About to start paint correction - need some help

pwaug said:
That price is ridiculous. They have them here on Autopia Buff and Shine 5.5 Inch Flat Foam Pads
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Wow, what a difference!

I'm thinking of getting 4 orange pads, 4 white pads and 4 red pads. I will first try the white ones and see how they work. If I need to, I will move to the orange ones. Good strategy? Any benefit in also ordering the more aggressive yellow pads?

Since I will be using one polish for both correcting and polishing, I'm wondering what pad would I use to put a finishing touch? Black or red? I'm thinking red because black is the "Finishing"polish while red is the "Ultra Finishing" polish.

Thank you so much for that pwaug.
 
Nav45-- Don't think you'd need the yellow pad since you're trying to preserve thin clear on your Mazda-it is very aggressive. The red pad has absolutely no cut--I use it to apply LSPs only. It is very soft, but has very dense pores so it doesn't soak up allot of product. The B&S read hand applicators are made of the same foam and are excellent. If you want a finishing pad go with the blue or black. It's hard to say what color pads you should actually buy without seeing the paint. I've never worked on a Mazda but everything I've read their paint is not too hard. So perhaps you could get away with 4 white heavy polishing pads, 4 green polishing pads and then any red you want for applying LSPs or any blue or black for final finishing. Perhaps someone with more experience with Mazda paint will chime in here.

In the interest of keeping this simple perhaps you should consider HD Polish. It is very easy to use as it has a long working time, little to no dust and removes easily. And it can have some decent cut depending on the pad used but finishes very well.

Then apply your FK1000.

Here is some instructional material that may help you:


The Definitive How-To Article for Removing Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots Using a Porter Cable 7424XP, G110v2 or Griot's Garage Polisher - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum

DA Polisher Trouble Shooting Guide - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum

Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum

How to clean your foam pad on the fly - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum
 
pwaug, so an orange pad is also not necessary? White is fairly aggressive I believe and then the green is less aggressive. Should I try green pad first and if it doesn't work well, then use white? I guess I can try them out and see the outcome. Thanks, I will be getting 4 black pads to apply the finishing touch.

The HD Polish looks like a great product. On the 3D Products website, it says that it is fairly sun friendly so that is great. Might it offer more cut (swirl removing) than the Reflect?

I really appreciate it. Those videos will definitely be useful.

One more question please: I'm going to be doing this in a shaded area to be out of the sun. The issue is that it is hard to see swirls with no light. On this car, the light needs to be bright and at a certain angle in order to see the swirls and fine scratches. So is there a specific flashlight or some other device I can use to see the swirls?
 
Nav45- Remember that you might need to go over an area numerous times to correct it. You might want to do more passes with a mild pad as opposed to fewer with a more aggressive one.

Spotting marring is tricky, and I can' be of much help regarding doing it outside; IMO that's simply gona be tough. If you can't see the flaws using the (natural) sunlight, you might have to reposition the vehicle or find some way to shade it in order for a flashlight (people seem to like LED ones) to work. There are guys here who work almost exclusively outside, don't know what they do...
 
Nav45 said:
, so an orange pad is also not necessary? White is fairly aggressive I believe and then the green is less aggressive. Should I try green pad first and if it doesn't work well, then use white? I guess I can try them out and see the outcome. Thanks, I will be getting 4 black pads to apply the finishing touch.

The HD Polish looks like a great product. On the 3D Products website, it says that it is fairly sun friendly so that is great. Might it offer more cut (swirl removing) than the Reflect?

I really appreciate it. Those videos will definitely be useful.

One more question please: I'm going to be doing this in a shaded area to be out of the sun. The issue is that it is hard to see swirls with no light. On this car, the light needs to be bright and at a certain angle in order to see the swirls and fine scratches. So is there a specific flashlight or some other device I can use to see the swirls?
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I can't say for sure re the orange pads as I've never worked on Mazda paint, however, I use the B&S orange pads with HD Polish to remove wash induced marring on my two VWs that have very hard clear. 3-4 slow section passes at speed 5 then a couple at speed 3 to finish--all with about 10-15 lbs pressure and the paint finishes LSP ready. So I'm just figuring that the white pad might be the most you'll need on the Mazda. Do a test spot with the green first then move up to the white if need be. I tend to be on the conservative side and always try to use the least aggressive combo to get the job done even if it takes me a little longer.

I've never polished outside so can't recommend a light.
 
Accumulator said:
Nav45- Remember that you might need to go over an area numerous times to correct it. You might want to do more passes with a mild pad as opposed to fewer with a more aggressive one.

Spotting marring is tricky, and I can' be of much help regarding doing it outside; IMO that's simply gona be tough. If you can't see the flaws using the (natural) sunlight, you might have to reposition the vehicle or find some way to shade it in order for a flashlight (people seem to like LED ones) to work. There are guys here who work almost exclusively outside, don't know what they do...
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Yes, this is one reason I chose to stick with a lighter polish (either Reflect or HD Polish). I will be using a green or white pad initially and see how it goes. The key might be to be patient and repeat the process a few times on each panel.

I think I might get a bright flashlight or something of that kind. It'll be annoying to bring the car into sunlight every 5 minutes to see the condition of the paint.

Thanks.
 
pwaug said:
I can't say for sure re the orange pads as I've never worked on Mazda paint, however, I use the B&S orange pads with HD Polish to remove wash induced marring on my two VWs that have very hard clear. 3-4 slow section passes at speed 5 then a couple at speed 3 to finish--all with about 10-15 lbs pressure and the paint finishes LSP ready. So I'm just figuring that the white pad might be the most you'll need on the Mazda. Do a test spot with the green first then move up to the white if need be. I tend to be on the conservative side and always try to use the least aggressive combo to get the job done even if it takes me a little longer.

I've never polished outside so can't recommend a light.
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Ok pwaug, I am definitely not going to go aggressive if I can help it. The swirl marks are most fine in nature and you have to really look for them in order to see them. I know where the swirls are but on some days when the sun or some other light isn't hitting the paint at a certain angle, even for me it's hard to see the swirls (of course they are there though haha).

Thanks.
 
I'm just waiting on my shipment of products. I might order some Iron X and Tar X. My car, which is about 6 1/2 years ago, was clayed once - last year by the dealer (not sure how good a job they did). There is road gunk on the bottom panels of the car as well. So I figure Tax X will help with that. I'm not sure about Iron X though. I understand that clay bar will only remove the embedded material from the top but not the bottom layer? I'm trying to keep things simple so I don't want to order too many products but Iron X seems fairly good. So it's basically like claying the car but going deeper? I don't have a tar remover so Tar X will definitely be helpful in that.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the way to go about using the various products and procedures:

1. Wash car
2. Use Tax X
3. Use Iron X
4. Rinse
5. Clay
6 Polish
7. Remove polish
8. LSP

Thank you.
 
Nav45- Much as I hope you'll keep this simple, I *AM* in favor of chemical decontamination. And much as I like/use/recommend clay, the "ferrous contamination remover" products *DO* take care of that stuff much better.

Eh, OK....I hesitate to post this, but here goes: If it were mine I'd start off with a decontamination using ValuGard's ABC system. The first step (alkaline, part "A") will probably remove the low-down stuff, especially if you agitate the areas a little with their "Bug Pad". The "B" ( second step, acidic) is their ferrous contamination remover and it's safe and mild. The "C" is a regular wash that neutralizes the previous step. It's basically as simple as doing three washes.

BUT...do you need this stuff?!? Got any orange/brown "rust blooms"? If so, then yeah, do the chemicals instead of relying on clay. If not...well, if you don't have ferrous contamination then don't bother with stuff made to remove it. For the tar/etc. you might be able to wipe it off with Mineral Spirits (cheap at the DIY store). On a white vehicle, yeah...I'd be all about doing the decon, but otherwise, eh...only fix what's broken.
 
Hi Accumulator,

After cleaning my car, it's smoothness doesn't last that long. Some sections, especially the vertical ones, seem to get dirty very quickly and lose the beading. The car seems to feel rougher now than before. ValuGard seems a bit overwhelming for me, hehe. I am open to it and will check it out but since this will be my first time doing this, I am leaning towards a simpler approach - that's not to say that ValuGard is not simple. I'm just not familiar with it so I will have to check it out. Appreciate the suggestion.

To be honest, I don't see rust on the car; though I haven't really checked for it that often. My original plan was to only clay it but then I read that claying doesn't remove all the contamination (below the surface).

I think I will skip Iron X and just do clay and see.

Thanks!
 
I have a question: I plan on using either a green pad or white pad, or both, for removing the swirls and scratches with HD Polish. After this, do I need to go over with a black pad for the finishing?

Thanks.
 
Its very likely that the HD Polish with the white or green pad will finish LSP ready. Take a look at the finish under lighting to confirm the clarity of the paint. If it looks crystal clear with no hazing you should be LSP ready. If you want, you could still do a test spot with the black pad to see if you can notice any improvement or not.
 
Nav45--remember with HD Polish "less is more" ie don't prime the pad in the traditional manner--just 5-6 pea sized drops around the outer edge of the pad for your first section then 3-4 more for each additional section.
 
bswombaugh said:
Its very likely that the HD Polish with the white or green pad will finish LSP ready. Take a look at the finish under lighting to confirm the clarity of the paint. If it looks crystal clear with no hazing you should be LSP ready. If you want, you could still do a test spot with the black pad to see if you can notice any improvement or not.
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I will see how things look but most likely I will test out a section with a black pad. If things don't look too different, I will then just leave it. Thanks bswonbaugh.

pwaug said:
Nav45--remember with HD Polish "less is more" ie don't prime the pad in the traditional manner--just 5-6 pea sized drops around the outer edge of the pad for your first section then 3-4 more for each additional section.
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Ok great. This is great information. I was thinking of 4 drops to prime the pad but thanks for the suggestion. Thanks pwaug.
 
pwaug, I'm going to go with 5-6 pea sized drops. Thanks.

Accumulator, excellent! Glad to hear that. One less step might be better for today ... phew! I appreciate that.

I've spent the last 3+ hours washing and claying. I'm just catching a break before I start polishing. Man, first time claying - it's no joke!
 
Nav45 said:
I've spent the last 3+ hours washing and claying. I'm just catching a break before I start polishing. Man, first time claying - it's no joke!
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Keep it up! It'll be worth it in the end :)

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Thanks Vega :)

That was an exhausting day!

I started by cleaning the car, then claying it and then went to polishing. The claying part was quite a bit longer than I expected. There was plenty of contamination, tar and other stuff. First time doing clay! LOL, I am thankful I divided the clay bar into two because I dropped one of them! The one I used became very mushy toward the end and was separating quite a bit. But I think overall it went well.

The results with polishing were a little bit disappointing, if I am honest. There are still micro swirls and tiny scratches on the only part where I polished - the hood.

I first started with the least aggressive method using a green pad and HD Polish. After a few passes, the swirls were still there. I did a smaller section of the hood to test this method. Then I went with a white pad and did a few passes over a few sections. Still swirls and micro scratches. Then I used an orange pad over the entire hood - same result. I used a little bit of pressure. The Griot's DA has to weigh at least 15 lbs. (?) so I felt that using more pressure may not help much. I tried to pay attention to my speed, which I kept slow.

I had Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and used that on a white pad. I made quite a few passes. I tried to make vertical and horizontal passes over the same area. It helped a little. The number of micro-swirls was reduced but they were still there. At this point, I was very tired and probably rushed things a bit. I then used an orange pad with the UC a few times over the hood but the swirls are still there. I then just used HD Polish over the hood with a green pad to make it look a bit better. Then I cleaned off the residue with CarPro Eraser.

So I have called it a day and will start with another plan in the next few days. I'm not sure what to do now. Should I go with a more aggressive compound like M105?

The thing is, the Mazda 3 is supposed to have soft clearcoat and paint so I am cautious about going too aggressive. I assumed that Meg's UC would be enough but guess not. I believe I worked the product for a decent time - at least a couple of minutes. I tried to do it in a cross hatch (?) pattern.

The HD Polish generated quite a bit of dust that was slightly difficult at times to deal with. It left the windshield and surrounding areas in dust. The Meg's UC seemed easier to work with. I'm sure my technique wasn't too good so that may have something to do with it, not sure.

I would appreciate any advice please. I don't want to leave the hood unprotected for too long. But I will wait to apply an LSP until I am more satisfied with the paint correction.

Thank you all for your help so far!
 
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