Would you be able to answer these questions please as these would really help me understand a few things in detailing.....
1. What is actually doing the cutting. the pad, compound or both? What has more effect?
Compound abrasive mainly does the cutting but the pad will influence how the abrasive is spread and push into the paint. Some pad though is coarse enough to marred the surface though- e.g denim, velvet, and coarse wool/foam pad. Both compound and pad have to work hand in hand
2.what would happen if the polish or compound dries up and you keep polishing not knowing it and countinue to do 1-2 section passes too much?
If the compound is worked in evenly and the pad itself is clean and not coarse enough to do any damages, you can over buff without any problem because there will bound to have residual across the face of the pad.
The problem comes when dry compound and sharp abrasive like m105, is not worked in evenly and the emulsion dries up before the abrasive is disperse. Many other factors like dirty paint or dry paint will also cause the compound to not erode evenly. Then you will have chucks of dry compound gum together stuck into the paint. Many like me have the tenancy to add more pressure trying to remove the dried compound. You can do so if you have sufficient emulsifier on your paint/pad, if not, more emulsion will be dry up and the harder you will push the abrasive in. The gummed up area will be very hard to remove but the overworked area will have absolute gloss. Either use more m105 to fix those area or use your choice of finishing polish to remove the gummed up area.
3. Would would happen if You take a da with a cutting foam pad to the clear coat and start Buffing with no compound 2-3 section passsd?
It may or not may not marred depending on your clearcoat hardness and coarseness of pad. Even if it marred and look horrible, the eroded rate is likely to be low unless the pad is extremely coarse like denim etc.
4.i don't know exactly how much pressure to use when pushing down, if I just use a moderate pressure or just holding the machine against the paint would I get good results?
Depends what compound/machine, what you want to achieve and the technique you prefer. For Rotary, force rotation da and standard da, i would say start with about 3kg+- of pressure for cutting where the pad will have a slight compress look. You can use a weighing scale and test if you really want to be anal about it. Long throw polisher like Rupes is suppose to use mainly with little pressure as the wide orbit worked in the abrasive. The fastest way to learn in my opinion is to polish with extremely good lighting, observe how the polish behave and the result it gives and alter the technique from there.
5. What would be a easier compound to work with with longer working times, m105 seemed to dry fast plus hard to see agiainst the silblver paint.
Actually currently majority of the compound found in US and Europe have longer work time than m105. Many asian waterbased compound tend to be more dry (generalizing here). If you are doing 2 steps, just focus on removing defects with m105 then finish up with a finishing polish. If you still prefer something that works longer, then Meguiar m95, m101, m100 and even the older m85 all have longer work time than m105. If you want an even longer work time, FG400, Sonax, scholl concept, koch chemie and many many others.
6. Would Using a wash and wax before Claying the car have any effect with having scratches and swirls after the entire process of compounding and polishing?
Clay will have high chance of marring as it is still mechanically working on the paint. You can reduce the risk by highly lubricating the surface which i assume the reason you mentioned wash and wax. Still, I wouldnt count on it to avoid scratches and more so if your paint is soft.
7.if you clean your pads with a brush and compressed air after every section pass, can you have good results using 1 cutting pad and 1 polish pad?
Depends what compound and pad. With dry emulsion compound/ asian dry compound and wool pad, it will have alot less residue gumming on the pad (more dusting though). Cleaning with compress air and tornado blow gun regularly without washing at all is sufficient as wool can maintained its form. Do not drag too many panels or leave dry compound overnight on the wool before blowing out as it will twist and harden the fiber. Doing with solely brush will not be thorough.
If you use wetter emulsion compound like FG400, Sonax, Scholl concept etc then cleaning with compress air itself without washing will not be enough in my opinion. So yes 1 wool pad for certain case is enough.
Pad however absorb compound more than wool and almost impossible to blow out clean. Brush will remove dust like residue but ineffective to clean away the emulsion. When pad gets saturated, you lose cut as it becomes soft. You also lose power as softer pad will absorb DA motion. A rough gauge in my opinion is approximately 1 pad for 1 to 3 panels depending how consistent you want your cut to be and how many cycle you are doing per panel.
8. Are there any type of lights I can use to see swirls outside that aren't too expensive, I found it hard/impossible to see the swirls in the shade?
LED Headlight with at least 60-200+ lumens for mobility should do unless you are inspecting outdoor with strong exposure where you flush out your light source. 10-100watt stationary LED flood light will work well too.
Thank you guys for the help. I really appreciate it. I will be practing over the weekend on the hood only and post back my results. Thank you again
