Holograms with hand polish

Since this is your first post...

Welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:


I think you mean swirls or swirl scratches.

Holograms are a scratch pattern put into paint by the use or misuse of a rotary buffer. See this article,


The word holograms means a specific scratch pattern inflicted into paint using a rotary buffer

jordy17 said:

I'm having holograms in my paintwork after i hand polished,

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What are you using for a product?

What are you using to apply the product?

What color is the paint on your car?


If you're aiming for perfection and working on black or dark colored paint then you're going to want to move up to machine polishing. Clearcoats are scratch-sensitive and even the best among us find it difficult to create a flawless finish when working by hand.

Have you cleaned properly before polishing and clayed it? Why I am asking is if not really cleaned before you may install scratchers more than polishing them of.

If you want to get as much help as possible. Describe in detail your way to do it and we can help you out alot easier.

jordy17 said:

I have clayed, the surface is 100% clean. I just put a little bit of polish on a micro fibre applicator and just do straight and circular motions, could the pressure used be too high or too little?

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Could the polish have too much cut for a finishing polish thus leaving marring (holograms) which are fine scratches.

It could be the polish.

Mike says the abrasive technology is the most important factor when it comes to polishing paint.

https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...ortant-factor-when-comes-polishing-paint.html

Mantilgh said:

It could be the polish.

Mike says the abrasive technology is the most important factor when it comes to polishing paint.

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Correct. That is what I say and what I believe from real-world experience.


My guess is it's the polish. We've had other people come onto this forum over the years asking for help to remove swirls after using consumer grade compounds and polishes.


The fastest, easiest fix right now would be to get some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and re-apply to the affected areas using a NEW clean microfiber pad.


From years of experience, and as a person that teaches how to remove defects including sanding marks by HAND - most people in my experience and opintion do not possess the skills, muscle, tenacity or expericne to know how to move their hand to correctly, properly and completely remove any type of defect out of modern clearcoat paints by hand. Even when using great abrasive technology.

It's hard than most people think it should be. But that's how clearcoats roll in the shire.


Here's the actual blue clickable link to my poll on that you referenced.


POLL - What's the number one most important factor when it comes to polishing paint?


1: Technique.
2: Tool.
3: Pad.
4: Paint.
5: Abrasive technology.


Which one and why?


And my answer is ALWAYS abrasive technology. It touches the paint first followed by the pad, followed by the tool and the person is the last thing to in order of what touches the paint. Some, not all but some detailers are alpha males and ego driven and these are the guys that always say technique trumps all else.

But I could give any self-proclaimed expert any number of compounds, polishes and cleaner/waxes on the market today, (all three of these use abrasive technology), and no amount of technique will MAKE them work great on black paint or any color paint.

That can be it the polishing oils makes you see some kind of hologram look.
Maybe get some Ipa and dilute down to about 10% and wipe of a test spot. This will take care of the polishing oils.

And as Mike is saying to polish by hand is a hard grunt work.

One thing to ad is that a microfiber applicator is a coarse pad. When useing on a da polisher mf cutting pads are about the most coarse pad you can get. There is handgrips with velcro on them that you can use polishing pads on them. If you want to still go with hand polishing. But I recommend to get a da polisher like porter cable xp7423 or a griots gg6. This will get you a easier work and a more uniform finish. And look at Mikes videos about how starting with polishing with a polisher. He gives us a ton of information that is so valueble.

jordy17 said:

I think I've found my problem, I just can't completely remove the kinda oily stuff in the polish, if I wipe over it the holograms change in shape a bit


so when I'm done I'm going to wash my car and see what that gives

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I like this. Do wash the car and then inspect in the sun. Let us know what you see.

Also, to troubleshoot, find a place on the car that has no swirls and scratches. Apply this product to a small area and only apply in a back and forth direction. If it's scratching the paint it will be apparent due to the scratches will be in the direction you rubbed.


If it doesn't scratch you're good to go. Finish using this product for whatever you were doing with it and then seal the paint with a coat of wax, an application of a synthetic paint sealant or a paint coating.

I had an interesting observation this fall. A friend had paint transfer on his 2016 F150 tailgate from a basketball ball hoop falling and “lightly” grazing the tailgate. I wasn’t able to touch the paint transfer with a Rupes 15 MkII and a MF cutting pad/GG fast correcting cream. I switched to a cheap 3” MF hand applicator and applied heavy pressure and the paint came off in seconds.

Do you think this has more to do with the heat I was creating, or can hand compounding/polishing in very small concentrated areas actually correct faster. I’m thinking the friction actually loosened the paint transfer and helped remove the paint? I’m guessing a heat gun warming up the paint transfer followed by polishing would have worked?

LEDetailing said:

I had an interesting observation this fall. A friend had paint transfer on his 2016 F150 tailgate from a basketball ball hoop falling and “lightly” grazing the tailgate. I wasn’t able to touch the paint transfer with a Rupes 15 MkII and a MF cutting pad/GG fast correcting cream. I switched to a cheap 3” MF hand applicator and applied heavy pressure and the paint came off in seconds.

Do you think this has more to do with the heat I was creating, or can hand compounding/polishing in very small concentrated areas actually correct faster. I’m thinking the friction actually loosened the paint transfer and helped remove the paint? I’m guessing a heat gun warming up the paint transfer followed by polishing would have worked?

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You maybe on to something. And yes, heat does soften.

For probably not much more than you will pay someone to do a paint correction on the car you could buy what you need to do it yourself. Machine polishing is safe as long as common sense is used and most really enjoy doing it. Doing it yourself and seeing the incredible outcome can be quite rewarding. As you can see there are many people on here willing to help any way they can. Mike has some great advice in the "How to" section.

jordy17 said:

I think that it's just the polish I was using. I guess turtle wax isn't a good brand after all

I think I'm going to give it one more try before getting it done by a professional detailer, if the holograms are gone and the swirls reduced I'm more than happy.

I found plenty of polishes that seem promising but all only talk about machine polishing not by hand, can I use those by hand too (lots of work is not a problem for me I have many hours to spend).

Nanoflex finishing polish seemed a good one to me. what brand would you recommend?

Also what applicator? I used a microfiber one for this but is foam better?

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Easy to get lost in even the little bit of info you've been given so far, isn't it.

Go with what Mike Phillips said previously:

"The fastest, easiest fix right now would be to get some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and re-apply to the affected areas..."

This product works well by hand. I would recommend using something like this:

https://www.autogeek.net/polishing-pal.html

to save your hand. Maybe pick up a 3-4 inch cutting pad to go with it. You don't want to go any slower than necessary by hand.