How long to compound?

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Bhoppy1216

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I am sorry for posting such a simple question, but I cannot find any references anywhere on this topic. I think the issue is that I am not asking the question in the right manner, but here it goes. When it comes to compounding and polishing how long do you keep the machine moving before you wipe off the excess? Is there a set number of minutes, or is it when the compound looks a different way? I have never gotten a definitive answer on this, and because of that have never compounded my car, which desperately needs it, so I was hoping to get some wisdom here. Thanks so much!
 
How long you can work a compound can depend on the particular compound, pad, machine, speed used, arm speed, and temperature and humidity.

Basically you want it to remain wet enough to provide lubrication and to not be dusting on you.

Hope for 4-6 passes, if conditions are bad, maybe just three.

It can depend on how well it is cutting too. No need to make more passes if you are getting good results from 3-4 passes.

Here's a good video that Mike P did.

https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...o-ever-how-machine-buff-car-start-finish.html
 
There are so many factors, it's almost impossible to say it will take x amount of time.

It also depends how perfect you want the paint to be. If you want 100% show car paint, it can take 3 times longer to do than getting 90-95% defect removal. So again, more factors to consider.

If you are wondering how much to charge a client. You could off a typical compound step that will be a fixed amount of time. When you do your test panel, you can dial in the pad and product combination to remove as much defect as possible in a single 4 to 6 pass step. In this case a small to medium car might take you 4 or 5 hours depending on the machine you use. For a larger vehicles, add one or two hours.

Since I don't do show cars, all the vehicles I see are daily drivers, I don't aim for perfection. To me removing 90-95% defect is perfectly acceptable. Once you polish out and apply a good proction layer, the vehicle looks like new. But if you are going after paint perfection, I would not quote a fix price, you never know how long it will take so definatelly go on a hourly rate.
 
How long depends on what I'm trying to do.

The compounds I use, Menzerna, Jescar, etc. work longer if you use more. I like to work my product until the shine comes up and I can see any scratches that are left through the residue of the polish. Then, I can decide if I want to re-apply compound and go after them or if they'd require too much cutting and thinning the paint to be in my client's interest. If the surface is bad, I'll use more product and stay in a smaller area for longer. If the surface isn't bad, I'll use less product and do a little bigger area. In both cases, I'll work the product till, as I said, the shine comes through.

In short, the amount of time depends on the amount of product and the amount of product depends on how much correction I'm trying to do.

My go to machines are a rotary with either a twisted wool pad for heavy cutting or a foamed wool pad for a lighter cut, finishing with the Makita PO5000 with an orange force pad from lake country. I use the rotary when I need to, for colorsanding scratches and really seriously neglected paint and finish with the Makita. For most cars, the rotary isn't necessary, the Makita is all I need.


Robert
 
4 - 6 section passes. Just watch the Mike Phillips videos. He covers it pretty well
 
You have to be able to know when to stop as well. Excessive dusting, pilling, dry on looking product. All these are an indicator your process needs to be tweeked.
 
Bhoppy1216 said:
I am sorry for posting such a simple question, but I cannot find any references anywhere on this topic. I think the issue is that I am not asking the question in the right manner, but here it goes. When it comes to compounding and polishing how long do you keep the machine moving before you wipe off the excess? Is there a set number of minutes, or is it when the compound looks a different way? I have never gotten a definitive answer on this, and because of that have never compounded my car, which desperately needs it, so I was hoping to get some wisdom here. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

Bhoppy you will get so many anwsers from this forum. The best anwser is to go to a professional and see them work on cars. 3,4,5,6,7 passes it does not matter because all of these passes are different for each car/paint. You stated you have never compounded your car before which is a red flag in my books.
 
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