Dissapointed in PC/ bad technique?

M

MongooseGA

New member
i got my PC about a month or so ago, and ordered the Sonus pad kit/AIO along with it. Donated to me by thinksnow was SSR1&2.



orange pad is the most aggressive in the kit. with the SSR2 on speed 6, i cant seem to get the swirls out of my mom's '04 sebring. Chrysler isn't using that rock hard cerami-clear mercedes stuff, are they?



i apply/spread the product on about 3-4. then i tossed it on 6, and work it in, top/bottm/left/right about twice each pattern. buff off with MF. looked good. used the green pad (second most aggressive) and same thing. spread at 3-4, and worked in on 6 the same way. looked good in the cloudy afternoon. looked at it in the (even dim) light in the garage today getting out of the car after school and i can still see swirl marks.



bad technique? bad polish? bad pad? dunno. what do you think?



thanks :wavey
 
Technique sounds fine but id try menzerna IP or something a little more aggressive. The ssr1 &2 are good final polishes but i dont think they have enough bite IMHO. If that doesnt work you may need to get a rotory, or just bog down on the pc a little and try to work in those siwrls a little at a time. When i first started trying to get out spiderwebs with a pc it took me an hour to do half a hood :shocked more like no thanks. And yes the dodge/chrystler paints are a pain in the *** even with a rotory
 
Now I'm a newbie so take this with a grain of salt...buuut. I just bought a pc myself. After reading about cleaner waxes and polishes, I was concerned about taking off too much of the finish. I bought a pc this weekend and some meguiars fine cut cleaner (#2) to "knock out" the scratches and swirl marks on my girlfriends 00' Celica. All I used was the white pad that came with the pc, but understand it's a "polishing" pad and that's why I used the fine cut cleaner instead of just the "swirl remover 2.0" like most use. After vigorously buffing one door, buffing with a mf, and doing this a second time, most of the scratches remained. So I came to the conslusion that the clear coat is much more resilient than I had previously thought. It was obvious that I would have to use a cutting pad and a much more abrasive polish. These aren't deep scratches mind you, just light scratches that would be considered heavier than swirls (never been polished before). I used vanilla moose before this that I had purchased last week and it's apparent that this polish is super fine and just enchances gloss. I relate to your findings and realize I was underestimating the finishes put on late model cars and the measures it takes to restore them. I actually kept looking at my pad to see if I could see red paint on it :D haha....I guess better careful than sorry.
 
You may want to try stepping up to a more agressive polish and pad. From what I understand, the orange pad is not as agressive as a traditional cutting pad, and SSR2 is not as agressive as many of the favourite go to polishes on this forum, like DACP. My understanding is that IP is also not as agressive as DACP or Finesse It 2 (my go-to polish with a meguiars burgundy/cutting pad).



I'm also against putting pressure on the machine. I don't see how this can break down an abrasive better. Putting weight on the polisher will slow down the machine. This is not a good thing. It's the speed, and the heat generated by the speed, that breaks down abrasives, not the weight of your body.



Anyhow, I would recommend stepping up a bit in pad and polish agressiveness. Don't throw away your PC just yet! :D
 
Unfortunately, I have the exact same experience using my

PC (with yellow cutting pad and white polishing pad).

I have tried 1Z polishes and #80 (with VM). The paint definitely has more gloss. However, there are still swirls (under bright

sun light - I dare not come near any 1000w halogen lamps).

I have also used AIO (but I guess it is not really a polish).

I am getting some SSR2.5 and SSR1 and will give them a try.

(I am not too optimistic, though).



Recently, I have resorted to NXT to try to hide some of these

swirls.



I have also ordered some Menzerna glaze. I will give this a

try to see if some of these swirls can be hidden for a while.



Bottom line: I can scam all the reviews, buy all the "right" products, read all the how-to's and still be just an Autopia-wanabe. :o
 
BillNorth said:
It's the speed, and the heat generated by the speed, that breaks down abrasives, not the weight of your body.
Click to expand...



i thought the PC didnt generate heat, hence the ease of use and the "safeness" of it for new users?
 
I used some IP on a yellow pad on a really heavy swirled car. One pass and 50% of them were gone. I was told on a post I made that it would take a lot more passes to get most of them out, but unless I used a rotary I wouldnt get all of them out easilly.
 
MongooseGA said:
i thought the PC didnt generate heat, hence the ease of use and the "safeness" of it for new users?
Click to expand...



The PC is definitely safe, no doubt about it. But I would venture to guess that it does/can generate a nominal amount of heat. Nowhere near a rotary though. And this is the real beauty of the machine.
 
BillNorth said:
The PC is definitely safe, no doubt about it. But I would venture to guess that it does/can generate a nominal amount of heat. Nowhere near a rotary though. And this is the real beauty of the machine.
Click to expand...



Friction produces heat, the rotary can generate enough heat to make a surface hot enough to burn your fingers. But the PC (typically) only generates enough heat to make a surface feel warm to the touch.



The low heat generation, and the random orbital movement of the machine is what makes it so forgiving.
 
I have removed some pretty severe scratches and swirles using the PC. It just takes time and patience.



I got the best results using a Yellow Lake country Cutting pad and Megs #83 DACP. I use quite a bit of polish if I have alot of defects to polish out. It takes much longer if you use a lot of product, but i found that with this technique, I can get a panel looking pretty good I about 15 min.



BTW, I also use pressure when I'm really trying to remove tough scratches. Usually with the PC on 5 or 6.



After this I'll follow up with DACP on a polishing pad, then #9 on a polishing pad to get rid of the hazing. Aggressive work with the PC WILL produce hazing, especially on dark colours.
 
koko i have tried the same method, #83, #9 and even tried #80 between to remove hazing a little faster. i have been unsuccesfull. the car is black and got swirling and pretty bad towel markings., from seven years of automatic/hand car washs and dirty towels. any tips?
 
cheapshot said:
koko i have tried the same method, #83, #9 and even tried #80 between ... i have been unsuccesfull... any tips?
Click to expand...



You might have to either get a rotary or at least a Cyclo or live with the marring. There are some jobs that the PC just isn't cut out for, no matter how much time you spend. I've spent *many* hours using a PC/wool pad/ 3m RC on *one* panel (several entire days polishing the whole car), and I never did get the marring out.
 
Make sure you are using very slow passes once you spread the product around. Use enough pressure to slightly bog the motor, then let up enough so it is back at full speed-that seems to be the optimum amount of pressure. Bill is right, too much pressure and a bogging motor will not yield optimum results.



I'd step up to SSR2.5 or Meguiars DACP. DACP and a polishing pad was enough to lightly haze the paint on my black 626 but it cleaned up very nicely with #80 Speed Glaze and a polishing pad. It also took out the rest of the very minor cobwebbing and any scratches that are left, you really need to look for them. Bear in mind, my car was horrible when I first started on it, as you can see in this pic.



10991999_Mazda_before.jpg




Between November (when my Dad still owned the car) and now, I have more than 20 hours into the paint, probably at least half that heavy polishing.



1099my_626_sidev2.jpg




Looking at the before pic, it almost seemed hopeless, but with some perseverance and a lot of sweat, my paint looks pretty good. Just be patient, work on it in stages if you have to and keep at it. :xyxthumbs
 
MongooseGA said:
i got my PC about a month or so ago, and ordered the Sonus pad kit/AIO along with it. Donated to me by thinksnow was SSR1&2.



orange pad is the most aggressive in the kit. with the SSR2 on speed 6, i cant seem to get the swirls out of my mom's '04 sebring. Chrysler isn't using that rock hard cerami-clear mercedes stuff, are they?



i apply/spread the product on about 3-4. then i tossed it on 6, and work it in, top/bottm/left/right about twice each pattern. buff off with MF. looked good. used the green pad (second most aggressive) and same thing. spread at 3-4, and worked in on 6 the same way. looked good in the cloudy afternoon. looked at it in the (even dim) light in the garage today getting out of the car after school and i can still see swirl marks.



bad technique? bad polish? bad pad? dunno. what do you think?



thanks :wavey
Click to expand...
Did anyone knotice that he said "about twice " each pattern? that doesnt seem to long to me...i usually work an area about 4 to 6 minutes. Unless i took you wrong maybe your not working it long enough??
 
Good spotting, that failed to register on me for some reason :o



Yeah, sometimes you have to PC a panel for a *long* time to make any real progress. Two passes isn't much at all. People often worry about working an area too long, but then they don't even work it long enough to remove the marring (let alone too much clear).
 
i agree with you guys, the pc in some cases just don't cut it. however i am pretty pleased with the results i got, and you can't see any hazing in shade or sun, only under the halogen with your eyes very close. i passed over the car again with #80 and that would be 4-5 passes in some spots with #80. the hazing is so very light and not even there in some places. the car looks very black and wet with 80. i figure regular polishing next spring and summer should take care of the rest of the hazing.



scottwax i pm'd you, did you get it? i need some advice. thanks
 
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