PC Question From Newbie
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 181
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From: Hickory NC
PC Question From Newbie
I'm getting ready to buy a PC and I have a basic question. I have been told that PC's must be held flush against the car when buffing. How do you buff out the hood which has contour curves? I am excited about getting a PC but nervous about putting it on the paint of my car. The last thing I want to do is burn or damage the paint while trying to use a PC. Any tips?
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 116
Likes: 0
From: Norfolk VA
Not to be short...but if you do a search you will find more info and
techniques than you could imagine...also take a look at aotopia.org
tons of info there by pro detailers as well as those with years of
experience...Hope this helps.
techniques than you could imagine...also take a look at aotopia.org
tons of info there by pro detailers as well as those with years of
experience...Hope this helps.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,739
Likes: 0
From: New Port Richey Florida
Racer
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
I'm getting ready to buy a PC and I have a basic question. I have been told that PC's must be held flush against the car when buffing. How do you buff out the hood which has contour curves? I am excited about getting a PC but nervous about putting it on the paint of my car. The last thing I want to do is burn or damage the paint while trying to use a PC. Any tips?
As far as working contour curves, I find going in an overlapping zig-zag motion to work well for me. Yes you want to keep the pad flush against the surface. Still you want to tape off around trims, and go ever so gently over sharp edges where paint thickness is minimum. If you prefer, you can stay away from sharp edges, and just buff with a microfibre towel.
Once you've worked your PC for at least 15 minutes, you'll pretty much be able to learn its behavior, and feel more confident about how to operate it.
-M
Last edited by ripen ls6; Feb 4, 2007 at 10:55 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 4,034
Likes: 11
From: Lewes DE
My answer: all the warnings you've heard about buffing can be ignored IF you are (1) Doing a Vette, and (2) Using a PC on the Vette.
Here's why: The vette has the hardest clearcoat in the universe. Even with agressive pads and polishes, it takes a LOT of purposeful work to sand out scratches. Then the PC : the mildest tool around. Totally safe - impossible to burn your paint even if you try. if you try to crank up the speed and lean on it to purposely burn the paint you can't - the machine's orbital motion will stop. Consider it a safety feature.
Then the issue about avoiding the apex of curves, edges, etc. Really good advice in general - and it's good for you to know this idea and learn it and TRY to adhere to it the best you can. You might even want to tape off those edges. All this is REALLY important when using a rotary buffer at high RPM's, with a wool pad (YIKES!). But again, that's a different world entirely from using a PC set at 5.5, orange LC pad, and Mezerna Intensive Polish.
Bottom line - learn the right, careful way to avoid apices, and tape off edges, and always do a small 2' X 2" practice area first to see how your system works BEFORE you get down to business on the entire car surface. You do these things because they are very good habits to get into -- some day when you're using a rotary, you'll be glad that these habits are by then subconscious.
But on your Vette with a PC and orange pad, you'll be ok just to quickly glide over the edges and apices, doing the best you can not to dwell there. No anxiety required, because the PC really does not remove any measurable quantity of clearcoat, even if you TRY
.
If there are some really tricky areas, you may also want to look at the size of your pads: use 8" only for an old car with totally flat panels. use 6.5" in general, and get one 4" pad to use for really troublesome curvy contours. You might also stick to softer pads (white LC rather than orange) when doing super-curvy stuff. But again these cautions are VITAL when using a rotary, but in my opinion overkill when using a PC.
When you have time, check the classic post (now over 2 years old, but the pics are still there) that will convince you that even wet sanding and aggressive buffing removed only 0.3 mil of clearcoat. PC on a setting of 6 did no measureable loss (i.e. less than 0.1 mil. of clearcoat loss). One mil = 0.001 inch, so in his experiment, using a PC, he removed much less than 0.0001 inch (one ten-thousandth).
BEST CLEAR THICKNESS POST EVER -click on pic -- credit goes to Superior Shine , the author (on another board) and TOGWT, a guru here who pointed that one out to me a few months ago.
click on the image below:
Here's why: The vette has the hardest clearcoat in the universe. Even with agressive pads and polishes, it takes a LOT of purposeful work to sand out scratches. Then the PC : the mildest tool around. Totally safe - impossible to burn your paint even if you try. if you try to crank up the speed and lean on it to purposely burn the paint you can't - the machine's orbital motion will stop. Consider it a safety feature.
Then the issue about avoiding the apex of curves, edges, etc. Really good advice in general - and it's good for you to know this idea and learn it and TRY to adhere to it the best you can. You might even want to tape off those edges. All this is REALLY important when using a rotary buffer at high RPM's, with a wool pad (YIKES!). But again, that's a different world entirely from using a PC set at 5.5, orange LC pad, and Mezerna Intensive Polish.
Bottom line - learn the right, careful way to avoid apices, and tape off edges, and always do a small 2' X 2" practice area first to see how your system works BEFORE you get down to business on the entire car surface. You do these things because they are very good habits to get into -- some day when you're using a rotary, you'll be glad that these habits are by then subconscious.
But on your Vette with a PC and orange pad, you'll be ok just to quickly glide over the edges and apices, doing the best you can not to dwell there. No anxiety required, because the PC really does not remove any measurable quantity of clearcoat, even if you TRY
.If there are some really tricky areas, you may also want to look at the size of your pads: use 8" only for an old car with totally flat panels. use 6.5" in general, and get one 4" pad to use for really troublesome curvy contours. You might also stick to softer pads (white LC rather than orange) when doing super-curvy stuff. But again these cautions are VITAL when using a rotary, but in my opinion overkill when using a PC.
When you have time, check the classic post (now over 2 years old, but the pics are still there) that will convince you that even wet sanding and aggressive buffing removed only 0.3 mil of clearcoat. PC on a setting of 6 did no measureable loss (i.e. less than 0.1 mil. of clearcoat loss). One mil = 0.001 inch, so in his experiment, using a PC, he removed much less than 0.0001 inch (one ten-thousandth).
BEST CLEAR THICKNESS POST EVER -click on pic -- credit goes to Superior Shine , the author (on another board) and TOGWT, a guru here who pointed that one out to me a few months ago.
click on the image below:
