I've been struggling with the best routine for keeping up the Paint Protection Film on the hood of my Car. The Audi is Black so every little thing shows.
Plexus does work to a degree. It will add gloss and hide minor wash swirls.
Meguiars PlastX and a similar product from Novous will make the Film look great under garage lighting but material will look cloudy and can have light scratches under sunlight. I suppose this is due to abrasives contained in the products.
Light Cut Polishes had the same results as the PlastX and Novous.
Frustrated I decided to take up the challenge this holiday weekend.
I started by cleaning the film with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water I keep around for PPF installs.
I applied some 3Mâ„¢ Perfect-It Foam Polishing Pad Glaze-Dark using a Polishing Pad as directed. Rotary was set at 1000 rpm and PC at 3 to 6. Applying only enough pressure to get the product to break down then lighting up.
After one pass with my Rotary I pulled her out into the sunlight and was impressed. Did another pass with the Rotary then a final pass with the PC to remove any buffer swirls.
I finished up with some 3Mâ„¢ Imperial Hand Glaze and have to say I was very satisfied. From using the previous products and washing I thought that I would end up replacing this piece as it was in stark contrast to the rest of the hood which I can correct without any difficulty.
I didn't go out and by these products, I had them around from when I started doing Autobody and Painting but before I got into detailing and found other products (courtesy of Autopia).
I'm also under no illusions here in that the glazes have fillers and may just be hiding the marring. I'll see after the first wash. but my point here is that this is the only process I tried over many months that actually gets my Clear Bra looking like it did when it was installed.
My final note is I'm having this love hate thing with Paint Protection Film. I love the protection it provides but since it's "soft" it defies traditional corrective actions both for paint and plastics.
Some marring/scratches aren't ever coming out so the next best thing is to hide them.
moRbiD
Plexus does work to a degree. It will add gloss and hide minor wash swirls.
Meguiars PlastX and a similar product from Novous will make the Film look great under garage lighting but material will look cloudy and can have light scratches under sunlight. I suppose this is due to abrasives contained in the products.
Light Cut Polishes had the same results as the PlastX and Novous.
Frustrated I decided to take up the challenge this holiday weekend.
I started by cleaning the film with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water I keep around for PPF installs.
I applied some 3Mâ„¢ Perfect-It Foam Polishing Pad Glaze-Dark using a Polishing Pad as directed. Rotary was set at 1000 rpm and PC at 3 to 6. Applying only enough pressure to get the product to break down then lighting up.
After one pass with my Rotary I pulled her out into the sunlight and was impressed. Did another pass with the Rotary then a final pass with the PC to remove any buffer swirls.
I finished up with some 3Mâ„¢ Imperial Hand Glaze and have to say I was very satisfied. From using the previous products and washing I thought that I would end up replacing this piece as it was in stark contrast to the rest of the hood which I can correct without any difficulty.
I didn't go out and by these products, I had them around from when I started doing Autobody and Painting but before I got into detailing and found other products (courtesy of Autopia).
I'm also under no illusions here in that the glazes have fillers and may just be hiding the marring. I'll see after the first wash. but my point here is that this is the only process I tried over many months that actually gets my Clear Bra looking like it did when it was installed.
My final note is I'm having this love hate thing with Paint Protection Film. I love the protection it provides but since it's "soft" it defies traditional corrective actions both for paint and plastics.
Some marring/scratches aren't ever coming out so the next best thing is to hide them.
moRbiD