Junkman2008

With 2000 grit, strike through can happen really fast. But you're right and Clint Eastwood said it best... "A man's got to know his limitations."

I still see that a minimal amount of damage remains. All of that was definitely not going to come out. The best you can hope for is somewhat of a save. You didn't go through the clear coat on any spots did you? Those edges are very easy to strike through.

On my 7424, I use the 5" counterweight with the focus pads. On my 7424XP, I use the 6" counterweight with the regular pads. But here's the thing. I never work above a speed of 5 so the counterweight is really a no issue at that speed.

Now you're thinkin'.

Number one: Did you actually watch the videos at the beginning of this thread? What makes the Flex quicker? If you watched those videos and understood what you watched, you want the PC-7424XP. If you are a novice to paint correction, then the machine for you is the PC-7424XP. The only time the unit has enough vibration to be noticeable is when you crank the thing all the way up with the wrong counter-weight on it. The Flex is a much heavier, harder to control and more aggressive polisher that is NOT the tool that a novice should try to learn on. Also, both machines compliment each other, which means that you want to eventually have both if you plan to do a lot of paint correction. If you had to choose between the two, the PC-7424XP is a much more versatile machine. You can't lay wax with the Flex, nor are the pad sizes interchangeable. Trust me, you need the PC-7424XP.

Thank you. Now hopefully, no one else will have to go down this road only to end up just as you did. Washing a car with a power washer will not get the car completely clean, I don't care who's product you use. Nothing get's your car properly clean like a proper 2-bucket wash. Good to see that you appreciate that.

The best way for me to describe barely is "only just, almost not." You should NOT mess with scratches that you can barely feel unless you have a paint thickness gauge.

In theory, what you say makes sense. But there's one thing that comes into play that you lack. Experience. That big mouth bass can sneak up on you, eat all of your bait, spit the hook and be upstream in time for snuggling with momma bass. That leaves you sitting there with no bait, and no dinner to take home to the family. Don't be that fisherman. Practice on anything you want but don't touch your car with sandpaper until you know what you're doing, have a paint thickness gauge or have been shown personally how to do this by someone who knows. Trust me, it looks easier than it is and if you are successful one time and get a false sense of security, that's when the OMG factor rears its ugly head and you're looking at a paint job. I always error on the side of giving out enough warning so that no one looks at me and thinks I'm to blame for them screwing up their car. My rule of the advice that I give is to NEVER tell someone to do something to THEIR car that I wouldn't allow them to do to MINE.

If you don't have a good paint thickness gauge, I wouldn't even TRY messing with it if I were you OP. You don't learn how to do this on a car you actually CARE about.

Does your fingernail catch in the scratches in any amount?

Thank you, thank you! And a big shout out to all my fellow Vets too!

That's what this thread is for.

Well look at the Taz exercising that brain power!

Well if push comes to shove, I could always connect to your computer remotely and show you how to do it over the phone. That's always an option as this is what I do for a living.

Well, you can upload them as attachments but people have to click on them to view them. I can't believe that you are still using AOL. I thought that ship had sailed. Try using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. As you can see by this thread, no one else has had any problems doing this. Photobucket has its own set of instructions that you can look at here. Just follow the instruction at that link to get the pictures into your newly created album. Another thing, you are not looking at or reading the entire page. If you do, then you'll be able to find the buttons that you need to click on in order to get up and running. Just glancing at each page is not going to get you going. You have got to look at each page in detail.

The layout has changed a little but the operation is still the same. You still are going to upload images from your computer into your Photobucket library. Once the images are uploaded, you are still going to copy the image code. What part are you having trouble with?

I told you all that the wives wouldn't understand!

It seems that kids retain more of what I say than the adults do! <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3YlLkk0VFg?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3YlLkk0VFg?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object> <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG7xk5PgdQI?version=3&feature=player_embedded"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG7xk5PgdQI?version=3&feature=player_embedded" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>

Yea, and your "G" and "H" keys are backwards! So what are these odd marks that you speak of?

Well, the only way to remove that stuff without scratching up the paint real bad is to clay it off. Yea, it will take a lot of pressure, but you are going to have to constantly flip the clay. Any other method is just going to scratch the paint up real bad (like using a Brillo pad, which I have seen people do).

Thanks DH, but before I can advise you, I need to see exactly what this "gunk" is that you're talking about. Can you take some up close and IN FOCUS pictures?

You're not wiping on your car with those made in China towels, are you?

Ewww.... the dryer part. Did you use low or no heat?

So are your towels now linting and full of fibers from the other stuff you washed them with?