Faint holograms left after M205/PO87MC combo

[subygirl]

This has to be the most frustrating car to date! I was working on a 99 Miata, dark blue metallic, last night, and it goes to show - don't work when there is no sun to check your work! I was set up in my garage with a halogen work lamp always at my back. The car had light swirling, so I used M205 on an Uber orange pad, followed by PO87MC on an Uber gray pad. I am guessing that the 205/orange pad combo left holograms (!) and the PO87MC didn't take all of them out, but I am VERY surprised to have this issue with this combo. There are still a few light swirls/scratches on the trunk too. The holograms can only be seen at the perfect angle out in the bright sun, and barely so even then. I couldn't get a decent picture of them either :grrr



Back to the drawing board - another go over with PO87MC to see if it will go away :buffing:



What I was dealing with:

As it sits now:

 

[wfedwar]

Well, it's hard to see the problem in the pictures. What kind of buffer were you using, speed, passes, etc? My first guess is that you don't really have holograms, but instead some really stubborn polishing oils that look like holograms. Sometimes they can hang around even through alcohol wipes. Another possibility is you're scratching the paint with the towel you're trying to buff with. Either one of these sound plausible?

 

[subygirl]

Well, it's hard to see the problem in the pictures. What kind of buffer were you using, speed, passes, etc? My first guess is that you don't really have holograms, but instead some really stubborn polishing oils that look like holograms. Sometimes they can hang around even through alcohol wipes. Another possibility is you're scratching the paint with the towel you're trying to buff with. Either one of these sound plausible?

They are not scratches like I would see from a towel. They are long curves that change as I walk around the car. I used only microfiber towels to wipe down while buffing.



I used a PC, always primed the pads, spread at speed 1, and worked in for several minutes at speed 5 for one pass, sometimes 2 depending on the amount of scratches in the area. I did a 90% IPA wipedown between the M205 and PO87MC, and then again before waxing it last night. Like I said, they are very faint, and were hard to find even without the camera, but are definitely noticeable at the right angles.



Luckily, this is a friend's car, so I can take my time with it anyway. I have been working on different parts of it little by little for the past few weeks due to time constraints on both ends.

 

[wfedwar]

IT could be wax holograms. When you spot one in the light, remove the wax with IPA and see if the hologram goes away or changes. I kept getting these with acrylic sealants until I got some experience with them.

 

[Nikku]

Just two opinions.



Which wax did you use? Did you use Collinite? They are known to leave the appearance of light swirls but in fact it's just the wax. So if it is Collinite that you're using and to ease your mind wipe it down with IPA and see if the swirls are still there as previous posters have mentioned.



If the wax is not the issue...



Try changing your pad combination.



If you have an uber green pad use that with PO87. If your orange is marring I don't feel grey has enough cut to remove the marring left behind.



Give Uber Green or Uber White a try.



When I use M205/M105 I feather my final couple of passes so it finishes down very nicely or in the case of M105 finishes down nice enough to only need another step before final was and LSP.



Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[wfedwar]

FWIW, I don't think a PC can give regular holograms like what a rotary can. Marring left by a PC tends to be random in direction, and short little semicircles that have the appearance of haziness. I think the issue is most likely in the wax itself.

 

[RaskyR1]

FWIW, I don't think a PC can give regular holograms like what a rotary can. Marring left by a PC tends to be random in direction, and short little semicircles that have the appearance of haziness. I think the issue is most likely in the wax itself.

+1



Holograms look like this and are caused by the fixed circular movement of a rotary polisher.

 

[subygirl]

+1



Holograms look like this and are caused by the fixed circular movement of a rotary polisher.

They look very similar to this actually, but not anywhere close to that bad.



The wax I used was Meguiar's #26 yellow tech wax, and I miss-spoke earlier. I used the Uber green pad for the PO87MC, the grey pad was used for the wax.

 

[Red64Vette]

I've been having a similiar problem. Used p203 on a white LC pad with rotary set on 2. Followed with 87MC on a gray LC pad with rotary set on 1.5. The marring lines are long and linear instead of circular and barely visible in sunlight. Looks like it might be polishing oils but repeated wipe downs with alcohol/water didn't do anything. Any suggestions?



Thanks.

 

[subygirl]

Holograms are no longer there this morning. The car was left in the sun all day yesterday, so maybe the wax needed some heat to cure still.

 

[Accumulator]

.. My first guess is that you don't really have holograms, but instead some really stubborn polishing oils that look like holograms. Sometimes they can hang around even through alcohol wipes.

That's my thought as well.



Unless there were holograms there to begin with, the PC *will not* create them. Yeah, they really are a rotary-only phenomenon.



To see such stuff (the real ones and the pseudo-holograms) without natural sunlight, I use a 3M SunGun, which took a *lot* of practice before I got the hang of it.



The oils from M205 can resist even numerous IPA wipes and yeah, they'll stick around after you use other products. I often use TOL's PrepWash after the IPA, that seems to work well.



Other approaches that can work involve using paint-cleaning products, but even KAIO can be hard-pressed to get things completely "clean" on some paints.



I'd assume the problem is related to residual oils. I'd pick a small area and test various things starting with multiple IPA wipes and/or paint cleaners. Some people have been able to get oils out of "sticky" paint by applying a glaze- the glaze soaks up oils while it dries, and then the buffing-off removes both the glaze *and* the oils.

 

[Scottwax]

Holograms are no longer there this morning. The car was left in the sun all day yesterday, so maybe the wax needed some heat to cure still.

#26 always looks better the next day.



I've found that following #205 with 3M Ultrafina (using the proper technique) means zero holograms.

 

[Accumulator]

Holograms are no longer there this morning. The car was left in the sun all day yesterday, so maybe the wax needed some heat to cure still.

Ah, good, missed this post earlier.



Yeah, as soon as I saw Scottwax had posted on this thread I thought "I bet some time in the TX sun might solve that problem" IMO the sun did more for the M205 oils than anything else, but who cares if everything's fine now.

 

[solekeeper]

#26 always looks better the next day.



I've found that following #205 with 3M Ultrafina (using the proper technique) means zero holograms.

What exactly is the right technique?



I'm guessing by technique, you mean speed of the polish etc?



Please do elaborate! :thx