first time with cyclo need some advise

[sandman661]

hey everyone I finally started the polishing on my wife's 08 Nissan altima with the cyclo first time with it. so far it has done good. but it's been taking me quite awhile taking the swirls and scratches out of the paint. but being the car as never seen wax or been polished kinda figures why I guess. my question is I have watched a lot of the videos but is there something I can do to correct faster with the cyclo? I used the,MF Orange pad, orange foam pad, followed by MF white pad and foam white pad . with adams 2 step . I have gone over each panel 4-5 section passes and let the polish flash and I'm not seeing the results I should. I did what the videos said X paddern on MF foam pads and use pad brush after every panel. same thing with foam pads and shot of detail spray to prime pads but I did get a lot of duster from the foam pads so I just used detail spray cuz I thought I was just to much product and each panel was 2-3 pea size drops. so can anyone get me some insight on what I am be doing wrong? here's some pics of the progress so far

[Chris@Adams]

A couple things come to mind......first make sure you are applying some pressure on your Cyclo. Secondly take your time, don't move your Cyclo too fast give your pad and polish time to work.

[Thorsager]

A couple things come to mind......first make sure you are applying some pressure on your Cyclo. Secondly take your time, don't move your Cyclo too fast give your pad and polish time to work.

I was thinking the same thing. Also only do small sections at a time. It looks like you are making progress. If the paint is in bad shape it will take you longer to correct it.

[Chris@Adams]

Great point.... Make sure you do a 2x2 test section and don't move on until you get your test section corrected. That way you will know what it takes to correct your paint.

[sandman661]

I was thinking the same thing. Also only do small sections at a time. It looks like you are making progress. If the paint is in bad shape it will take you longer to correct it.

yea the paint is in very bad shape and I,finally got,the hood right but the,roof I still see swrils. yea I was,putting about 5 pounds of pressure and I was going kinda fast at first but started really slow after I got the hang of it. seem to me the foam pads did better than the MF pads .but I thought the MF were suppose to cut more?

[Junior]

Microfiber has more cutting power. Do you have a pad brush? Hopefully so because with the mf pads you will need to brush them out after a bit. The fibers can get pretty matted. I think once that happens you will loose the effectiveness.

[Sac]

Microfiber has more cutting power. Do you have a pad brush? Hopefully so because with the mf pads you will need to brush them out after a bit. The fibers can get pretty matted. I think once that happens you will loose the effectiveness.

He stated that a pad brush was used. 

 

I didn't see if you clayed it or not though. I'm assuming you did before polishing?

[Junior]

Yep just saw that. I guess my point would still be to make sure you are checking the pad sooner than every panel. It doesnt take long for the fibers to get very compressed and flat. The condition of the paint probably plays a role as well. When you are removing years of build up and garbage from the surface it has to go somewhere.

[Chris@Adams]

Good point guys......when the pad gets loaded up you may have to brush it more. It is key to keep the fibers standing up.

[sandman661]

He stated that a pad brush was used. 

 

I didn't see if you clayed it or not though. I'm assuming you did before polishing?

yea I clayed the car . I did use the pad brush every time I did a section. I think I might of used to much product I'm thinking. after the initial prime of the MF pads how much do I still use for each section? I know foam is way less than the MF pads.

[Team Adam's]

One thing I'm seeing in your process that seems unnecessary is this:

 

 

I used the,Microfiber Orange pad, orange foam pad, followed by Microfiber white pad and foam white pad .

 

So you're essentially doing 4 passes:

 

1. PCP + Orange MF
2. PCP + Orange Foam
3. PFP + White MF
4. PFP + White Foam

 

There is really no need to go thru all the pads in your process, all these additional passes add time/work to your process without much in terms of benefit. I would go with the following:

 

1. Paint Correcting Polish + Microfiber Cutting Pad
2. Make an additional pass with that same combo again if needed (not enough correction from one pass)
3. Paint Finishing Polish + White Foam Pad

In this process too, don't move to your next combo until you've made enough progress with the first one. So keep hitting it with step 1 until you get most of the big damage out and are left with only fine marks to address with the last pass.

 

The additional steps you have in between aren't maximizing your approach. Also keep in mind the Cyclo has its limitations, its a fantastic tool, but it does take more time to do correction compared to say the Flex or a more powerful tool. The trade off is that its so much more balanced and comfortable to work with - plus when you get it fully corrected it will be more than sufficient for maintaining. This first time thru is just going to be slower than if you were using something with more power.

[Ricky Bobby]

^^^Great tips D and your advice is spot on, OP follow his words and you'll be looking good.  Again this may take a ton of time because the finish looks pretty faded and hammered, but work slower to make faster progress.

 

Also, I like to use an old Adam's tip which is every 4-5 section passes I spritz the pad with Detail Spray to pull some of the polish solids out of the pad and give my product extra working time.

 

Each step should take less time than the step prior, I.E. if you are using orange polish/MF pad it should take you longer to complete that than it would to do white foam/white polish finishing step.

[AvsBest]

yea I clayed the car . I did use the pad brush every time I did a section. I think I might of used to much product I'm thinking. after the initial prime of the MF pads how much do I still use for each section? I know foam is way less than the MF pads.

I would say that 100% of the people put too much product when they begin in this world even if they are convinced they only put a small amount. I know it's not gonna help a whole lot but I go by feel. After a few panels with adding products to it, I may do a few panels with only the detail spray to use the extra "juice" in the pad.

 

If your pads were new and they dust a lot, that is pretty much the only possible answer. A few years ago I had my orange foam pad producing more dust than an electric wood saw and I was sure I wasn't using too much product... Turns out I was using about 50% too much of it.

 

How I got rid of my habit is instead of doing the X on the pad with the product, I only do 3 pea size in a triangle shape. I found that the X pattern uses too much product for my technique. Then next panel, I might do 2 pea size only, the next one maybe nothing more, just the detail spray. I am using 5inch pads so you may one to reduce the size of your "pea size" given that you are on 4inch pads.

Edited March 29, 2015 by AvsBest

[sandman661]

One thing I'm seeing in your process that seems unnecessary is this:

 

 

 

So you're essentially doing 4 passes:

 

 

• PCP + Orange MF
• PCP + Orange Foam
• PFP + White MF
• PFP + White Foam

 

There is really no need to go thru all the pads in your process, all these additional passes add time/work to your process without much in terms of benefit. I would go with the following:

 

• Paint Correcting Polish + Microfiber Cutting Pad
• Make an additional pass with that same combo again if needed (not enough correction from one pass)
• Paint Finishing Polish + White Foam Pad

In this process too, don't move to your next combo until you've made enough progress with the first one. So keep hitting it with step 1 until you get most of the big damage out and are left with only fine marks to address with the last pass.

 

The additional steps you have in between aren't maximizing your approach. Also keep in mind the Cyclo has its limitations, its a fantastic tool, but it does take more time to do correction compared to say the Flex or a more powerful tool. The trade off is that its so much more balanced and comfortable to work with - plus when you get it fully corrected it will be more than sufficient for maintaining. This first time thru is just going to be slower than if you were using something with more power.

 

ok thank u Dylan I was going nuts yesterday using all the pads and getting no result I was looking for. I was just following adams video saying if your paint was hammered to use all those steps.