Keep on marring my paint after polishing

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ch17

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I just bought a long throw DA to begin my detailing journey, in another word, I am a noob. :D

today is my first time to do a machine polishing. I have used Ultimate polish + LC white polishing pad combo and practiced on my car bonnet/hood(sort of grey medallion color). Slow arm speed with 5 speed
While i am able to get most of the swirls and scratches out, but I keep on getting some kind of fine swirls that look like holograms on the hood after my IPA wipedown.
I went back and re-polish the paint with very light pressure while using the same polish, pad and speed with 4 passes. Most of the hologram is missing but still appears in some places. Those marring isnt obvious, even under the sun. I need some efforts to notice them

i've tried to search around youtube and i found 2 vid that closely show what i observed on my paint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVM6oVB1Hw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvkTp4MzYNk&spfreload=10


could anyone kindly help troubleshooting what went wrong? polishing or buffing technique(Towel marred)? How to differentiate the two? or just polish residue?
 
Polish residue can definitely look like you are marring the paint when you are wiping with a towel. I don't like IPA to remove polish residue. I like a surface cleaner like Chem Guys WipeOut.
 
That's either towel marring from wiping off the product OR product residue on the surface that isn't fully removed. You can tell which is which by going back over the area with your microfiber in different directions while inspecting it with a strong light source. If the marring patterns seem to change direction with each wipe it is simply product residue that isn't coming off the paint. If that is the case you should switch to a new towel as your current one is fully saturated with polishing residue.

Some clear coat systems are very soft and are more prone to marring. You may need better, softer microfiber towels to eliminate this problem. Also, products that leave something behind on the surface like an AIO such as HD Speed or CarPro Essence (there are dozens of options, these are just two examples) can provide a more slippery surface that may help eliminate towel marring.

The IPA wipe downs can also be a cause of the problem. IPA can soak into the pores of the paint and soften the material, making it potentially more susceptible to marring. I'd only recommend to use IPA if you are inspecting your test spot to ensure true and accurate correction results.
 
You can stop the polish residue from smearing by wiping more gently when you remove polish. Watch how Mike Phillips wipes polish off. Gently and in circles.
 
KirkH said:
Polish residue can definitely look like you are marring the paint when you are wiping with a towel. I don't like IPA to remove polish residue. I like a surface cleaner like Chem Guys WipeOut.
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True about the polish residue.

And to the OP, in my opinion Ultimate Polish works well, but is a real bear to remove.
 
I've had this issue in the past. Most of my details are AIO's. I just go over the car with some detail spray after wiping. It seems to remove most if not all of the residue and provides some lubrication so you're not risking marring.
 
I don't know if you use ONR or anything like that but I always remove polish residue with a rinseless wash solution. I just keep some towels in a small bucket and use that just in case there's any marring. There isn't always but I also don't wanna find out ya know?
 
WillSports3 said:
I don't know if you use ONR or anything like that but I always remove polish residue with a rinseless wash solution. I just keep some towels in a small bucket and use that just in case there's any marring. There isn't always but I also don't wanna find out ya know?
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A friend of mine who does high volume production work does the same thing.

He cuts the entire car with wool/rotary, onr wash, Polish on a random orbital, and it's back to the lot after a antistatic spray sealant of some type.
 
PaulMys said:
True about the polish residue.

And to the OP, in my opinion Ultimate Polish works well, but is a real bear to remove.
Click to expand...

Oh for sure! I missed that part. Meguiar's Ultimate Polish seems to leave little nodules of polish that if you wipe really hard smear and appear to be marring.
 
KirkH said:
Oh for sure! I missed that part. Meguiar's Ultimate Polish seems to leave little nodules of polish that if you wipe really hard smear and appear to be marring.
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Exactly. I Found out the hard way when my truck was only a few months old. As a complete noob, I was thinking "If this process is this hard, not sure I want to do this at all." Took me almost two 7-hour days to polish with/remove the UP, and the results were ok, but lacking IMO.

Fast forward to today, and I can rip through my entire truck with HD Speed in 5 hours. Even in the sun.

And I have found absolutely zero removal difficulty. :props:
 
wow!
thanks guys for your great replies
Never felt so welcome to a forum as my first post received so many helpful replies from the communities

yeah, i agree that UP is hard to remove compare to UC. when it dried up, it became sticky! at that point i began to feel the urge to toss it in a bin but decided it is too early to judge, might be my lack of skill to be blamed in the end. So, will trying to work on my skill and technique first.

i gathered a few tips from the replies
1)try to avoid IPA whenever possible
2)switching towel frequently to rule out wiping with saturated medium
3)gentle pressure when wiping/buffing (it is hard when the UP gums up lol)
4)remove with rinseless wash (hope it remove sticky UP residue)
5)give up on UP, change to something better (oh yeah)

will try again this weekend.
 
ch17 said:
yeah, i agree that UP is hard to remove compare to UC.
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Definitely. I often use Ultimate Compound but then switch to Optimum Polish II or Pinnacle Advanced to finish instead of Ultimate Polish.
 
Ultimate Polish is simply way too oily in a lot of ways. It's great when you're polishing but not so great when you're removing. What I do is use Eraser all the time, or I use a paint cleansing lotion. Spraying those directly on or applying directly on and then wiping off might help you. See if it's actually oil or marring.
 
seems like UP is not a good product to work with, looking for alternative now

HD speed gets a lot of love here for finishing but in my country, HD speed is selling at USD40 for 16oz
M205 is significantly cheaper here but is M205 a better product overall than UP?
another alternative is optimum hyper polish, not sure it effectiveness compare to traditional liquid type of polish
 
ch17 said:
M205 is significantly cheaper here but is M205 a better product overall than UP?
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Yes.

5442a2f3d03f0414915715687e353e36.jpg
 
okay, after some thought. i made the decision to go HD speed route since M205 is out of stock at my place. Able to find someone import that for me for half of the price

In fact, i think with today better tech, most newer AIO can replace polish + wax step effectively. I am surprised how much correction could be done by those AIO like Speed from youtube while giving at least a month of protection and i am totally sold. I could imagine my correction workflow now is UC + orange pad -> HD Speed + white/black pad. Walla! a proud sick shiny DD and i do not need to worry about marring from towel due to dry lube provided by the AIO. looks like a win win for a noob like me.

again, thanks everyone for being helpful and friendly toward new comer like me :) appreciate that
pardon my English, coming from a place where English is not primarily used thru everyday communication
 
ch17 said:
okay, after some thought. i made the decision to go HD speed route since M205 is out of stock at my place. Able to find someone import that for me for half of the price

In fact, i think with today better tech, most newer AIO can replace polish + wax step effectively. I am surprised how much correction could be done by those AIO like Speed from youtube while giving at least a month of protection and i am totally sold. I could imagine my correction workflow now is UC + orange pad -> HD Speed + white/black pad. Walla! a proud sick shiny DD and i do not need to worry about marring from towel due to dry lube provided by the AIO. looks like a win win for a noob like me.

again, thanks everyone for being helpful and friendly toward new comer like me :) appreciate that
pardon my English, coming from a place where English is not primarily used thru everyday communication
Click to expand...

Your English is better than most of the people on here!
 
Ch17: I'm not a total noob, but I hadn't corrected the swirls in the soft black paint on my 96 SVT Cobra Mustang in over a year. I too used UP, because I didn't want to go with a more aggressive compound. I had the exact same issue, even when using my softest MF towels. I posted a similar question, and received many good suggestions. I also talked to a Meguiar's representative at a large car show. He also told me that I was seeing the oils left behind by UP.

His suggestion was to wipe down the car with a Detail spray or just wash it.

When I wipe down I try to always add quick detailer or ONR sprayed on my MF towel so as to NEVER wipe dry. For final wiping I use gray Chinchilla MF towels from AG which are supposed to be the least likely to leave a mark. So far they have done a very nice job.

Your English is excellent, I never questioned it at all until you said something. When you said Bonnet I figured you were in Great Britain.


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
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