Help! I made a bit of a mess with a Bigfoot

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Ben4

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Hello,

I'd be very grateful for any advice please - I'm a novice and wanted to polish out some minor scratches from my wife's car.

I used Uno Protect and a yellow wool pad and when I finished, it looked stunning! but now - a few weeks later - I can see pad marks!!!

Could someone help me understand:

1. What I did wrong
2. How I could have told I was doing it at the time given it looked first-class when I just did it
3. How to avoid doing it again
4. How to get rid of the marks now

THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED!
View attachment 74531
 
To put it simply, I would’ve used a less aggressive pad and made more passes… Wool is pretty nuclear, I only use it when I’m trying to clear up wet sanding.
 
wool pad is very aggressive, definitely need to follow up with a foam pad. You might not have noticed the issues at first due to fillers in Uno Protect, once that wore off you see the true condition.

Polish again with a foam pad, either yellow foam or white if your paint is soft, then it will look much better. Make sure to use plenty of pads, many beginners think it's possible to do a whole car with 1 pad.
 
Ben4 said:
I used Uno Protect and a yellow wool pad and when I finished, it looked stunning! but now - a few weeks later - I can see pad marks!!!
Click to expand...

What did you use as a polisher?

Regardless - see what I wrote here,

Fibers are a form of abrasive - Foam Pads vs Microfiber Pads by Mike Phillips



The way to fix it is to re-do the entire car only this time use a foam polishing pad with the UNO Protect and an orbital polisher.


I would start by doing a Test Spot to make sure your choice of pad, tool and product removed the defects BEFORE buffing out the entire car.


If you used a rotary polisher then these would be called holograms. If you used an orbital then this is called micro-marring and the pattern is called shadow-effect.

Holograms1.jpg




:)
 
Hello Mike,

Thank you very much everyone for your help.

I used the Bigfoot RO and to be honest, I chose the yellow wool based on a Rupes YouTube video that recommended it could be used as a single stage quick detail (Express Enhancement - [RUPES Replies Season 02 Episode 08] - YouTube)…

I did even do a test spot but the problem was the Uni Protect completely hid the marring :/

I’ll go over it with the white foam pad then? Any tips on how much pressure to apply would be great too!

thanks!


Mike Phillips said:
What did you use as a polisher?

Regardless - see what I wrote here,

Fibers are a form of abrasive - Foam Pads vs Microfiber Pads by Mike Phillips



The way to fix it is to re-do the entire car only this time use a foam polishing pad with the UNO Protect and an orbital polisher.


I would start by doing a Test Spot to make sure your choice of pad, tool and product removed the defects BEFORE buffing out the entire car.


If you used a rotary polisher then these would be called holograms. If you used an orbital then this is called micro-marring and the pattern is called shadow-effect.

Holograms1.jpg




:)
Click to expand...
 
Thank you very much everyone and thanks Mike for your thorough reply!

I used a Bigfoot 15 RO but I followed the quick detail Rupes advise here: Express Enhancement - [RUPES Replies Season 02 Episode 08] - YouTube

I guess wool pads were too aggressive but there was no way I could see the marring despite doing a test spot because the Uno Protect hid the marks!

Do you reckon a white foam pad then? Any suggestion for how much pressure please?

Thank you again!
 
Ben4 said:
Do you reckon a white foam pad then?
Click to expand...

The RUPES white foam pad is a soft finishing pad - together with the RUPES UNO Protect it "might" remove the micro-marring.

If it were me? I'd use the yellow RUPES pad and together with the RUPES UNO Protect that should get it.


Ben4 said:
Any suggestion for how much pressure please?
Click to expand...

With any brand of long stroke, free-spinning random orbital polisher the general rule-of-thumb is just light pressure. Basically a little more downward pressure than the weight of the tool. This can be a tick tricky when buffing out vertical panels because at the same time you're pressing the tool against the panel you're also holding the tool up against gravity and moving it.

Also - watch for pad rotation and pad stalling. I personally find the most effective paint correction with free spinning tools of any brand or throw is with both pad oscillation and pad rotation.

There's a YouTube video with Todd Helme, myself and Jason Brennen where Todd gives tips and technique to maintain pad rotation.




:)
 
That’s really helpful, thanks Mike! Top man, have a great day ����
 
Hi folks,

OK - I did as Mike said and used yellow foam pad and Uno Protect and re-did the car. Now it looks stunning again but how can I be sure it won't go back to how it was when the Uno wears off?

I tried using CarPro Eraser to remove the uno on a test area but it didn't seem to make any visible difference - either it didn't remove it or the yellow pad's done the job... BUT how can I tell?!

I have also tried looking using a Scangrip light and I can see horizontal marks which are too deep to remove (where my wife has driven through hedges) but no machine marks I can tell. Does this also indicate it's fixed?

Sorry if this is basic - I am a novice :-)

Thanks.

Photos:

View attachment 74539View attachment 74540View attachment 74541
 
Enjoy it while it looks good. If you notice it again when the Uno Protect wears, come back.
 
Thanks Texchappy - it does look great... and I'm very happy.

The thing is I'm trying to learn and if I did a friend's car or family member, I would hate for me to finish an then problems become apparent two weeks later :/]

I just don't know how to tell or if the reason I can't tell is because I fixed the issue!!!
 
That’s one of the drawbacks of using and all in one product. You might try a separate polish and the protection until you’re comfortable with the big foot. That or be ok with the uncertainty.
 
It should be fine now with the foam pads. What you saw the first time is expected with wool pads and foam is what is needed to fix it. Just needs to refine the finish.
 
Thanks folks, I appreciate it very much!

Reassuring to know that's to be expected with wool... I think it was worse on the nearside but I probably did apply more pressure there cos that's where my wife drives in the hedge :xyxthumbs:
 
Ben4 said:
that's where my wife drives in the hedge :xyxthumbs:
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Glad you figured out the paint cause we can’t help with this.:)

You may want to grab some regular polish without fillers. There are many but the Griots Fast Correcting Cream is a nice compound and their Perfecting Cream is a nice second step polish. Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Polish are also good. There are many other good ones but those may be available locally. Once you know your process is good, you could go back to your regular polish with confidence.
 
Can speak first hand with any of these products, but I seem to have read (maybe from the recently departed Mike Phillips), that the Rupes products work really well in concert. Maybe try Uno Pure (as opposed to Uno Protect) or DA Fine (the yellow).
 
I’m extremely grateful for you all taking time to help, thank you!

I think next time I may steer away from the all in one and instead do a 3 stage process with cut, polish and then finish.

Does anyone have any thoughts about using the Rupes fine polish (yellow) on a wool pad in terms of whether that would give a decent cut or would the blue on a yellow wool pad work? I’m thinking based on my experience so far that blue compound on a blue wool would be VERY aggressive. Seems yellow wool is good but then probably don’t want a really aggressive compound.

Any thoughts? :buffing:
 
Ben4 said:
I’m extremely grateful for you all taking time to help, thank you!

I think next time I may steer away from the all in one and instead do a 3 stage process with cut, polish and then finish.

Does anyone have any thoughts about using the Rupes fine polish (yellow) on a wool pad in terms of whether that would give a decent cut or would the blue on a yellow wool pad work? I’m thinking based on my experience so far that blue compound on a blue wool would be VERY aggressive. Seems yellow wool is good but then probably don’t want a really aggressive compound.

Any thoughts? :buffing:
Click to expand...

Paint hardness is the variable. Wool might work for some and in some cases it may be too aggressive. Your test spot will always let you know.

So don’t give up on wool. Foam is good for finishing but not always cutting.
 
The Guz said:
Paint hardness is the variable. Wool might work for some and in some cases it may be too aggressive. Your test spot will always let you know.

So don’t give up on wool. Foam is good for finishing but not always cutting.
Click to expand...

Thanks… I think the problem is that my test spot didn’t tell me anything because of the fillers in the product. Not all in one next time perhaps….
 
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