First time detail... polishing. Whole car, or just what needs it?

[bcsteeve]

I picked up a 2 year old car that has - in my estimation - very poor condition paint for its age. There are rock chips that I realize I can't do anything about other than paint, but there are also many fine (and not so fine) scratches. I recently purchased a porter cable DA on the cheap, went shopping for pads, mediums, etc. Yesterday I washed the car, today I finished clay barring it. Now (I think) I'm ready to polish.

Any tips in general are appreciated, but specifically I'm asking if I should be doing every square inch of paint, or just the parts where I can see problems?

Thanks.

[machz]

Sounds like the car is in need of a resto so I would do the entire car to get it all in good shape. Then later on down the road you can spot polish if needed.

[bcsteeve]

Alright, now what am I doing wrong?

I've got a long but very fine scratch that's bothered me, so I thought I'd start there. By "fine", I mean it feels perfectly smooth to my touch. I certainly can't catch a nail on it at all, and if I close my eyes and feel with my finger/nail I couldn't tell where it was.

I just used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound on a Chemical Guy's orange Logic Quantum pad with a Porter Cable 7424XP. I spread the product quickly at speed 1 then went slowly at speed 5 for about 2 minutes. Scratch still there. I can't say it is noticeably diminished at all.

Do I need more product?
Does it just take longer?
Do I need more pressure?
Am I just over-estimating what I can expect? I mean, if little scratches like this can't come out them I'm starting to question the whole point of this expense and exercise.

[Rsurfer]

PC lacks power, so crank it up to speed 6. Hope you don't have a 6" backing plate, a 5" will work much better. For spot buffing (removing scratches) get a 3.5" backing plate with a good compound and that should take care of the problem areas.

[SWETM]

What car do you have?
Have you done a mark on the backing plate with a different color than the backing plate so you can see if it is spinning?
If you have done this and it's not correcting it you may have a really hard clearcoat. And need a pad with more cut in it. How much compound are haveing on the pad? And what size is the area you are working on? A picture would help a lot to help you.

[bcsteeve]

It is a Tesla Model S.

I have not done a mark, but I can see it spinning. The area I was talking about is about a foot by six inches. I put 4 pea sized blobs of compound on the pad. I'll add a photo in a few minutes.

[bcsteeve]

Pfft... nevermind. Apparently my photography skills are worse than my detailing skills, because I can't get a photo of the scratch. I took several pictures and you'd swear there's no scratch, but I can see it in person.

[SWETM]

I hope there anyone else with experience of the hardness of the Tesla clearcoat and can share. That is the amount of compound to use in 2×2 area so if you are possible to polish a large area so do so. The quantums are 1" wider than the backing plate and are you using the 6" backing plate that can do that the polisher bogs down and not spinning fast enough. The eye can trick you so you think it's spinning so it's really helpfull to mark the backing plate. Most of the experienced do so also and mostly because so you see the plate spinning fast enough to correct the most. I do so and it's really helpfull for me. If the clearcoat is hard you might invest in a microfiber cutting disc and a 5" backing plate. You can do a test spot with a 2×2 some where else and see if you can get some correction on some swirls. Work the spot side to side and up and down. Even on the scratch you have and so for 4-6 passes and wipe of and have it inspected with a good light.

[Morrison]

I can not speak for Tesla but I had a similar hard time removing some light scratches on a Mercedes. I finally got them out with a meguairs mf cutting pad and menzerna 400.


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[bcsteeve]

Thanks for the tip about marking the backing plate. I *thought* I could see it turning, but after marking I now see how easy it is to stop it from spinning. I hit it again and I think it has diminished the appearance at least a little. I'll do a few more passes today.

[Rsurfer]

Thanks for the tip about marking the backing plate. I *thought* I could see it turning, but after marking I now see how easy it is to stop it from spinning. I hit it again and I think it has diminished the appearance at least a little. I'll do a few more passes today.

I'm assuming that you are using a 6" bp. Do yourself a favor and get a 5" and 3.5" bp with some appropriate pads. It will make your life so much easier.

[Ronin47]

Agree with others, a PC trying to rotate 6.5” thick pads is a burden to try and keep rotation.

[bcsteeve]

No, I'm using a 5 inch with chemical Brothers quantum pass... 5.5 inch I think they were sold as.

[Ochnob]

Don’t get frustrated. These guys will get you there. I agree with one of the previous posts. Take a sharpie and make I line on your backing plate so you can see it spin. I’m a new weekend diy guy with apoerter cable and these guys have helped a lot. I have gotten a ton better. What compound are you using?

[chet31]

You could compromise. At a minimum, you should go over your entire surface with a fine grade polish. This gives you the most shine, you could quit there. Then you could see if any deeper swirls bother you, and spot polish those areas.