I have a question. I'm not sure if anyone can answer it or maybe I'm just confusing my self
So let's says I'm working on a car-The paint is in brutal shape!!!
I pull out the rupes and a microfiber cutting pad with an aggressive Compound like FG400. I do 6 passes-STOP- and inspect.
There are still several defects
Ok so would I go to a rotary and a wool pad?
Here's my input...
To your question, after doing the heavy correction step you state there are still several defects and want to know if you should get more aggressive by using a more powerful tool to go back and REMOVE more paint in an effort to make the defects disappear.
So my answer would be, if this is a daily driver that you plan on keeping for a while I'd let the deeper defects remain and move onto the polishing step.
Why?
Because the clear layer of paint for a factory paint job is thin to start with. Abrading the paint removes some measurable amount and you don't want to remove any more than you have to. If the car in question is a daily driver then chances are good it's going to get more defects in the future so I wouldn't be concerned about a few deeper defects that were not removed during the correction step.
These deeper defects are normally called RIDS or Random Isolated Deeper Scratches.
What happens is after you remove the ZILLIONS of shallow swirls and scratches surrounding the deeper defects and camouflaging them, now when you look at the paint these deeper defects now stand out like a SORE THUMB. You're eyes are drawn to them and they bug you.
Don't let them bug you if the car in question is a daily driver. It's still going to look a million times better than when you first started.
That's my take anyway... I don't try to remove each and every defect out of my own daily drivers nor out of any customer's car. There's a point where it's safer to just learn to live with the deeper defects.
In context of your post, this means you would switch over to a rotary buffer, wool pad and compound.
Remember, you've already corrected this section of paint (or the entire car), once. That means you've removed paint off the car once. Now to buff this section or go around the car a second time using a more powerful tool, wool pad and compound will remove more of the deeper defects but it's going to remove a lot of perfectly good but thin clear paint.
Keep in mind, even if you successfully remove all or most of the deeper defects without burning through or "striking through" the clear layer, you're going to be leaving behind a thinner layer of clear paint that still has to hold up to UV rays, inclement weather and normal wear-n-tear. The horizontal panels take the most abuse.
would I follow up with a DA With the same aggressive compound and a lighter pad or the same pad with a less aggressive compound?
This is where some testing comes into play but my experience is you could clean up any holograms left by the wool fibers and compound and paint residues by using a medium cut to a fine cut polish on a polishing pad on just about any dual action polisher.
