Sectioning a vehicle

[11B250]

Hey everyone,

Let me start off by saying that I'm a detail enthusiast, but I don't do this for a living so my experience is very limited to few cars that I own and owned in the past few years.

The last car I did was my wife's pathfinder and I also did my DD Volt and also my '15 Corvette. These were all new cars so they all needed very minimal work for correcting if any.

Anyways, the latest edition I have is a '11 Benz CL550 and I'm going to ask a question that I always feel like I haven't quite grasped....

How do you section a car off to do the polishing?

The hood is one thing. You can probably divide that into 4 sections and be done with it. I guess I'm more confused about the doors, fenders and what not.

How do you guys section off a car to do the polishing work? they say work in a 2 by 2 area, but sometimes that can get little confusing on fenders which have alot of curvature etc.

I'll be using a Flex 3401 for this vehicle with cutting mf pads or orange pads. I might follow through with some finishing polish. The vehicle is "Magnetite black" Which is their metallic black. It does not have that ceraclear coat or whatever it is (I read an article about that from Mike on here)

I've included some pictures of the car to show size and curvatures along with some other pictures that I will probably need to tape up so I don't get polish on them?
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I'm also little curious on how to tape/mask off the plastic and chrome around the door and the heat extractor louvers on the hood. Should I tape the heat extractor grills on the hood? I probably don't want to go over that with polish?

Paint is in good condition. Car only had 9000 miles when I got it (10K now) and it was mostly garage kept in NYC. has the usual swirl marks form years of car washing I guess. Nothing out of ordinary. I'm not too worried about having to fight the paint.

 

[SKorch630]

Sectioning off the vehicle, I've always followed the suggestion of 2'x2' squares. Most trunks I'll do in three sections, most hoods, 4+, doors are usually 6+. My mercedes has a lot of curved panels as well, and while it does make it a bit of a challenge, you can still section them off in your head.

Please, laugh at this quickly drawn, terrible, sketch of the areas I'd work in, it's just how I block off the panels. Mind you, each one is a pad change for me. Again, this is just how I would attack it, not necessarily how others would, or even you would.

All chrome and plastics (trim, door seals, window seals, etc.) are all taped off. 1" wide painters tape is my go to, but others may use a different type/style. You can attack those hood louvers with a smaller polisher if you have them. Otherwise, tape them off. The Rupes ibrid nano would be perfect for those. I know a lot of the guys I follow over on IG are using them.

 

[GSKR]

Just overlap your work.or spread the polish on one side of the hood and start polishing.

 

[11B250]

Sectioning off the vehicle, I've always followed the suggestion of 2'x2' squares. Most trunks I'll do in three sections, most hoods, 4+, doors are usually 6+. My mercedes has a lot of curved panels as well, and while it does make it a bit of a challenge, you can still section them off in your head.

Please, laugh at this quickly drawn, terrible, sketch of the areas I'd work in, it's just how I block off the panels. Mind you, each one is a pad change for me. Again, this is just how I would attack it, not necessarily how others would, or even you would.

All chrome and plastics (trim, door seals, window seals, etc.) are all taped off. 1" wide painters tape is my go to, but others may use a different type/style. You can attack those hood louvers with a smaller polisher if you have them. Otherwise, tape them off. The Rupes ibrid nano would be perfect for those. I know a lot of the guys I follow over on IG are using them.

Thanks bud! great drawing honestly LOL

 

[SKorch630]

Don't forget to start with a test spot and see how it reacts to your pad and poison. Go from there. My Merc responded very well to an orange pad and HDSpeed, and I know it's got dealership installed swirls and buffer trails all over it. It's disgusting. I could probably get down a bit more with some HDAdapt, but the HDSpeed offered me about 90% correction with 6 passes on the trunk at speed 4.

 

[11B250]

Don't forget to start with a test spot and see how it reacts to your pad and poison. Go from there. My Merc responded very well to an orange pad and HDSpeed, and I know it's got dealership installed swirls and buffer trails all over it. It's disgusting. I could probably get down a bit more with some HDAdapt, but the HDSpeed offered me about 90% correction with 6 passes on the trunk at speed 4.

I honestly rather use foam pads so I hope I won't need the mf pads. I don't like them because they require alot more cleaning between sections.

I usually go right to fast speed on the flex, but I will start slow and see what happens.

 

[SKorch630]

Watch some videos and get an idea of what Mercedes paint is like. I use solely foam pads as well. CCS Hybrids, CCS regular, and I'm looking into the CCS thins.

 

[11B250]

Watch some videos and get an idea of what Mercedes paint is like. I use solely foam pads as well. CCS Hybrids, CCS regular, and I'm looking into the CCS thins.

What kind of merecedes and does it have the ceramic clear coating or whatever it's called? lol

Bummer the HD speed is on backorder... McKee's 37 360 cleaner/sealant seems to be popular too. I've heard great things about Klasse AIO, but I think that is mostly fillers and no correcting capability (especially since it's made to be applied by hand)

I also honestly didn't know there was such thing as a cleaner/wax combo. I thought you always had to polish first then protect next. I could see myself changing the way I do new cars from now on. lol

 

[bryanviper]

not to take things off topic, but why do you tape off trim/rubbers/chrome? I find that if I use something like HDSpeed it does not effect the rubbers and such?

Thanks

 

[11B250]

not to take things off topic, but why do you tape off trim/rubbers/chrome? I find that if I use something like HDSpeed it does not effect the rubbers and such?

Thanks

Good question actually and on topic still...

I would think it would act like getting polish on it and white out the rubber/plastic? Chrome is one thing, but rubber? I don't think you want that touching your porous trim

 

[SKorch630]

Taping off is a force of habit for myself. I take zero chances when I have a clients car. Even if "this" product or "that" product is safe for trim, I'd rather play it safe and tape it. Never know when that specific vehicle might have a different reaction.