hairline scratches ...what to product and pad??

Proheader

Proheader

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Good evening fellows......done with race car work and have the Tahoe in stall all taped off. Looking to remove some of those hair line scratches you get from all wash and NO WAX for four years. The Tahoe is an occasional driver that sees storage 8 months out of the year for us.

Starting with a good wash, then did the clay bar. Started with some Meg fine cut then went to Ultimate compound and still got these "hair line scratches"...looks like small spider web lines....

Question posed??

Is there a better product to use from Megs or?? I was going to break out the wool pad and throw it on my Meg G110 machine......

Would love some direction on this one......decided not to start until I got some information....

Thanks

Proheader
 
if you work up to a compound then you gotta work back down to a polish and a polish pad. compound cause swirls. they remove major defects but at the same time leave minor imperfections. so you gotta go over them with a fine polish. a great otc product would be megs ultimate polish.

if you still aren't happy with the results take a photo and post it on here. you can go with wool and a compound like m105 or ulimate compound. but you never really get 100% correction you need to learn to live with defects. perfect is never perfect. this is coming from a mobile car detailed.
 
Thanks for the reply. I will post some pictures after work tomorrow. Just wondering if the wool pad is a good start. I do not mind work. I will work towards the polish as I have some Menzerna insulator and some MG #26 and their show car glaze as well. These are for when I begin to polish and seal.

Biggest question is, will the wool pad be too much of a cutter?? I have a 3m 6" pad on my G110 machine. I am using the Ultimate compound right now but should I go to something even more aggressive like M105??

Just do not want to ruin MOMMA's Tahoe. It was a gift from GM Racing a few years back....

Proheader
 
always work least aggressive to more aggressive. I have used Lake country purple wool pad with m105 and UC on cars before with good success. with a dual action polisher you don't have much to worry about if you use good technique.

my most aggressive setup right now is megs ultimate compound and srubuff pad. I am all out of m105 and i don't plan on buying any more. UC works really well.
 
Thanks for the replies.....I will get more UC and try the wool pad later today.....

Proheader

....and will post pics.....
 
Proheader said:
Just wondering if the wool pad is a good start.

Biggest question is, will the wool pad be too much of a cutter??

I have a 3m 6" pad on my G110 machine.
Click to expand...

Just read your thread and just want to clarify... you're using some type of wool pad on a first generation Porter Cable?

(Meguiar's G110 DA Polishers are first generation Porter Cable DA Polishers)

Wool pads don't work on DA Polishers.

Stick with foam pad for removing fine scratches.

IF you haven't read through this, give it a read through...

The short how-to guide for using a DA Polisher
How to maximize the ability of the 1st Generation Porter Cable Dual Action Polishers


:)
 
FWIW, I've had great luck removing hairline scratches with a CCS Orange or Hydrotech tangerine and a medium swirl remover like Wolfgang TSR or XMT #2.

Once you get done with Mike's link above, might consider a combo like these.
 
Thanks for the tip Mike. I would have been frustrated even further without results. I will pull a foam pad out from the package and go to work on it. I am going to use the XMT tonight and get a few panels done.....

Will still post pictures......

Proheader
 
Scuba and Mike,

Read everything I could on your links. What I need to know is the prescribed medicine I need for a foam pad and product......

You know I have the G110, but should I invest in another machine??

And where do I get this CCS orange or XMT #2

Thanks

Proheader

now if I could only get this camera to work lol.....
 
If you want a more aggressive setup without going nuts - 5.5" HT Cyan or yellow/orange flat pads(thin is in). M105 followed by M205 on white or gray pads finishes very nicely. Although the WG twins work very well on swirls, IMO 105/205 are better for handling RIDS. Of course this could just be my lack of technique.

If you want OTC products you could use UC and UP, but 105 has more cut.
 
Love the responses but all the "abbreviations" for product kinda stumps a new guy sometimes..... Not sure what UC or 105 really stand for when talking products. Even when you use the search engine, some of them do not come up.......

I will do some hard core reading again today as I am on vacation until the 12th.....

Looking to order some product today with the discounts and time to work on the Tahoe is awesome.....

Thanks....
 
As Mike pointed out, your G110 is an earlier, less powerful DA; unless it's a recently purchased V2 (version 2). If it is the earlier version, you will have to be more patient in your polishing and only do small areas at a time - maybe a square foot to 2 sq. ft. Make sure you have the proper pads. You do need the 5.5" pads since DA's have problems rotating larger pads. Everyone has their favorite pad types - LC Flat Pads, CCS, etc. I favor the LC flat pads. They're relatively inexpensive and they work. You'll need yellow, orange, white, grey and blue. I'd get a 6pak and get one each of yellow,orange, white and grey, and 2 blue - one each for a sealant and wax.

You already have Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, which is a very good medium-heavy polish, so all you really need is a fine polish like Meg's Ultimate Polish, Meg's M205, Pinnacle XMT #1 or #2 , Wolfgang Finishing Glaze, or Menzerna PO106. Alll of these are very good and will do the job. Everyone has their favorite, but that's mostly personal preference.

Start by doing a test area with the UC on an orange pad with the DA set at its highest speed. If that doesn't remove the swirls, try UC on a yellow pad. If you're not getting at least some of the swirls out at that point, you probably aren't using the proper technique. Don't allow the DA to sit on a spot, but slow down so you're moving the DA very slowly over the surface, and make sure you have proper pressure to keep the pad rotating. If the pad is not rotating and just jiggling, you are not polishing.

Follow up the first polishing step with the finish polish you chose on a white or grey pad. Test both to see which gives you better results.

Make sure you read Mike's articles and view his videos on polishing BEFORE you try this. Proper techique is 90% of the battle. Good luck.
 
ordered the Wolfgang TSR 3.0 and the LC 6 pack.....

will let you know how it comes out....

Got a new camera too....lol

Proheader
 
this will be the next project.......we are really busy with race car work and headers so I do not know when but it is next on the list......best products for black???

518.jpg


gallerylarge.asp
 
Proheader said:
this will be the next project.......we are really busy with race car work and headers so I do not know when but it is next on the list......best products for black???
Click to expand...

Color doesn't matter very much. What does matter is your technique. Virtually all of the polishes will produce excellent results if you have your process down and your technique is correct. I will say that on harder domestic clears I prefer to start with Megs UC. And I prefer UC over 205 because of the longer work time. For final polish I still prefer WG/Menz. However, if I was doing a less expensive ride (like my nephew's 04 Saturn Ion) I'd use Meg's Ultimate polish. It's just a matter of cost.

For sealants I'm leaning mostly towards the new "super sealants" like CQuartz and Opti-Coat, especially for daily driver cars. They're tougher, last longer and stand up better to daily abuse. For a show car, I'd still go with a traditional sealant like Menz Powerlock or Blackfire topped by a good show car wax like Pinnacle Souveran or WG Fuzion. That combo has a much deeper look than the super sealants but it doesn't last nearly as long. So called "beauty waxes" are good for maybe 2 - 3 weeks and the sealant for maybe 6 months.

As far as look between the two methods, CQ topped with ReLoad seems to come the closest, at least on black. I'm sure that will change radically in the nest 5 years.
 
CQ topped with ReLoad?? You lost me here.....

Proheader... I just wanted to get the right products for the machine I have and I know technique is key. Believe me, I TOTALLY appreciate your feedbeack on this . The Tahoe belongs to my wife so we want to make it right. I have to live with here after this detail job plus she is buying the product, so I better get it right the first time!!!! ...lol
 
Proheader said:
Love the responses but all the "abbreviations" for product kinda stumps a new guy sometimes..... Not sure what UC or 105 really stand for when talking products. Even when you use the search engine, some of them do not come up.......
Click to expand...

Here ya go pal :dblthumb2:

UC = Megs Ultimate Compound Meguiars Ultimate Compound, polishing compound, rubbing compound, meguiars rubbing compound, meguires, meguiars polish, auto compound polish

105 = Meguiars 105 compound Meguiars Mirror Glaze #105 Ultra-Cut Compound, polishing compound, ultra cut compound, paint compound, car polish
 
Proheader said:
CQ topped with ReLoad?? You lost me here.....

Proheader... I just wanted to get the right products for the machine I have and I know technique is key. Believe me, I TOTALLY appreciate your feedbeack on this . The Tahoe belongs to my wife so we want to make it right. I have to live with here after this detail job plus she is buying the product, so I better get it right the first time!!!! ...lol
Click to expand...

Yes it can be confusing to a new person. CQ is Cquartz - it's one of what I call the new "super sealants". They reportedly last for up to 3 years and are scratch resistant. I can say that the CQ is scratch resistant. My wife's car is an Obsidian Black ES350. Lexus black will hairline if you look at it the wrong way. The CQ had done an excellent job of preventing that so far, and the car looks like a mirror. I top it once a month after washing with a quick detailer called ReLoad made by the same comapny that makes CQ. It's supposed to improve durability. I've only been using it two months so I can only say it does make the car shed dirt and water and increase the shine.

If you are doing your wife's daily driver, I would suggest one of the new super sealants. They take far more abuse and appear to protect far more than the traditonal sealant/wax combos. I chose CQ mainly because of ease of application, it's repairable and recoatable, and it's a nano particle (glass) product - nano is some cool chit so I had to try it.
 
still got a little cash left, where can I order the Cquartz and the reload....

proheader
 
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