I'm baffled - still have swirls after hours of work

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Bill220

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After spending many hours on my car, I still have swirls.
PC7424XP
gytu8edy.jpg

Here's what I did:
CG Citrus Wash
M105 LC orange pad
M205 LC white pad
Black Light LC red pad
Lava LC red pad
V7 by hand

Pulled it out in the sun today and noticed the swirls. They are not visible under fluorescent lights or LED but they damn sure are noticeable in sunlight. We don't get much sun in Western PA and this is the first chance I got to view my work in sunlight.

What do I do now? Start over or are the swirls there to stay? I'm really disappointed.



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I've done this myself. Very frustrating. My guess is that you might not have worked the product (m105 in particular) completely through its cycle. If you stop polishing (IME) too early, you'll get a nice shine in the garage but a ton of fine scratched imparted by the compound. m105 is a pretty aggressive product and needs to be really worked through its cycle. You might try a test patch with the 205 again and really work it into the paint. That might help.
 
Are those scratches or marring? If those are scratches, you might need something more aggressive, like a yellow pad, or a microfiber cutting pad. If you can get your finger nail n the scratches, theres not much you can do.
 
Bill220 said:
After spending many hours on my car, I still have swirls.
PC7424XP
gytu8edy.jpg

Here's what I did:
CG Citrus Wash
M105 LC orange pad
M205 LC white pad
Black Light LC red pad
Lava LC red pad
V7 by hand

Pulled it out in the sun today and noticed the swirls. They are not visible under fluorescent lights or LED but they damn sure are noticeable in sunlight. We don't get much sun in Western PA and this is the first chance I got to view my work in sunlight.

What do I do now? Start over or are the swirls there to stay? I'm really disappointed.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Do you have a technique for removing the swirls? Did you do a test spot on your car first before doing the whole car? Was it maybe that you were trying to tackle a large area at a time? The tools and product you have are capable of creating showroom results, your just not doing it right. Take your time and be patient. It took me 20 hours with a PC 7424 to do the entire outside of my car, every square inch of paint. Of course I didnt do it all in one day. Do a panel a day, focus on the task at hand
 
Oh I thought it was marring..? Lol i hope it is
 
That looks to me like those are new towel scratches... Are you keeping freash clean microfibers on hand to remove the polishing residue as you go? Sounds simple stupid but...
That or possibly some of the swirls/scratches were deeper in some areas and without the sunlight you passed over them.. Correcting the shallower scratches and then when you applied your lsp it made them stand out even more since crap stands out even more in profection.
 
I tried again. Same results, maybe worse.

Started with 11% IPA wipe down

After 5 passes with 105 and orange pad and 11% IPA wipe down

e3yma4y2.jpg


After 5 passes with 205 and 11% IPA wipe down.
u3are3yn.jpg


What do I do guys? Is my paint screwed for good?



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I'm wiping down and off with cheap MF towels. Could that be it?

I do the up/down back/forth like Mikes videos. This is my first detail with a PC.

Maybe I overdid it? It took me maybe 2 minutes for each side of the trunk lid.

None of swirls can be felt with a fingernail.

This paint is a re-spray. I had the entire car done last year.

How do I fix this? Take to a pro? I don't want to burn off my clear coat.



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It sounds like you have very soft paint...

2 things are happening:

- IPA has zero lubrication and is horrible when used on soft paint.
- Cheap MF towels do not have enough cushion and plushness to trap spent paint, dust, polishing residue while wiping down the paint.

My recommendation would be:

- Invest in some better MF towels.
- Use your current MF's with a lubricant like ONR or even a spray wax while wiping off polishing residue. Use only very light pressure. You don't really need to chemically strip the paint since you are using a DA and you aren't using a coating as your LSP.
- Perform a test spot and see if there is still marring after wiping away the polishing residue.

Best of luck!!!
 
Nicholas@Autowerx said:
It sounds like you have very soft paint...

2 things are happening:

- IPA has zero lubrication and is horrible when used on soft paint.
- Cheap MF towels do not have enough cushion and plushness to trap spent paint, dust, polishing residue while wiping down the paint.

My recommendation would be:

- Invest in some better MF towels.
- Use your current MF's with a lubricant like ONR or even a spray wax while wiping off polishing residue. Use only very light pressure. You don't really need to chemically strip the paint since you are using a DA and you aren't using a coating as your LSP.
- Perform a test spot and see if there is still marring after wiping away the polishing residue.

Best of luck!!!
Click to expand...

My first run at it I used no IPA. I washed the car down with ONR after each polish.

What towels do you suggest?



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You used 105 and 205 on half a trunk lid in two minutes?
 
Qusai said:
Do you have a technique for removing the swirls? Did you do a test spot on your car first before doing the whole car? Was it maybe that you were trying to tackle a large area at a time? The tools and product you have are capable of creating showroom results, your just not doing it right. Take your time and be patient. It took me 20 hours with a PC 7424 to do the entire outside of my car, every square inch of paint. Of course I didnt do it all in one day. Do a panel a day, focus on the task at hand
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree here. I find it hard to believe that an LED light didnt catch your swirl marks post compounding.

In the pic below these swirl marks on my car were only visible at an angle in direct sunlight, just like you mentioned. Although when hit with a high powered LED, well youll see...

ge9a5y2u.jpg


Whats your overall experience with the DA? But more importantly M105?


Flatlander said:
m105 is a pretty aggressive product and needs to be really worked through its cycle.
Click to expand...

Indeed 105 is very aggresive, and personally would not recommend for a beginner. That being said, you have to understand that M105 will remove 90% of what its able to CUT in the first 1-2 SECTION passes.

M105 is NOT a diminishing polish, and after 4-6 passes you need to stop and check your work. It is also important to PRIME your pad when working with heavy cutting polishes, regardless of SMAT or DAT technologies.
 
CM8 6MT said:
Absolutely agree here. I find it hard to believe that an LED light didnt catch your swirl marks post compounding.

In the pic below these swirl marks on my car were only visible at an angle in direct sunlight, just like you mentioned. Although when hit with a high powered LED, well youll see...

ge9a5y2u.jpg


Whats your overall experience with the DA? But more importantly M105?




Indeed 105 is very aggresive, and personally would not recommend for a beginner. That being said, you have to understand that M105 will remove 90% of what its able to CUT in the first 1-2 SECTION passes.

M105 is NOT a diminishing polish, and after 4-6 passes you need to stop and check your work. It is also important to PRIME your pad when working with heavy cutting polishes, regardless of SMAT or DAT technologies.
Click to expand...

This is the first time I used a DA and with 105. I want to do this myself. What do you suggest I do next? I've gone the trunk lid 3 times with 105 and twice with 205 and the swirls are still there.

I use CG Pad Conditioner on a fresh pad and 3 large dabs of polish.
 
Bill220 said:
No, two minutes of 105 for the left side, then two for the right etc. Basically a couple of minutes per section.
Click to expand...


Im a newby too but ive seen enough videos on here to know if your doing half the hood in two minutes , your technique is way off. Watch some videos.
 
Bill220 said:
This is the first time I used a DA and with 105. I want to do this myself. What do you suggest I do next? I've gone the trunk lid 3 times with 105 and twice with 205 and the swirls are still there.

I use CG Pad Conditioner on a fresh pad and 3 large dabs of polish.
Click to expand...

Bill, the fact that you mentioned "3 large dabs" of polish tells me one thing. You didnt prime your pad. You should only be needing PEA SIZE drops.

Read this article below by Mike Phillips on pad priming
www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/35292-how-prime-foam-pad-when-using-da-polisher.html

Before you hit your panel with 105 again, start fresh using M205 on a white LC pad on the areas you have the marks on. Use SLOW arm movement with medium pressure on speed 5 1/2, do about 4 passes, on your 3-4 pass lighten up the pressure on the pad. See if that helps. If some swirls ARE removed doing this, then you need to re-visit your technique because like others have stated I think you are working wayyy too fast. Remember, sometimes you gotta work slow in order to be "fast"
 
You're moving too fast and probably not applying enough pressure.
 
LazyGhost said:
Im a newby too but ive seen enough videos on here to know if your doing half the hood in two minutes , your technique is way off. Watch some videos.
Click to expand...

I was referring to the trunk lid on my car, a 2009 Mustang. Very small trunk lid. The hood on the car is huge.

CM8 6MT said:
Bill, the fact that you mentioned "3 large dabs" of polish tells me one thing. You didnt prime your pad. You should only be needing PEA SIZE drops.

Read this article below by Mike Phillips on pad priming
www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/35292-how-prime-foam-pad-when-using-da-polisher.html

Before you hit your panel with 105 again, start fresh using M205 on a white LC pad on the areas you have the marks on. Use SLOW arm movement with medium pressure on speed 5 1/2, do about 4 passes, on your 3-4 pass lighten up the pressure on the pad. See if that helps. If some swirls ARE removed doing this, then you need to re-visit your technique because like others have stated I think you are working wayyy too fast. Remember, sometimes you gotta work slow in order to be "fast"
Click to expand...

I've been using dime size drops and didn't think I'd need to prime the pad since I've been spraying the fresh pad with CG Pad Conditioner before applying any product. What are your thoughts on this?

RMM said:
You're moving too fast and probably not applying enough pressure.
Click to expand...

I think you're right.
 
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