Machine polish, first attempt question

[raysaint]

So I wanted to do a full correction before sealant. Car is a new (NOV. 2023) soul red Mazda.

Did the hood today, cool overcast day. Washed, dried, light clay mitt, rinse, dried again. Used Carpro Reflect, white Rupes pads, Porter cable RO. 4 small gobs of polish on the pad. I did 3 passes over an area; horiz, vert, horiz. Speed was 4 on the polisher. Wiped polish off with mf towels.

Sun came out, some swirls are still there. Maybe not as many, but still visible to me.
So maybe I had some success, but the sun wasn't as bright as it was when I assessed the swirls last fall.

First of all, how does a new car come from the factory with swirls? Dealer did no detailing as per my request.

I figured the swirls must be real light and would come out easily.

1) is it my technique? Did I go to fast, not enough pressure, ???

2) I noticed as I was polishing the pad looked like it was on a slant; I recentered it, but same thing so I'm thinking my hand pressure was uneven.

I know it's a learning curve but hopefully it can be short.

thanks for any suggestions.

 

[chilly]

So I wanted to do a full correction before sealant. Car is a new (NOV. 2023) soul red Mazda.

Did the hood today, cool overcast day. Washed, dried, light clay mitt, rinse, dried again. Used Carpro Reflect, white Rupes pads, Porter cable RO. 4 small gobs of polish on the pad. I did 3 passes over an area; horiz, vert, horiz. Speed was 4 on the polisher. Wiped polish off with mf towels.
Sun came out, swirls are still there. Maybe not as many, but still visible to me.

First of all, how does a new car come from the factory with swirls? Dealer did no detailing as per my request.

I figured the swirls must be real light and would come out easily.

1) is it my technique? Did I go to fast, not enough pressure, ???

2) I noticed as I was polishing the pad looked like it was on a slant; I recentered it, but same thing so I'm thinking my hand pressure was uneven.

I know it's a learning curve but hopefully it can be short.

thanks for any suggestions.

Did you do a test section before you did the entire hood?

What correcting liquids and pads do you have besides the 2 you already used?

There is only so much that technique can do and if the combo you chose simply won't take out the defects you have, then you have to adapt your approach and a test section is the only way to determine which way to go

 

[Setec Astronomy]

First of all, how does a new car come from the factory with swirls? Dealer did no detailing as per my request.

Let me count the ways...it's possible there was some issue at the factory, the car could have been damaged in transit from Japan and repaired, the cars are inspected at the entry port in North America and could have been washed then, the dealer could have washed the car when they received it, before you bought it and asked them not to wash it (if the car sits at the dealer for any length of time without the protective plastic, they WILL wash it), they may have washed it even though you asked them not to.

If you didn't receive the car with the plastic on it, there's no telling how many times it was washed, whether you asked them not to do that or not.

 

[VISITOR]

if you do another few passes and there isn't an improvement, try stepping up to a light cutting pad and re-check your results. here are a few examples on arm speed...

 

[Optimus Grime]

I had a person come to me for paint correction services. He told me that once he decided on which Grand Cherokee he wanted, in the time it took him to sign the paperwork they had “detailed” it and took it from a glossy black to a dull shell of its former self.

As others have pointed out, your issues have a lot to do with your polish and pad combo. You picked the least aggressive pad and polish combo possible; an ultra fine polish and ultra fine pad. Something like a Lake Country blue SDO pad and 3D One will do better. Japanese paint tends to be on the soft side so something with a moderate level of cut should do the trick.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

they had “detailed” it and took it from a glossy black to a dull shell of its former self.

Oh come on, "that's just how black cars are"!

 

[DFB]

I had a person come to me for paint correction services. He told me that once he decided on which Grand Cherokee he wanted, in the time it took him to sign the paperwork they had “detailed” it and took it from a glossy black to a dull shell of its former self.

As others have pointed out, your issues have a lot to do with your polish and pad combo. You picked the least aggressive pad and polish combo possible; an ultra fine polish and ultra fine pad. Something like a Lake Country blue SDO pad and 3D One will do better. Japanese paint tends to be on the soft side so something with a moderate level of cut should do the trick.

Mazda paint is known to be ultra soft and ultra-thin, so erring on the side of caution was smart here. But yes, Reflect on a Rupes white pad is certainly a very mild combo.

I polished out an Eternal Blue Mazda CX-5 using Reflect and a blue ShineMate foam pad, which left an almost flawless finish. That ShineMate blue would be similar to the new Rupes Aqua intermediate pads, or the Lake Country SDO/HDO orange. So, I would step up in pad aggression before stepping up the compound, that might just take you to where you want to be.

 

[chilly]

Mazda paint is known to be ultra soft and ultra-thin

I really wish there was an affordable but accurate paint thickness gauge for hobbyists

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

More aggressive pad (Rupes yellow) and polish (I like Griots correcting cream)

You used a finishing polish and pad. Not enough cut.

Try yellow pad with Reflect 1st. Still swirls go with GCC.

Also as mentioned try test spot (2x2) area 1st.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[raysaint]

Thanks for all the suggestions and analysis.
I used the white pad and Reflect, mild combo, because I figured a new car, the swirls would be very superficial; there must be times when that combo is the right combo.
However, being that some swirls were removed, it might be my arm speed or hand pressure. I have a LC orange pad, I will try that on a test section, and I'll try my original combo with slower arm speed.

Sun is bright today so I can better assess the hood from my first pass.

Car is manufactured in Mexico; even if they washed it, would that produce that much circular marring, only visible in the sun? Not sure if the dealer washed it; definitely no detailing.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Car is manufactured in Mexico; even if they washed it, would that produce that much circular marring, only visible in the sun? Not sure if the dealer washed it; definitely no detailing.

Swirls are generally only visible in the right lighting. And yes, one bad wash is all it takes. One dirty towel, wash media they dropped on the ground and picked back up, grit on the hood that they ground in, etc.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Reflect on a Rupes white pad is certainly a very mild combo.

Don’t forget that a Porter Cable DA is about the least powerful polisher to use by todays standards, especially with those pads & polish.

I really wish there was an affordable but accurate paint thickness gauge for hobbyists

There is… This paint gauge can be purchased for less than $10 bucks last time I checked on Flea Bay and it 100% works.

From everything I’ve seen even those pen paint meters work too. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t. Once you look into what makes them work, I come out of it finding it harder to think of them somehow Not working. It’s really quite simple as far as how they’re made to work. And the fact that the calibration is done by the user before the 1st use leaves no doubt that it’s really giving you accurate readings.


I find these things similar to a scale, they either work or they don’t. My scale cost me about $20 dollars. I don’t know what the most expensive scale costs, but how different could it possibly be at telling me how much I weigh if they both come up with the same number when I step on it? I’d be foolish to overpay for a scale when all I need it to do is 1 simple job.

Car is manufactured in Mexico

Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

I think he was mentioning that relative to my post about the car being inspected at the port, etc. Presumably it got to him in Ontario by rail or truck, not boat.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Swirls are generally only visible in the right lighting.

If all else fails, your local gas station at night tends to be among the best places to check for swirls due to their halogen lights. If you can’t inspect paint at the gas station, you might just be blind.lol.

 

[chilly]

Don’t forget that a Porter Cable DA is about the least powerful polisher to use by todays standards, especially with those pads & polish.



There is… This paint gauge can be purchased for less than $10 bucks last time I checked on Flea Bay and it 100% works.

From everything I’ve seen even those pen paint meters work too.

If I knew someone with a "professional" PTG and I could compare multiple readings on multiple vehicles side by side just to reassure me I would probably go for a sub $100 unit, but other than the one you showed all I can remember is being warned off of anything that isn't $200 or more, although I admit it's been several years since I brought this up

Maybe it was just a matter of time before the technology became affordable, like so many other electronic products

I will certainly study up on it

 

[Eldorado2k]

If I knew someone with a "professional" PTG and I could compare multiple readings on multiple vehicles side by side just to reassure me I would probably go for a sub $100 unit, but other than the one you showed all I can remember is being warned off of anything that isn't $200 or more, although I admit it's been several years since I brought this up

Maybe it was just a matter of time before the technology became affordable, like so many other electronic products

I will certainly study up on it

I did my best to get Dana Detailing aka DDP to take the Pepsi Challenge between my gauge and his boujee $200 paint gauge, but there was some reason he couldn’t get his to play on the same level playing field as mine or something along those lines so we never got to do it… It’s too bad because I was really excited and confident to see the results.

 

[raysaint]

I think he was mentioning that relative to my post about the car being inspected at the port, etc. Presumably it got to him in Ontario by rail or truck, not boat.

Correct. Just wanted to clarify the Japan transit comment. And not only that, the dealer told me that the border and customs was delaying shipments and holding cars there. Car was supposed to be at the dealer in Sept., not Nov. when we got it.
But I also read that dealers have been artificially delaying car arrivals to fuel the "supply/demand" issue and making customers wait unnecessarily.
Who knows. So a lot of time for the car to get marred.

 

[Bri26]

I strongly recommend skipping the polishing for now and focus on your wash process. You want the wash process to be as foolproof as possible, otherwise the car will just get swirled up again. After perfecting the wash process, then polish the car and then it's just a matter of keeping it swirl free.

 

[Paul A.]

Here's my take...

If it's a DA machine crank it all the way up to 6. Do 4-6 passes, not 3 and with enough pressure to compress the pad but NOT stop the spin. Car Pro says that's a "rapidly" diminishing abrasive. Let it break down and then polish.

If after that you get the same results move up to the next aggressive pad and same technique.

Like others have said, I have found Mazda Soul Red to be soft. I would've expected it to respond better with your 1st approach but they do vary. Test spot first and it may take a few.

 

[MisterSnoop]

If I knew someone with a "professional" PTG and I could compare multiple readings on multiple vehicles side by side just to reassure me I would probably go for a sub $100 unit, but other than the one you showed all I can remember is being warned off of anything that isn't $200 or more, although I admit it's been several years since I brought this up

Maybe it was just a matter of time before the technology became affordable, like so many other electronic products

I will certainly study up on it

I bought a Highline II for like $160. I got it and it was in a generic box with no company labeling. Something clearly from China with just a branded face decal on it. I did some googling afterward and found identical ones with other branding for <$100.