Recently started doing detailing on some of mt dads cars. First car i started on was my own. Definite learning curve with polishing. Used too much product, went too fast, ect. Got more practice and im now on my 3rd car. 2008 mercedes c300 red paint. Im using a 105 compound on an orange pad followed by pinnacle swirl remover/orange pad, then the same compound on a white pad. If i do straight to a white pad it does not remove all the swirls. Is this normal? Also, i follow that up with the NXT glaze, plus best of show wax from griots. Great shine and so far swirls are gone using the porter cable. Still scratches in the paint though. Is this from not cutting hard enough? Ill post a before and after so you can see how trashed this paint was.
Welcome to the obsession and fun. Looking forward to seeing some pics of your work. The learning curve is fun even though it's hard work. At least I hope you feel that as it's never ending it seems.
Here are my thoughts. Initially What type of buffer and and pads are you using? Product is key, but I mention technique as it's critical that you keep the buffer rotating as if it's not then you're not correcting. Be sure to mark the backing plate with a single has mark from a black sharpie so you can see if it's rotating.
That said, let's assume it's rotating and you're machine is doing it's job. In terms of correcting, the product is key as it's what touches the surface and is really doing the work. M105 on an orange pad is a good combo to normally quickly cut through things. I'm not familiar with NXT Glaze though. However, if you're removing the swirls and what not but are left with Random Imperfections, Defects and Scratches aka RIDS, those are likely ones that may need something like wet-sanding down then polished. I won't get into the details here but read up on wet-sanding as while it's easy, it's also easy to mess up if you're not careful. Knowing that you might also want to really find out what the customer is looking to have done. I would bet the vast majority of your customers would be fine with near full correction and a few RIDS. Especially if you're up-front about the potential if you attempt to go too far.
While I'm very comfortable wet sanding and taking thickness measurements to insure success, there are times where I will approach customers their thoughts. If I'm even remotely not comfortable attempting things, I won't. That helps insure I error on the side of safe vs sorry. Especially if the customer says it's not a big deal. I'm here to impress them but not put myself in jeopardy should I mess up.
After all that, yes you could press on and attempt to compound or polish out the scratches but IMO you're covering too large of an area and have to weigh in removal of so much clear coat in the hopes/attempts to remove a single mark. Thus why wet-sanding plays a part.
Now in terms of Orange vs White pads, yes, what you're seeing is normal. Pads density and make up impact their cutting ability. A white pad is for very light polishing. Micro marring or light scratches. I wouldn't necessarily use the white pad and same product after the initial correction. The latter is to remove haze and refine the polish. The cutting is where the real work should be done. In other words, Correct/compound then polish and refine, then seal/protect. Make sense?
