Failing today

[Hawk75]

Hey all - I'm working on my wife's 2019 pearl white Volvo XC90. It's been through plenty of car washes and has scratches that show under the right light and angle. Without a flashlight, the paint looks glossy and it still sparkles. So, I figured I could use 3d One and a yellow rupes pad to remove the swirls and scratches and give it a polish. Didn't work, minimal improvement. Switched to an orange hex pad...didn't work. So I went to Meg Ultimate Compound and a orange hex....didn't work. I had some VSS on hand so tried that with an orange hex pad....didn't work. All of that was on 1 panel...4-6 passes each time. I'd say that panel maybe showed a 50% improvement.

So what's next? More aggressive pad? Buff and shine uro microfiber seems to be recommended with 3D one? I'm a novice at this so I'm a little afraid of doing damage. If I change to a more aggressive pad with 3d one, do I need a different pad for polishing? I just bought a new bottle of 3d one so I'm hoping I don't have to buy something else!

 

[DanaDetailingPros]

Try the ONE with your blue and very slow passes.

 

[2black1s]

Hey all - I'm working on my wife's 2019 pearl white Volvo XC90. It's been through plenty of car washes and has scratches that show under the right light and angle. Without a flashlight, the paint looks glossy and it still sparkles. So, I figured I could use 3d One and a yellow rupes pad to remove the swirls and scratches and give it a polish. Didn't work, minimal improvement. Switched to an orange hex pad...didn't work. So I went to Meg Ultimate Compound and a orange hex....didn't work. I had some VSS on hand so tried that with an orange hex pad....didn't work. All of that was on 1 panel...4-6 passes each time. I'd say that panel maybe showed a 50% improvement.

So what's next? More aggressive pad? Buff and shine uro microfiber seems to be recommended with 3D one? I'm a novice at this so I'm a little afraid of doing damage. If I change to a more aggressive pad with 3d one, do I need a different pad for polishing? I just bought a new bottle of 3d one so I'm hoping I don't have to buy something else!

I think any of the options you have tried should work with enough time and effort. See the sentence I bolded... I think that is your issue. Your fear of damage is most likely what is holding you back.

Many beginners simply don't realize that polishing takes some time and effort and are a little too timid when approaching the task. And it is quite natural for one to feel that way after reading so many warnings of how thin the clear coat is. Personally, I think the thickness (or thinness) of the clear coat is overstated. Sure it is thin, typically only a mil or two, but it is also very robust. It takes an awful lot of polishing, or carelessness, to actually polish through the clear coat.

My suggestion would be to go at it a little harder. If you haven't removed the simple swirls yet, then you certainly have not removed enough clear coat to be concerned. Deeper scratches are a different story, but I don't see any clear coat issues with removing simple swirls.

 

[98CayenneTA]

Many beginners simply don't realize that polishing takes some time and effort and are a little too timid when approaching the task. And it is quite natural for one to feel that way after reading so many warnings of how thin the clear coat is. Personally, I think the thickness (or thinness) of the clear coat is overstated. Sure it is thin, typically only a mil or two, but it is also very robust. It takes an awful lot of polishing, or carelessness, to actually polish through the clear coat.

Again, I agree with this.

Clear coat thickness is relative, relatively speaking yes 2 mills or 50 microns is thin but in relation to how much clear you actually remove when compounding and polishing I think a clear coat can be looked at as being thick.

In general a 2 step compound and polish is only going to remove 4 - 8 microns of clear.

Like stated by 2blacks1 I think newbies are afraid to lean into it a little bit combined with the aggressive sound of a free spinning da they think they will blow through the clear. Free spinning da's are noisy but definitely no aggressive.

I had a hood a couple years ago on a black Ford Focus where the owner tried cleaning the bugs off the hood with a green scotch brit pad in the rain. With nothing to lose I leaned into that thing so f'n hard for a long time making MANY passes with 3d ACA 500. When it was all said and done I removed 20 microns out of the figured 55 microns of clear.

With all that said you still have to be careful.


Far from perfect but probably a 80% improvement

Before

After

 

[Hawk75]

Thanks everyone. I will mention that I tried doing a 2x2 section on the door next with the rupes yellow pad. I increased the force I applied and I went very slow. I did about 4 very slow passes. I was hoping going very slow, increasing pressure, and keeping my area small would help, but I did not get different results. I think what you are all saying is I need to probably do that again but potentially 10 or more passes to get results.

 

[DanaDetailingPros]

Try a microfiber pad or wool foam back.

 

[98CayenneTA]

Thanks everyone. I will mention that I tried doing a 2x2 section on the door next with the rupes yellow pad. I increased the force I applied and I went very slow. I did about 4 very slow passes. I was hoping going very slow, increasing pressure, and keeping my area small would help, but I did not get different results. I think what you are all saying is I need to probably do that again but potentially 10 or more passes to get results.

A yellow Rupes pad is not very aggressive at all.

I would use a Rupes yellow wool pad with something like Menzerna 400 or Koch Chemie 9

 

[Gridlink]

I'd give 3D one or Scholl S20 Black with Buff and Shine Uro-fiber pads might be a good combination on hard paint. 2-4 slow passes with moderate pressure should do very well.

 

[Bri26]

The pad is more important than the compound. 3D One will be able to do the job with the right pad. If you haven't seen any results yet than your dealing with a hard clear coat. I would try either a Lake Country blue SDO/HDO foam pad or the Buff and Shine Uro microfiber pad. If your worried about using a more aggressive pad, try doing two slow passes and then check the test area. If the correction looks good then you can do the rest of the panel the same way. If you only notice a little correction, then you can try two more passes and possibly turn the speed up as well. What your finding is the difference between a hard and soft clear coat. If you were dealing with a soft clear coat, you would have already seen plenty of correction.

Also, it's important to clay the car before doing any kind of paint correction.