Need a little help on a pretty jacked up Infiniti G37

[jdgamble]

A buddy of mine has a white G37 that looks like it has been scrubbed with a kitchen sponge. I did a little test spot to show him how much better it could look if we polished it, and I couldn’t believe how hard it was to get results. I did it in sunlight, which is not ideal, but here’s what I tried using GG standard DA polisher...

- 360 with Orange pad (barely any change)
- Optimum Hyperpolish with orange pad (still barely touched it)
- GG FCC with microfiber pad (lots of improvement but still some areas with tons of swirls)

I wish I had taken pics, but I forgot. He says he will buy some pads. I would think FCC is enough abrasive, but what pads should I try on this? I was thinking Griots microfiber to pair with the FCC, but should I have him get something more aggressive?

I’ve never had this much trouble with swirls before, but this might be the worst car I’ve worked on.

Any ideas appreciated.


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[SWETM]

Sounds like pretty deep defects in the paint. So no surprise that you needed to be stepping up to a mf cutting pad. Or was it a mf polishing pad?

I use a short haired wool pad on a DA polisher when I need most cut. LC purple foamed wool pads seems to be great ones. Sonax has a new combo with their Hybrid Wool Pad 143mm DA and the compound ExCut 05-05 that is made for DA polishers. The pads is quite expensive though. The step up from the foamed wool pad is the low lint wool pad from LC. This and a heavy cut compound as maybe the FCC could be or Sonax Cutmax or 3D ACA 500 X-Tra Cut Compound is 2 heavy cut compounds.

And turn that GG6 up to max speed or just under so 5-6 in speed setting. Remember that you don't get many of these heavy cut compounding on a modern clearcoat and base coat paint. Maybe other chaims in on the mf cutting pads AGO has that get you the most cut. Meguiars mf cutting pad is one I like. The wool pads I think holds down the heat build up well even on a DA polisher.

Hope it's not your buddy that has scratch up the paint but was so when he bought it. Otherwise it's teaching him wash and drying technique and great equipment to do this. Also the care of the wash media and drying towels. If no change happens just be the least aggressive to get it look okay. And if he is takeing well care of it and has done so. The heavy cutting can be done. Some places maybe need 2 cutting steps but not more than that. Then leave what's left behind in defects. Be carefull around the edges and raised body lines and even masking tape them up and use the second polishing step on them. And yes even a DA polisher can cut much so you need to be carefull on the parts where you have less paint thickness on.

/ Tony

 

[sudsmobile]

If it's anything like the car we fixed last year that was cleaned with a scratchy sponge, we had to wet sand, compound and polish.

 

[jdgamble]

Thanks for the tips Tony. I was thinking about getting some Menzerna FG400. Sounds like the Sonax stuff might be a better plan.

I don’t think I’m up for wet sanding. I’ll just get it the best I can with compound.

I read another thread that suggested I might need a better tool. That has me thinking about an upgrade. The Flex is very enticing.


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[SWETM]

Thanks for the tips Tony. I was thinking about getting some Menzerna FG400. Sounds like the Sonax stuff might be a better plan.

I don’t think I’m up for wet sanding. I’ll just get it the best I can with compound.

I read another thread that suggested I might need a better tool. That has me thinking about an upgrade. The Flex is very enticing.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

No wrong with the HC400 but it's a light cutting compound with a 8/10 in cut on the Menzerna scale. Their SHC300 is 10/10 in cut. Sometimes you need that little extra cut from a heavy cut compound. You do reduce the finishing you get from the heavy cut compounds. But not so bad that the SF3500 is able to be correcting the micro marring and haze you get from the SHC300. The Sonax Cutmax is awesome to cut and also finishing reasonable good. So a second step with a finishing polish/ polish will be getting you the clear gloss. Then as always it's hard to say what works or not. Sometimes the clearcoat can be too soft for an aggressive combo of heavy cut compound and wool/mf pads. If you go with the SHC300 or Sonax Cutmax. Be prepared it can be too aggressive combo with the wool/ mf pads and you would go with the orange light cutting pads. So get the 250ml bottles of them to get it feel of how they works. And if possible get the Menzerna HC400 or Sonax Cut & Finish if the heavy cut compounds is too aggressive. Otherwise you have the GG FCC that is in the range of the later ones maybe.