More aggressive compound or pad?

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Ztandem

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Today was the first time I did any polishing, and it's the first time that my bright red BMW got polished.
Starting with a orange pad, I used the Wolfgang swirl remover. I did two sets of passes on the trunk area. It definitely eliminated most of the swirls, but not all. I then used Meg 205, and did two set of passes with the same results.
Since this is the first time I'm doing any polishing, I'm glad that it did turn out better. But, I'm thinking I need a compound that is a little more aggressive, and not a more aggressive pad.
Feed back please
 
Ztandem said:
Today was the first time I did any polishing, and it's the first time that my bright red BMW got polished.
Starting with a orange pad, I used the Wolfgang swirl remover. I did two sets of passes on the trunk area. It definitely eliminated most of the swirls, but not all. I then used Meg 205, and did two set of passes with the same results.
Since this is the first time I'm doing any polishing, I'm glad that it did turn out better. But, I'm thinking I need a compound that is a little more aggressive, and not a more aggressive pad.
Feed back please
Click to expand...

Maybe a few more passes with Wolfgang before stepping up to a more aggressive compound. No point in going to 205 if you were not pleased with the swirl removal. 205 is a finishing polish and will not remove what WSR did not.
Always do a test section before doing the entire car.
 
When I did a test section, it did look better. I didn't do the test section twice. Since I'm a rookie, I really didn't apply any pressure to the buffer.
Maybe using the WSR with a little pressure would do the trick.
 
Ztandem said:
When I did a test section, it did look better. I didn't do the test section twice. Since I'm a rookie, I really didn't apply any pressure to the buffer.
Maybe using the WSR with a little pressure would do the trick.
Click to expand...

Yes, 15lbs of pressure will help a lot and slow arm speed (1 inch per second) :props:
 
Ztandem said:
Would the same thing apply to using the finishing glaze also?
Click to expand...

You can let up a bit on the final polish. Most if not all the swirls should be gone and your finishing glaze is just cleaning up some haze that your compound might have left behind.
 
Rsurfer said:
You can let up a bit on the final polish. Most if not all the swirls should be gone and your finishing glaze is just cleaning up some haze that your compound might have left behind.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll get out my elbow grease when I do the hood next.
 
I finally realized an operational nuance some years ago. I was always motivated to use the least aggressive but MOST EFFECTIVE paint leveling approach. Back in the day i would do a test spot and would find i was removing maybe 60% of the marring. Dang, i need something more aggressive! Nope. Once i thought about it i realized THIS pad and THIS PRODUCT is working! Maybe another few passes and maybe more pressure would give me what i was wanting.

Maybe a second attempt at another test spot and more pressure for the initial passes and bam! Or maybe just one more attempt on that test section with the same pad and product and bam!
 
Puckman said:
I finally realized an operational nuance some years ago. I was always motivated to use the least aggressive but MOST EFFECTIVE paint leveling approach. Back in the day i would do a test spot and would find i was removing maybe 60% of the marring. Dang, i need something more aggressive! Nope. Once i thought about it i realized THIS pad and THIS PRODUCT is working! Maybe another few passes and maybe more pressure would give me what i was wanting.

Maybe a second attempt at another test spot and more pressure for the initial passes and bam! Or maybe just one more attempt on that test section with the same pad and product and bam!
Click to expand...

That's a very true statement. I've done the exact same thing. Sometimes even changing the amount of liquid I put on the pad gave me the results I wanted.

Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, and rush to find the "silver bullet" that does what we want, when we want. Sometimes the answer is right there in our hands, and we don't even see it.
 
Today, I did the trunk again, and the hood for the first time.
This time I used my 15 pounds of elbow grease. That was the only difference. The swirls are almost completely gone. I'm going to do the hood again, after my arms recover.
I did half of the hood with the WG finishing glaze. To me, the other half of the hood looks less cloudy without it.
 
I know your starting out ,a rotary would be a option for a perfect finish .Da has limitations don't get me wrong a da can give u awesome results.i was never a da guy till mike Phillips introduced all kinds of da machines.now I use them everyday ,I like to keep things simple and clean no swirls and most of all no product sling.applying wax is so simple with a da. I encourage anyone thinking of getting one the meguairs gv110 is nice and light doesn't get hot and minimum vibrations.I had to wet sand 20000 square foot wood floors and it never let me down.
 
Never jump to polish and hope that they will come out in that step.

do a few more section passes. and get the swirls out.

also if you see little circular swirls, that could be from your compound, do not try to chase those out with compound ,as that is what is causing those marks in the first place.

the polish will get those out!

compound is nothing without polish and polish is nothing without compound.

they really are the Jordan and Scottie Pippen tag team!
 
NextLevelDtail said:
Never jump to polish and hope that they will come out in that step.

do a few more section passes. and get the swirls out.

also if you see little circular swirls, that could be from your compound, do not try to chase those out with compound ,as that is what is causing those marks in the first place.

the polish will get those out!

compound is nothing without polish and polish is nothing without compound.

they really are the Jordan and Scottie Pippen tag team!
Click to expand...


No circular swirls, so I'm not making it worse. I will do the hood again.
 
Its great to hear a little more pressure is doing the trick for you! And be comforted knowing you are only removing enough surface paint to level down those scratches...and not more than you need to. Also, you are the judge as to what you want the finished results to look like. WG glaze is an amazing product and i can say that from use however if after trying it on a test section you don't like the appearance of it, by all means, stop.
 
Today, I did the drivers side. It did take two sets of passes. I had to do a section over the rear wheel three times. It looks great!
Again, I used the WG glaze on the front fender. And again, it looked a little cloudy. Not much, but noticeable to me. I wonder if I'm not working it long enough.
I then finished it with Pinnacle wax.
Since I have some Meg's 205, I try that when I do the other side of the car.
 
I have worked WG Fnishing Glaze almost the same as i work Menz 4000 or 4500...LONG and on either a white LC flat pad or, for softer paints, a black or red pad. I work it until almost invisible and sometimes i get that rainbow like affect on my black paint. Wipe off is easy and it leaves a beautiful finish. When i say long i mean, for me, maybe 8 section passes after spreading it out. And lighten up on the last pass or two.

Maybe work it longer and see if it makes a difference to you.
 
Yesterday, I polished the passenger side of the car. Today, I did the hood for the second time.
This time, I finished using the WG glaze with a blue pad. I worked it a lot longer than I had before. That was the difference from the first time that I used it. After finishing the hood today, I had to go back and do the trunk lid with the glaze.
Now all I have left to do is the front and back end. Along with the rocker panels.
 
It sounds like you are going to end up with a very nice looking car.

I am new to this too and I polished my car months ago and it looked better.

Then I polished it a couple weeks ago using the same pinnacle polishes and pads and polisher I used months ago, and wow the second polishing really cleaned up the left over swirls and minor scuffs on the surface.

So I agree that additional passes will for sure keep improving a surface, but having the experience/knowledge to know how much pressure to use and what speed to run the machine at is needed too.
 
Yes, it does look good! At least as good as when I purchased it new in early 2007. So far, I done 2 sets of passes on what I've done because one didn't do it. I started to get concerned that I'd run out of polish. While it's not perfect, it's not worth more passes.
 
I know there's vids here as well as YouTube. Griot's has easy to understand and entertaining vids, check em' out.

What machine are you using, maybe the speed is a bit too low but one things for sure, watch the vids, pick up some pointers and you'll get it, trust me/us.
 
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