Possible clear coat burn

Its hard to see in your photo where you are talking about

Does it look dull or faded now?

If so more than likely you did.

That dark spot? Honestly I can't tell through that picture. However, I have seen how DA's burn paint and it looks a lot different than how Rotarys burn paint. From the little I've seen.

Taking the car out in the sun and looking at it at different angles helps,

That spot does look out of place though. I'd be careful in continuing to buff/polish it though.

Might want to go get a second opinion.




I cropped that spot for you using my phone btw.

Oh and it is on the edge too. Well hope it's not a burn. I'll see what others have to say.

have you put some ipa or apc on it to see if its just dried residue that you missed?

Update?

BennyHFP said:

hey guys thanks for all the responses so far. i uploaded some pictures. i have not tried APC yet. Went by honda body shop yesterday told me i may have burnt through clear only way to repair is repaint the whole trunklet. Any way to repair this without repaint if I did burn through clearcoat?. the area is now dull and faded compared to the rest of the car.

Click to expand...

If you burned through the paint on the edge I could see it...but UC with the process you described shouldn't burn through the paint on an area like that. How hard were you bushing? Take a dark colored microfiber and use some UC by hand with it. If the dark towel gets white paint on it then you went through if you don"t get any white you didn't.

Like I said Honda does have soft paint...but I watched a video of a guy using Meg's 105 and holding the DA in one spot and it took 3 minutes to burn through. Now this was a completely flat area but 3 minutes in one spot is an eternity...

Did the pad you were using melt at all?

did you notice white paint or gray gunk on your pad??

Honda has been using some ridiculously soft paint since about 2006. also, it's thin. they have figured it out down to the drop to make sure they have just enough paint to get the job done.

orange pad with any sort of compound is way overkill, even with a DA. that paint should ideally correct with a minimal cut pad and a polish that finishes down nicely to help prevent any evidence of your work. using a DA is definitely my choice on that paint as that prevents trails.

it's ok. lesson learned, right? thankfully it's isolated to one panel...and a top panel at that. easy work for a worthy body shop to get that refinished and matching so it'll never be detected.

nah, don't give up!

you just have to broaden your product selection a bit. working backwards from 205 to UC to find something that works is a big jump, esp. with an orange pad on that paint.

you nailed it before jumping to UC by trying the least aggressive chemicals and pads and going from there.

i'm surprised you didn't see results with UC on the white pad but then again the UC might have been too aggro to finish up at all.

my best results with newer Honda paint were with the old Optimum Polish and orange or white pads on a DA, depending on the severity. now i use Optimum Hyper polish and a white or green pad and finish it up with OPT FP on a no cut pad (if necessary) OR if it's not getting any coating...Poli-Seal on a no cut pad.

It's really hard to see anything in that picture with it being a white car. I've been working on something before when I was a rookie in the world of detailing 13 or so years ago where I used so much compound that it got hot and wound up kind of solidifying on the surface I was working on. A quick wipe with quick detailer fixed it right up though.

Don't let a bad experience stop you though. My first detailing job out of high school I had a few cars into the shop that had been painted at macco. No solid prep was done and the paint just pulled right off the panels when I went over it with the rotary.

I agree don't give. I have years of experience, mostly body shop, wet sanding and rotary buffing.

I did my fair share of burning paint on a Rotary years back when I first started on a Rotary lol, I'd say about 4 times. But now I know why it happens and how to prevent it from happening.

Holograms do look ugly but now I know why they happen and how to remove them. Plus they have been really easy to remove. Learning how yo wet sand and buff out an entire car on a Rotary can't be learned in 10 mins. But I knew how to do it and thanks to AGO I can leave a great looking finishing after removing all the polishing oils and looking at the car in direct sunlight.

Get this, I fell into the hype of its impossible to burn paint on a DA like the Porter Cable. Well from my own personal experience. I can say that it is possible and given the fact that I do know how to use a Rotary. I burned paint on my PC, so go figure. That's is why when I saw your paint in the pictures, it reminded me of how my paint looked on my bumper.

DAs and Rotarys don't burn paint the same way. It's harder to spot burnt paint from a DA then a Rotary.

So don't give up, just keep learning.

I like Mike Stoops signature. Detailing should be a form of therapy. Not the reason you need therapy. (Something like that)

I bet it's left over compound clean up the area. .

I am about to start buffing/polishing with a DA soon. Plan to get a Griots polisher for my frist. This post has me worried now lol. It's great to see the support in here though.

Honda has some soft paint. i have a 2012 Black Honda Civic that i just recently did a full correction, seal and wax. i used the WGFG on a white LC hybrid pad. then followed it up with WGDGPS on a gray pad x2. then applied Auto Finesse Spirit over top with my GG 3" on a red polishing pad. here are a few pictures of the results. dont give up on this, continue to practice. we have all had our stumbles, but we continue with out passion.