Trouble with haze and tick marks after DA Polishing

Mike—thanks for sharing all that info. You'll be happy to hear that I found and read those threads before, during, and after my polishing attempts. They've been incredibly helpful, and yes, my BP is marked! :xyxthumbs:

Using a couple of fine, straight hairline scratches as a gauge for how much correction I've been able to achieve, they have literally not changed at all. Does that indicate to you that the paint is indeed pretty hard? I think if the paint were soft, I would still be getting the more marring, but would have removed the hairlines by now. I also tried polishing out one of the lines by hand with a foam pad and a MF applicator, and could not get any correction that way either.

That said, your advice on the pad selection was really helpful. I think I'll be joining the Flat Pad Club (or the MF pad club) on my next order.

I'm going to meet up with fly07sti, who lives not too far from me, and see if a more aggressive product does the trick. Will post the results as soon as I have them.

Thanks again.
 
Bryan W said:
I have the Harbor Freight DA (don't laugh, it got lots of favorable reviews in another AG thread), a 5" backing plate from Chemical Guys, and 5.5" Hex Logic pads from Chemical Guys.



Thanks to all three of you guys! Feeling much better about my technique after hearing that the haze might have been there all along. I tried again with M205 and an orange pad and the results were no better, so I think it's time to step to a more aggressive compound. I'll post an update once I try that.
Click to expand...
Let's set up the northern ca meet and I could bring some of my gears down for everyone to try.

Btw....I have some M105 that I dont use anymore. Infact......I have a lot of stuff I dont use anymore.:laughing:
 
I'm also in process on switching to flat pads. I have a ton of css pads I'm currently moving away from. You can try using menzerna fg400 or pf2500 with your foam pads. A friend of mine got a 14 Jetta gli terribly swirled with scratches all over with only 50 miles on it.

No car is the same and no identical 2 cars from the same year is the same on the paint. You never know. As advised try a little spot with 205. Do a smaller 1ft by 1ft area move slow and use a little pressure for a few passes then ease up on pressure for 2 more passes. If that doesn't make a dent in the defects you are looking to correct at that point personally I'd bump up a bit to different products or pads.

This is strictly my personal experience and is not a for sure guide nor is it guaranteed to work, but on recent vw jobs the megs cutting mf pad with d300 worked amazing on my 11 CC and menz pf2500 and fg400 for a couple small spots with a megs mf polishing pad worked flawless on the 14 gli. If you can't get any results at all that you like give it a try.
 
Hi everyone. Thanks again for you help. I have great news: the problems are SOLVED! Here's what I did.

Method
fly07sti was very kind in letting me borrow a few items to test out. We met up on Thursday and he sent me home with:

  • Meguiars MF Cutting and Xtra Cut pads
  • LC Hydrotech Cyan pad
  • Meguiars D300 Compound
  • Menzerna FG400 Compound
  • A couple of very plush towels

This morning I washed and dried the car, and went to work on a test spot. I used the D300 with the MF cutting pad. After one section pass, I had already gotten about 85% of the defects out. After a second pass, all of the water spots, hazing, and tick marks were gone!

I followed it up with a bit of 205 on a hnexlogic blue (light polishing) pad, and then topped it with Optimum Spray Wax. All I can say as the results were amazing. (pictures at the end of this post)

Analysis
Based on all of your feedback, here's what I think was going on before:
  1. Bobby G was right that I did not fully remove some of the Klasse sealant. I think the wash even helped with that, becuase after washing again today, the paint already looked less hazy.
  2. Several of you were right in thinking that the paint was too hard for the m205 to correct the swirls. The D300 and microfiber pad worked much better. The m205 did improve the gloss AFTER the D300.
  3. Mike was right about the softness of the paint making it easy to cause marring with a towel. I did some more research here and on some VW forums, and found several people complaining that their VW paint was hard to correct, but easy to mar with towels :-/ The towels that fly07sti loaned me were noticeable softer and more plush than mine. The product was easier to remove and the towels felt smoother as they glided across the paint. Thanks Mike for the tip about the paint, and thanks fly07sti for showing me what a nice MF is all about!
  4. The nicer towels also left less lint on the paint, which made the overall look much clearer.

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend I was so frustrated by my results. Today I finished the hood in about an hour and couldn't have been happier with how it came out (for a daily driver at least). Can't wait to do the rest of the car soon.

Thanks again to all of you for your help. I really appreciate how many of you stepped up to offer advice (and samples!). Here are before and after shots of the hood, both taken in direct sunlight. Pictures of the full car to follow, once it's finished.

Before
mIuj1FN.jpg


After
AblzLFJ.jpg
 
Last edited:
One more thing… I did not try the Menzerna polish, Xtra Cut pad, or the cyan cutting pad, because the D300 and regular MF cutting pad were enough. I took Mike's advice to start with the least aggressive products and was satisfied with my results.

I'll save the Menzerna to test on a couple of larger scratches that I found on the door and under the headlights.
 
Glad it worked out for you Bryan. Those products are yours also. Now let's get this Bay Area detail fest going.
 
:xyxthumbs:

Let me know if you like to try some finishing polish like Menzerna SF, Sonax PF, or Carpro Reflect.
 
Looks great. D300 and MF are a good combination.
 
Nice work Forum Members with the diagnosis and fly07sti for supplying the "Medicine"
 
fly07sti said:
Glad it worked out for you Bryan. Those products are yours also. Now let's get this Bay Area detail fest going.
Click to expand...

WHAT?! That wasn't part of the deal. You can have them back at the detail fest. Seriously, that's too nice of you. I'm going to order the 5" Megs MF kit as well as the 3" supplies when they become available.

psnt1ol said:
:Let me know if you like to try some finishing polish like Menzerna SF, Sonax PF, or Carpro Reflect.
Click to expand...

Would love to try some! Bring it to the North California meetup/detail fest, whenever we find a place (my house is still an option).

Nice work Forum Members with the diagnosis and fly07sti for supplying the "Medicine"
Click to expand...

Seriously, you guys are the best. It's been a great (not even) first week here.
 
Bryan W said:
WHAT?! That wasn't part of the deal. You can have them back at the detail fest. Seriously, that's too nice of you. I'm going to order the 5" Megs MF kit as well as the 3" supplies when they become available.



Would love to try some! Bring it to the North California meetup/detail fest, whenever we find a place (my house is still an option).



Seriously, you guys are the best. It's been a great (not even) first week here.
Click to expand...

It's all good dude. Just glad I could help you out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top