Best combination with Sonax perfect finish - help

Manilruben

Manilruben

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The most asked about questions , which are all the best combination to get show car finish, but for me it is slightly different how do I get the best finish with the tools and pad I have.

The car is VW polo which has swirl marks though it had been maintained well for the last two years .

Tools :

Rupes LHR 12 E Duetto
Lake country HDO 5” MF pad
Rupes yellow and white foam pads
Rupes zephir course gel
Sonax perfect finish
Sonax polymer net shield

I will pep the car by the rules of the detailing industry standard.

I have access to the lake country HDO foam pads the blue and the orange pads. Though I would have to purchase them.



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I think that your VW Polo has the well knowned hard clearcoat. Do a test spot with Rupes yellow pad and Perfect Finish and see what correction it gets you. If not enough move up to LC HDO mf pad and Rupes Zephir. That is the most aggressive combo you have. And it could still not be aggressive enough on your Polo cause of the hard clearcoat. But are you satisfied with the results. I would follow up with the Rupes yellow pad and Perfect Finish to get it to gloss some more.

/Tony
 
Thanks SWETM will try this week end and let you result

Just for my understanding does the finish depends on the pads or the compounds used.


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I don't want to step on Tony's toes here but to answer your question...i believe both pad and product selection have an affect on the cut and finish of the paint.

As Mike Phillips says, the most important thing is the abrasive technology used in liquid products (compounds, polishes) but used with different density or types of foam pads can increase or decrease the ability a bit too.

Generally speaking, you would tend to use heavier cut products with more aggressive pads and lighter abrasives with finishing pads but I do vary that rule sometimes for subtle differences.

For finishing I tend to stick with finer or milder abrasives and a finishing or very fine cut pad. With that said, I have used Menzerna HCC 400 (compound) with a white Lake Country hybrid pad on my Flex 3401 on very hard paints to actually finish. It's rare I do that but is an example of breaking the rules a bit.
 
On that is a very good insight agree rules are meant to be broken. In most of the scenario we are forced to work on limited tools since our access to various combinations is close to impossible. I am India and we don’t get access to many products.

As you know it is highly polluted and climate changes drastically does have an impact on the compounds and pads .

I work on a car during the summer where in the temp ranges between 48 to 54 degree Celsius and during winter were in drops below 30 degrees

Does the external temp impact the quality of finish derived out of the polishes and compounds I use




Thanks
Manil
 
It's many variables that comes in with the compound and polish and pads. Mostly how the paint reacts with them. Some harder clearcoats can even be scratch sensitive as they still marring the paint with a to aggressive combo of pads and polish. And some brands of abrasives is not able to finish perfectly with even the least aggressive combo. That's why it's so important to do test spot and see how the paint you are working on reacts.

Let's say your first test spot with the Rupes yellow pad and Perfect Finish almost gets you the results you wanted. But you would want just a little more cut. Then you would go up to a Rupes green pad and Perfect Finish and it could get you the wanted results. But since you have the LC mf pad as next in the higher aggressiveness of pads. It can leave you with useing perfect finish on the mf pad a micro marred finish cause you went too aggressive. The option would be to get the LC HDO pad that is slightly more aggressive than the Rupes yellow pad. Perfect Finish has the ability to cut rather aggressive when combo with a cutting pad. It's in the great abrasive technology.

Then it depends on what kind of defects the clearcoat has. As in how deep they are. Some can accually seems to be very deep and neglected. When it can be wash and dry marring that is very shallow. And while some can be less marring and you have deeper scratches from says mf towels that has been very dirty with little stones in them. So even from looking at the paint it's hard to say what will work or not in the least aggressive way that is. Cause some just go at it with the most aggressive combo they have and then a finishing polish and done. But this way you can level down the clearcoat more than need to be done.And clearcoats are very thin. So the least aggressive combo and test your way through with what you have. And maybe clean and prep a couple of test spot sizes first. Do some testing with what you have. And if you don't get the results you want. You could order products that can be more suited.

This is also to over thinking it LOL. It mostly what your expectations is from your polishing. One thing that I can see with your products. Is that the Zephir compound can be a little to gentle. If you have deeper defects. To finish with either the yellow or white Rupes pad and Perfect Finish. Are going to make your car glossy and shiney. But you don't need to get all of the defects out. And sometimes if they are very deep defects they are best to leave them as you get them from your compounding. Then concentrate on getting the best finish you can get.

Anyone with experience with Rupes Zephir compound please shaim in on this. But have something back in my head if used with a mf cutting pad it can dust a lot. It is so I don't recommend you to use a combo that will be a not so great experience when useing it.And I'm very unsure of this.
 
I'll start off by agreeing with Tony in going with the most agressive pad you have if Perfect Finish is the only polish on hand. I used Sonax 04/06, which is very similar to Perfect Finish on my black VW and it had almost no effect on swirls when using a medium cut polishing pad.

External temperatures will have an effect on your products. When using products either above 33C or below 10C I've notice they start to behave differently. When hot, they dry out faster, get dusty, and are hard to spread and remove. When cold, they seem to smear, cause streaking, and become hard to remove.
 
Thank you SWETM and Desertnate will try a test spot soon and will post pictures from there will find my way through.

I am really happy on the response received , will keep posting my experiences and also take as much advice from the experienced members

My pleasure to be in this form of educated car detailers community


Thanks
Manil
 
SWETM said:
It's many variables that comes in with the compound and polish and pads. Mostly how the paint reacts with them. Some harder clearcoats can even be scratch sensitive as they still marring the paint with a to aggressive combo of pads and polish. And some brands of abrasives is not able to finish perfectly with even the least aggressive combo.

That's why it's so important to do test spot and see how the paint you are working on reacts.
Click to expand...

Good stuff Tony...



Desertnate said:
I'll start off by agreeing with Tony in going with the most agressive pad you have if Perfect Finish is the only polish on hand.
Click to expand...

Agree.


Just to note, SONAX Perfect Finish is formulated for use with rotary polishers but I've had good luck using it with anything.


To the OP - Everything comes down to your Test Spot. I recommend you always test on the hood or the trunk lid. Why? Because the horizontal panels usually have the most wear-n-tear PLUS you want to LOOK DOWN on your test area to really evaluate the results.

Also - if you need to do more than one test spot, always test in a new section of paint. If you test in an area you already tested your results will not be accurate.


:)
 
Manilruben said:
The most asked about questions , which are all the best combination to get show car finish, but for me it is slightly different how do I get the best finish with the tools and pad I have.

The car is VW polo which has swirl marks though it had been maintained well for the last two years .

Tools :

Rupes LHR 12 E Duetto
Lake country HDO 5” MF pad
Rupes yellow and white foam pads
Rupes zephir course gel
Sonax perfect finish
Sonax polymer net shield

I will pep the car by the rules of the detailing industry standard.

I have access to the lake country HDO foam pads the blue and the orange pads. Though I would have to purchase them.



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Click to expand...
Are you only wanting to do a 1-step Polish?


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Thanks Mike I would do a test spot but my speculation is as a beginner

what happens if I mess up on the test spot

Once I achieved the result on the test spot will that merge in as i do the whole car




Thanks
Manil
 
WRPT That is hard question to answer as a beginner enthusiast.

Let be put it this way for better understanding I would want to go the little harder way but remove all defects and bring back the gloss.

I am not too sure will that require more aggressive compounds polishers or pads such as the MF and wool pads which as seen in most you tube videos and to be honest it was more technical and confusing.

Appreciate your advice which is appropriate as a beginner to lay hands on then climb the ladder of perfection.


Thanks
Manil
 
After all your advice successful completed my first project by using the following
One step :
Rupes Duetto and min
Rupes yellow pads
Rupes Blue pads
Sonax perfect finis
Sonax polymer netshied

Steps :

Decontamination using Geyon iron removal
Foam wash using MJJC foam canon
Clay barred
Sonax perfect finish with Rupes yellow pads
Finally Sonax polymer net shield with lake country gold pads by hand

Pics : please share your comments on the finish

I had only one issue there was lot of dusting during my polishing stage. I heard that Sonax perfect finish had minimal to no dusting what could be the reason
5379d243e4ac2ee70862d8f4ba3c2a03.jpg


7449007fb4944ca6eec78ee25b386e3d.jpg
b8d990bd2a2f6a86b48e4a053dfd1cca.jpg



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Looks great! Nice work!

The dusting can be used to much of polish on the pads or working the polish to long or use the pads to long so they gets saturated with polish or no cleaning of the residue on the pads between reload of polish or you have a lot of dead paint to polishing off or the temps and humidity is on the high. Some reasons on there own that could cause dusting or a mix of them. So it's hard to pin point why it's dusting without knowing more of the method you polishing with. And a to high of speed on the polisher can dry out the polish faster too. But PF is not a total free from dusting so with just a little over the hill on the points above and you can see it dusting. But if it was not a lot of dust then don't worrie about it.

/ Tony
 
Thank you @swetm

Speed of the machine was at 4.5 all through the work. I checked the bottle the manufactured date was 2016. I used 3 pea drops only

Not sure why that happened . Will keep your points when I take the next project


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Manilruben said:
Thank you @swetm

Speed of the machine was at 4.5 all through the work. I checked the bottle the manufactured date was 2016. I used 3 pea drops only

Not sure why that happened . Will keep your points when I take the next project


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Click to expand...
Did you clean the pad after every pass?

Car looks good, but you need to use a proper hand held light or the sun to see the true finish.
 
No I did not clean after every pass but after completing half of each panel.

I checked using Rupes LL 150 swirl finder torch.

I did not see any imperfections however not very clear how to spot Haze


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