polish.

- My prediction of the roof being difficult held true. I couldn't manage the MAkita at all in those hard to reach areas. Certainly couldn't go past 600rpm and was getting a lot of pad hop. Lower side panels also seem to be a #####.

- ANd as advised, yes, other than the hood 8.5"s don't seem very practical for this job. Hell, I don't even know how some of you get into those smaller places (rear/license plate areas etc) with 5-6" pads. Doing my best, but I think I'm going to be missing quite a few spots when I'm done due to size.

Kind of torn right now. Not sure if I should finish the whole run with the large pads, or stop after the heavy cut, order smaller plates and pads and wait on the medium cut and final polish.

**courtdale** · 08-27-2011, 09:09 PM

Cut is done. Not sure whether to be pleased or depressed. I spent 7 hrs on it today, and it's hazy with most scratches still there. I'm trying to stay positive as I know its supposed to be hazy, but I really thought there's be a more noticeable difference in the scratches from what I've seen online. Maybe I was just too conservative with the cut... time, pressure etc.

Hopefully the MEnzerma Power Cut with the LC Green will make up some ground tomorrow morning. With a little more feel for the technique, I'm hoping for the better.

opie_7afe · 08-28-2011, 01:43 AM

remember with scratches you are leveling the paint around the scratch, so you need to work the product longer and adjust pressure. the haziness is normal with a yellow pad and a heavy cut compound. the pad hop you're getting could be due to you not keeping the pad flat enough. what i would do is use a say, finishing polish on a finishing pad on a panel just to learn how to control the polisher, so you don't end up cutting too much due to you still learning. furthermore don't let it get you down it just takes practice(for me it was easy because i learn pretty well from focusing on how others work and having good confidence helps and makes you less nervous) good luck man, hope you get that bmw looking beautiful as it should!

**master detailer** · 08-28-2011, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by courtdale

Cut is done. Not sure whether to be pleased or depressed. I spent 7 hrs on it today, and it's hazy with most scratches still there. I'm trying to stay positive as I know its supposed to be hazy, but I really thought there's be a more noticeable difference in the scratches from what I've seen online. Maybe I was just too conservative with the cut... time, pressure etc.

Hopefully the MEnzerma Power Cut with the LC Green will make up some ground tomorrow morning. With a little more feel for the technique, I'm hoping for the better.

stay with the wool pad and try to up your speed some this will help in cuting dont push down just up speed and put more comp on it.

**courtdale** · 08-28-2011, 09:37 AM

Thanks for the replies. Well, I was back at it at 7am (so much for the smaller pad idea), so I missed some of the advice here. My technique is 100% better on the medium cut with Menz PF and the LC Green Medium pad. Not sure if its the change of products or the rotary time I put in yesterday that made the difference. Maybe both. I've also been able to knock the speed up a notch without issue.

I've only hit 2 panels so far this morning, but wow, the paint looks like deep black water. Swirls and small scratches are gone, no holograms or mars, but those damn larger scratches that I didn't hit hard enough during the first cut ar making me nuts.

Still have the Final polish left with 85RD and the LC Gray pad after this stage. I have a feeling that's just going to make the paint look even deeper, and those scratches will be making me even crazier. Yes, I'll definitely increase pressure and speed next time.

Guess it will give me something to shoot for when I try this again down the road. My attitude was -learn from the experience and 2. make the car look "better" without damaging anything. With that in mind, I guess its going alright.

**RaskyR1** · 08-29-2011, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by courtdale

Thanks for the replies. Well, I was back at it at 7am (so much for the smaller pad idea), so I missed some of the advice here. My technique is 100% better on the medium cut with Menz PF and the LC Green Medium pad. Not sure if its the change of products or the rotary time I put in yesterday that made the difference. Maybe both. I've also been able to knock the speed up a notch without issue.

I've only hit 2 panels so far this morning, but wow, the paint looks like deep black water. Swirls and small scratches are gone, no holograms or mars, but those damn larger scratches that I didn't hit hard enough during the first cut ar making me nuts.

Still have the Final polish left with 85RD and the LC Gray pad after this stage. I have a feeling that's just going to make the paint look even deeper, and those scratches will be making me even crazier. Yes, I'll definitely increase pressure and speed next time.

Guess it will give me something to shoot for when I try this again down the road. My attitude was -learn from the experience and 2. make the car look "better" without damaging anything. With that in mind, I guess its going alright.

Once you've done the initial leveling the proceeding steps are always more "fluid", so that's why you are finding easier. Had you not used M105 first and instead started with the step you are doing now it would likely have acted very similar to the M105 step (grabby feel, hard to control, pad hop...)

Good to hear it working out well for you.