Polishing after custom paint

[AirManFL]

So as I mentioned in the following thread:

http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/23830-how-you-doin-from-orlando-fl/

 

I had my car completely repainted and of course it's a swirled up mess. Here's a pic before polishing:

 

So I have polished half of the hood stripe with 3 passes each (9 passes total) of SSR, SHR, and FMP using a porter cable.

 

The swirls are coming out, but there are longer, deeper scratches underneath which I would imagine is from wet sanding. They aren't bad enough to feel with my fingernail, but they are there. I'm not sure I want to tackle going more aggressive so I texted my painter. He said he would hit it with the buffer but at the same time I'm not sure I want to take it back to him. Plus the car is in my garage washed and clay barred.

 

I'm not sure if I should keep polishing with SSR, SHR, and FMP or if I should just bite the bullet, take it to him on Wednesday and then start over next weekend.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rob

 

 

[camaro2ssblack]

Absolutely do not take it back to him. What you need sir is a compound and currently Adams does not offer one. If you would like some suggestions PM me. Or wait for a few weeks for the new stuff to come out and try it.

[GerryC]

Can you take an updated pic so we can see what it looks like after you polished?

[AirManFL]

This is after polishing the passenger side of the hood (The spots are from the polish dust):

 

This is the driver side which has not been polished yet:

Edited June 1, 2013 by AirManFL

[GerryC]

Have you considered the 4" Focus Pad kit?

 

 

[AirManFL]

I actually did the bottom section where I took the picture with the 4" focus pad, but only with SHR on an orange pad followed by FMP on a white pad. I don't have the green 4" pad.

 

Sounds like I just need to get a little more aggressive and have more patience.

 

Rob

[GerryC]

How much experience would you say you have using the porter cable? You may just need to adjust your technique and you can get the results you are after. Dylan offers some very sound advice in this video:

 

[Chris@Adams]

Take your time and don't move your PC too fast, do a 2x2 section and do not move on until you figure out exactly what it's going to take to correct your paint. Also make sure you are putting  enough  ( 9 to 14 lbs.) pressure  on your pads.

[AirManFL]

How much experience would you say you have using the porter cable? You may just need to adjust your technique and you can get the results you are after. Dylan offers some very sound advice in this video:

 

I opened the box this morning. LOL!

 

I have watched this video 4 or 5 times. I believe I'm following what he is doing but perhaps I'm putting a little too much pressure on the machine. Someone suggested letting some pressure off to let the product do it's job. I'm going to give it another shot in the morning to see if I can do better.

 

I appreciate your suggestions and effort to help.

 

Rob

[Chris@Adams]

Is your pad rotating slow or fast when polishing?

[AirManFL]

Pretty slow I think. I would say that it appears to be rotating one full rotation in about 6 seconds if that makes sense?

 

Rob

[GerryC]

That sounds about right. Move the polisher slowly over the surface (about one foot every 3-5 seconds), and overlap your strokes by about half. Give it another shot tomorrow and take your time.

[LaSHOOOOSH]

To get the right pressure get yourself a scale in your garage and get your machine on it powered off and press down so you can figure out the feel of the pressure of 9-14lbs on the scale.. You may be surpised.. Once you know what that feels like then try it again on the car using a 2x2 section. Dont move on till you figure out what it takes to correct a 2x2 section. Also make sure you mark a line on your backing plate with a sharpee so you know when you have the machine on you know the pad is spinning. Good luck and be patient. This is an art and your almost there..

[AirManFL]

Ok...thanks a lot everyone. I appreciate the help.

 

One quick question if you don't mind. Around 7:12 in the video, Dylan is about to explain what to do if you aren't happy after doing one pass of each step but then he starts talking about the double soft microfiber towel. It's almost like he forgot to come back to, "if you aren't happy do this".

 

I guess what I'm wondering is, how do you figure out, how many passes of each step is necessary? I would think eventually, you figure out you need this many passes of SSR before moving on to SHR etc.

 

Thanks,

Rob

[BKazzle]

He says "remove" in the video, then starts to talk about the towels and removing the polish residue.

 

Every car is different, so you won't know how many passes you need until you like the results you got in your test section.

[AirManFL]

He says "remove" in the video, then starts to talk about the towels and removing the polish residue.

 

Every car is different, so you won't know how many passes you need until you like the results you got in your test section.

So do you always do those three steps in order every time? Example: If I do one pass with SSR, then SHR, then FMP and I'm not happy, do I do the same thing over again?

 

Can I eventually get to the point that I can do 2 or 3 passes with SSR, one pass with SHR and then one pass with FMP?

 

I'm trying to see if I can get the process down to 5 passes using a different mix of products versus 9 passes.

 

I'm not sure if that makes sense...

 

Rob

[mc2hill]

So do you always do those three steps in order every time? Example: If I do one pass with SSR, then SHR, then FMP and I'm not happy, do I do the same thing over again?

 

Can I eventually get to the point that I can do 2 or 3 passes with SSR, one pass with SHR and then one pass with FMP?

 

I'm trying to see if I can get the process down to 5 passes using a different mix of products versus 9 passes.

 

I'm not sure if that makes sense...

 

Rob

 

For your test section either way will work.  

If you did the first method you will know what the final result will look like.  When you get the results you are looking for, make a new test section and use SSR for the total number of times you did in the first section,  Then move to SHR, then to FMP.  Inspect the results, but  you may need a couple of section passes of SHR before moving to FMP, NOW you should have your 'formula' for the rest of the car. 

[MrHot88]

If they are indeed sanding marks send me a PM, I know of a way to get them out using you're PC

Then you can follow it up with FMP.

As said, you'll need a compound but the right one for this job.

 

You'll get them out:)

 

Kevin

 

 

 

 

So as I mentioned in the following thread:

http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/23830-how-you-doin-from-orlando-fl/

 

I had my car completely repainted and of course it's a swirled up mess. Here's a pic before polishing:

 

So I have polished half of the hood stripe with 3 passes each (9 passes total) of SSR, SHR, and FMP using a porter cable.

 

The swirls are coming out, but there are longer, deeper scratches underneath which I would imagine is from wet sanding. They aren't bad enough to feel with my fingernail, but they are there. I'm not sure I want to tackle going more aggressive so I texted my painter. He said he would hit it with the buffer but at the same time I'm not sure I want to take it back to him. Plus the car is in my garage washed and clay barred.

 

I'm not sure if I should keep polishing with SSR, SHR, and FMP or if I should just bite the bullet, take it to him on Wednesday and then start over next weekend.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rob

Edited June 2, 2013 by MrHot88

[AirManFL]

Just an update on getting the paint correction done on my car. After many passes with more aggressive products, we started to wonder if the scratches were under the clear coat. After polishing just the hood stripe, the swirls came out but revealed deeper scratches that were hidden in the swirls. I made the decision to take the car back to the painter and he confirmed that the scratches are indeed in the clear coat and the only way they are going to come out is by wet sanding.

 

So, I left the car with him. He is going to hit it with 2500 grit and then buff it.....again. Then, I'll start over.....again.

 

Thank you for all the input. Everyone has been very helpful.

 

It's going to be awesome when it's complete.

 

Thanks,

Rob

[mc2hill]

Just an update on getting the paint correction done on my car. After many passes with more aggressive products, we started to wonder if the scratches were under the clear coat. After polishing just the hood stripe, the swirls came out but revealed deeper scratches that were hidden in the swirls. I made the decision to take the car back to the painter and he confirmed that the scratches are indeed in the clear coat and the only way they are going to come out is by wet sanding.

 

So, I left the car with him. He is going to hit it with 2500 grit and then buff it.....again. Then, I'll start over.....again.

 

Thank you for all the input. Everyone has been very helpful.

 

It's going to be awesome when it's complete.

 

Thanks,

Rob

 

I was a little disheartened that we could not get out those scratches, but they were pretty deep into the clear,  I was very pleased that we found a faster way to remove the swirls though.  That last polish should work fine on the wet-sanding marks or on his buffer trails.  

 

Oh, and this car looks aaammmaazzing in person!  The blue at the edge of the black stripes really pops in person.  Does not sound too bad either!