Paint is 7 days old. The hood is fiberglass, the bumpers are plastic - the car is a 2006 Shelby GT-H. Car was painted earlier this year, but had the hood and front bumper redone last week due to rock damage.
Very cool car...
I have UC and UP. I have white and yellow and orange pads. I have a Porter Cable Polisher.
Just want to make sure it's safe to use the Megs and if any extra care in technique is in order for fresh paint.
Thanks!
If it were me? I'd use them for the reasons stated above... the paint is already reached 99.9% of maximum full cure or full harden since it's been over a week and no compound or polish, body shop safe or not is going to have a negative affect.
As for technique?
If it were me I would start by doing a Test Spot. That is test out the pads and products in the order you're planning on using them over the entire panel or entire car and then check your results really well after the last polishing step to make sure you're getting the results you hope for and dream about with this car.
If all looks great, then proceed over the rest of the car or the hologramed panel(s).
If you see anything that doesn't look right, post back here what you're seeing and I'm confident others will chime in to help...
I also have sealant, but I won't use that until I give it a couple months to fully cure.
That's the norm. You'll always find guys on forum posting under anonymous nickname telling you it's safe to go ahead and "seal the paint" using a wax, sealant or coating but two things,
1: It's not their car or their paint investment.
2. There's not a single paint manufacturer that states or recommends sealing their paint system till at least 30 days have passed.
Yeah yeah yeah I know what some forum members will say,
"The paint is catalyzed and fully cured and so it's okay to go ahead and seal the paint regardless of what the company that actually makes the paint says"
So you can listen to the guy posting under a nickname on a forum or the paint manufacturer, it's your investment.
I always say to those that recommend sealing fresh paint immeadiatly....
What's the rush?
Also, I have a very in-depth article on this topic that really addresses any and all points of discussion...
Don't wax your car for at least 30 days!
I have an older article from 2004 on MOL called,
Paint Needs to Breathe
The article on the AGO forum is basically a re-write and update of the original.
So to the OP...
Go for it. Do your test spot with the UC and the UP and then inspect. It could be the UC is capable of removing the holograms with only the white polishing pad and it could also be the UP is capable of removing the holograms with the white pad.
When working on any paint and especially black paints, the goal is to always use the least aggressive product to get the job done and this doesn't just mean the liquids it also means the pads.
The reason why is using the least aggressive product LEAVES MORE PAINT ON THE CAR to last over the service life of the car and hold up best against UV rays from the sun.
But also using the least aggressive product is doing what I call working forward the process of creating beauty as more aggressive pads can leave haze. So if you can remove the defects with either or both less aggressive pads and products then do it.
Now how about a picture of this bad boy?
