Questions re: Flashing and Polishing

[irunnoft]

I'm completely new to using the PC and the Flex. I've got both and I've used both on my car. I still see some slight swirls so I thought I'd check in with you guys to see if I'm doing something wrong.

 

First of all, when the polish flashes, whether it's SHR or MSP, does it turn almost completely invisible? I'm not sure I worked my polishes until they flashed. I might have stopped too early.

 

Also, I think I might have been trying to do too large of an area with the X of polish on my pad. For instance, I did half of the hood on my Challenger with one application of polish. Was that too large of an area? That may account for my having to repeat polishing tomorrow. If that area was too big, about how large of an area should I cover with the normal X size application as seen in the videos?

 

Another question I had was with regards to the steps. If I use the SHR and I still feel like I see swirls (although I wouldn't be able to tell fully without removing the polish with a MFT), should I reapply the orange polish again, or should I always apply the orange polish, flash it, and then apply the machine polish and flash it and then wipe down to see the results and then, if there are still swirls, repeat?

 

With the PC, I noticed Adam went up and down and then side to side. However, I didn't see him do that same thing with the Flex polisher. Do you only go in one direction with the Flex? I noticed if I tried to do up and down and side to side with the Flex, that it felt like it wanted to shoot rapidly away and to one side. It seemed like up and down was easier on the hood, but what direction do you use on the side panels?

 

I think that's all the questions I had about polishing. I think I had a successful first full day. I'm not ready to go to the Super Sealant yet, but I think tomorrow I could get there. At least I didn't strike through the clear coat like I did the first time I used a rotary polisher. I'm no longer afraid of using either the Flex or the PC. They were both very user friendly for this noob. I'm also happy that I didn't totally mangle my pads. At least I can only get better with each time, so all in all, I'm happy to have both of these machines and I'm sure I'll be able to get the results I want!

 

Thanks in advance for all the help!

[the1inblue]

Ill see what I can do to help.

 

You are correct about flashing. Flashing is working the polish until it has turn invisible. A small tip is that it almost looks like a light coat of vaseline on the car when it flashes. As Junkman says you would be better off stopping too soon then over working the polish. I would work the SHR until flash then I would followed that by FMP then a IPA wipe down. Inspect your work and if need be, repeat the process until the swirls are gone.

 

Second the X style should last you a good bit of an area. Keep spraying the pad with DS until you have ran out of polish. This helps by ensuring you're not wasting any of product and two it keeps you from clogging your pad up. I can't really say how far it will take you just depends how long it takes you to correct that one panel. Don't move on until you have that first panel 100% corrected. This will tell you an idea how long it will take to correct the rest of the car.

 

As far as technique with the PC and Flex. Its the same crosshatch process just your timing gonna be faster with the Flex.

 

So Good Luck and I hope I didn't confuse you lol.

 

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[mc2hill]

Your work area should be about 2 ft x 2 ft. Choose an area this size that is representative of the swirls on the entire car. Most do this in the hood or trunk, as they are easiest to work on. Work the SHR until it flashes (1 pass). If the swirls remain, apply a little more polish and do another pass. Repeat until the finish looks you want it to. Now you know what the remainder of the car will need. Follow up with the less aggressive FMP, and you're ready for the protection.

 

It's hard to be patient and do it this way when you have all these great new toys to play with, but perfecting your technique in one area will pay off by only needing to do the whole car once (ask me how I know:o!).

[irunnoft]

Your work area should be about 2 ft x 2 ft. Choose an area this size that is representative of the swirls on the entire car. Most do this in the hood or trunk, as they are easiest to work on. Work the SHR until it flashes (1 pass). If the swirls remain, apply a little more polish and do another pass. Repeat until the finish looks you want it to. Now you know what the remainder of the car will need. Follow up with the less aggressive FMP, and you're ready for the protection.

 

It's hard to be patient and do it this way when you have all these great new toys to play with, but perfecting your technique in one area will pay off by only needing to do the whole car once (ask me how I know:o!).

 

It takes one pass for the SHR to flash? Is one pass one up and down and one side to side? Up, down, side to side. . . what am I? The Karate Kid?

 

If it flashes in one pass, I must be moving the polisher too quickly. I might need to slow it down. Also, I thought Adam 'worked' the polish in on 5 and then bumped it up to 6, so how do you do this in one pass? I guess I need a little more clarification on what the definition of a pass is.

 

Also, how can I tell if the swirls remain after one pass without wiping the SHR off? This is when I thought I'd use the FMP and then wipe it off and see if another application of the SHR/FMP was needed.

 

I know these are noob questions that get answered only like a gazillion times on this forum, but in the future, I'll pass it forward and show some other noob the same courtesy and patience you guys have shown me.

[irunnoft]

And I did successfully use the search feature to find out that I shouldn't use the hair dryer to accelerate the drying of my pads. Unfortunately, all my pads are still damp after cleaning last night, so I'll probably have to wait until tomorrow to go back and finish the job.

 

I found a thread where Junkman said never to use a blow dryer, but he never said why. I'm guessing the heat is bad for the pads.

[egott_91]

One pass is working the product until it flashes. If you wipe it off and still see it needs worked more, then you would do a second pass until that product flashes. Hope that clarifies it for you. You won't get the product to flash by just going up, down, side to side once. If you haven't done so yet, I would watch the Junkman's paint correction video on the mean 'o camino.

 

But as for your other questions. Work a 2x2 area until you are able to achieve the results you want for the rest of the car. Do a pass of the SHR and then when it flashes, wipe it off to see if you need to go over it again. If it looks like you want it to, hit it with the FMP. By working in this area it will allow you to guage how much product you're going to need and how long it will take for the product to flash. This will save you time and money by not wasting product or having to go back over the entire car.

 

As for the speed of the PC. Junkman recommends staying on speed 5 of you're a novice. When you kick it up to speed 6 it will work the product more and cause it too flash sooner and if you're not comfortable knowing when the product flashes you may over work the polish and then you would have more correction to do.

 

It's funny how I know everything to do and have never touched a PC in my life

[irunnoft]

Thanks, guys for all the help!

[mc2hill]

One pass is working the product until it flashes. If you wipe it off and still see it needs worked more, then you would do a second pass until that product flashes. Hope that clarifies it for you. You won't get the product to flash by just going up, down, side to side once. If you haven't done so yet, I would watch the Junkman's paint correction video on the mean 'o camino.

 

But as for your other questions. Work a 2x2 area until you are able to achieve the results you want for the rest of the car. Do a pass of the SHR and then when it flashes, wipe it off to see if you need to go over it again. If it looks like you want it to, hit it with the FMP. By working in this area it will allow you to guage how much product you're going to need and how long it will take for the product to flash. This will save you time and money by not wasting product or having to go back over the entire car.

 

As for the speed of the PC. Junkman recommends staying on speed 5 of you're a novice. When you kick it up to speed 6 it will work the product more and cause it too flash sooner and if you're not comfortable knowing when the product flashes you may over work the polish and then you would have more correction to do.

 

It's funny how I know everything to do and have never touched a PC in my life

 

What Eric said!

 

Thanks for the clarification Eric.

[Junkman2008]

I found a thread where Junkman said never to use a blow dryer, but he never said why. I'm guessing the heat is bad for the pads.

 

What I said was to never put your pads in a dryer, as in a clothes dryer, not a blow dryer. The reason why is if you heat the pads up too much, you can actually change the size of the pores that make up the pads. Since the amount of pores per inch and the size of the pores affect the cut of the pad, changing this construction will have an adverse affect on what the pad does. That's why you should buy enough pads so that when one set is drying, you can still work by using the other set.

 

As for the speed of the PC. Junkman recommends staying on speed 5 of you're a novice.

 

It has nothing to do with being a novice, it has everything to do with my technique. If you are using my technique, it's a speed of 5 with 9-14 pounds of pressure (including the weight of the polisher). That goes for anyone using the technique I use, regardless of experience.