I was polishing my car last night and I noticed that my polishing pad was turning black which is the same color as the car. I was using PC 7424, XMT stage 4 polish with orange pad not really cuz of swirl marks but for the "sand blasting" on the front of the car.
XMT #4 is like liquid sandpaper, it has it's place for correction work but you should always follow the practice of,
"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"
And by following that practice you leave the most paint on the car.
Is it oxidation that the pad is picking up?? Is it normal for the pad to turn the color of the vehicle?? Is it good for the vehicle to keep going as I've only done the hood so far. Thanks in advance.
Jonathon
When paint oxidizes it tends to turn white or opaque as it's basically breaking down. Oxidation mostly only takes place to a neglected finish, that is you do 'nothing' to the paint. If you have been regularly washing and waxing this car then you shouldn't have any oxidation.
The car is an 86 Porsche 930. I'm pretty sure it has a clear coat on it, or that it did have a clear coat. lol.. but its all shiney.
I've buffed out a few of these body styles, be very careful of those raised body lines running down the hood, most of the time I look at them I see where others have burned through the paint.
Clear coats started being sprayed at assembly lines in the early 1980's, there was a paint system called Deltron by PPG where the basecoat would actually polish to a high gloss, so if you went through the clear the base would shine up. All other basecoat/clearcoat paint systems I've worked on the basecoat is dull, so if you buff through the clear coat the basecoat does not polish to a shine and it's very apparent visually.
I'm pretty confident your car has a single stage from experience, I've taught about a dozen classes for Porsche clubs and worked on dozens and I'm pretty sure that body style in 1986 did come with a single stage paint.
So do i keep polishing it until the oxidation is all off or what should i do??
If you keep using that #4 you're going to see shiny metal. If you do the same process to an entire panel and portions are dull and portions are shiny, then that's an indicator that something's wrong with the paint in the dull sections and more and more buffing won't make it look better and better.
Here's a simple test, take a white cloth like a t-shirt and take some polish and then rub in two places, rub where the paint is shiny and with a different section of cloth, rub where the paint is dull.
If they both show black paint you have a single stage paint system. If the shiny paint does not transfer any black paint to the white cloth but the dull paint does, this would be an indicator that you 'had' a clear coat and now portions are gone, that would be the dull spots. The only way to fix this is to repaint the car. Buffing more will just take more paint off.
im trying to upload a picture but for some reason its not letting me but heres a link to the picture..
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs291.snc3/28235_127599017254403_100000129152448_323414_5808441_n.jpg
On this forum you can either "attach" an image or "insert" an image. It's not that hard to do but alas, most people don't know how to do it.
Here's your picture using the Image Tags to insert it, which is the right way to share a photo.
I always encourage people to teach themselves how to work with pictures on forums "IF" forums are something your going to be active on as a part of you life. It's not that hard to do. If a person is more of a fly-bye forum poster then don't worry about.
Here's a few articles on "how to do things on forums" that can be found in my list of articles I've written, the link is in my Sig Line. I used the tips in the red link to insert your picture above.
Tips, Techniques and How-to Articles for Interacting on Discussion Forums
What to do when you see a problem on the forum
How to crop out the fluff and resize your pictures! - Using FREE online software!
The Avatar Farm
How to share an article using a blue clickable link
How to write a good title for your thread
How-to work with pictures on discussion forums
How to upload a photo into your Autogeek Photo Gallery
How to insert an image from your photo gallery into your message
How to expand the message box
How to tell if you're logged into the forum?
Post your intro thread here but post topical question in the related forum group
How to use the "Editor Mode" to break a single quoted message up into smaller quoted sections
but like i said its a 10 or 20 footer.. any closer you can see the sandblasting on the front and hood.. and some spots where it seems all dull and flat looking.. any tips??
Do the test I mentioned above and let us know your results.
