corvette clear coat sucks! help!!

[heavychevy]

PC vs Vette = WWII, I am having a tough time even with a rotary but I can get all the swirls out but cant get a perfect finish (with flashlight looking from about 3-4 in). I am practicing on a spare hood I have from my vette. I would advise the XMT 3 on a orange pad speed 6 followed by XMT 1 on a white pad speed 6 LOTS OF PRESSURE keep this up until you have very small miro marring. Then you should try a finishing polish on a gray pad (very important) and then use XMT glaze with pinnacle souveran with a blue pad. Pinnacle Souveran doesnt do JACK for swirls. At least the glaze can cover those babies up.

You want some cut and then the gray and white pads are your best friends.
If you expect some real results on that car with a PC Optimum should be in your line-up as well (at least the comound and polish)

More importantly

1 Move Slow Very Slow
2 Check your work repeatedly
3 Swirl marks have a long side and a short side, or if caused by a machine are still round move perpendicular to the long sides or in a different direction than ther swirls (go across them not with them) in STRAIGHT LINES.
4 LOTS OF PRESSURE!!!!! ( push that baby down hard, the PC can generate some good heat when you push her real hard )

this is the best I have been able to do with a rotary on vette clear. you can get rid of the swirls but the micro marring left behind is a @#^& to get back out as well.

 

[Surfer]

I wonder what makes some clears easy and some extremely hard. My suv has never been repainted or been in an accident, yet my hood is hard as a rock. It took speed 6 and OC with a yellow Edge cutting pad and lot's of pressure to remove the swirls. The rest of the truck was easy, go figure. Our Lexus and Lincoln were both easy as well.

 

[ltoman]

Patience and multiple slow passes with pressure are keys. It can be frustrating I know.

I use either Menzerna 106 or BF Scratch Resistant Clearcoat polishes with an orange LC pad, followed by a white pad. For spots I use a 4 " orange pad with Optimum Compound, then follow with one of the above polsihes with a white pad. IMO OC works slightly better than XMT#3.

I guess it is okay to swirch brands in the middle of the process? i was trying to keep it simple, but my lack of results was/is sooo frustrating!!! if only i still had my toyota!!! anyway, oc stands for what, please?
thanks, laurenIm the MAN

 

[ltoman]

I wonder what makes some clears easy and some extremely hard. My suv has never been repainted or been in an accident, yet my hood is hard as a rock. It took speed 6 and OC with a yellow Edge cutting pad and lot's of pressure to remove the swirls. The rest of the truck was easy, go figure. Our Lexus and Lincoln were both easy as well.

Wow. I wih it was just the hood that was a pain in my case. go figure. it is going to take me the rest of the year to get her right....

 

[Truls]

if only i still had my toyota!!!

Yeah right!!!!!! no matter how much u detail a Toyota, it will never become a vette

 

[ltoman]

PC vs Vette = WWII, I am having a tough time even with a rotary but I can get all the swirls out but cant get a perfect finish (with flashlight looking from about 3-4 in). I am practicing on a spare hood I have from my vette. I would advise the XMT 3 on a orange pad speed 6 followed by XMT 1 on a white pad speed 6 LOTS OF PRESSURE keep this up until you have very small miro marring. Then you should try a finishing polish on a gray pad (very important) and then use XMT glaze with pinnacle souveran with a blue pad. Pinnacle Souveran doesnt do JACK for swirls. At least the glaze can cover those babies up.

You want some cut and then the gray and white pads are your best friends.
If you expect some real results on that car with a PC Optimum should be in your line-up as well (at least the comound and polish)

More importantly

1 Move Slow Very Slow
2 Check your work repeatedly
3 Swirl marks have a long side and a short side, or if caused by a machine are still round move perpendicular to the long sides or in a different direction than ther swirls (go across them not with them) in STRAIGHT LINES.
4 LOTS OF PRESSURE!!!!! ( push that baby down hard, the PC can generate some good heat when you push her real hard )

this is the best I have been able to do with a rotary on vette clear. you can get rid of the swirls but the micro marring left behind is a @#^& to get back out as well.

Woah, vette vspc= wwII - read that and oh my! rotflmao. how true. lucky me! i dont have the strength you guys have for it and my hired help no longer wants to do it. but i am not giving up.
thanks for the advice, as I will be at it and at it!! PC Optimum - what exactly are these productsso I get the right ones?
Thanks,
Lauren:cheers:

 

[ltoman]

Yeah right!!!!!! no matter how much u detail a Toyota, it will never become a vette

i know but i loved my supra. and the paint would have now been in a state of absolute flawlessness!!!!

 

[heavychevy]

Wow. I wih it was just the hood that was a pain in my case. go figure. it is going to take me the rest of the year to get her right....

With a PC you can forget about getting it right in just one detail unless that detail lasts for several days without the car being driven.

 

[ltoman]

Yellow and a few passes of XMT with firm pressure should get those out. ake sure you work it in at speed 5 for a while and finish with speed 4. Taking your time is key with the XMT series.

scott says no yellow pad on a vette.?????????????

 

[ltoman]

With a PC you can forget about getting it right in just one detail unless that detail lasts for several days without the car being driven.

i am not sure i follow you - dirt i would expect, but not more swirls... i meant just to remove swirls with the pc. gosh this is awful.

 

[ltoman]

Ah yes .... several passes do not equal 5 minutes per area. You must be hesitant to allow the polish and pad combo to work correctly. Since the PC offers no heat exchange you will likely polish every area for several minutes at full speed. And me ... no way would I use yellow pads on a Vette. You will trade swirls for micromarring. Stick with orange and maybe a more abrasive polish. Polish / repolish / jewel.

a more abrasive polish would be ....in your opinion, please?

 

[ltoman]

congrats on the car and in t he best color too! I guess you got the swirls from the dealer prep? Mine has no swirls but must have sat outside I have some acid rain damage. I used optimum and the yellow pad did wonders to it. David

you used a lc yellow pad? scott said never to do that. ? (killrwheels)

 

[heavychevy]

i am not sure i follow you - dirt i would expect, but not more swirls... i meant just to remove swirls with the pc. gosh this is awful.

That's the problem, it depends on how deep the swirls and marks are. Chances are that you have some that are going to require you cutting them and making them into several smaller cuts, which looks better, but you can only make them smaller then you have to get rid of the smaller ones, this is why I beleive scott said no yellow pad because the correction factor may be too hard for the PC.


you would not believe how easy it is to add swirls, you can add them while washing, drying, claying, polishing, buffing off the polish all the while you meant to remove them. go to autopia.com and do a search on corvette or vette and you will see that you and I are not the only people who have been fighting this battle.


BTW orange pad with abrasive polish will cause micro marring as well, it's just that the cuts will be smaller. It's likely you will have to do several steps.

heavy cut product with orange (yellow)
medium cut product with white (orange)
light swirl remover with gray (white) (light to no abrasive)
polish (no abrasive)

seal,wax or whatever you do when you have gotten out all the swirls.

 

[ltoman]

That's the problem, it depends on how deep the swirls and marks are. Chances are that you have some that are going to require you cutting them and making them into several smaller cuts, which looks better, but you can only make them smaller then you have to get rid of the smaller ones, this is why I beleive scott said no yellow pad because the correction factor may be too hard for the PC.


you would not believe how easy it is to add swirls, you can add them while washing, drying, claying, polishing, buffing off the polish all the while you meant to remove them. go to autopia.com and do a search on corvette or vette and you will see that you and I are not the only people who have been fighting this battle.

willdo. what seems odd is if it so easy to swirl, why is it so hard to get them out, you know? i did think claying added some.

 

[heavychevy]

willdo. what seems odd is if it so easy to swirl, why is it so hard to get them out, you know? i did think claying added some.

LOL just like adding fat to your body is easier than getting it off

mostly because swirls are cuts in your clear coat, when you cut something you take part of it away or at least make it uneven. We dont want to take clear coat spray and try to spray it back on there so we try to cut the rest of the clear coat down to the level of the first cut and level it off. Easier said than done

if you are looking for perfect, a professional and more $ is your only choice (even then wetsanding or repaint may be your only option)

did you ever post pics? if you do people would better be able to help.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN, I HAVE BEEN ON THIS GOD FORSAKEN HOOD FOR FOUR DAYS NOW!!!!!!!!! AND SOMETIMES I DO SOMETHING AND IT LOOKS WORSE SO I HAVE TO GO THREE STEPS BACK TO GET IT WHERE IT WAS AND TRY SOMETHING ELSE, AND SO ON AND SO ON.

 

[ltoman]

LOL just like adding fat to your body is easier than getting it off

mostly because swirls are cuts in your clear coat, when you cut something you take part of it away or at least make it uneven. We dont want to take clear coat spray and try to spray it back on there so we try to cut the rest of the clear coat down to the level of the first cut and level it off. Easier said than done

if you are looking for perfect, a professional and more $ is your only choice (even then wetsanding or repaint may be your only option)

did you ever post pics? if you do people would better be able to help.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN, I HAVE BEEN ON THIS GOD FORSAKEN HOOD FOR FOUR DAYS NOW!!!!!!!!! AND SOMETIMES I DO SOMETHING AND IT LOOKS WORSE SO I HAVE TO GO THREE STEPS BACK TO GET IT WHERE IT WAS AND TRY SOMETHING ELSE, AND SO ON AND SO ON.

I will go shoot the photos and post em, like I meant to. Forget repainting a new car- no way. Too much $$ and it will just happen again anyway!! Wetsanding? I am very hesitant. I will post photos, use xmt 3 and oc.
Thanks for your understanding. Felt like I was just an idiot - at least my husband must have thought so!! (But I practiced on the hood of his old green van, and boy it was impressive, even without xmt 3!!)

 

[heavychevy]

I will go shoot the photos and post em, like I meant to. Forget repainting a new car- no way. Too much $$ and it will just happen again anyway!! Wetsanding? I am very hesitant. I will post photos, use xmt 3 and oc.
Thanks for your understanding. Felt like I was just an idiot - at least my husband must have thought so!! (But I practiced on the hood of his old green van, and boy it was impressive, even without xmt 3!!)

That's hilarious, I practiced on some side skirts I bought for my vette that were painted by a body shop and boy was it easy to get those things to 97% or so with only a couple of passes and products. But when I went to the hood all that went out the window. At this point I can get most of the swirls but the micros are killing me. (with a rotary mind you) luckily my new hood on the vette was painted by the same body shop :awesome: so there is at least one part of the car that I can make look great.


And I tried wetsanding part of the hood too....... disastrous failure!!!!!! LMAO

 

[ltoman]

That's hilarious, I practiced on some side skirts I bought for my vette that were painted by a body shop and boy was it easy to get those things to 97% or so with only a couple of passes and products. But when I went to the hood all that went out the window. At this point I can get most of the swirls but the micros are killing me. (with a rotary mind you) luckily my new hood on the vette was painted by the same body shop :awesome: so there is at least one part of the car that I can make look great.


And I tried wetsanding part of the hood too....... disastrous failure!!!!!! LMAO

You are braver than I!!! No way I would try it.
But I can make the old (it's not really old, it is a 98- its just his new on is an 06) anyway I could make the nappy green van look great, but overpriced vette is hopeless...lol I guess I will have to work on it every week for the rest of its life...a this rate I will sell it. j/k Well, good luck in your endeavors as well.:cheers: I am a bit scared of a rotary. I mean how can killerwheels/scott do it with the pc, you know?

 

[Surfer]

I mean how can killerwheels/scott do it with the pc, you know?

Scott learned patience from Obi Won

Apparently the new Optimum line is stronger then the old line (what I have). Since you have some of the XMT stuff and doesn't seem to be cutting it (are you using pressure on the PC?), I would grab maybe Optimum Hyper Compound or Optimum Compound. OHC is more for the rotary I believe but some people who have used it with the PC and really worked it had great results, has very strong cutting ability.

My friend had some bad swirling on his black M5, used pretty much the same process as me (Edge pads/OC/OP) and it came out great. However no Black car will be 100%, a wash or two or even daily driving is going to bring a swirl or two no matter how careful you are. Heck my suv is white and I think it's almost as bad as Black to keep clean, it shows eveything. Colors like Silver etc can hide stuff well.

 

[ScottB]

a more abrasive polish would be ....in your opinion, please?

Xmt 3 , Poorboys 3.0 SSR--- slightly
Menzerna IP -- nice choice
Optimum Hyper --- now where getting there

as said you need alot of patience with the PC. Slow and steady ... multiple passes. No rushing. Sometimes you need to rewipe with alcohol and repolish. And no I wont use yellow pads ...orange is as abrasive as I go.