cayenne

I added another picture with a toothpick tip as a size reference. Realized the first example with the touchup brush was hard to tell.

Found this dust nib on my new Ford Raptor... Contemplating whether I should attempt to fix or just walk away from it. I've fixed these in the past with good success, however the area that this is in makes me think the risk outweighs the reward. Like most of us, I've chased perfection in the past only to tear up as a grown man, because I went one step too far. OCD is a curse at times. What says the group, sand it down and polish or shove it to the deep, dark recesses of my thoughts?

I tried both ISO and a spritz of water. Both worked well, I think the alcohol worked a touch better. It seems like the clear gums up with the residue and just makes it difficult to wipe off.

I worked on it today, and I can tell you it's a soft clear. I started with a quick pass of finishing polish on the foam pad and it took 70% of the swirls out. I ended up doing both stages, but it only takes a single pass of each to finish very nicely with nothing left behind except a RID here our there that needs extra attention. What I need help with is that it seems that the clear is very grabby or sticky for lack of a better word. I've never seen anything like this. The polish is dusting and hard to remove after making a single pass. I tried going a little wetter, a little drier, changing speeds, it just doesn't matter. I've read up on Porsche paint today and it seems that this is common but I can't find a good solution. Don't get me wrong, the results are what speaks, but it's a true PITA to polish. I've done 5 or 6 other cars with the Adam's system and never seen this.

Thanks, I will be using the Adam's 2-Step Orange/White process. I'm not sure if it's ever been corrected, but it isn't in horrible shape at all. I've seen brand new cars in worse shape. This isn't a daily driver, so I can easily do sections without dedicating the time to do the entire car in one day or weekend. The car can sit in the shop until it is completely finished, I'm not worried about that. Edit After: I do have plenty of clay, and will decontaminate everything this weekend. I think that is the worst part of it, doesn't seem like it's been done in a long time or ever.

Looking for a few tips from people who have worked on recent year Porsche's. I just picked one up and will be attempting to clean up some areas over the weekend if time permits. I've done a lot of reading and it seems that there is a lot of conflicting information on whether the recent models have hard or soft clears? I know I've got my work cut out for me so any tips on speed, pads, etc. would be great. I have access to both the foam pads and the microfiber versions and will be using my Flex.

I want to say THANKS to everyone that contributed to this thread. I just spent the last 2.5 days working my tail off on this car and I'm very happy with the results. I can barely move and I have a whole new appreciation for guys that do this for a living! Outside of a couple RIDS that I need to go back and hit along with cleaning up the bright work, she looks great. This car was a true trial and error experiment and I appreciate all the feedback I got. This is a great example of why you must do a test panel. I think I went through 5 methods before I found the sweet spot combination. (2) things really contributed to a lot of trouble however, this car has a soft CC and the towels were marring it and the problem was made worse when I did ISO wipedowns. I read on one of the forums how super soft clears didn't like even a 10% dilution and could actually soften the clean for the the second that it was put on. I have never seen this before, but did on this car. I could spritz, and wipe down even with Adam's towels and leave marks everywhere that had to be buffed back out. Live and learn I guess... The final product mix ended up being the Orange MF pad, followed by the White Foam pad. The White MF pad just didn't finish down well enough. I worked the MF pad at 5.5 and finished with the White pad on 4 with single passes in both directions. Worked great and left no marring. Brilliant Glaze by hand, and then Wax application on the Flex which was a joy to work with. Here's a pic, it's all washed out because I was stupid and left my flash on but didn't realize until I downloaded the picture.

Bit of an update. I did a test on a specific area today while the sun was just right coming into my garage. The towels I am using are definitely marring the paint. I was able to really go over an area under natural sunlight and my Brinkmann, after making a wipe with the Meguiar's X4014 towels there were new marks in the direction of wipe even though the paint was completely clean. I'm assuming this is an indication of two things… These towels will now be banned to other detailing tasks, and secondly I'm probably working with a soft clear and my finishing technique will have to be spot on.

Thanks for all of the replys and suggestions! I'm travelling for work and won't get a chance to look into anything further until later this coming week. The good news is I have a new shipment of Adam's products on my door step waiting for me to come home including towels so I can begin eliminating some of the unknowns.

The swirls have been removed and the lines look parallel/linear to me. I didn't clay this panel, I did the baggie test and felt no imperfection or bumps from fallout, dust, etc. The top of the car and hood I feel them, but this car doesn't come out much and none of the vertical panels seem to need it. Maybe I should have done it anyway.

Here's a before pic. The damage was very easy to pick up on camera. This a world's difference from where I started, the damage could be seen from any angle under most lighting, but now I have to look very hard. I was able to find an Adam's distributor that had towels in stock, so I just placed an order I'm working the finishing polish down until it flashes and is nearly invisible, just a greasy look.

I wish I could get a better picture... I've taken probably close to 100 pictures and nothing shows up properly. This is one of those things that only shows up in direct sunlight and with your head and eyes looking at the right angle. I'll happily order some new towels if you think that could be part of the issue. I keep trying to order some of the Single or Double soft but they are always out of stock.

I either use two separate towels or I don't wipe between stages like is shown in the video. I will admit though, I'm not using Adam's towels. I'm not using cheap Walmart or AutoZone towels either, but Meguiar's X4014 towels. I've always liked them, but I am beginning to have my doubts. I know it seems to look like holograms in the picture, but these are actually very small tight horizontal lines more than anything. I've re-polished these areas several times, but it remains which is why I think I need to order the MF pad and see if I need to cut a bit more.

Yes, I'm using the 2 Stage Combo exactly like your link with the foam pads. I'm pretty slow now on the arm speed, I've even done passes slower than what's on the video, but it doesn't impact these spots.

I've been working on my street rod and just can't seem to get a full correction to my liking. I'm using a Flex and have been through several various techniques and speeds all with the foam system. On my test panel all of the swirl marks and any RIDS have been removed, but I still have some fashion of micro marring or something I can really identify. It's nearly impossible to catch in a photo even under full sun, but I've done the best I can. These contoured areas seems to show it better on my camera even though it's like this in several areas of the test panel. These are not circular marks, but very fine and close together horizontal marks across the door. I suspect they were induced by the previous owners love of the California Duster or wiping the car down improperly with cheap microfiber towels? Just a guess... Any ideas? Should I order the microfiber pads and attempt correcting with them on speed 4 or 5? Or is this a job for the Focus drill attachment? I'm at a loss and I've messed with it for several hours on several different days. I feel like I'm so close, but just plain frustrated.