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Poroto

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Hello AGO forum members!
I have been a lurker in these forums for a while, and I am amazed at the results you guys are getting! :xyxthumbs:
I am a noob when it comes to taking care of the exterior of my car; I have always taken impeccable care in regards to maintenance and engine stuff, but I never cared for the outside past a wash and wax. Well during the past 2 years I have begun working more and more on the exterior, by modding it and starting with the correct way of washing and waxing (thanks to myturbodiesel.com), and avoiding anything to create swirls.
So fast forward to now that I finally took the plunge and bought a DA polisher, a Lake Country 5" backing plate, Lake Country 5.5" flat pads (orange, white, black, and blue), and M105 & 205, and M26.
So my car is a candy white VW Jetta, which I have learned through these forums that they are rock-hard. Having no frame of reference, I really don't know what that means...
Anyway, taking advantage that the kids were away with my wife, I had a whole day to myself to try out these products!
By the time I was done with the wash, claying, and another wash, it was already dark. I used the M205 on a white pad on a test section, following the advice I had learned here as best as I could, and I noticed increased gloss and nothing detrimental...so I did the whole car. Then I washed again and waxed.
Everything looked good until the next day in the sun I noticed some swirl marks that I did not recall were there before. I don't think the M205 could have caused that...right? Maybe the claying and 205 removed all prior gunk on the paint that essentially "revealed" these marks?

Here's the trunk lid...you can see some of the swirl marks:
tUxxyPz.jpg


I also noticed some weird scratches along the inside edge where the roof meets the areas where the pillars are (I don't know the name of that area) and you can also see some more of the swirls:
Nso9KPw.jpg

I noticed one long thin scratch on the roof...argh!!
jMoXVjB.jpg


If you guys have any advice on working with VWs or what I can do next to remove the scratches and swirls, I'm all ears!
Anyway, I am very happy with the gloss and shine that my car has now, and next in line is tackling the swirl marks, the scratches, decontaminating the paint and wheels, and fixing the rock chips on the hood and front bumper.
ibqrpu1.jpg


Nice to meet y'all and finally be on AGO!! Feed back please
 
Welcome to Autogeek. This is a great place to learn.
 
Welcome!

Judging by the pics, you actually have very few swirls. Those are mostly what we call RIDS (Random Isolated Deeper Scratches).

You can go after them by getting a bit more aggressive. Try your M105 on the orange pad and see what that does.
 
Welcome to AG. Like the VW, looking good.

It may be the fading light, but I don't see to many swirls left. Your the one that gets to see it in the full sun though. Probably another round with 205 will clear them out a bit more.

For the scratches you could try working them some with the 105, but just go easy. Better to have an annoying little scratch than to cut through the paint. Maybe go over them a little to just try to reduce their appearance.

The roof looks like is has some marring there but hard to tell. Do you a similar effect on the other side in the same place? Was your car bought used? Could be from a previous roof rack. Also the "pillar" area could be a tad more raised up than the roof. So when you run your pad over that area you may not be making full contact with the paint there. And if it is caution, you will remove more paint from the raised area. Tape off raised body lines to prevent this.

And yes, polishing a car can unveil previously masked damage, or make it more noticeable.

Oh, and I don't know, are newer VWs single stage paint? 205 and good quick results on white paint make me question this. And good lord, SS white is hard.
 
Hi and :welcome:

That shouldn't have single stage paint.... it looks like Candy White to me, which is base coat / clear coat, and is on the harder side, but not crazy hard.

By hard, to my mind, it means that the paint is physically harder - maybe through the use of different chemical make up, curing methods etc....that say a different manufacturer. To oversimplify what this 'means', think of how easy it would be to sand a scratch out of a block of polystyrene vs trying to sand it out of a block of wood, or a block of cement...

So on 'hard' paint then a polish - say 105 - would cut LESS than it would if you used it on soft paint. The same 'principle' would apply to 205 or any polish. So the harder the paint, the more aggressive one generally would need to get to remove damage of equal depth in softer paint.

I am an avid user of Menzerna polishes and they produce consistently good results on VW paint.... not to say that other polishes won't - they obviously will... so can't really talk to 105/205 specifically... but, from all I have learned online, 105 is a 'finicky' compound that is too often overworked, and can have dusting issues. So it is not a compound I have any first hand experience with and so can't really give you any specific advice with regards to its use.

You *may* want to consider M101 which I believe is a little more user friendly, should you wish to stick with the Meguiars and its SMAT technology.

I can tell you though that I tend to agree with the idea that what you are seeing has been a) either uncovered during decontamination or b) are the remaining deeper scratches.

Those marks on the roof are not something I see typically on VW's, but I do know the roof angles down ever so slightly into the area where your defects are before it meets the raised bit.... I suspect the pad was not 'angled' in their and so the edge of the pad was not making contact, leaving that paint 'uncorrected'.

I would tape off that raised line and re-polish the area.

Some other advice would be to GO GENTLE on the B-pillars, which are painted plastic and the paint is a lot softer. Make sure you tape off all 4 edges of EACH pillar on each side.... you will probably find they are also angled oddly in relation to each other...The tail lights should correct in a very similar fashion.

As for that deeper scratch (with your finger in the pic), if you run your fingernail *ever so gently* over the scratch, does it 'catch' - if so, I personally would not try to remove it completely, especially on a daily driver.

You should notice an improvement in the appearance of the scratch after polishing over it with say 105 on an orange pad, as the sharp edges are rounded off during the process of polishing.

Lastly, I tend to work on a lot of VW's and always post up the work in the show and shine section. I have done many Candy White models if you want to have a look and see product choices, and also did a MK5 jetta (Graphite Blue if I recall correctly) so there may be some other pointers in that write up - can't recall offhand...

Hope this helps a bit :dblthumb2:
 
AZ Mike said:
Welcome to Autogeek. This is a great place to learn.
Click to expand...

Thanks :xyxthumbs:

davey g-force said:
Welcome!

Try your M105 on the orange pad and see what that does.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That's the plan of what I'll do next: m105 on the orange pad...I even saw a post somewhere of a detail on another VW that worked the m105 with a yellow pad. I'll do a test spot and see what works!

Mantilgh said:
Welcome to AG. Like the VW, looking good.

It may be the fading light, but I don't see to many swirls left. Your the one that gets to see it in the full sun though. Probably another round with 205 will clear them out a bit more.
The roof looks like is has some marring there but hard to tell. Do you a similar effect on the other side in the same place? Was your car bought used?
Click to expand...

Honestly there are more swirls in the full sun than what is pictured, but you really have to get close to see them. Even from about a foot away the paint looks good. I'm the only owner the car has had, so I have no explanation for that marring because is it not present on the other side.

TFTADetail said:
Welcome to AGO! :dblthumb2:
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Thanks! :xyxthumbs:

lawrenceSA said:
Hi and :welcome:

I am an avid user of Menzerna polishes and they produce consistently good results on VW paint.
You *may* want to consider M101 which I believe is a little more user friendly, should you wish to stick with the Meguiars and its SMAT technology.

As for that deeper scratch (with your finger in the pic), if you run your fingernail *ever so gently* over the scratch, does it 'catch' - if so, I personally would not try to remove it completely, especially on a daily driver.

Lastly, I tend to work on a lot of VW's and always post up the work in the show and shine section. I have done many Candy White models if you want to have a look and see product choices, and also did a MK5 jetta (Graphite Blue if I recall correctly) so there may be some other pointers in that write up - can't recall offhand...

Hope this helps a bit :dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the awesome info Lawrence! After mentioning your posts, I have been reading them and yes, they have excellent pointers on VW paint. I wish I had found them before I did my car.
But do you have any recommendations for the Menzerna products? I saw your many posts on candy white paint so I'm sure you know quite a bit about this color (boring and all, lol).
As other people have mentioned, the next time I work on the jetta I'll probably use the 105 with an orange pad and see what happens - the scratches on the roof will remain for now and I'll tackle those next time I have a free afternoon.

Thank you all for the warm welcome and helpful comments!:dblthumb2:
 
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