Cutting ability of LC CCS pads

B

Beane71884

New member
Hello all,



I recently did my first, full exterior detail on my pearl white TSX, and have since done the hood on my brother's 2010 Civic with a GG DA with LC CCS orange and white pads for cutting/polishing. For my TSX, I started with the orange pad and Wolfgang TSR, but that didn't seem to touch any of the light swirls and scratches I had. So, I stayed with the orange pad, but switched over to Megs 105. This seems to improve cutting ability a little bit, but still not as much as I would have thought out of 105. I then did a small section with the CCS yellow pad, but this didn't seem to do much better than the orange, only left more of a haze. Now I know deep scratches won't come out, but all my swirls seemed to be fairly shallow and, what I thought, should have come out with at least the 105 using the GG DA. I finished the rest of the car with 105/orange pad followed by Wolfgang finishing glaze/white pad and my last step was BFWD on a red finishing pad. The car turned out ok, but I think it could be better, and I want more!



I kind of let things go until today when I tried to buff a spot out on my brother's civic. He and I decided to order of HD Uno a week or so ago, so this was my first attempt with it. Same story with the Uno, regardless of the CCS pad used, it just didn't seem to have much bite even on what I thought was supposed to be soft Honda paint. He had a few swirls in the paint that looked to be from a rotorary that I thought would come out no problem, but once again, no luck regardless of pad, speed, and pressure.



Am I missing or doing something wrong with these CCS pads, or are there much better alternatives out? If it helps, the products I currently use are 105, Wolfgang TSR, WG finishing glaze, and especially the HD Uno because this is what I would like to use primarily.



Thanks!
 
G'day



There is nothing wrong with the CCS pads.

I took a look at the stats of the griots garage polisher and it sure has the highest wattage. 850 in fact. its speed range is the same as the PC and Meguiars but I do not know what its orbit throw is



What determines a random orbital polishers performance is this



Orbit throw (the higher the better). 3mm is okay for surbuf pads but not with foam, 5 to 8 is best (flex is 8mm)

OPM Speed (my Makita BO6030 runs at 4000 to 10,000 opm) thus why at 10,000 OPM,I can correct with it using surbuf even 1000 grit sanding marks and extreme scratches/swirls

Power - how much wattage it has (my makita is only 310watts which is what lets it down slightly). the GG has 850 so you've got that covered.



From my experience and seeing others use RO's and DA's, high speed, pressure, slow arm movement and doing smaller areas than you would with a rotary are the keys to success



With a rotary one can correct a whole door at one time with my friends technique.

RO's need to be limited to smaller sections



My suggestions - try the above combo of highest speed, pressure (lots) and slow arm movement combined and add purified water if your still not getting success

The water will give more cut



Finally, keep your pads clean and blow them clean with compressed air or brush them after doing each small section, not after each panel like almost all but the best detailers do.

Also, if you want no marring afterwards, slow down the opm back from speed 6 to 5, 4, 3 and 2 just like us pro's do with a rotary for no marring at all even with wool on all but soft paints.

when you believe the cutting has been successfull, clean the pad with a brush or air, spray the surface with a wetting agent and continue using the machine but slow down the opm. blowing out the clearcoat and most of the polish used will make the pad glide over the surface even better and give superior results compared to how its normally done by many.



Don't use anything metal to clean them. After completing a panel, switch to another pad of the same grade.



CCS orange pads are excellent but foamed wool is even better and so are the Surbuf Microfinger pads.

If you really want to get brilliant results, use a surbuf pad first then go to a light cut or polishing foam then a finishing and a 90 or 100 ppi jewelling foam and use a single polish system and one finishing polish.



My weapons of choice are Xpert 1000 Ultra Polish single polish to correct and polish then Xpert High Tech 1500 to jewel the paint to perfection.

Menzerna PO85RD, Meguiars M205 are the best of the rest at this time,

Scholl is used by many also but don't know what they are like myself.



Good luck. Take your time. Thats what Quality takes.

All the best
 
Oh, one more thing. How did you prepare the paint. if there is any paint protection, wax or contaminants on the paint, the abrasives won't be able to do their magic.



At the very least, dewax the car then clay it. For optimum results - fully decontaminate and purify the paint with FK1, Iron X, Dewaxer then clay
 
SVR said:
Oh, one more thing. How did you prepare the paint. if there is any paint protection, wax or contaminants on the paint, the abrasives won't be able to do their magic.



At the very least, dewax the car then clay it. For optimum results - fully decontaminate and purify the paint with FK1, Iron X, Dewaxer then clay
Click to expand...



The TSX had a full Dawn wash and then clayed. It had no wax applications on it for some time, so I am pretty confident there was little protection before I ever started. As for the Civic, the hood is brand new because of an accident so it has never seen a wax or sealant either.
 
Just because swirls appear to be light and will be easy to remove doesn't mean they actually will be.



The yellow CCS pads with Meguiars Hyper Compound for me has been about as aggressive as using Meguiars #105 with the Meguiars microfiber cutting disc. Either those two combos should be enough to get some decent correction.
 
Scottwax said:
Just because swirls appear to be light and will be easy to remove doesn't mean they actually will be.



The yellow CCS pads with Meguiars Hyper Compound for me has been about as aggressive as using Meguiars #105 with the Meguiars microfiber cutting disc. Either those two combos should be enough to get some decent correction.
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Meguiars Hyper Compound, do you mean Optimum?
 
As for applying pressure...make sure to only apply enough pressure to keep the pad spining. If pad doesn't spin, you won't get much correction. Your situation sounds like me when I started out. Also have the GG 6". It's a great tool. Travel slow; maintain pad spin; apply thin coats. #105/UC should be all you need; yellow or orange pad should work fine.



#015 can be a PITA. I mist my pad FIRST with #34 (or any spray detailer), then prime pad. This seems to extend the working time of the #105, and makes it easier to remove.



Jim
 
jaymz said:
As for applying pressure...make sure to only apply enough pressure to keep the pad spining. If pad doesn't spin, you won't get much correction. Your situation sounds like me when I started out. Also have the GG 6". It's a great tool. Travel slow; maintain pad spin; apply thin coats. #105/UC should be all you need; yellow or orange pad should work fine.



#015 can be a PITA. I mist my pad FIRST with #34 (or any spray detailer), then prime pad. This seems to extend the working time of the #105, and makes it easier to remove.



Jim
Click to expand...

I did everything you mentioned, sprayed pad with a QD, prime it with 105, and made sure the pad was always rotating without applying too much pressure. Also, the 105 was fairly easy to remove. I know there is no exact interval, but on a 2' x 2' section of hood, roughly how long should it take to do one section with 105 on an orange pad?
 
Beane71884 said:
I did everything you mentioned, sprayed pad with a QD, prime it with 105, and made sure the pad was always rotating without applying too much pressure. Also, the 105 was fairly easy to remove. I know there is no exact interval, but on a 2' x 2' section of hood, roughly how long should it take to do one section with 105 on an orange pad?
Click to expand...



Sounds like your method is fine. Another variable is the pad and paint hardness. Try a yellow pad?



As far as buffing duration on a 2' square area, just keep at it til you see some results. Try 3-4 slow passes at high speed, stop; wipe down; evaluate; repeat til you see some results. Once you see some decent results, back off on your pressure to de-haze the #105. I usually follow up with #205 or Ult Polish on a white pad. Polish til perfect and no haze.



Jim
 
I may give the yellow pad another shot and see what happens. It may be that I just wasn't working it long enough, but I will try both options and see what happens.
 
op, i had the same problem with my '11 Genesis sedan. the trunk lid was a mess. car is black. it had fine scratches and swrls out the a**. i used the orange ccs with my 7424 on 6 and some megs UC and it removed a little but didn't eliminate most. i switched to the yellow same technique and ALL WAS gone in a matter of 15 minutes. it was amazing. it's like a reflection in a pond.. good luck. i moved real slow, applied heavy pressure just short of slowing the rotation and went up/down to left/right about 7 or 8 times for each half of the trunk (5'x2')
 
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