Swirls returned or I did not do a good job. What to do now?

To answer some questions posed to me:

Products I used for buffing:
* Wolfgang TSR
* Wolfgang Glaze
* Lake Country White and Orange
* Porter Cable

Products I use for washing/drying:
* Meguiars MF wash mitt
* Meguiars car wash soap
* Two buckets with grit guard (I even hit the wash mitt with a sprayer before using the rinse bucket, hah)
* Cheap MF towels (around $1/ea from car car part supply stores) that I use ONCE and and only once (like I said, the likely culprit and I will be swapping to high quality MF)

Products I use for waxing:
* Klass AOI and Glaze
* Meguiars Deep Crystal Carnuba on occasion
* Same cheap MF towels, used once.

And other specific quetsions

Are they "swirls" or RIDS?

Definitely swirls and/or towel marks. I can see both linear marring and the typical swirl appearance with direct light.

Are these "cheap towels" cleaned between uses?

The strategy with the cheap towels was that I use them once, and only once for touching the paint. After that the towels are cleaned and "demoted" to non scratch sensitive cleaning tasks around the house and on my cars. Typically I'd go through around 15-20 (for $20) per wax

Sis you inspect the paint after polishing, but before you applied your LSP?
What LSP did you use?

When I first started, I left my test spot bare for a couple days to look at it under different light, etc. When doing the car, after buffing with the Wolfgang Glaze I used Klasse AOI (pointless to use the AOI but wasn't thinking at the time, hah) followed by 2 coats of the Klass sealant which I reapply every 4-6 months.
 
MilesTeg said:
Thanks for the reply Mike. It's very appreciated. But my question is how many times one can buff out swirls before they would cause damage to the paint, given its extreme thinness.
Click to expand...

If you're working on a factory finish and using common sense then buffing too often would be the least of my worries.

What's most important and what most people forget is AFTER you buff the paint out and get it to where you like it then do everything you can to avoid putting swirls and scratches back into the paint so when you do have to polish the paint you don't have to get out the big guns and by big guns I mean the heavy cut compounds, aggressive cutting pads, etc.

And it sounds like you're doing your best to wash and maintain your car's finish so when you do need to re-polish a medium cut polish like the Wolfgang TSR is all that you should need.


MilesTeg said:
The implication from your comment about your truck is that it's generally safe to do on occasion (say once every year or two) with a fine or medium cut polish.

Am I reading that implication correctly?
Click to expand...


Nope... you're reading me correctly. My truck has a custom paint job so it's probably thicker than a factory finish. I did let one of my detailing boot camp classes learn how to machine wet sand and then learn how to use rotary buffers on it because it has orange peel and I felt it was thick enough for the class to work on safely.

For that class I also didn't have a car lined up to wetsand and it's important to me that people attending my classes get everything they hope for and dream about... so I let them wetsand my truck. Once is all though....


:xyxthumbs:
 
So, on the reocmendation of a very nice member here, I loaded up with the following:

* 24x Arctic white 16x16s

* 2x Wolfgang Concours-Series Microfiber Towel (BOGO deal)

* The Guzzler combo (16x24 && 20x40)

All in my washer as we speak with Detailer's Microfiber Cleaner

Going to do a full prep (wash, clay, iron-x) & buff on half the trunk again this weekend with just Wolfgang TSR on a white pad followed by the Wolfgang Glaze on a white. Will step it up to and orange for TSR again if it needs it.

Will post pics to have definitive proof of the condition! Then will watch it closely for a few washings before re-doing the whole durn thing again.
 
Test Spot the WGFG with the White Pad after the TSR

Some paint will like the WGFG on a Black Pad better
 
On some cars is just the nature of the beast. My ram for instance, I''ve polished it countless times to a mirror finish and every time I was it I'll find light scratches here and there.

I assure you there are no fillers to my knowledge in TSR 3.0 Today I did a detail on a black Mercedes. Here is a pic after uber compound, TSR, and doing an IPA wipe down to determine if I needed more polishing before the finishing glaze and a LSP.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using AG Online
 
Just a quick review of what I'm doing for process, in case I need to correct anything:

Porter Cable DA:

5" Back plate
5.5" Lake Country CCS (some 6.5" too)
Bucket Pad cleaner (one from AG)

The more fine details of my process:

* Prep new or dry pads with a shot or two of pad conditioner

* Apply An X Pattern of product (though I have been trying four dot method for over use of product)

* 6k OPM for Polish, 5k for glaze

* SIX section passes (three l-r, three t-b)

* Watch my felt marker dot, and make sure the pad is spinning. This is the hardest thing to quantify. I try to keep firm pressure on the pad, but keep it spinning at a speed where the dot goes around at least 5-6x/sec. The speed can vary a LOT, not really sure what is best. It would be great to have a video or more details that would show the optimum speed.

* Do 2-3x sections between pad washings in the bucket washer, rotate through 3-4 pads to allow some drying time in between and to put "even" wear on the pads.
 
brondondolon said:
On some cars is just the nature of the beast. My ram for instance, I''ve polished it countless times to a mirror finish and every time I was it I'll find light scratches here and there.

I assure you there are no fillers to my knowledge in TSR 3.0 Today I did a detail on a black Mercedes. Here is a pic after uber compound, TSR, and doing an IPA wipe down to determine if I needed more polishing before the finishing glaze and a LSP.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using AG Online
Click to expand...

Wow. That's an amazing difference!
 
brondondolon said:
Here's another pic.
Click to expand...


Took me about 10 seconds to upload this picture to the gallery so it could be inserted instead of attached.....


watermark.php




:Picture: :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top