Intro to "The System"

Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Ask on a forum like this one.

Do some testing but this goes back to having experience.


Me? I try not to make sweeping generalizations based upon my experience. For example most people will say the paint on Audi's is really hard and I agreed till I worked on the Audi's in this thread...


Audi Soft Paint - Making Generalizations about Hardness and Softness



Point being, research and ask questions but be ready to do a test spot and let the results from your test spot be your guide.

:)
Click to expand...

That's a great write up, Mike. :xyxthumbs:

Jason Rose from Meguiar's was saying that manufacturers can and will change paint systems at will, or as the situation warrants. The point being we never really know until we get that test spot done.
 
Just to follow up on this and clarify.

First- Go with Blue and Yellow.

Second- UHS will work fine on soft paint, but it will struggle on sticky paints. Many OEM soft paints TEND to be sticky, but not all.

What makes a paint "sticky" is the porosity of the paint. They tend to be overly porous, which allows the lubricant in the compound to absorb into the interstices of the paint.

The emulsion of UHS is very "thin" and can absorb into sticky paints very easily. This is the same reason why we don't recommend UHS with microfiber pads.
 
From my experience these combos were incredible:

FG400 with Blue Pad.
Rupes Zephir Blue Coarse Gel Compound with Green Pad.
Rupes Quarz Green Medium Gel Compound on Green or Yellow Pad.
Rupes Keramik Yellow Fine Gel Compound on Yellow Pad.

As for UHS compound and pads my order is going in but can't wait to try it.
 
Zubair said:
From my experience these combos were incredible:

FG400 with Blue Pad.
Rupes Zephir Blue Coarse Gel Compound with Green Pad.
Rupes Quarz Green Medium Gel Compound on Green or Yellow Pad.
Rupes Keramik Yellow Fine Gel Compound on Yellow Pad.

As for UHS compound and pads my order is going in but can't wait to try it.
Click to expand...

If you want to go outside the box a little, try Zephir on the UHS :buffing:pad.
 
dlc95 said:
Audi Soft Paint - Making Generalizations about Hardness and Softness


That's a great write up, Mike. :xyxthumbs:
Click to expand...


Thanks. I took a real life situation that is also a really popular topic, that is the question we see asked all the time in the forum world,

Do I have hard paint or soft paint?

And turned it into an article that drives home the point that you don't know if the paint on any car is hard or soft until you go out into the garage and do some testing.

And of course, it helps to have experience but people that are new to machine buffing never like that part of the answer. Problem is there's simply no way around it.


dlc95 said:
Jason Rose from Meguiar's was saying that manufacturers can and will change paint systems at will, or as the situation warrants.

The point being we never really know until we get that test spot done.
Click to expand...


Ditto.

His reply mimics my article above and probably about 2-3 more articles I have on the hard paint/soft paint topic.


As Jason says,

Topcoat hardness is an unknown variable



:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top