I would like to thank Mike and everyone for sharing their input on this situation, your support is very much appreciated. I have been away from home and haven't had a chance to revisit my paint correction.
Washing is an option. I think in this situation, because the splatter dots of polish have completely dried onto the paint and because you say that wiping with solvents is not 100% effective, my guess is washing them off which means rubbing some type of wash mitt over the paint with a soap WILL loosen and remove the splatter dots but my "guess" is the rubbing of the mitt, loosening and removing stuck-on splatter dots will in and of itself cause marring. And even if it doesn't produce a lot of easily visible marring if it were me I would re-polish after washing and drying.
If I'm right about the above scenario, that is if I wash the car I'll still end up polishing the paint a second time, then I would skip washing and simply re-polish. In my scenario I would be doing this anyways so might as well try it first and if it works you save a LOT of time and work.
I agree with your thought process, that if I were to try washing the car and use the wash mitt to loosen and remove the stuck-on splatter dots that I would want to re-polish the entire car again, even if it doesn't produce a lot of easily visible marring.
Also, my guess is the majority of the splatter dots are on the horizontal surfaces below the roof line, that is the hood, trunk lid and front and rear windows? They is probably some on the tops of the fenders but not much on the vertical panels?
Correct, you are absolutely right. There was some above the quarter panel areas as well being that it's a hatchback and some vertical panels that have a slope to them, i.e. top of doors. 2017 VW Golf R.
However, thankfully I have read your "beach towel tip" article and I had covered up the front windshield with my AG microfiber large towels and the rest of the windows with plastic sheet and tape. Thank you for another helpful article / tip.
So just buzz over all the horizontal panels the same way you did the first time. If you used a foam "polishing" pad for the last polishing step then repeat this process. Don't use low speed, do it exactly the same. The pad the polish and the action of the machine should completely remove all the splatter dots and when you finish polishing, wipe off the residue and move forward.
The problem you're experiencing is kind of the reason I originally came up with the
The Beach Towel Tip
Has to do wit me being lazy and not liking wiping off splatter dots off glass only to find I remove some but only push others around to new locations. Instead of messing around I just covered the windshield with a towel when using a rotary buffer on the hood.
Give the above a try...
I have been away from home and haven't been able to get back to work on the paint correction but I will take your advice and try re-polishing the areas that only have splatter dots to save me a LOT of time and work. Thankfully I have read your "beach towel tip" article in the past and I covered all the windows.
Thank you so much for all your help Mike. I will try re-polishing as directed and not use a low speed.
What were you going to use for your LSP?
I plan on trying AMMO Creme as my LSP, preceded by AMMO Reflex and Skin
My other car I used Wolfgang Fuzion as my LSP, preceded by WG Sealant 3.0. Weekend car; 2013 Subaru WRX STi Limited.
For everyone reading this thread into the future, (I always type for the future, never the present), here's a related article, not so much about removing splatter dots but about starting at the top of the car and working your way down...
Knock out painted roofs first, then tackle the rest of the car...
Thank you for this helpful article
Makes sense... At times I would get scattered and start moving to different panels such as difficult or heavily damaged first.
I have all but removed the chance of splatter with careful machine work when using liquidy products. I say that to reinforce not getting into this situation however it still happens. If I know I may run the risk of product splatter I cover as much as possible AND prepare an ONR bucket to take care of it promptly. I know this doesn't help you much right now, Tim, but a word of caution to avoid it next time. As always, Mike offers the best approach.
I like the wash first approach, even with splatter dried for 5 weeks. Then a soft foam pad and some fine polish to work the splatter off. Hopefully it's not all over the vehicle.
Thank you for your helpful input. Unfortunately, it covers a large portion of the vehicle. Do you have any recommendations of what you use to cover adjacent panels to prevent marring? Microfiber towels or drop sheets? I like to blow the panel off before polishing and after polishing using my Metro Sidekick to remove any dusting etc. but this may be difficult with panels being covered and them flapping on the paint causing marring.
