SHR microscratch question

[Vincenzo]

So I was polishing my car yesterday.

Of course, I was in my badly lit garage, so after 2 passes of SHR on a section of hood I backed out into the sun to check my progress. All of the swirls were gone but many small new ones had replaced them. I know that that is supposed to happen, so I hit it with 2 passes of FMP, and backed out again to check. It was a lot better, but there was still a good amount of micro scratching going on.

 

Now that I have finished up the hood and even applied some Americana I can't really see them, but it still bugs me a bit. Is it supposed to be like that or is this a result of bad technique?

[Vincenzo]

Here is a before pics of the swirls

 

 

 

 

I don't have other swirl pics because the camera could not clearly pick up on them. They all came out focused wrong and did not show anything.

[Vincenzo]

In that case I'd better get typing because 1000 words sounds easier than figuring my camera out lol.

 

I should have some pics today or tomorrow. I will post some here but when I am totally done I will post a thread in the Cars section.

 

Ok so I ran into another problem. I only have about 2 hours tomorrow and I need to do the entire passenger side and the roof. The front bumper took forever. It has a bunch of microswirls but it looks a lot better then it did. It had a lot of stuff really stuck on. I couldn't even begin to make it smooth with the clay bar. I literally spent over 20 minutes claybarring the front bumper and it just didn't do anything. Then when I went to polish, although it got all of the crap off the bumper, it got the pad dirty. While I was washing it, the claybar magically dove off the top of my shelf and onto the nasty garage floor, so now I have no clay. So I have to use part of that 2 hours to get to a local place and get some cheap M brand clay! Also, I am almost completely out of detail spray, and my APC has about an 1/4 of an ounce left.

[Bill-V8V]

Always break your clay into 3 pieces so you will be prepared, the garage floor is a clay magnet :willy::willy:

[Vincenzo]

Inorite? Actually it wasn't Adams clay I was using anyways. I had 2 claybars left over from my before-Adams days and I just used those. Now I have dropped them both!

 

The sides of the car really aren't that bad though. I probably couldn't get away with just not claybarring, right?

[crewxp]

Always break your clay into 3 pieces so you will be prepared, the garage floor is a clay magnet :willy::willy:

 

lol... exactly. I dropped the clay two times today. eventually i stopped caring once I reached claying the wheels. That was all that was left and they're always dirty, so :/

 

But man! I didn't realize how much dirt and brown powder was on my wheels! The clay bar I used on my car came out cleaner than the clay bar I used on one wheel! They looked so shiny too!

[Vincenzo]

Lol! I hadn't cleaned my wheels since January, and when I sprayed them down with some full strength APC, my eyes popped out of my head.

[Vincenzo]

Ok guys I know its been a while but I was busy. Anyways, here are some before pictures. Almost all of these were after wash/clay. The ones that are not are obvious.

 

[Vincenzo]

Here are some good pictures of the bottom of the front bumper after claybar:

 

[Vincenzo]

And here is an after pic of that same front bumper

[Vincenzo]

Unfortunately my after pics are limited because I had to go to school and the settings on the camera got messed up. Now it has been a week and the paint is all dirty again, and I don't have time to do a wash.

[Vincenzo]

Really? I guess it's time to add another thing to the "must get soon" list lol.

 

Ok so check this out. I tried to use the PC to polish some thin areas. I taped off the trip very well and got to work. After I was finished I noticed that the tape had frayed alot and that my pads looked a bit discolored. I sprayed them down with some of my last drops of APC and washed them out completely. Apparently I polished off the stupid tape! My FMP pad is a light blue/green!!! My orange pad looks completely new after the cleaning, but the FMP still looks weird. Any ideas on what to do/how it might affect polishing?

[Vincenzo]

I do have a few afters though!

 

[Vincenzo]

So some things about this detail:

 

I ran out of time and, in some cases, product. I barely had enough APC to finish cleaning them on the last day, and I had just a tiny scrape of detail spray left over. Also, I was having troubles with my messed up knee, which hurt my progress as well. My time and lack of product caused me to have to skip doing the passengers side front fender and from finishing the area around the passenger's rear wheel well. I also hurried on the parts of the passengers side that did get "finished", and although they have way less swirls then they did, I couldn't kneel down and properly do them. It still looks alot better then it did, and I am very impressed with the products, especially SHR. FMP however, I feel did not do much. I could feel the difference between a panel I had done with SHR and one I had done with SHR and FMP, but even with my flashlight shining all around, I was unable to see a difference between the 2. I also felt that the FMP was getting worked in very fast, and when I tried adding more product and/or detail spray, it just made it kind of sloppy and still got worked in very fast. Perhaps I was having trouble with it because it is the same color as my car, and this made it hard to tell when it was fully worked in.

 

Anyways, I really enjoyed this detail, and every one of Adams products that I used. That was also probably the best workout I have gotten in a while, lol. My favorite products were the APC, SHR, and the Americana. I plan on taking 4-5 days in summer and detailing every single inch of that car THE RIGHT WAY. Thanks for all the help guys!

[MAYBEN]

take some of the whole car now that you've done some fixin..

 

great progress..

[Vincenzo]

Well I can't wash it right now because I am supposed to be studying lol. Plus I have no batteries for my camera. I am gonna be busy all weekend, but I might find some time in-between school and physical therapy to wash the car before next weekend.

[MAYBEN]

batteries for your camera?

 

umm.. buy one with a rechargeable! lol

[Vincenzo]

batteries for your camera?

 

umm.. buy one with a rechargeable! lol

Yeah lol but then I would have less cash to blow on Adams stuff, thus rendering my camera useless!

[MAYBEN]

lol, save up

[Doug123]

Sounds crazy, but when you can swing it, go for gallons of your most used products like DS and APC. It really is cheaper per oz. this way.

 

Re: Claybar - when you get one from Adams, I am sure you will enjoy it. I have heard numberous complaints with the M claybar. I always buy a spare because that darned clay wants to leap out of the hands sometimes, and it is hard enough to allocate a big chunk of time for detailing so I don't want a dropped piece of clay or not enough DS to cause me to stop.

[Vincenzo]

I am definitely getting gallons of APC and DS when I can afford it. Besides that, on my list is a boars hair brush, the 4" pads, BG, MSW and the pad, Glass cleaner and sealant, along with more double and single softs, glass towels, and a foam gun

[Chris@Adams]

Remember be patient and take your time & when done post up some pics!

[Chewy]

Technique goes a LONG way... The last couple of passes with SHR I like to reduce the pressure and allow it to polish up a bit more. If there's anything other than a VERY VERY slight haze I continue with SHR.

 

Make sure your pad didn't get contaminated with dust too.

 

See this post of mine: http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=108211&postcount=26

 

Chris

[Team Adam's]

Some of the times the micro scratching that people assume is from SHR actually isn't... its the remnants of partially removed swirl marks. Just like anything a swirl mark has a 'high' and a 'low' and while the lows and stuff in between is removed, the deepest or most severe part of the mark is left behind.

[Doug123]

Photos would help us a lot to see what's going on.

 

You can get that finish so that it is gorgeous without any wax or sealer, and that is how it should be before you apply wax.

[Chewy]

Oh yes what Doug said... The link I posted with photos is WITH OUT wax. The finish should be perfect before any wax is applied.