Addressing Swirls/Scratches in Contours and Crevices

Coach Steve

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Mike,

The knowledge and expertise you share via your articles, videos, posts, books, etc., have helped hundreds if not thousands of enthusiasts seeking to improve the condition, and ultimately the look of, their vehicles. However, those of us who have chosen to take vehicle appearance to higher levels consider your shared media to be a collective reference guide to a large extent, and for that I sincerely thank you.

And while the various parts of a vehicle you have addressed are concise and well detailed, there is one area which has not been given the same attention with regard to how to address it. The area I'm talking about is contours and/or varying elevations on a vehicle's body. In a perfect detailing world, every car would have smooth, straight, flat body panels making for effortless paint correction. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it...) those kinds of cars don't exist. Every car has areas where it's not possible to keep the DA's pad flat against the body due to changing elevations and contours. The swirls and scratches exist in these hard-to-get-to areas and obviously need to be addressed but how to do it is the question.
Could you please offer some detailed advice or even a ''how-to video' discussing these areas and how to achieve the same high level of correction and restoration using a DA.

Thank you again for all you do for us!

Coach Steve
Chandler, AZ
 
Coach Steve,

I am sure an expert in detailing , with years of experience, will have precise suggestions how to handle the various elevations on vehicle's body. So, please do not consider my post to be an answer to question you posted. I am not expert or pro-detailer, so my opinion is purely subjective and is based on my very limited experience and knowledge.
As you can see from my other posts, I am here seeking advise on how to remove swirls from brand new car, so by all means I am not a guy to get advise from.

In my purely subjective opinion, you have few options to deal with corners/elevations/hard to reach areas:

1) Try smallest pad/backing plate (3") and work with little pressure to get to those areas.

2) Where you can't reach with a pad (or don't want to risk more damage than good), try to use a foam pad and apply the product by hand. You may have to use a different product (for example, instead of M205 and DA for top panels, you may use #2 fine scratch remover around door knobs , applying it by hand and followed by #7 and #26 , etc). Just be very careful and try to do your best, to get the appearance of the matching correction all over the vehicle.
You may even run a rotary over raised corners without burning the paint if you are careful enough.


Good luck!
 
Mike,

The knowledge and expertise you share via your articles, videos, posts, books, etc., have helped hundreds if not thousands of enthusiasts seeking to improve the condition, and ultimately the look of, their vehicles. However, those of us who have chosen to take vehicle appearance to higher levels consider your shared media to be a collective reference guide to a large extent, and for that I sincerely thank you.

And while the various parts of a vehicle you have addressed are concise and well detailed, there is one area which has not been given the same attention with regard to how to address it. The area I'm talking about is contours and/or varying elevations on a vehicle's body. In a perfect detailing world, every car would have smooth, straight, flat body panels making for effortless paint correction. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it...) those kinds of cars don't exist. Every car has areas where it's not possible to keep the DA's pad flat against the body due to changing elevations and contours. The swirls and scratches exist in these hard-to-get-to areas and obviously need to be addressed but how to do it is the question.
Could you please offer some detailed advice or even a ''how-to video' discussing these areas and how to achieve the same high level of correction and restoration using a DA.

Thank you again for all you do for us!

Coach Steve
Chandler, AZ


Hi Steve,

Thank you for the kind words...


Have you watched this?

Video: How to buff tight areas plus concave and convex curved panels by machine
How to buff out concave and convex curved panels by machine
[video=youtube_share;SMsNg1iCoTU&hd=1"]How to buff out concave and convex curved panels...[/video]​

In this video you'll see tips and techniques for buffing out tight areas, convex and concave panels using a variety of tools including,


  • Porter Cable 7424XP
  • Griot's Garage Random Orbital Polisher
  • Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher
  • Flex PE14 Rotary Buffer


pcarTapedOff001.jpg


pcarTapedOff002.jpg


Yancylighting007.jpg




On Autogeek.net

Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher

Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher

Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher

Flex PE14 Rotary Buffer

Optimum Double-Sided Rotary Adapter

Double-Sided Pad Rotary Adapter
4" CCS Spot Repair Pads

Lake Country 5.5" Hydro-Tech Pads

4" Hydro-Tech Pads

3" Hydro-Tech Pads

Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light

3M Automotive Performance Masking Tape 3 Pack

3" Flex-Foam HD Rotary Backing Plate

Meguiars W63 Rotary Backing Plate

2 7/8 inch Rotary Buffer Flexible Backing Plate

Meguiars Professional Masking Tape Combo








:)
 
Hi Steve,

Thank you for the kind words...


Have you watched this?


:)
DOH! I knew you were gonna pull a rabbit out of your hat! :laughing:

And the blatantly obvious answer to your question is {{Steve tucks his tail between his legs and drops his head in shame before saying...}} No Mike, no I haven't. :o :o But ask me again in about 45 mins. or so! :p :D
Thanks for the link and for the reply.

Steve
 
There's so much good information on this forum it can be a tad bit overwhelming....



:)
Well, there's that and the fact that I just didn't search thoroughly enough before spouting off about you not addressing this particular topic very well. :o :laughing: What the Hell was I thinking?!
 
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