I am going to attempt to "jewel" my paint tomorrow...any advice?

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slammin86

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So last year I bought PO85RD and a blue 5.5" LC smart pad. At the time I had read a thread on how to do this but cannot find this thread for anything.

This is my final step before applying opticoat for the first time so I want to get the finish as good as I can.
 
Do you have a rotary? doesn't work as good without one, anyways it's just like any other polishing step, start at low speed.. speed up.. and last passes should be slow again, wouldn't use too much pressure if any, just let the polishers weight handle that. Best of luck!
 
Good advice from DP200248721. Be sure to do an IPA wipe down after 85rd and before applying OC.
 
Get your paint as perfect as possible before hitting it with 85rd.

A rotary, blue pad, no weight on tool, slow arm speed and 1000 to 1500 rpm will create magic.
 
Rsurfer said:
Good advice from DP200248721. Be sure to do an IPA wipe down after 85rd and before applying OC.
Click to expand...

I always do IPA wipe down's before applying any wax/ sealant. I am very excited to try out opticoat.
 
what kind o blue pads are you guys using? LC flat or LC ccs? or another brand?
 
SonOfOC said:
Get your paint as perfect as possible before hitting it with 85rd.

A rotary, blue pad, no weight on tool, slow arm speed and 1000 to 1500 rpm will create magic.
Click to expand...

With the PE 14 you can actually get good results at 600 rpm. Blue will work but I prefer gold.
 
eaglefan said:
Has anyone done this with a flex 3401?
Click to expand...

I tried it with a 3401 since I had it out. I was using the gold super soft pad and it didn't work as well as a rotary.
So I got out my Makita and used the same Gold pad, and what a difference. The surface just glistened.
 
Depends on the paint but crimson works great on most.

Rotary:
Spread it on 1.
Speed up to 1200-1500 and apply pressure to start breaking down the abrasives
After just a couple of those passes let up on the pressure some and dial it back 100-200 rpm.
After each pass dial it back and continue to let up.
When you get to 900 rpm you should have no pressure and be using very slow arm movement.
After 2 passes dial it down to 600 rpm on the Flex. You should only be keeping the pad flat on the paint. No weight on the pad. and continue with no pressure until you are done.

Of course all paints are different but this works great for me.
 
oldmodman said:
I tried it with a 3401 since I had it out. I was using the gold super soft pad and it didn't work as well as a rotary.
So I got out my Makita and used the same Gold pad, and what a difference. The surface just glistened.
Click to expand...

So, would you say it would be a step that was not needed? Ive been playing around with it on last 2 details. Saw a difference on 1 and wasnt sure about it on other
 
eaglefan said:
Has anyone done this with a flex 3401?
Click to expand...

With the 3401 crimson pad spread product.
Turn it up to 6 and apply good pressure for a couple passes.
Dial down to 5.5 and release a little pressure and perform 2 more passes.
Dial down to 5 or 4.5 or maybe even 4 and continue with light pressure but enough to keep the pad firmly against the paint for the remainder of your cycle.

Really soft paint likes a softer pad but the abrasives don't break down quite the same on a da with a super soft pad.
 
oldmodman said:
I tried it with a 3401 since I had it out. I was using the gold super soft pad and it didn't work as well as a rotary.
So I got out my Makita and used the same Gold pad, and what a difference. The surface just glistened.
Click to expand...

I agree the rotary can finish at another level.
 
CEE DOG said:
With the 3401 crimson pad spread product.
Turn it up to 6 and apply good pressure for a couple passes.
Dial down to 5.5 and release a little pressure and perform 2 more passes.
Dial down to 5 or 4.5 or maybe even 4 and continue with light pressure but enough to keep the pad firmly against the paint for the remainder of your cycle.

Really soft paint likes a softer pad but the abrasives don't break down quite the same on a da with a super soft pad.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tips. Will be trying it next weekend
 
Well I tried it...


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Tomorrow I will wash and follow with an IPA. Then opticoat 2.0.
 
nnniiiiicccceeee!!!! It looks fantastic!!! Can't wait to see it when its all done!

On another note, what kind of shop lights are you using? I just packaged my cheap utilitech's...they're going back to Lowes. Its funny...on the box it says "grounded on quality." This is the second set I've had....its crap!!!
 
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