Brilliant black, not so brilliant and neither am I...

Wow, sure looks you went through a lot of trouble to take the photos. If you have a 1000 watt halogen stand, at night, take a photo of the car under them in the garage. That will really show the extent of the paint defects. Halogens and sunlight are two lighting sources I use most frequently in my inspection. Both have their advantages.



From your photos, yeah I'd say it will need an initial rotary polishing particularly if the entire looks like that.
 
Entire car looks like that. Should I get a rotary and try to figure it out, or is this something I should pay an expert to do. Buying the rotary and the supplies is not a problem as far as the money, I just want to do it right.
 
Also, was not realy a problem to take the photos. had no halogens on hand and I set-up and break down lights ALL DAY LONG almost everyday, so this small set-up is something that could be done in my sleep. :)
 
I bought a rotary being that I have two cars with hard clear. I want to be prepared. I also have some practice fenders that I still use to practice with every now and then. I did develop enough skill and confidence to try it out on a real car and did well, I'd recommend it. Experimenting on a scrap piece or two like me, can be a new found fun part of detailing :D
 
That is awsome! :) I am going to try it. Also, I just realized something. I have a stained bathtub that got stained from when I took a hot bath after refinishing a hardwood floor. Polyurethane allover the tub!! LOL I think I can use the rotary to polish out that junk too!
 
Cali,



From looking at your excellant photos I would ask that you walk away from the PC :grinno:



Buy a Metabo rotary, either Sonus or Optimum pads (1 black wool-1 green mild cutting-1 blue mid polishing-1 black finishing-1white ultra fine finishing) and get yourself either Menzerna IP and FP or the Optimum Compound and Polish.



I am using the Opt duo right now on an extreme detail job of an E55 with a dark metalic paint. It had severe water spots, sap, and horrible halo scratches. I used the Opt. Compound with the black wool pad to level down everything (after claying) and to also remove some 2000 grit sanding marks where I tried to make some key marks less noticable. I did this at level 5 on the Metabo.



I then went over it with the green pad and the compound again then followed with Opt. Polish and the blue-black and white pads on the top sections and blue, white on the sides.

Using my buffing technique I have zero buffer swirls and have removed 98% of the marring, 100% of the water marks. I believe this method or plan of attack will work great for you also. If you like you can use the menzerna products also, the IP with a cutting pad, the IP again with a mild polishing pad and then your finishing steps with the FP.



To ensure you have no swirls left over you can run a fine finishing pad and the FP just before you wax or seal. Don't be worried about the rotary, I'll help you out all I can, and I am sure everyone else with rotary experience will do the same.



Anthony
 
Caliphotog- Heh heh, your pics do justice to your user-name :xyxthumbs



Not to worry, the "milkiness" appears to just be the optical result of the marring/swirls/etc. Polish it out and things should look great. Then you can start working on wash technique to keep it that way ;)



OK, since you're cool with the rotary idea you should be able to fix it. Everything should go fine if you go about it right. No way would you fix that one with a PC.



While rotary use isn't quite as easy for some people as it is for Anthony Orosco (that's a compliment, Anthony ;) ) it's nothing to be afraid of *if* you have an extra helping of common sense (which I bet you do) and a little more patience than the average guy (which I'm *certain* you do).



Like Bill D, I got a rotary to correct an Audi that had been marred by others. Just no way to duplicate the rotary's work on that paint with any other tool. I hadn't touched a rotary in over 20 years but I took it right out of the box and used it on my beloved S8 with no problems at all. But note that I took a *lot* of time and I was *very* careful to concentrate on the job at hand. Also, I used products that I was already comfortable with. There are some great differences in how user-friendly abrasive polishes are, so use something that a knowledgeable person assures you will work well. In other words, I'd listen to Anthony.
 
Accumulator said:
Caliphotog- Heh heh, your pics do justice to your user-name :xyxthumbs



Not to worry, the "milkiness" appears to just be the optical result of the marring/swirls/etc. Polish it out and things should look great. Then you can start working on wash technique to keep it that way ;)



OK, since you're cool with the rotary idea you should be able to fix it. Everything should go fine if you go about it right. No way would you fix that one with a PC.



While rotary use isn't quite as easy for some people as it is for Anthony Orosco (that's a compliment, Anthony ;) ) it's nothing to be afraid of *if* you have an extra helping of common sense (which I bet you do) and a little more patience than the average guy (which I'm *certain* you do).



Like Bill D, I got a rotary to correct an Audi that had been marred by others. Just no way to duplicate the rotary's work on that paint with any other tool. I hadn't touched a rotary in over 20 years but I took it right out of the box and used it on my beloved S8 with no problems at all. But note that I took a *lot* of time and I was *very* careful to concentrate on the job at hand. Also, I used products that I was already comfortable with. There are some great differences in how user-friendly abrasive polishes are, so use something that a knowledgeable person assures you will work well. In other words, I'd listen to Anthony.
Click to expand...



And taken as a compliment my friend, thanks :D



Anthony
 
Ordered the Polish and Compound and the Optimum pads just now. I was going to order the Metabo but I wanted to see if anybody around here stocked it first. One place I called told me that they had the Metabo adjustable speed polisher in stock and that the price was $135 :clap: That would be sweet, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I will go check it out on Tuesday and report back if it is the correct one or not. I'm sure it's not :)
 
So the polisher at the shop was not the correct one. I ordered the Metabo from allprotools and it has arrived. I also ordered the optimum pads and polish/compound. The pads arrived but the compound.polish has not. I have SSR3, SSR2.5, SSR2 and SSR1. I tried using the rotary and a yellow sonus pad to do some polishing on my bathtub, fridge and some tool boxes. LOL that is all I had to practice on. Tomorrow I have some time to wash/clay/polish my car. Should I try to take the line of SSR products to the Audi or should I wait to get the Optimum stuff in the mail? It will be another month or so till I have time to do this again and I would LOVE to get my car looking great again. I have Green/Blue/Black/White Optimum pads so if I am to do it which procedure should I use as far as pad/polish combo? Thanks
 
You might want to try a couple of sections using a polishing pad and SSR2. You will not have to get as aggressive with product/pad choice with the rotary as you would the PC so go easy at first and see if you can correct the haze and marring with as low abrasive combo as possible.
 
After seeng the pics, I agree with the others' conclusions...not that I can hold a candle to Anthony's or Accumulator's work & experience. I would however caution that since you have switched to the rotary that you start with a mild swirl remover/polish since the power of the rotary is far above and beyond the PC.



A light polish, low RPMs and controled intentional movements of the buffer will give the best results
 
Perfect, thanks all! I am going down to start the wash/clay/iso rub down/polish process right now. It rained last nite :think: so hopefully it won't rain anymore today. I will post an update if I get a chance. I do have somewhere to go later today, so if I don't get a chance to update today I will do it when I get back in a few days. Thanks again! :buffing: off I go
 
Good luck, I am looking forward to hearing about your success. I recently worked on an Audi too, and do they ever have a hard clear coat. I eventually got what I needed to done with a PC + OCC, but the rotary will make your job much easier.
 
I'd do a limited area on the Audi and *pull it into bright sunlight* to inspect. Sunlight will show holograms better than anything (often the *only* way to see 'em) and you absolutely do *not* want to instill bad holograms in Audi clear; they can be an incredible pain to fix.



Not saying it'll necessarily happen but I'd sure take precautions. Just remembering old-board member Neoprufrok and the holograms he can't get out of his black A4.



Can't help with how-tos on those products/pads as I haven't used them, but keep the rotary moving and try not to "double the work" at the end of your arm strokes- you know, where you pause momentarily to change direction, causing the machine to spend twice as long at the end of the stroke as it did in the middle. Don't apply pressure, don't fight the machine, don't hold it in a "death grip".



Tape the clear anodized aluminum trim and the black plastic b-pillar/etc. surfaces with 3m blue/green tape, you sure don't want to mess those surfaces up. I'd tape *everything* you don't want to polish, I always do on the Audis.
 
Well it continued to rain all day and I never got a chance to do anything. I have the morning off tomorrow so I will be up early to do the car. I will post a follow-up tomorrow. Thanks for all your advicve. Oh, also... while I was away on my trip my Optimum polish and compound got here, so I will be using thoes. :spot
 
Yeah, perhaps try giving polishing one panel completely from start to finish a shot and see how you like the results. Continue on if you like your results. No need to try to race through the whole car ASAP.
 
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