First time out ever: impressions and questions

First, the Palmolive did nothing to remove your old wax. The claying did.

Second, I'm not sure about how hard Volvo paint is, but I would definitely try FCC next.

Your technique sounds fine, so I would give the FCC a shot with the orange pad. See if it works better. If not, then step up to the yellow pads.

I agree with Paul.

Correcting Cream never really corrected defects for me unless the paint was soft and even then I pair it with Griot's microfiber pad.

I would go with FCC and step up to a more aggressive pad.

What speed are you using? Good pad rotation?

Be careful chasing the deep stuff - those are R.I.D.S. (Random isolated deep scratches). To reduce how much they show up, you’re removing the clear coat next to them, thinning it in that area. (Thus making the scratch shallower) Sometimes you just have to let some scratches live on for the long term health of the clear.

Drives you crazy, but I’ve had to do the same on my daily.

olfac87 said:

Sounds like I should start with orange, then go to yellow and then MF? I don't own yellow or MF yet, so I am not sure if I should buy both or go with one over the other.

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Yes. Use the FCC with the orange pad, then step up to the yellow if need be.

If that doesn't work, then just as oneheadlight said, you might want to stop there and not even try a MF pad. Just live with them.

olfac87 said:

Thank you both. Sounds like I should start with orange, then go to yellow and then MF? I don't own yellow or MF yet, so I am not sure if I should buy both or go with one over the other.

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I would probably skip yellow and just pick up their microfiber pad that has the foam interface. It's not as aggressive as say the lake country microfiber cutting pad.

I agree with the others. Don't chase those rids much. Just a little bit to clean them up if they aren't coming out without a lot of effort.

If this is a daily driver then the decision should be ... live with it or go after it a little further. I dont like to go after rids with a pad due to excess of material being remove on the surrounding area. The other issue is heat. To remove something like this may require some serious "grinding" with the machine which for sure will generate heat. A MF pad cut faster and better than foam but the heat and excess material removal is much intensified. When I am using a fiber pad, It is common to see me to checking the panel for excessive heat with my hand during the procedure.

Wet sanding is a better option since it would be much more surgical and focused without the issue of heat but I am not recommending this to anyone who is not familiar with the process. One thing you can try is to shrink your work area and add a bit more pressure. Aggressiveness level can be alter by changing pads, the liquid, pressure, arm speed and finally work area. Changing one of these variables or a combination of them will get you different results. Or..... just live with the rids.

I hope this helps.

olfac87 said:

Absolutely helps. It is my daily driver. In addition to the pictures I sent, I am looking at the paint and still seeing a lot of "pattern" for lack of a better word. I feel like it is worth trying the FCC just to see if I can bring the overall paint job one step closer, and if some of the rids come out then fantastic. If not, living with them is no problem. This is the practice car before I move on to two nicer cars with much newer and cleaner paint jobs.

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And...... Griot's FCC finishes down wonderfully. You most likely will not need to use a "finisher" afterward.

olfac87 said:

Well, that's just great. What am I going to do with my GG Perfecting Cream and 6 LC white pads??

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:laughing:

Line them up on the shelf to admire your extensive and complete arsenal. You know........... Just in case.

olfac87 said:

Well, that's just great. What am I going to do with my GG Perfecting Cream and 6 LC white pads??

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FCC does finish well but I've never used it and thought "there's no way I can improve this".

To me it's always pretty clear it needs a follow up. Could be my technique though.

olfac87 said:

Well, that's just great. What am I going to do with my GG Perfecting Cream and 6 LC white pads??

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Hit anyways and do a 50/50. I’ve had FCC finish well and i’ve had some times/paint where I had to finish it up....


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olfac87 said:

I made the plunge with my first big purchase and started on my first car today. I wanted to share a few first impressions and also ask for some feedback to guide me as I keep going. Feel free to skip to step 4 if you just want to see what my questions are.

Project: 2007 Volvo V70R, black sapphire metallic paint. Not had a paint correction in at least 8 years, probably ever (I've only owned it 8 years).

Step 1: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover on a dry car. Boy, you sure use a lot of it for one car. I will be buying more soon. It seemed to work, although as Mike says, without a white car it can be hard to tell. I did see purple ooze on the ground so I think it worked.

Step 2: Rinse off Iron Remover and full two bucket wash. Used Palmolive to strip off wax from last time I waxed it.

Step 3: Griots Brilliant Finish Synthetic Clay with car soap/water as lubricant. It seemed to work well. I've done a clay bar in the past and this was easier. Admittedly, I did not follow with an actual clay bar to see if it would pick up more. The plastic bag test seemed to reveal smooth paint. Rinsed and dried the car with a blower.

Step 4 (in the middle of now): Griots G9 DA with 5" plate, Griots Correcting Cream Compound, LC Orange pad. This is where I could use some help. I have done the drivers side and hood. I used three pads so far so I am changing them out. I did 4-6 passes per 2'x2' section, up and down and back forth, very slowly. Cleaned off with microfiber towel and a little quick detailer. The car looks shiny, no doubt, and better than before I started.

What I am wondering is should I expect more in terms of scratch and defect removal? Below are some photos. None of the defects in the pictures catch with a fingernail; they are all smooth. Should I be able to remove these types of defects and scratches? Do I need to increase aggressiveness to something like Griots Fast Correcting Cream and/or a Yellow Pad? Am I not using the G9 correctly? It didn't seem to need much pressure.

I read or heard somewhere that even professional detailers say they can't make the paint perfect, just as best they can. Since this is my first time, I don't know if I have reached the limit or if there is more I should try.

Thank you.

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Sometimes you gotta choose your battles when it comes down to deep scratches , sometimes its just not worth it to try going for perfection , it wont happen . From experience deep scratches are better to tackle with wet sanding , you will just be going at the specific spot , I find that trying to do it with a heavy compound is harder on the paint ,you are tackling a bigger area that does not need to be corrected. I also find that it is easier to wet sand than to try doing it with the machine, the results come faster. You just need a good compound to get the gloss back after wet sanding .

As per small swirl marks and scratches , if volvo is somewhat like bmw, you are going to need a red pad or microfiber ( may be better, uro microfiber is awesome) with a good compound , I like sonax ultracut and car pro cutmax , very easy to work with. If you are on a budget , nothing beat ultimate compound IMHO . Also a good finishing polish will help, I like using the ones that come with fillers like carpro essence . If you top it with a good sealat or ceramic coating , it will last for a long time.

At the end of the day , the car will get swirl marks and scratches again anyways , that is the reason I do not go for perfection anymore , I change my way of thinking , no worth thinning the clearcoat if you are going to do it all over again next year. I m happy with a light polish with fillers and a good sealant. I used to think that I needed to compound the whole car , not anymore. I only use compound in areas that really bother me

If I had a customer and I was doing this for a living, I would honestly steer my customers away from compound unless it was really required. Someone bringing their car over to me to detail is probably going to swirl up that paint after 3 or 4 washes and then ask me or some other detailer to compound their car the year after. I see some people on Facebook offering 3 stage corrections using some very heavy cutting compounds , in some instances straight up wet sanding the whole car that really makes me shake my head. These are not even collector items or garage queens , these are daily driven minivans and suv's. Like someone else say , people sometimes just want their car shiny , even if it comes with shiny scratches . What WE see is not that everyone else sees. The guys at my workplace think my car is in perfect condition and I m seeing swirl marks everywhere . They all think I m crazy

olfac87 said:

rick100 - That's great advice and in line with others for sure. The next car up is a BMW so I will take to heart going down to MF and a heavier compound and testing it on the Volvo.

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I would highly recommend uro microfiber pads, they are hybrid pads . Most people like doing 3D all in one with them . I didnt like the experience with 3D too much but it could be a user error on my side but it did correct the paint on my bmw, the wiping off was my complaint , but other people have used it and never complaint about that so it may just be me on that one . Boss correcting cream from griots is another popular one. I personally like the classic meguiers ultimate compound , its easy to use . Like I say for me you get the most gloss out of the finishing polish , either carpro essence or sonax perfect finish are my go to . But there is so many of them , I can only tell you what I ve used