First Post - A Few PC Questions

F

fjames

New member
First, thanks to all you people for sharing your experiences - the car I hope to, if not restore, at least get back to respectable, would have no chance if not for this place.



I used the PC for the first time today on my practice car, a '03 Accord, teal, in pretty good shape. Products are SSR2.5 and SSR1, with LC 6.5" orange, white and black pads. Car has some linear "swirls" but not terrible.



Based on what I accomplished with the stuff available, I'm having doubts whether I can do anything with the black '00 Honda I'm aiming at. It was buffed by a local "detailer" with a rotary, wool, heavy compound, and has mucho swirls from that. It had mucho swirls to begin with, plus some dog scratches. I'm hoping that it looks like what it's supposed to look like after the rotary, and I'm telling myself that one swirl or 100 is meaningless (IOW it just looks bad, but to the PC it doesn't matter I'm hoping.) A lot of what's on the black car is what you guys call holographs I think. Some look like they're inches under the surface in the right light.



Anyhow, I decided to buy, just now, some 4" pads. Got CCS orange, along with a white and red for tight spots. Question is - what do you think is more aggressive, a yellow 6.5" or an orange 4" with the same product (SSR2.5.) I'm hoping the answer is orange 4" because I don't have the yellow 6.5" - forgot to buy it. But if I'm right about needing more than I have, and the yellow is the consensus, I'll pick one up. I can't believe how much money I've spent in the last week (RMG, EX-P, bug stuff, glass stuff, wax, PB-PP, and more in addition to already mentioned.) I plan to mix the RMG with the PB stuff to reduce dusting and increase work time, like scottwax does with the Mezerna (because I bought the RMG before I realized it didn't play well with the IM 845 that I really want to use - hence the EX-P as a buffer.)



Geez, I really sound like a noob huh? Because I am! LOL



The question here though, is the 4" orange vs. the 6.5" yellow LC pads.



Thanks again, you guys are great.
 
Well, I did it. The 4" orange pads worked well enough that I think I'll stick with them and get a stronger product next time I get motivated to do this. The SSR2.5 worked pretty well on the swirls, but I still have a lot of scratches it wouldn't touch. I'm thinking either OHC or the Four Star MCC. I don't want to get carried away, this is a hard driven daily driver, 7 years old and a black Honda to boot. It's been through countless tunnel washes and hasn't been polished or waxed in several years - I basically gave up on the black paint, but thanks to Autopia I decided to try my hand at resurrecting it. I think I did okay though, I'm surprised by what I accomplished so far (so far being 30-35 hours of labor.)



You all like pics so I tried to take some. The flaws you see are mostly scratches, chips, stains, gravel bombs, touch-up blobs and my failure to clean the crevices yet (the door guard is embarrassing, I should have thought of that before the pics.) The trim is a disaster, as is the hood, but I'm done in now, so next time for the hood, and later for the trim. The pics are just to show the paint work, not the "detailing," since it hasn't been detailed in any sense.



This is my first time doing anything like this, so noobs take heart, it can be done. I wish I had some before pics - the difference is startling. It'll never be anything but a hard-assed daily driver, but it's nice to know the paint that's left can be respectable.



Process was simple:



PC

SSR2.5 4"CCS orange - speed 5

SSR1 6.5" LC white - speed 6

PB Pro Polish 6.5" LC black - speed 5

IM 845 6.5" CCS Red - speed 3



I didn't really clay it. Never done that before so tried it a little and didn't have the confidence since I got marring right away. Realized I was rubbing too hard but still I figured next time for that.



I gotta find some stuff that doesn't dust. The Four Star M/LCC duo is sounding interesting - I hope the guy who was going to compare the MCC to SSR3 (or something like that) caries on :D



On with the pics:



honda-SSR-IM845_001AR.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_004AR.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_007A.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_027A.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_029A.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_033A.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_035AR.jpg




honda-SSR-IM845_049A.jpg
 
great job,looks amazing but i wish i could see before pic,s.and i too like the 4" pads cause the larger one,s dont really measure up with the pc.
 
Denzil said:
From what I can see, it looks pretty good.
Click to expand...
That pretty much sums it up, although I appreciate the compliments above.



I'm caught between wanting to do more, and accepting it as good enough, especially considering whatever issues might loom for doing to much with compounds. I think once more on the hood with something stronger will be the end of it correction wise.



I've gotten some of the Danase 5"pads, and I can't help wondering if using them (orange) with a 5" backing plate might be as effective as the 4" for correction. There's a "feel" to having the plate and pad matched in size that's very obvious. Plus, my 4" are the blue backed ones, and the Danase are just straight LC pads, no funny business.



The deal with the hood is a lot of random scratches, very strange looking - short and sort of splattered around. Plus there's some odd bits here and there that could use some correction.



I think that next time, a full inspection, then mapping it so I can remember where they are will be the procedure. And the hood of course. Just have to decide on a product - really tired, after just once, of cleaning up the dust.
 
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