Did I do something wrong?

[jaysmoove]

Ok, I recently joined the forum not too long ago and received my Adam's porter cable products about 3 weeks ago. Detailed my car last weekend (consisted of claying, SSH removal, Swirl removal, polish, sealant, buttery wax, and brilliant glaze. I followed all the instructions as well watched the tutorial videos too. I have a Brilliant Black Pearl Dodge Charger and from a distance, my car looks beautiful. The flakes in the paint are "popping" again and its never looked better. However, I can still see swirl marks as well as water marks in my paint. So I ask is there something you guys think I did wrong. The more I used the Porter cable, it seemed like the more dust I created. Not sure if that was because the pads were new or not. One thing I can think of is my wife had my car waxed before I returned from overseas and the guy that waxed my car said he could not get the water spots out of my paint...should I have washed the car with dawn soap first to strip that wax off to be able to get to the water spots, swirls, and scratches better?

 

So would you veteran Adam's users have any advice or suggestions for me? Like I said, my car looks 10x better than what it did, but I don't have that "complete" mirror finish like I've seen some you guys/gals have been able to obtain on here!!!

 

*side note*....I know, I know this post is nothing without pictures lol and I apologize.

[Chris@Adams]

Jay do you have the 4" Focal Pads? They work well on water spots, and as far as the swirls it may take a few more passes to get them all out. Make sure you are using 9-14 lbs. pressure on your PC and go slow!

[jaysmoove]

No I don't have the 4" Focal Pads but I guess I will need to get those as well. I use enough pressure to not completely stop the polisher from "orbiting" but not so light that its flying all over the place either. I put in 6 hours...lol...I guess its going to take a little more than that!

[txredgt]

When you start to dust a little more just spritz some DS on the pad. As far as not getting the results you want (Yet) you will just need more practice IMO. Being that it is the 1st time to use the PC you will need to put in some more time to perfect your polishing degree first, that is why its recommended you perfect the 2x2 area and then move on to the whole car

[jaysmoove]

lol....yea i definitely didn't perfect my 2x2 area first!!! Once it shined, I moved on to the whole car!!!

[Chase@InsanePaint]

The only reason those spots didn't come out, is because you didn't "cut" the clear enough. Sounds like you needed another pass of SSR, and maybe another pass of SHR as well.

 

As far as time commitment goes. I just spent 12 hours on my SRT8 Jeep, and all I did was ONE pass of SHR, and ONE pass of FMP. You spent half that amount of time on your Charger, and it's relative in size. So yeah, it sounds like you just needed to work the product another pass or two. Did you also work it long enough, until it flashed??

[Z71_Denali]

working the products to their full potential will yield you better results. sounds to me like you moved too quickly before the polishes flashed. by flash, we mean they turned nearly transparent on the paint. once that occurs, stop the polisher, spritz the pad with DS, and apply more polish to that panel or move on to the next one.

 

perfect your 2x2 area first, next time! it will save you time & product

 

i'm like you, i just used my PC for the 1st time last weekend. but i watched the videos over and over again, and i've been a member here for quite awhile, so i was pretty confident in what i was doing. granted my 1st detail was a white truck . i'm sure there are still a few scratches i missed that just didn't show themselves on my finish

[jaysmoove]

Chase....I think you may have hit it on the spot guy!! 12hrs is probably definitely what I need to invest in my car. I didn't work it long enough to flash either, I'm pretty sure of that. I definitely had a light haze left on the car to wipe off. So that's another thing I need to work on. When I did my "test" spot, it was on the side of the car which really wasn't too bad to begin with. I can get my mirror like finish on that area! Sometimes I wish I had a lighter color car...lol....but black looks GOOD when its "clean"!!

[Z71_Denali]

the hood, or the trunk lid are usually the 2 best areas to test first. something about them makes them usually the target for the most swirls!

[BlueGenCoupe]

Chase....I think you may have hit it on the spot guy!! 12hrs is probably definitely what I need to invest in my car. I didn't work it long enough to flash either, I'm pretty sure of that. I definitely had a light haze left on the car to wipe off. So that's another thing I need to work on. When I did my "test" spot, it was on the side of the car which really wasn't too bad to begin with. I can get my mirror like finish on that area! Sometimes I wish I had a lighter color car...lol....but black looks GOOD when its "clean"!!

 

You get the worst swirls on flat surfaces(hood, roof, truck) you should have done a test spot on one of those spots.

 

As for the PC, its a good begining polisher if you have the time and paitence. It will definitly eat up an entire weekend, thats forsure. I used the PC maybe 3 times, no matter how much pressure I used, polishes/pads I used; I still saw swirls. Thats when the flex and Makita came in.

 

Best of luck..

[Doug123]

Yup, working the products until they flash is important, and moving sloow across the finish with correct pressure (very slight rotation as shown in the video) will yieldmaximum results.

 

If you are going to try again, I would use a 50/50 solution of distilled water and 90% Isopropyl Alcohol (get it from the drug store) and using a microfiber cloth or MF pad, wipe down all the panels on the vehicle to strip off the wax. Then rework the finish on the trunk (your test spot) with SHR and FMP. Let the SHR flash (goes clear, kind of looks like a thin film of vaseline). Only use 3 pea sized drops of SHR on the pad - it doesn't take much, in fact too much clogs the pad (which does some of the work) and will throw chunks, dust, etc. Sometimes it may take a couple of passes of SHR to get the finish where you want it.

 

Often when I am working a spot, after the 3 drops of polish have been applied and flashed, I will give the pad another shot of DS and rework the area. When you do this, you will see that the polish on the finish is milky again, as DS brings a little polish out of the pad. This DS only pass also helps keep the pad clear and uses all the polish effectively.

 

Work the SHR again until it looks like an oily film. Then switch over to the Fine Machine Polish and do a pass with it. Then wipe the finish and check how it looks. The light reflections (like an overhead bulb or work light) should not have any hazyness around it, the edges of the light reflection should be clear and well defined. If not, try another pass with the FMP. You will get to love the FMP for the amazing shine that it leaves behind it.

 

This takes a bit of technique, but you'll get it, and after a bit, your correction speed will improve and you will get better results more easily. If you can get one area the way you like it with x passes of SHR and Y passes of FMP, then you can repeat that over the rest of the paint.

[jaysmoove]

thanks fellas for the tips and techniques and i can work on. It might be until next spring before I can REALLY work on the paint like i want to...unless I move to south FL sometime soon...lol!!

[Vincenzo]

WAIT! You didn't strip the old wax off and claybar before polishing? Cause that could be a problem. you clog up your pads and potentially drag little contaminants all over your paint.

[musclejunkie]

Clay is a must. As well as removing old wax or sealant before you clay or polish. I just use Dawn, a good rinse and make sure the car doesn't dry before I hit it with a neutralizing detail spray spritzer followed by an Adams microfiber drying towel. You really need a clean pallet for a black car to start with. Old wax traps contaminates and you grind them in when you polish. This also may be why you have some fine micro scratching.

[jaysmoove]

@ Vicenzo...no I didn't strip the wax and then clay. Just washed, then clayed, then SSH, and etc!!

 

Its been raining a lot here lately with no view of the sun whatsoever. The one thing I HAVE noticed is all the wax I've left on the car's trim and plastic pieces...ugggh!!! My MDX has big bumper trim pieces and boy oh boy can I see where I hit it with the polish and wax!! A lot of work ahead of me but I'm gonna get it together!!

[mc2hill]

The one thing I HAVE noticed is all the wax I've left on the car's trim and plastic pieces...ugggh!!! My MDX has big bumper trim pieces and boy oh boy can I see where I hit it with the polish and wax!!

 

Apply SVRT before beginning the polish & wax steps. It helps with the cleanup. OR tape the trim with painters tape (most here prefer 3m green tape).