having trouble on my new truck, need help!

[needham]

so I finially got my new 2013 Black RAM Longhorn fresh from the factory.

 

I am having some real issues trying to get this thing right. I am a novice, through and through so I am looking for answers.

 

washed and clayed to smooth, and pull her inside to check it out.

 

start shining the brinkmann on it and find some random smaller sctraches and what I would call minor/very light swirls.

 

using the flex.

 

1. FMP with white pad speed 6....... didnt take it out.

2. kick it up to SHR/Orange ......still not there

3. go entire 3 step , green, then oreange, then white.........have more swirls than I started with.

 

back up and punt read the boards here...

 

1.FMP on black pad speed 6 then 4  then revive on black pad speed 3........tiny swirls still there

 

2. then try FMP on black speed 3 and FMP/Revive on red pad speed 2 little to no pressure.........still there.

 

 

UGHHHHH. I am about to pull my hair out, as this is really frustrating. I really want to polish my truck, but dont want to go over the whole truck knowing I am not perfecting anything.

I am not quite going for tits perfect, but I am not even touching the RIDS and feel like I am adding to the swirls

please help.

 

[needham]

I think your over working the polish. 7 section passes on speed 6 is way too long. Try 4 section passes and then stop no matter what the polish looks like.

 

fair enough.......I call a section pass: the across 1 pass.... then the up and down 1 pass

 

is our vocabulary matching?

[camaro2ssblack]

I would call that 2 section passes. Across the 2x2 area with approx 4 overlapping movements is one section pass. Then up and down the 2x2 area with approx 4 overlapping movements is another section pass. One pass should take like 15 seconds, 6 of them should take 1.5 minutes which should be about the right amount of working time for the polish.

Edited May 23, 2013 by camaro2ssblack

[camaro2ssblack]

So in reality you were doing 14 section passes on speed 6 = you were overworking the polishes.

[GerryC]

"Pass" is a term used rather loosely I've found...maybe we can get a sticky going soon with what the Adam's team refers to as a "pass" so everyone has a consistent point of reference. I always thought of a "pass" of one product to be: work that product until it flashes so you can wipe off the residue.

 

Brian, where are you from? Maybe someone nearby is willing to lend you some in-person help?

[camaro2ssblack]

Gerry I agree the term is used loosely. The terminology I use defines a "pass" as simply moving the polisher from one side of the buffing area to the other. It defines a "section pass" like I did in my post above. And it defines the amount of time it takes for the polish to flash as the "buffing cycle". I really think it works well and allows the detailer to fully communicate his process with as much detail as possible rather than just saying I did one "pass". That leads to several follow up questions like how long, how many times over the area etc. might as well just describe it fully from the get go. My 2 cents...

[needham]

I would call that 2 section passes.

 

 

 

correct I call it 2 as well..........with that math being outlined I did 7 by that math

[camaro2ssblack]

Good we are on the same page. Still 7 is too much. Especially with FMP because it has a very short working time. You will get 3-5 section passes before it flashes...

Good luck and keep us posted. Be sure to clean your pad every time you add more product.

[Team Adam's]

Agreed. The work time, especially on FMP is very short. So if you're going at it, using speed 6 for that long, you are dry buffing. 

 

Slow down the speed, reduced the work time. 

[needham]

do yall think this is still a FMP project? or kick it up a notch?

 

I suppose start with FMP on 4 with 4 section passes and go from there.....

[camaro2ssblack]

Bingo.

[needham]

GRRRRRRRRR.

 

well that didnt work FMP on 4 , 4 section passes .

 

also tried the entire 3 step again with shorter work times.

 

 

I am so ready to just sell all this stuff and pay someone $1k, 3 times a year to do it.......it simply cant be this hard.

[camaro2ssblack]

Really sorry you are having a hard time. Once you get it, it will be second nature although some paint systems can be a pain. I haven't polished a new Dodge but maybe the clear is really soft and hard to finish down. Regardless you should be able to get near perfect results. At this point, we need to see a video of you working the polisher to keep from blindly guessing at your issue. Starting with a fresh orange primed and loaded pad, speed of 5 and with just enough pressure to fully flatten the pad on the paint, work in slow overlapping motions for 4-6 section passes. Remove the residue, you should have a noticeable improvement. If not, something's wrong. Please make sure your shaking the hell out of the polishes before using them.

[needham]

thanks camaro.

 

I just took a vid....when I get home I will load it, give me about an hour to get home and figure out how to load it.

[needham]

up laoding to youtube.............looks like this is going to take awhile.

[needham]

 

 

here is the video to see technique

[camaro2ssblack]

I will let the flexperts chime in but I don't see any major issues. Maybe a litle too much pressure but its hard to tell just how much your leaning on it. So for example, when you did that buffing cycle and removed the residue, what changes (if any) did you see in the defects?

[needham]

I kinda thought it was pretty decent technuiqe too, at least for a novice.

 

I am really not leaning on it, or dont feel like I am. just trying to get the "pad to seat" sorta thing.

 

No change in defects.

[camaro2ssblack]

I would say at this point you need to get on the phone will someone from Adams to talk through your entire process and work through it. I see your located in Marion, AR, do we have any flex users in that general area that might be able to help out? That is about 2 hrs from me but again, I am not an expert with the flex. I find it really strange you aren't seeing any improvement at all....

[Z71_Denali]

i don't see anything wrong with the technique, other than maybe too much pressure. after you did the SHR step, did you finish with the FMP step, or just wipe the SHR off to inspect? i usually just leave the residue from previous polish steps on the panel and wipe them off when i'm done with FMP.

 

it is critical to finish with FMP to remove the damage that SHR can't remove. think of these polishes like sand paper, proper technique when sanding something is to start with something rough, then work your way up to finer and finer grits. same thing with polish.

 

also, your pic from the other day had way too much polish on the pad. when you start with a fresh pad, put a small X and prime the pad with DS, then on your next panel, you may even be able to get away with just priming the pad with DS and nothing else, but on your third panel you may need to add 3 or 4 pea size drops to the pad.

 

your issues have been going on for a couple days now, have you been cleaning your pads after you finished for the day, or are you leaving the polish inside the pad and reusing it with old polish inside it?

 

 

don't stress over this too much, everyone made mistakes their first attempt. mine was a combination of too much pressure and too much product. once you find the perfect combo for you, it'll be worth it!

 

on your next attempt, start with 3-4 passes on speed 5. then prime the pad with DS, on low speed spread the remaining polish left in the pad over the panel and repeat 3-4 passes on speed 5 a second time. SHR can be funny sometimes, and it will take 2 or 3 tries before its correct the paint to the point that it is capable of.

Edited May 24, 2013 by 2010TexasEdition

[needham]

clean pads everynight......I have like 15 pads so I can rotate them while the others dry.

[THE Mook]

Judging by what I saw:

 

A.  Too much product on that pad.  That's fighting you.

 

B.  Make sure with the Flex you are only using enough pressure to "mushroom" the pad.  To me, looks like you are leaning on it a little bit.

 

C.  Speed is okay.

 

D.  Tighten up your overlapping by an inch or so.

 

E.  It looks like that polish didn't flash or open because there was still too much on the pad.

 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

Brand new pad:

 

A "x" of SHR on the pad.  Half Spray of DS.   That amount of polish should be about right for HALF of your hood at the least.

From there, BEFORE adding more polish, examine the pad.  What do you see?  Still some residual marks from the original polish "x"? Is so, guess what, there's still polish on your pad.  Refrain, for now, from adding any more polish.  Hit that puppy with some DS.  Spread that out to see how much further you can go without having to add more.  Once you figure out your "polish distance", I think you will find you were adding too much polish too often, causing less than desirable results.

 

Mook

[MrHot88]

Looks good dude, you're doing it correctly , nice work:)

 

If you done it this way a few times and saw no improvements then the polish just isn't getting them out.

You should be removing atleast some of them but your not.

Odd to say the least.

 

Great work using the Flex BTW

Edited May 24, 2013 by MrHot88

[needham]

Mook, I will give it another whirl, because you asked. I will say my faith is waning.

 

I have tried more product, less product......Xs, Os, dots, Xs primed with Detail spray. Pads primed with polish, then 3 dots(video)

small Xs, big Xs. blah.

 

yeah that probably didn't totally flash, because most people said I was overworking and 6-7 passes was too much, plus the vid was to show more than anything.

 

oh and my test patch is now hazy, IDK what that's from......

 

I don't have any more BRAND new pads out of the package, but I do have pads that are washed every night after use.

 

not trying to get smart with you, just explaining what I have done up to this point.

will report back.

[THE Mook]

Mook, I will give it another whirl, because you asked. I will say my faith is waning.

 

I have tried more product, less product......Xs, Os, dots, Xs primed with Detail spray. Pads primed with polish, then 3 dots(video)

small Xs, big Xs. blah.

 

yeah that probably didn't totally flash, because most people said I was overworking and 6-7 passes was too much, plus the vid was to show more than anything.

 

oh and my test patch is now hazy, IDK what that's from......

 

I don't have any more BRAND new pads out of the package, but I do have pads that are washed every night after use.

 

not trying to get smart with you, just explaining what I have done up to this point.

will report back.

 

Brian what I am getting at is you need to Zero out this variable.  Start with what you know is a clean pad.  Go from there.  Your paint is hazy now from the video because of too much pressure/and/polish on the pad.   My experience with new Dodge paint tells me it's pretty soft and should correct without a whole lot of hassle, especially with the machine you are using.  Backing off your pressure and amount of polish used *should* get you better results than the current.

 

You added a fair amount of polish to a pad that already had a fair amount of polish on it, then went after a section of paint with a hood's worth of polish on said pad.

[Team Adam's]

Solid technique aside from looking like there was a good amount of pressure on it. 

 

Don't get too discouraged... THOUSANDS of people have learned to do this, just have to figure out what is creeping into your situation thats giving you unusual results. 

 

Might seem silly to ask, but are you shaking the bottles of polish well before use?