First PC buffing, couple of tips needed

I

imported_zenhog

New member
Just got done doing the hood of my '01 dark blue Sebring and have a couple of questions.



Using

Porter Cabel 7424 6" counter, set at 5.

Pi III Rubbing Compound.



1. What is the best light to do this in? I'm in the shade now and had to set up the halogens to see any detail of the work I did. Can I do this in sunlight? Or would a garage with only a directed external source of light be better? I think sunlight, since it's the most revealing for details.



2. I tried a 8" 3M white cutting foam (with the egg carton surface) and a 3M 8" white wool cutting pad.



First, the wool pad seems to get the RC dried much faster. Not sure if that's good, though.



Seems to be a little better job with the wool pad but being new to this I don't trust my judgement on whether it's good enough or not.



Definately hazy surface left after the wool pad, none after the foam. Is that because I let the RC get too dry before wiping off? Or not dry enough? And not sure if I need to worry about the hazing since I'm going to use a machine glaze next and I'm sure that will take care of the hazing. But it does make it hard to tell which pad works better with that haze on there.





Overall, the parts of the surface that are completely pristene are looking totally cool!



... back to the job....



Craig
 
1 Use the sun if you can see best there. Shadowy garages with imperfect light can be bad. Today is not the day to work under halogens! :D



2. The wool pad is leaving more haze because it is cutting more. Keep a wool pad more "juiced up". Be super careful not to run it dry or let the dry fibers of the pad run on the surface. It is not as forgiving as the foam pad.



The foam pad doesn't haze as fast because it doesn't cut as fast or as much.



Keep in mind, you don't want to create the extra cutting action unless you need to to get rid of the swirls. I could be wrong, but from what I saw, I thought you might be able to use a less abrasive compound to get the swirls out. Less abrasive is safer and takes less clearcoat off. Start off with the finer compounds and if that doesn't work then go coarser. You may have done that and that's cool.



If your using the rubbing compound and the wool pad on your metallic blue finish (from what I saw yesterday) you will surely have to follow up with a finer compound. I think you mentioned you had 3M Machine glaze. Use that next with the yellow pad after the wool pad. You still may have to follow up with something finer yet, like SMR with a white pad, to get the best out of that dark color.



Sounds like your making headway. Make each panel perfect before going on. If you don't get it all done today, there is always next weekend! :D
 
ZenHog- Be careful in the sunlight, you don't want things to warm up too much. It's always tough to say "too long/short, too wet/dry" without being there. Generally, use the wool only as long as I need to to get the worst problems out. Then switch to foam. Work the RC long enough that it's pretty dry/dusty but not at such a constantly high speed that you get sticky, hard to remove residue. I usually start at 3.5, speed up, end at 6 with the RC almost all gone/dry. I'd guess that the gradual speed-up will help you out. The wool generates more heat, so the RC dries faster, but it's not THAT much more aggressive than a foam cutting pad.



Only use the RC as much as you have to. When you can switch to your milder product, DO IT. Hope this helps.
 
Guys, unfortunately the RC is the mildest product I have. I went to Autozone looking for some type of swirl remover but.. none to be found. The marks I'm going after.. well, it's hard for me to tell you what they are because I'm clueless. It could just be swirl marks! lol.



More to come during next smoke break...
 
::smoke.. ahhh...::



the sun is a hot 85 today so you can imagine the temp of the surface of this car. Seems there is a huge downside to working on material at temps this high - I put twice as much on the pad and it still lasts half as long as if doing it in the cool shade. So.. my math tells me that if duration time of the buff job has something to do with how well it works, then I'm not only cutting myself short, but using twice as much product.



Or.. maybe someone will bail me out by saying that when working at temps this high the time can be cut in half because it works better? Hmmm..



Does anyone else use RC with a PC in the HS (hot sun) ?



C
 
True, a cool surface is what you want. Maybe working near the halogens WILL be the best bet! Can you set up near the edge of the garage? Set up a fan to keep the heat of the halogens down?
 
Just the excuse I was looking for for going to walmart and buying a couple of those cheap oscillating fans on stands. The 24inchers or whatever size those biggun's are. Thanks Brad.



C
 
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