What did I do Wrong?

JayMartin

JayMartin

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Hello,

Did I skip a step? I just got my new Porter Cable 7424XP and products and put them to use on a 20 year old red pickup truck. On the one hand, the results are nothing short of fantastic. On the other hand if I look carefully, I can now see thousands of ultra fine scratches. What have I done wrong?

What I did—I first used orange Lake Country pads with Menzerna PG 1000, following the 6 passes in both directions as per the instructional video. I then applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 with a blue pad. Finally, I applied some Carnauba wax I had on the shelf, using another blue pad.

Was I not aggressive enough with step one? If not, do I need a more aggressive compound, pad, or both? Or have I introduced swirls and should have used some sort of swirl remover before the paint sealer? The fine scratches are pretty much straight lines, so I don't think of them as swirls. I am also confused on swirl remover as the Go With The Flow Diagram states, “Compounds tend to leave compounding swirls. A medium grade swirl remover will eliminate these swirls.” But then the Wax Cut Chart does not have a medium grade swirl remover offering from Wolfgang.

Again, this finish blows me away. But I'm using this first vehicle for learning the basics and would like to understand what I could be doing better.

Thanks for any advice you can offer,

Jay
 
One of two things they are either DA Haze or towel marks

I seem to think its DA Haze from what you said you did so to remove them you need to follow up with a polish like SF4000 or any finishing polish, with a polishing or finishing pad and speed 3-4 on the polisher.

This is what DA haze can look like
MicromarringTickMarks01.jpg

If its towel marks what kind of towels are you using?
 
Like Evan mentioned you probably need a final step product to finish it off perfect. Or your towels marred it.
 
Thanks for the replies. The more I look at it, the more I'm thinking it is original wear that I just did not get out with my first step. Perhaps I need to spend more time on step one. What about a more aggressive pad?

I'm using brand new micro fiber towels, so I don't think that did it.

I will also try to post a pic.

Thanks again,
Jay
 
JayMartin said:
Thanks for the replies. The more I look at it, the more I'm thinking it is original wear that I just did not get out with my first step. Perhaps I need to spend more time on step one. What about a more aggressive pad?

I'm using brand new micro fiber towels, so I don't think that did it.

I will also try to post a pic.

Thanks again,
Jay
Click to expand...

I'd try a polish before you go more aggressive.
 
Is pg power gloss? If you compounded with a cutting pad like the Orange, typically you're goimg to want to follow it up with say white and fg4000 or 4500.
 
JayMartin said:
Thanks for the replies. The more I look at it, the more I'm thinking it is original wear that I just did not get out with my first step. Perhaps I need to spend more time on step one. What about a more aggressive pad?

I'm using brand new micro fiber towels, so I don't think that did it.

I will also try to post a pic.

Thanks again,
Jay
Click to expand...

Just because a towel is "brand new" DOES NOT mean it won't scratch paint. The black paint on my Toyota can be scratched very easily with new microfiber. Not only do I use the highest quality towels available, my technique has to be virtually perfect to prevent towel induced marring.

I have no idea what your paint looks like though........:xyxthumbs:
 
JayMartin said:
Hello,

Did I skip a step? I just got my new Porter Cable 7424XP and products and put them to use on a 20 year old red pickup truck. On the one hand, the results are nothing short of fantastic. On the other hand if I look carefully, I can now see thousands of ultra fine scratches. What have I done wrong?

What I did—I first used orange Lake Country pads with Menzerna PG 1000, following the 6 passes in both directions as per the instructional video. I then applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 with a blue pad. Finally, I applied some Carnauba wax I had on the shelf, using another blue pad.

Was I not aggressive enough with step one? If not, do I need a more aggressive compound, pad, or both? Or have I introduced swirls and should have used some sort of swirl remover before the paint sealer? The fine scratches are pretty much straight lines, so I don't think of them as swirls. I am also confused on swirl remover as the Go With The Flow Diagram states, “Compounds tend to leave compounding swirls. A medium grade swirl remover will eliminate these swirls.” But then the Wax Cut Chart does not have a medium grade swirl remover offering from Wolfgang.

Again, this finish blows me away. But I'm using this first vehicle for learning the basics and would like to understand what I could be doing better.

Thanks for any advice you can offer,

Jay
Click to expand...

Jay i think you pretty much answered your own questions. What did i do wrong followed with did i skip a step. The answer is yes you skipped the polishing step. All the good advice to polish is going to make the finish much better after compounding. A fine polish with a polishing pad will do well as you are only removing micro marring from compounding. After polishing you will have that mirror finish. Then you can enjoy the the Wolfgang deep gloss sealant silky soft finish. Most of the hard work is done :xyxthumbs: good luck and have fun. Let us know how it turns out.

Jeff

https://www.facebook.com/ArtistryAutoDetailing
 
JayMartin said:
Hello,

Did I skip a step? I just got my new Porter Cable 7424XP and products and put them to use on a 20 year old red pickup truck. On the one hand, the results are nothing short of fantastic. On the other hand if I look carefully, I can now see thousands of ultra fine scratches. What have I done wrong?

What I did—I first used orange Lake Country pads with Menzerna PG 1000, following the 6 passes in both directions as per the instructional video. I then applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 with a blue pad. Finally, I applied some Carnauba wax I had on the shelf, using another blue pad.

Was I not aggressive enough with step one? If not, do I need a more aggressive compound, pad, or both? Or have I introduced swirls and should have used some sort of swirl remover before the paint sealer? The fine scratches are pretty much straight lines, so I don't think of them as swirls. I am also confused on swirl remover as the Go With The Flow Diagram states, “Compounds tend to leave compounding swirls. A medium grade swirl remover will eliminate these swirls.” But then the Wax Cut Chart does not have a medium grade swirl remover offering from Wolfgang.

Again, this finish blows me away. But I'm using this first vehicle for learning the basics and would like to understand what I could be doing better.

Thanks for any advice you can offer,

Jay
Click to expand...

Sir, you really skipped a step here. Prior to you sealing car , polish is what needed to be done next. Get a good quality finishing polish like Chemical Guys has and use a green or white foam pad.
 
More great replies; thank you. I will order some swirl remover.

I was able to take the following picture.

I'm blown away by the shine and then become picky when I see the remaining scratches. I am having a difficult time imagining it being even better.

Jay
 
Not saying OP did that but it look like someone tried to wipe off stain without washing the paint prior. This happen a lot here where ppl wipe off bird dropping using tissue paper.
Use Menzerna FG400 for spot repair. Follow with SF4000 and desire LSP.
 
It's hard to be certain when viewing a picture rather than seeing an issue first-hand, but it looks to me that those scratches are pretty deep and you can compound/polish from now to eternity (or you run out of paint) and you'll never remove them 100%.
 
Considering the age of the paint, those straight lines could be paint or clear-coat failure. If this is the case then a mechanical repair is the only real solution...That said, improving the finish is certainly possible.

PS...although natural, we tend to set our exceptions a bit too high expecting perfection where it might not be possible for a number of reasons..

Try experimenting on a horizontal surface and only a 2' square area. Working an entire panel or section takes a lot more time and effort so perfecting your attack by scaling down the test area is more advisable...

Products

I've had great luck with Menzerna FG-400. This product is more aggressive and finishes up better in my opinion and removes deeper defects quicker and better than PG-1000. I've actually used FG-400 as a 1-step finish improver then apply a wax giving stunning results.

Stick with a 5 1/2 inch diameter pad. Yellow and Orange are the pest choices for removing or improving the majority of the defects up to 1500 or so grit. If you're using Menzerna products, wipe the area using mineral spirits and a clean microfiber towel, then use a White foam pad and FF-3000 or SF-4000.

Glazes

This combination should produce superb results. If a better appearance is desired then try adding a glaze product which will fill additional imperfections. Keep in mind that most glazes offer no protection so once the glaze has been applied, buff to a high shine then add some protection..Meguiar's #7 is an old favorite of mine but there are other fine products sold here that also work well...PoorBoys Black Hole is another fine product..

Good luck! :props:
 
If you want a "Fool Proof" system try this,works great.

The new Meguiar's microfiber cutting disk along with they're Correction Compound works very well, to a point it's about last step ready.
It starts our aggressive but finishes down very, very well.
I then follow with either they're microfiber finishing disk or a white LC flat pad along with the m205.

Stellar results, almost every time.

The advice you got from others was good, you can try that first as they are correct in what they said.
 
to me, it looks like some scratches are left, and there is some micro hazing on the surface, PG1000 is an older product and does not finish as well has something like FG400, so you would need a polishing step for sure, question is how much do you want to get rid of the deeper scratches left.
 
See if you can beg/borrow a paint thickness gauge. Those scratches look pretty deep and you may burn through if you try to remove them completely.

Otherwise a light polish will remove the minor marring and perhaps make the deeper ones more livable.
 
After seeing the pic Jay you may need to compound those scratches some more before polishing. You are in a good place to get advice and welcome to the autogeek forums. Your cars will look great now but the credit card will get worn out. After the PC the Flex 3401 is next lol. I did the boot camp last year and detail full time now. Autogeek is like a family and everyone is happy to help.

Artistry Auto Detailing
 
Hi,

I didn't mean to abandon the thread I started. I was just holding out in hopes of being able to share a good ending and it came yesterday. I was able to sell the truck for its listed price with no dickering! While the buyers didn't mention the finish, I have to believe they were trying to contain themselves the entire time they were looking her over.

I did not attempt to go after those straight-line scratches. I have an image in my head of someone at some point throwing a horse blanket or tarp over that truck and then storing card board boxes of stuff on it. Even though I did not get the finish perfect, I felt it was a valuable learning experience for my first crack at all this. Thank you all for the advice, words of encouragement, and warm welcome to the forum.

I'm at our daughter's in Texas for a week and plan to use the down time to watch more of the educational videos, to read more articles, and to get a better feel for the various product lines. Please let me know of any "must watch" or "must read" items.

The end result:


Jay
 
In addition to the AutoGeek How-To's I would suggest watching all the relevant videos at AMMO NYC | DRIVE + PROTECT - these were my first introduction into this hobby/obsession of ours.
 
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