I'm using my PC for the first time today on my black Z. I have LC grey, white, and orange pads. The products i'm using are Poorboys SSR1 and SSR2.5.

in every instance i'm spreading the polish on speed 3 and then going very slowly around the paint until the polish breaks down on speed 5. then wiping the residue.

I started on the front quarter panel (which had the most surface scratches) and started with SSR1 with a white pad. didn't really do anything. Then i tried SSR2.5 on a white pad. the only difference i see is a million tiny scratches now....with a tiny bit of improvement on the scratches i was trying to get rid of.....

then, i tried SSR2.5 on an orange pad. There seemed to be very very little improvement showing that some of the surface scratches went away....but now i'm left with MILLIONS of tiny surface scratches......Millions. So i went back to a white pad and SSR1 hoping it would take care of them......no luck.

This is where i am now. i'm not sure if i've made an improvement or made the paint look worse.

can anyone give me some suggestions on how to get my paint cleaned up? I thought i did my research and this was going to be pretty straight forward....but it doesn't seem to be working out the way i planned. Thanks.

 

you are getting micro marring. It is normal. However:

1 - speed 6 on pc to correct.
2 - not wanting to spend your money, but I'd get some Meguiar's 105 to correct that rock hard paint. Then you can clean it up with 2.5 and white pad, followed by ssr1 with a finishing pad. ALL ON SPEED 6

 

thanks very much for the input. What pad would you use with the 105? orange? I'll give it a try next weekend.

Thanks very much

 

You are welcome. Yes the orange pad. Take your time, but you will see how great that polish it.

Another product to try is HD UNO from Autopia. My favorite polish right now. The harder the clear the better that polish works.

 

There are many polishes you can use on a Vette with nice results. The harder coat responds well to polishes like Menzerna SIP, Megs 105, and Wolfgang TSR 3.0 amongst others. But before we spend more money lets see what we can do.

I want you to polish one panel with orange pad and SSR 2.5. I then want you to switch to white pad again using SSR 2.5. This should break up some/all of the micromarring introduced. Then move to the grey finishing pad with SSR 1.0 which is a finishing polish. Let me know your thoughts. Use PC on speed 6 after initially spreading polish just enough to not see spitting. Use a little pressure, not enough to stop motion, but a little strength.

 

Menzerna is what I use ith great results. Watch the AutoGeek videos on their website.

 

Thanks for the info guys!
I want to do the same but too scared of damaging my black 08.

BTW good luck.

George Ware

 

Hey George, honestly the only way to damage paint with a pc is if your throw it at the car! Btw I grew up in the (915) and my folks still live there. I visit from time to time so next time I'm there ill have to send you a PM

 

funny thing, once you actually polish your car your gonna wish you had done so much sooner and realize that there is a degree of safety using a random orbital buffer and the correct polishes and pads.

When you are ready, let us know !

 

It is extreamly difficult to hurt the finish with a random orbital.

 

I've been looking at your PC/Pads kits
What PC/Pad kit should I get?

George Ware

 

"LOL" Thanks...That makes me feel better!
Please, let me know when you are in town?
I live in NE El Paso not too far from Painted Dunes GC.

Thanks so much!

George Ware

 

You can go piece by piece or by kit ... this is what I suggest as a bare mimimum.

Buffer --- Flex, Griots, or PC-XP (depends on price, Griots offers great value)
pads --- two each (orange, grey or red, white)per vehicle, and yes they can be cleaned and reusable.
Polishes --- Menzerna SIP and Nano or Wolfgang 3.0 TSR and FG , both use diminishing abrasives which I believe offer an extra degree of safety too

If you need help , call us, its toll-free and Dwayne can get you going in no time with the right items for your needs.

 

Reads like you've received some good advice for cleaning up the micro-marring.

One thing I've been teaching people all my life and it looks like you more or less practiced in this situation, and that's whenever you're working on a paint system that's new to you. And whenever you're working for the first time with products, pads and even machines, the most important thing you can do is a Test Spot.

That is test everything out to one small spot and make sure you're getting the results you want in that spot before trying to go over the entire car.

If you're not getting the results you want you've limited the work area to a small, confined place and you can do what you did in this instance, come back to the forum and as for suggestions to tweak your technique or substitute a different pad or chemical.

I've been buffing out cars for longer than I care to remember but I always do a test spot on every car that I work on if I've never worked on it before and if the products and chemicals are also new to me.

Laying a strip of painter's tape down on a horizontal surface helps to clearly show your results, whether they are good or bad.

Here's a short video taken from this thread where I do a simple test spot on a 1957 Chevy using the Flex 3401 but the same principals apply regardless of the tools, pads, chemicals and paint.

The important idea is to test first, dial in your system, and then you can tackle the car with confidence.

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Horizontal surfaces like the hood or the trunk lid always work best for the Test Spot. Here we're using the trunk lid and we've applied a piece of painter's tape to separate between the before and after sides for easier and more accurate evaluation.





Always shake your products well before using them... I like to twist them back in forth at my side...




Lay down a thin strip of product about 6" to 8" long. You'll tend to use less product as you move around the car and your pad becomes more wet with product so it's less likely to absorb product into itself.







Unlike a true Rotary Buffer which the pad would rotate clockwise as you look down on it from behind the buffer, the Flex 3401 rotates counterclockwise and as such we're going to pick up our strip of product running the pad across the panel from left to right and running the strip into the pad at the 4 O'Clock position.
(See the YouTube Video below).












After picking up our bead, we lay the pad flat against the paint and begin making slow, overlapping passes over our test section.







Try to always have a wet film of product at the end of the buffing cycle as buffing to a complete dry buff might lead to hazing if you lose all lubricity on the surface.












Continued...

It's aways a good idea to check your results in at least two kinds of light, so after checking our results with the Swirl Finder Light and the Camera Flash inside the shop, we backed the car out into the sun and inspected our results with full sun directly overhead. At this point this is only the Total Swirl Remover 3.0, no final polishing or jeweling has been performed and there is no paint sealant on the paint.
















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Dial your system in to one small area and once you've proven your system to your satisfaction you'll have the confidence to tackle the entire car. Also, when it comes to a full size car like a Corvette especially with the hardness of paint these cars come with, maybe only tackle a panel at a time. Tackling the entire car in one day will be a lot of work and it will take some of the fun out of the project.

Limiting yourself to a defined area like the hood, a door, or the front clip if you're a go-getter will be a lot easier and getting just a panel perfect will encourage you to continue with the process.

I had 9 Corvette clubs go through the class I taught at Meguiar's in 2005, some are members here on this forum and many of them took this approach and later would come by and show me their results and also let me know they only tackled panels at a time, like one Saturday just do the hood, etc.

They always had a smile on their face and their Vettes always looked great.