Strats-N-Vettes

My question(s):
Use the more aggressive red Compound? or less aggressive White clear coat Polish (both turtle wax products) when using a 3000rpm polisher.

Info:
Although I do have a few scuffs and light scratches on the side of the car; I know I can remove those with clear coat polish, my question is which to use to remove the haze on the clear coat of the hood and panels facing up getting sunburned and has tree sap and bugs in the front?

I tried the clay bar and the hood needs a little more aggressive approach to remove the hazing, bugs, and tree sap.

I used the white polish on the drivers side panels, I attempted nothing on top that the sun beads down on....just side panels....the white polish removed all scuffs and stuff, then I used the clay bar to remove any polish, debris in cracks and crevices, and lastly; the clay bar removed any swirls left from the polisher.


My thought was to first--use the aggressive polishing pad (wool) with the red compound.
Then-- place the soft polishing pad back on, and use the clear coat polish, followed by the clay bar.....to remove any polish, debris in cracks and crevices and lastly; the clay bar removes any swirls left from the polisher.
Thats the idea for the hood, deck lid, and halo


So; is the red compound too aggressive for clear coat?

or

Is the white clear coat polsih aggressive enough to remove haze?



I need to know this info, I am so old; the last cars I detailed still had lead for metal-flake.....


Thanks,


Jim

dudman

I'm certainly not an expert but I believe the red would be too harsh. The clearcoat is so thin and if you go through it your screwed. I found on this site a recommendation of 3M #39002 rubbing compound. I used it with a porter cable orbital and was pretty successful. But if your defects are deep enough you won't be able to get them out but may hide them. Good luck.

pianoguy

I'm no expert, either, but I don't believe the clay bar will do anything to remove swirls - it will only remove impurities in the paint. Most instructions indicate to first wash your car with something like Dawn dish soap to remove wax, then use a clay bar to remove impurities from the paint, and to then begin the polishing process.

You'll find some good info here:

http://www.bugmanweb.com/c6/c6index.html

80sRule

The claybar is for removing surface contaminants. If there is more than it can handle, there are more aggressive grades of clay, but there are also chemicals to get some bonded contaminants off.

I'm worried when you say red and white compounds. Please don't tell use Turtle Wax. Use better stuff, such as Meguiars(such as 84, 83, 82, 80) or Menzerna, Optimum or Poorboys. That TW stuff is EXTREMELY abrasive.

For Corvettes, the clear coat is typically hard. Meaning, with a Porter Cable, scratches and swirls can be worked, but it is more work. A rotary speeds up the job, but it is very easy to f*** up the paint if you aren't experienced. I'd say get the Porter Cable 7424/7336 and get some decent foam pads(say Meguiar's. Lake Country or Wolfgang).

Polish starting with the least abrasive pad and least abrasive compound. Then appropriately move up if it doesn't do much. That is the safest way to do it and avoid screwing things up. If you want to be sure you're working the polish the right amount of time(most have diminishing abrasives that need to be worked appropriately), go on youtube and search for polishing videos.

Once you get the car buffed out, use a nice sealant or wax and top it off real nice. I'm a fan of Duragloss 105TPP + Aquawax. I also like Meguiar's 16(no longer available to VOC laws), 21, 26; P21S wax, S100 wax, Optimum Car Wax, Nattys & Nattys Blue, Collinite 845, 476 and 885; just to give some options out there. I'm not a fan of Zaino because I was not really impressed when I did use it. It's not a bad product, but I think someone sounds like an *** when they discount other products because they used and liked Zaino. It's not an end all product because there isn't one.