Alright guys, I need a few pointers after a marginally successful weekend. I had no real idea how long it was going to take to do a full machine detail from start to finish, but I figured I could handle it if given one full weekend. Turns out I will need double that and then some. That means more time to get familiar with everything. Saturday I washed, cleaned up the trim and wheels, as well as the trunk interior and several other tedious details.
I couldn't get the fat grin off my face when I saw how well the Green Wheel Cleaner worked. It was able to remove some stains that I had never been able to remove with any other product. The All-Purpose Cleaner is palpably good. I found more uses for it than I can count. The VRT is to die for, and In N Out spray was an unbelievable time saver. I love all of this stuff. The microfibers ROCK.
Now, I finished up some more things yesterday, and tried out my PC for the first time. I was only able to test an area on the hood before I had to wrap up. I tried the Swirl and Haze remover and then fine machine polish. I worked at a speed setting of 5 only, and was not able to remove what I considered to be light to moderate swirls and haze from my paint. I completed two passes with each solution. I would say the swirls were reduced by about 40-50%, and the haziness even more so.
This is where I need some advice. At first I was pushing too hard on the machine, which slowed it down some, and created some unpleasant dusting in my work area. Once I got the hang of things, I realized how little physical pressure I need to keep the pad fixed to the surface (like doing it one handed as The Junkman has demonstrated). That seemed to prevent further dusting, but I'm not certain.
Here are my questions and concerns so far:
1. When I use the plastic bag trick for claying, I noticed that I can feel plenty of paint imperfections no matter how much I clay an area. I clayed an area until there was no visible dirt or debris in the clay's surface, and yet I could still feel an assortment of texture with the bag afterwards. It felt like glass otherwise.
2. How many PC passes with swirl and haze remover are generally needed on a finish that doesn't have visible swirls (or scratches for that matter) when standing 5-10 feet from the vehicle? I also had a hard time knowing when the polish was "flashing," but i assumed it was once the polish had that slightly milky, wiggly transparent "heat-wave" effect going on. Is this correct?
3. Since I was unable to move beyond the clay bar process, I am not sure what I need to do so that I can pick up where I left off this next weekend. My gut says to wash and quickly clay the car once more before I move onto polishing. It's not going to rain, so I might be able to waterless wash the vehicle instead, yeah?
4. How does one polish and seal the really narrow areas on the bodywork? My front fender has painted areas as narrow as 1". I planned on trying the 4" pads over these areas, but I am worried about them flying off and hitting my cat.
Thanks for any and all help guys. This is great community.