Evening Mike//
I'm New to the Forums,But a 66/Year old guy,And would like to ask you about
the Factory Paint on my Black Shelby.
I'll do my best to answer your questions. In the last 14 years of answering questions on discussion forums the topic of removing swirls and scratches out of clearcoat black paint has come up one or two times...
Lets start here, the last part of your post....
Thank You for Your:Help/Info & Timely
Response.
Have A Good Evening,Mike.
Best Regards//
Raymond
Looks like you posted this at 7:30pmish on Thursday night. I get here at 7:00am and leave normally around 5:30pm, so I missed your first post. Sorry about that...
Normally I scan this forum group, (Ask the expert Mike Phillips), every morning when I arrive to work but I somehow missed your post on Friday. I'm happy to say in the last 5 years of working on the AGO forum missing a new thread doesn't happen very often.
I'm spending less time on the forums than normal as I'm writing a series of ebooks and there truly is no such thing as multitasking when it comes to thinking out words that I know in the future will be scrutinized and if accurate followed by someone in their garage.
The above all said, I apologize I didn't find your thread the next day after you posted it and as such did not post a reply in a timely manner. In fact it wasn't till someone sent me a message notifying me of your thread that I found it.
Now to your Mustang project,
It has the Full White Stripe Package
I just recently bought this in February/2014. It has some Scratches/Light Scratches
& Paint Chips. I have a Makita 9227 and an Cyclo Polisher.
The white stripe package, which is vinyl graphics will make working on the paint surrounding these vinyl graphics a pain in the butt the rest of the time you own this car. Best thing to do is to avoid buffing on them especially with your rotary buffer.
I had and still have this Synthetic Compound from *Stoner Products* which has worked pretty good w/others vehicles I had. For the life of me,I cannot seem to get the light scratches out of the Paint let alone the bigger scratches and it's pretty sad.
I've never used Stoner's compounds nor their cleaner/wax. I looked at their website and by the description of their products they offer
2 - Aggressive Compounds
1 - Polish/Wax which is a cleaner/wax.
I did not see a "dedicated polish" that would normally be used to follow up a compounding step in a multiple step process, not a cleaner/wax.
As mentioned in this thread, there's be some MAJOR changes in compounds and polishes in the last 7 or so years, I think it started with M86 by Meguiar's here in the U.S. followed by Optimum Polymer Technologies. Overseas Menzerna has always offered incredible compounds and polishes and lately, (the last 3 years or so), SONAX has introduced some amazing products.
If you were to read enough of my posts the terms I use are,
abrasive technology
Abrasive technology is the stuff in the bottles that "we" rub against the paint and it is the MOST important factor that will determine good results from bad results.
With good abrasive technology ANYONE can get professional results their first time buffing by machine which I've documented in the forum world for the last 14 years.
With bad abrasive technology it doesn't matter what pad, tool or technique you use... the results will be bad because the "stuff" touching the paint is bad to start with.
I have not used Stoner's compounds or cleaner/waxes but they are reputable company and their other products have a great reputation. The true test and the ONLY test in my book that matters is what product do when used on black paint.
Because AGO is the largest and most active detailing discussion forum in the world, we get a LOT of people new to car detailing in general and machine polishing in specific that come to this forum seeking help and advice and on the topic of choosing compounds and polishes here's what I say all the time,
Don't skimp on polishes
That means, don't go with the cheapest stuff, go with the best stuff. The reasons why are because,
A: You don't want to do the job twice. Buffing out a car from start to finish already takes a long time plus a lot of perspiration and patience.
B: FACTORY paint is thin, using bad abrasive technology in simple terms removes one set of paint defects and replaces it with a new set of paint defects.
See my article here and look at the pictures ans a picture can say a thousand words....
Clearcoats are Scratch-Sensitive
I've worked w/Buffers [Circular] for several years w/Decent results
on other cars we've had. But,This Shelby Paint [Clear Coat] wants to fight me/
.
Modern clearcoats have more in common with plastic than they do real paint like old school solvent-evaporation lacquers and enamels. (My favorite paints to buff)
See the article above as to why you feel the paint is fighting you.
I bought the Stoner,Prior to buying the Shelby,as it's relatively cheap.
Well there's an old saying, not mine but someone's and it goes like this,
You get what you pay for
But again, Stoner products, at least their aerosols have a good reputation and a strong following. Usually when I test someone's products on black paint and they do not perform well I don't like sharing the results as in the past it tends to make people angry. What I do is I just don't use them or showcase them on the very cool cars I bring to AG or for my own detail business.
**I Want to Do a Much Better Job with the Paint, But I have no Clue on what to get for the Problem Areas.
Is this Shelby Paint & Clearcoat different and requires *Specialized Compounds and Waxes* to correct this?
There's only about a dozen OEM paint manufacturers in the world so it's no different than just about anything else getting pushed off assembly lines.
It's just
HARD and
SCRATCH SENSITIVE
Again, see the article I linked to above.
custmsprty recommended
Wolfgang Uber Compound and
Wolfgang Finishing Glaze, (which isn't a GLAZE it's a Fine Cut Polish), and I agree both of these use top notch abrasive technology and will produce professional results on ANY paint system.
I wrote an article that has info about 4 Wolfgang products here, I'd recommend clicking the link and reading about them and if you want to get them then like all my articles there are links to the store to make it easy to get them to your front door..
The Wolfgang Four
These Issues were there when I bought it, But didn't see it 'til I got it home..
I would **Greatly Appreciate** your Expertise Recommendations on what I need to do or
get to have it looking better than it does now.
PS:The Wife & I are New Davenport/Florida Residents.
We've Been here for 2/Years.
Being an Oregonian myself I'm not always quick to be able to picture where cities in Florida are in relationship to Stuart without looking them up via Google but if you're within driving range of Autogeek I'd highly recommend attending my next Thursday project night and not only will you have a lot of fun but you'll learn a lot too.
My boot camp classes are also very good but they are also $1000.00 for the two day course.
Here's my advice....
Get some known good products, I can vouch first hand for the Wolfgang Uber Compound and Finishing Glaze. The Ferrari in the below thread was compounded with Wolfgang Uber Compound with a wool pad on a rotary to remove all the swirls and scratches and then machine polished with the Finishing Glaze using the Flex 3401 and it has a swirl free finish.
Mark's Fast Ferrari with Wolfgang Fuzion
In the garage....
In FULL SUN about a month later....
You have good tools we just need to make sure you have good abrasive technology.
It's Sunday as I type this and I'm heading out the door for the day but I'll check on this thread first thing Monday morning after I set the garage up for shooting new shows for Ship Shape TV.
rops:.. The Products [Componds/Glazeand Sealant] that you recommend, I'll get.
