speed for soft paint

[HFX Detailing]

What do you recommend for speeds on a flex using the two step on a mitsubishi lancer (soft paint)

 

I tried speed 4 for 3-5 passes for each step 1 and 2 on the foam system. Most scratches where gone but some small ones stayed. It's possible they were induced when wiping away the polish residue... but not sure.

 

Any suggestions?

[02Xtreme07ss]

My wife's '09 Magnetic Grey Metallic Rav4 has soft paint. I spent last weekend removing some marring induced by a clay bar and ran both 3401s (6 1/2" and 5" pads) at a speed of 5 the entire time. When correcting/polishing with the 3401, I'm almost always at a speed of 5, but vary arm speed and pressure as needed and as dictated by how the paint is responding.

[HFX Detailing]

Thanks.

 

I have lots of practice to go!

 

I stayed mostly with speed 4. I tried as high as 6. I varied my arm speed, but I probably needed to tweek it a bit more.

 

Cheers

 

My wife's '09 Magnetic Grey Metallic Rav4 has soft paint. I spent last weekend removing some marring induced by a clay bar and ran both 3401s (6 1/2" and 5" pads) at a speed of 5 the entire time. When correcting/polishing with the 3401, I'm almost always at a speed of 5, but vary arm speed and pressure as needed and as dictated by how the paint is responding.

[Team Adam's]

Typically I'll finish at a lower speed on softer paints... as low as speed 4.

 

If you find you're still having issues getting the finish you want with a lower speed, try stepping the pads back. Use a grey or red pad with the Finishing Polish and see what it gets you.

 

You have 3 things to play with essentially with any polish/correction work:

 

Speed

Chemical

Pad

 

If you're already working at a low speed and a fine polishing compound, that only leaves the pad to play with.

[HFX Detailing]

I thought the red was for glaze and the grey is for sealant?

 

Do they have cutting power? I am confused. I used the grey one for my sealant, does that mean it cutt or is it only when the polish is involved.

 

 

Typically I'll finish at a lower speed on softer paints... as low as speed 4.

 

If you find you're still having issues getting the finish you want with a lower speed, try stepping the pads back. Use a grey or red pad with the Finishing Polish and see what it gets you.

 

You have 3 things to play with essentially with any polish/correction work:

 

Speed

Chemical

Pad

 

If you're already working at a low speed and a fine polishing compound, that only leaves the pad to play with.

[mc2hill]

Typically I'll finish at a lower speed on softer paints... as low as speed 4.

 

If you find you're still having issues getting the finish you want with a lower speed, try stepping the pads back. Use a grey or red pad with the Finishing Polish and see what it gets you.

 

You have 3 things to play with essentially with any polish/correction work:

 

Speed

Chemical

Pad

 

If you're already working at a low speed and a fine polishing compound, that only leaves the pad to play with.

 

 

I thought the red was for glaze and the grey is for sealant?

 

Do they have cutting power? I am confused. I used the grey one for my sealant, does that mean it cutt or is it only when the polish is involved.

 

You have already gotten to the pad with the least 'cutting' power and the product with the least 'cutting' power.  Now it is time to remove even more 'cutting' power by going to a red or black pad that does not have any 'cutting' power, so the only 'cut' is coming from the polish.      

 

 

There is much learning to be done, grasshopper! (myself included!)

[Team Adam's]

I thought the red was for glaze and the grey is for sealant?

 

Do they have cutting power? I am confused. I used the grey one for my sealant, does that mean it cutt or is it only when the polish is involved.

 

They both have ZERO cutting power... but thats the point. Again... you can reduce the polish abrasiveness, you can reduce the working speed of the machine, you can reduce the pad cutting power to zero. 

 

Once you're at the lowest "polishing" level of polish and machine speed, the only way to go lower is to remove the abrasive properties of the pad all together. 

 

Its not a 'by the book (video)' method, but in some cases you do have to get a little creative and figure it out. 

[HFX Detailing]

Thanks all! After working with both soft and hard paint now...the hard was easier to work with ahah.

 

The journey continues! Trying out the folks vehicle next as a long awaited birthday gift.

[Kunal1223]

How can you tell the hardness or softness of a paint?

[Team Adam's]

It pretty much becomes obvious as you work on it or care for it. 

 

Soft paints will typically swirl and mar very easily, even with good technique its difficult to keep them pristine since they are so susceptible to damage. On the flip side they are very easy to fix (once you get the technique right) and usually will come back to 100% with very mild products. 

 

Hard paints will be a real pain in the rear to repair, in extreme cases requiring multiple passes to get the swirls removed. Obviously the trade off is that they don't swirl or mar as easily as softer paint. 

 

Most "common" vehicles fall somewhere in the middle, of course if you ask a group of owners of a particular car they'll tell you they have 'the worst paint ever' - its all relative. Corvettes are notorious for hard paints for example, Lexus is notorious for softer paints. 

 

Once you get used to whatever kind of paint you have, its easy to dial in your processes to care for that particular hardness/softness and just stick with it. Where it gets to be a real annoying thing is guys who detail for dollars.... every car is going to be different, so until you log tons of time on various makes/models you'll be doing some test/tune on every single car to figure out the prime combo. 

Edited November 14, 2013 by Dylan@Adams