What is the average time it takes you guys to compound with a DA?

[cfiiman]

I started a full compound regiment tonight on my car. I'm using Megs UC followed by UP. The car is in awesome shape just see a few tiny swirls/scratches I'm hoping to knock down a bit. Anyway it seems like it is going to take me forever with the PC7424XP. I remember doing this years ago now and I think it took forever back then too lol, that is probably why I've waited so long to do it again. I'm thinking if you guys can compound a car in a few hours then I'm doing something wrong. Seems to me even though i'm moving slow a lot of scratches I'm trying to get out still remain visible sometimes so I'm worried if I speed up what would be the point you know. They may just bee too deep without a rotary and/or wetsanding, but anyway what is the average time you guys spend on an average size car with very nice paint?

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

It all depends on the vehicle, it's paint system, the level of defects, what the customer is paying for, etc.

I could spend 2+ hours perfecting one panel depending on the circumstances. It takes a while to do it right! :buffing:

 

[Hokie335i]

Normally for me assuming the paint isn't in terrible condition it usually takes me at least 2-2.5 hours to do one pass on a coupe/sedan.

 

[cfiiman]

It all depends on the vehicle, it's paint system, the level of defects, what the customer is paying for, etc.

I could spend 2+ hours perfecting one panel depending on the circumstances. It takes a while to do it right! :buffing:

Ok, I think knowing that I'm not going too slow.

Normally for me assuming the paint isn't in terrible condition it usually takes me at least 2-2.5 hours to do one pass on a coupe/sedan.

Does one pass mean you need to go back and do more? I basically work a small area until the polish is almost gone, so sometimes I make 10-20 passes to get to that point, guess I'm not sure what you mean by a "pass".

 

[Hokie335i]

Does one pass mean you need to go back and do more? I basically work a small area until the polish is almost gone, so sometimes I make 10-20 passes to get to that point, guess I'm not sure what you mean by a "pass".

No sorry, that means one step of polishing or compounding.

 

[cfiiman]

No sorry, that means one step of polishing or compounding.

I see, I'm probably going a little slow then, but I'll just keep plugging away at it, it is a big job, and I have to go back and do it all again with polish aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

 

[Hokie335i]

I see, I'm probably going a little slow then, but I'll just keep plugging away at it, it is a big job, and I have to go back and do it all again with polish aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

Well that's why I said on average. If the paint is in very poor condition I'll spend longer for each step. Just depends on paint type, severity of the defects and what you have to work with as far as pads and polishes go

 

[lawrenceSA]

I usually take around 5 or 6 hours to compound a average sized vehicle, but I am working on mostly harder paint and using a traditional DA

I think if you are using a DAT based polish, doing 6'ish passes per section with slow arm movement, this is 'normal'. Obviously with a SMAT based product where you can get away with 1 or 2 passes per section, this could be reduced significantly.

 

[cfiiman]

I usually take around 5 or 6 hours to compound a average sized vehicle, but I am working on mostly harder paint and using a traditional DA

I think if you are using a DAT based polish, doing 6'ish passes per section with slow arm movement, this is 'normal'. Obviously with a SMAT based product where you can get away with 1 or 2 passes per section, this could be reduced significantly.

I'm thinking that it will take me around that to do it all as well. could you tell me what DAT and SMAT mean? So many acronyms around this place, I'm trying to learn them all lol.

 

[Pureshine]

It really depends on what kind of paint your dealing with. A compact takes about 6-8 hrs not counting prep time. I did a black Mustang took me 24 hours to do a 2 step paint correction And 3 hrs to apply coating cause it was 100 degrees.

 

[lawrenceSA]

I'm thinking that it will take me around that to do it all as well. could you tell me what DAT and SMAT mean? So many acronyms around this place, I'm trying to learn them all lol.

DAT stands for Diminishing Abrasive Technology (example, Menzerna). When using a polish like this the abrasive particles start off big and progressively diminish in size as you work the product. It is therefore a requirement that the polish is worked sufficiently to allow the abrasives to get small enough to leave a good finish

SMAT stands for Singular Micro Abrasive Technology (example Meguiars 105). This is the opposite of DAT in that the abrasive particles, for all intents and purposes, remain the same size throughout the buffing cycle. This would allow you, in theory, to stop cutting after 1 pass (if that's all the paint needed) and the polish would finish down the same as if you have made multiple passes.

 

[cfiiman]

DAT stands for Diminishing Abrasive Technology (example, Menzerna). When using a polish like this the abrasive particles start off big and progressively diminish in size as you work the product. It is therefore a requirement that the polish is worked sufficiently to allow the abrasives to get small enough to leave a good finish

SMAT stands for Singular Micro Abrasive Technology (example Meguiars 105). This is the opposite of DAT in that the abrasive particles, for all intents and purposes, remain the same size throughout the buffing cycle. This would allow you, in theory, to stop cutting after 1 pass (if that's all the paint needed) and the polish would finish down the same as if you have made multiple passes.

I see, so Meg's UC would be a DAT then correct? I'm still going to go over it with UP as well but the UC finishes very nice.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

For an average size car, with swirls, it will take me approximately 4-6 hours to do the correction step with a Porter Cable. The polishing step will only take about 2 hours.

The reason why is because you CANNOT move the polisher faster in an attempt to get done quicker. You MUST move the polisher S-L-O-W-L-Y over the surface to give the abrasive, the pad, the oscillating action, the downward pressure and the rotating action TIME to abrade and level the paint.

If you move the PC or any tool like the PC fast over the surface when doing the correction step this is called SKIMMING and the scratches and swirls will still be in the paint when you wipe off the wax.


The larger the vehicle... the more time it will take.


A faster way is to get a Flex 3401 or knock out the correction step using a rotary buffer with a foam pad and a great compound and then clean up any haze or holograms with the DA. That's how I tend to do it.

 

[wdmaccord]

If you are doing 10-20 passes per section, I'd say first of all, you are probably using way too much product. When I use UC, I usually don't need more than 6 passes per section. More than that and it means I probably need to step up to a more aggressive pad/product, or both.

I did a swirled out black Armada this past weekend using GG6, 5.5" LC orange foam flat pad, and Menz FG400 at speed 5.5 (4" flat foam pads for tighter areas and a few spots by hand). I did 6 passes per section - 4 at slow arm speed and good downward pressure followed by 2 passes at a little faster arm speed and very little downward pressure. This combo finished out good enough for this particular detail, so the one step took me 8 hours. This is a BIG vehicle though...and I didn't even compound the roof! I maybe used 3-4 oz. of product for whole thing.

 

[allenk4]

What pad are you using with the UC?

What speed is your PC on?

How much downward pressure (in lbs.) you using?

Is the backing plate spinning?


Can you post pictures showing the defects in the paint, please?

 

[PaYnTwZRd]

Are you removing spider webbing or actual holograms? Get yourself some wizards turbo cut, hit it once over.. then use finish cut once over.. n i really like their mystic cut abrasiveless polish. Even tho the abrasiveless tend to just sit on top of the clear.. it does WONDERS for removing spider webbing on my black 09 g6

Sent from my PC36100 using AG Online

 

[Tector]

I see, so Meg's UC would be a DAT then correct?

UC is a SMAT just like 105. I got frustrated with the amount of time it was taking me to compound with a 7424 so I bought a Flex 3401, and I'm pretty happy with it. I still break out the rotary if the scratches are deep enough to warrant using it.

 

[cfiiman]

For an average size car, with swirls, it will take me approximately 4-6 hours to do the correction step with a Porter Cable. The polishing step will only take about 2 hours.

The reason why is because you CANNOT move the polisher faster in an attempt to get done quicker. You MUST move the polisher S-L-O-W-L-Y over the surface to give the abrasive, the pad, the oscillating action, the downward pressure and the rotating action TIME to abrade and level the paint.

If you move the PC or any tool like the PC fast over the surface when doing the correction step this is called SKIMMING and the scratches and swirls will still be in the paint when you wipe off the wax.


The larger the vehicle... the more time it will take.


A faster way is to get a Flex 3401 or knock out the correction step using a rotary buffer with a foam pad and a great compound and then clean up any haze or holograms with the DA. That's how I tend to do it.

Thanks for the info, I would love a Flex!

If you are doing 10-20 passes per section, I'd say first of all, you are probably using way too much product. When I use UC, I usually don't need more than 6 passes per section. More than that and it means I probably need to step up to a more aggressive pad/product, or both.

I did a swirled out black Armada this past weekend using GG6, 5.5" LC orange foam flat pad, and Menz FG400 at speed 5.5 (4" flat foam pads for tighter areas and a few spots by hand). I did 6 passes per section - 4 at slow arm speed and good downward pressure followed by 2 passes at a little faster arm speed and very little downward pressure. This combo finished out good enough for this particular detail, so the one step took me 8 hours. This is a BIG vehicle though...and I didn't even compound the roof! I maybe used 3-4 oz. of product for whole thing.

I didn't think I was using too much, I only use about 4 pea size drops of UC, but I'll try a little less to day and see if it makes a difference. Good to know about the 6 pass rule.

What pad are you using with the UC?

What speed is your PC on?

How much downward pressure (in lbs.) you using?

Is the backing plate spinning?


Can you post pictures showing the defects in the paint, please?

It is an orange swirl and haze pade.

PC is on 5 mostly, should I go to 6?

I'm pushing down slightly, I'd say 5-10lbs. appx.

Yes backing plate is spinning.

I'll try to get some pics, it is basically just a few straight line scratches, some catch with fingernail (I know I won't get those) and others are just scratches.

Overall the paint looks fantastic, and there is definitely a difference using the UC, I was just curious if there was a way to speed it up but I'm thinking with a PC7424XP I'm just going to have to keep moving like a turtle. Based on the estimates several have given including Mike P. I'm not going to slow, I just don't find it as enjoyable as some on here I guess lol

 

[cfiiman]

As requested here are a couple pics. It was hard to get one of the small scratches but I finally did, you can see it in the reflection of the overhead flourescent light. The other one I'm trying to show how nice the finish is, it is just a few straight scratches here and there that are irritating but I can't seem to get them to diminish much:

 

[HUMP DIESEL]

If you are just talking about the compounding step, it depends on the paint. I am assuming since we are compounding that there are some defects that need to be removed. To me the compounding step is the one that takes the longest, but it needs to so that you can go back with the polish and just refine.
I would say on average it takes anywhere from 6-12 hours or more if the paint is in bad shape and the size of the vehicle.

HUMP