HELP! Can't finish down without micro-marring on 2015 Ram 2500

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Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.

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HELP! Can't finish down without micro-marring on 2015 Ram 2500



With permission - I've moved this question via a Private Message to the forum.




Hi Mike,

Long time lurker and finally joined the forum.

I’m currently working on my 2015 Ram 2500. There’s plenty of swirls and scratches. I’ve gotten pretty good results with M105 and orange hex logic pad on my long throw DA.

I’m running into problems trying to finish down the M105. I initially tried M205 and white pad, but the clarity gets worse and I can see way more micro marring.

I’ve since tried several combinations of orange, white, and black pads along with M105, M205, Ultimate compound and ultimate polish.

I’ve done hours of research and I’m out of ideas.

I know you’re super busy, but I would really appreciate your advice.

Please help!!

I’ve attached a picture of paint condition and another picture showing M105 with orange pad and then M105 finished with white pad and 205.


Thanks!


:)
 
Continued....


Hi BlackRam15,

M105 and M205, plus their cousins, Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish are actually pretty nice products. The only time you see micro-marring with these products is on super soft paint.

I'm not a fan of Hexlogic pads only for the reasons that I'm not a fan of ANY pad with a DESIGN in the face of the pad. The best "foam" pads are always FLAT. Anytime you introduce a design into the face of the pad you introduce the potential for problems as the "design" will now hold "stuff". Stuff could be your compound and polish. Stuff could be any form of contaminant or particulate. It also takes a lot more time to clean pads with a design to the face of the pad versus a flat pad where you can quickly scrape the entire face of the pad with a toothbrush.

Make sense?


Your pictures did not show up. I'd say the MOST difficult thing for most people to do is share a picture on a forum. A monkey can put a picture on Facebook and Instagram, but with a forum it takes a tick more knowledge and skill.

Please e-mail me your pictures here,

[email protected]


And before I type any more - I have a question.


What is your desired method to seal the paint?

  1. Car Wax
  2. Synthetic paint sealant
  3. Some type of paint coating - ceramic, graphene, quartz, polymer etc.




:)
 
Also....


If I don't appear to reply right away, I'm in the garage setting up for the big 3-day detailing class coming up in February.

This class will detail at least 15 cars including wetsanding at least 2 cars, maybe 3 cars. And the ONLY way we can get through this many cars, all the tools, products and techniques is if the classroom is set-up for


SPEED


MORE TOOLS THAN ANY OTHER CAR DETAILING CLASS


:buffing:
 
Mike, thanks for the prompt reply. I just emailed the pictures. Info about pads makes sense. I will go ahead and order some Lake Country pads. I would prefer to do ceramic coating, but due to time available I will probably end up applying paint sealant or wax.
 
BlackRam15 said:
Mike, thanks for the prompt reply. I just emailed the pictures. Info about pads makes sense. I will go ahead and order some Lake Country pads.
Click to expand...


Sometimes when it comes to car detailing,

KISS or Keep it Simple Simon




BlackRam15 said:
I would prefer to do ceramic coating, but due to time available I will probably end up applying paint sealant or wax.
Click to expand...


If you want to go the wax/sealant path for now, you can always polish the wax off and switch to a sealant.

If you like, send me your shipping address and I'll send you a free bottle of BLACKFIRE One Step. This plus some fresh, un-contaminated foam polishing pads should remove the micro-marring and seal the paint at the same time.

Just PM me your shipping address.



:)
 
More...


Here's your pictures....


BEFORE

BlackRam_001.jpg



AFTER - M105 & M205

BlackRam_002.jpg


BlackRam_002c.jpg
 
More...


The M105/205 did a great job of doing the heavy lifting, that is removing the original swirls and scratches.


The pictures after using the M105 and M205 show micro-marring. Meguair's M105/205 use SMAT abrasive technology and it's very good. I was still working for Meguiar's when the chemist wer'e creating these formulas. In fact, I have Lab Sample Bottles of M105 in my office. I used M205 when we detailed a Batmobile at Meguiar's.




I forget what I was using to cut the paint but M105 was around at this time.

RotaryBufferBatmobile1.jpg



This was from a Lab Sample bottle of M205 blended in the lab at Meguiar's in Irvine.

RotaryBufferBatmobile2.jpg









Assuming - and I hate assuming - but assuming all other factors are not problems, then the micro-marring seen in the pictures tells me you have very soft paint on your Dodge Ram truck.


Was it repainted?


Regardless of whether it was repainted or not, if you like, I'll send you the BLACKFIRE One Step and you'll want to do a TEST SPOT using first - a foam FINISHING pad. If this removes the micro-marring the do the entire truck with this combo and this more or less confirms the soft paint. If the soft foam finishing pad doesn't remove all of the micro-marring then test a foam POLISHING pad and make damn sure the marring is removed.


:)
 
More...

This is a Porsche I detailed last year. Read the write-up carefully and you'll see I CUT the paint using a Lake Country soft black foam finishing pad. Yes it was that soft that a foam FINISHING pad plus the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze removed all of the swirls and scratches.

Just to note - Wolfgang Finishing Glaze is NOT a glaze. Stupid name on the bottle.

What is it? a FINE CUT POLISH.


Here's my write-up....


Original BASECOAT/CLEARCOAT paint - 1996 Porsche 993


1976_Pcar_003.JPG




Also - I'm offline and off work tomorrow - I'll catch up on Thursday.



:)
 
What I don't understand is why does the 105 side looks like it finished out better than the 105/205 side?

Regardless of the paint's hardness/softness something doesn't seem right. The 205 should always finish out nicer than the 105.
 
I’m not 100% sure, but I’m pretty certain that the truck was not repainted. I will thoroughly read through the write-ups. PM sent with shipping info. Thank you!!
 
One possibility, The white pad is too soft. I have found on some soft paints, I need to use a Blueberry pad(Reflection Artist blue coarse) and essence to finish out. I think a stiff pad and a finer polish will make your black paint dreams come true
 
Agree with Billy...

Sometimes stiff polishing pad with a fine polish helps.

I got pissed at one time trying to get soft paint corrected and grabbed the Griots 6" polisher---Bam, issue solved. Discovered this by accident!
Griots 6" Da with 8mm throw on the soft paint was actully more effective than the Rupes 15" throw!

It may sound counterintuitive --- Sometimes soft paint may respond better to a more abrasive polish with a stiffer pad on a short throw polisher.
This just might do the trick....

Tom
 
Thank you all for the advice. I’m going to get the G9 and give that a try also.
 
2black1s said:
What I don't understand is why does the 105 side looks like it finished out better than the 105/205 side?

Regardless of the paint's hardness/softness something doesn't seem right. The 205 should always finish out nicer than the 105.
Click to expand...

M205 is not the polish I would choose to finish out on soft paints. That is its Achilles heel. M210 is better but even that at times struggles on soft paints. Softer paints tend to like a stiffer pad.

To the OP I would look into a different polish that does a better job on soft paints.
 
BlackRam15 said:
I’m not 100% sure, but I’m pretty certain that the truck was not repainted. I will thoroughly read through the write-ups.
Click to expand...

:xyxthumbs:


BlackRam15 said:
PM sent with shipping info. Thank you!!
Click to expand...


I'm off today, but will process tomorrow.

Also - if you have an order for pads already being shipped - get me the order number via PM


:)
 
Been there done this!

First I suggest ditching the Meguiar polishes(205 and ultimate polish) They have been known to not finish well on some paints.

Second I would suggest just a 8mm free spinning DA.

After those it becomes a bit of trial and error.. I would suggest the following few polishes or the BF One Step Mike is sending you

Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish

Menzerna Polish PO85RD, Mernzerna 85rd, Menzerna finish po85rd, Menzerna Super Finish Plus


Above polishes and trying a few polishing to finishing pads should get you on track.
 
No need to buy another machine...? That shouldn't be necessary.
 
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