HELP!! 3M PIII RC making things hazy on white car...

ClayMan

New member
Here's what happened.



I washed and then clayed the whole car.



This is a '94 white (no clearcoat, I believe), so it is pretty old but the paint is in great condition (considering it's age). It's got some light swirl and water marks, so I decided to try some of that 3M PIII compound that I have lying around - the first abrasive compound I've ever used on a car.



Being as I have no experience doing this, I only tried a small area on the hood. I used a foam applicator and rubbed it in back and forth until the stuff looked like it disappeared. I scrubbed pretty hard, but I don't consider myself big at all so I didn't think I was doing too much damage... Then I buffed it off with one of those Concordia MFs I just bought.



The swirls seem to be reduced... But everything looks hazy, and the reflections aren't as sharp as before!!! See attachments below to see what I mean...



What am I doing wrong??? Does the 3M not work on one-stage paints or something???



Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!
 
I think you are on the right track. If you are trying to remove swirls, you use the RC...Now, you need to use a polish to "mirror" up the area that you used the RC on.



Good Luck!
 
ClayMan- Yeah, every paint responds a little differently. You can USUALLY get an almost-ready-to-wax finish with the 05933, but in your case it didn't work that way. Let's see...



I'm assuming the PI-III RC you're using is pn 05933. If not, then you're using something too harsh. If that's the case, quit using it and get the 05933 and some 05937.



I use 05933 on single stage quite often, and it works GREAT for me. But that doesn't help YOU any, huh?



First, I'm guessing you DO have a clearcoat. Are you getting a bunch of white paint on your applicator? If not, then you have clear. BTW, single stage, NON-clearcoated white is as hard as paint gets. If you had that, you probably wouldn't be able to remove the scratches. When white single stage gets swirled, many of us would just live with it- it's THAT hard. And it's very uncommon.



You're replacing the bigger marring (the swirls) with smaller marring (the haze). That's OK, it's how a lot of aggressive products work. Getting rid of the bigger marring is the first objective and you're accomplishing that.



I think uconn1150 is right, you just need to follow up with a milder product (like PI-III MG 05937). And don't rub too hard with the 05933. Rub LONGER instead of HARDER. And yes, you want to work it until it's about gone.



Do your next work on something other than the hood. That's a sorta obvious place to work on, for good and bad.
 
Yup, it's 05933. I'm pretty sure it's no clear coat. It's BMW Alpine White, and back then they didn't have clear coats... And my foam is all white now ;)



So are you saying that it's supposede to get all blurry and hazy like that?? Because frankly... I'd rather have the pre-3M finish then.... Less work... And the swirls aren't taht evident.. But it looks so much sharper, deeper, and liquid-y!



OR do you think that if I glaze it (I have either #7 show car glaze or the meg's step 2 polish) will it go back to the original finish... minus the swirls?



Accumulator said:
ClayMan- Yeah, every paint responds a little differently. You can USUALLY get an almost-ready-to-wax finish with the 05933, but in your case it didn't work that way. Let's see...



I'm assuming the PI-III RC you're using is pn 05933. If not, then you're using something too harsh. If that's the case, quit using it and get the 05933 and some 05937.



I use 05933 on single stage quite often, and it works GREAT for me. But that doesn't help YOU any, huh?



First, I'm guessing you DO have a clearcoat. Are you getting a bunch of white paint on your applicator? If not, then you have clear. BTW, single stage, NON-clearcoated white is as hard as paint gets. If you had that, you probably wouldn't be able to remove the scratches. When white single stage gets swirled, many of us would just live with it- it's THAT hard. And it's very uncommon.



You're replacing the bigger marring (the swirls) with smaller marring (the haze). That's OK, it's how a lot of aggressive products work. Getting rid of the bigger marring is the first objective and you're accomplishing that.



I think uconn1150 is right, you just need to follow up with a milder product (like PI-III MG 05937). And don't rub too hard with the 05933. Rub LONGER instead of HARDER. And yes, you want to work it until it's about gone.



Do your next work on something other than the hood. That's a sorta obvious place to work on, for good and bad.
 
Clayman- Well, if you DO have ss white, it's gonna be a real pain to get swirls out of, so maybe you don't want to try to do the whole car. You probably DO want to fix what the RC did, so get the milder product (05937) and see how that works.

Yeah, using a glaze will help hide some of your marring. Whether or not it'll hide the haze from the RC :nixweiss



So don't do anything to the rest of the car until you get something milder to try on the spot where the RC hazed it. I'm REALLY surprised the 05933 hazed so much for you, it doesn't do that on my ss paint (or my b/c either); it hazes a LITTLE but not too bad (most people wouldn't even see it). Whether it's "supposed" to do that, I sorta think NOT, or else I'd have gotten it at some point, but different paint is different. Maybe your RC has dried out a bit and thus gotten more aggressive than it's designed to be. Hard to say what's really happening without being there.



But it's not unusual for "aggressive" products to leave hazing that subsequent applications *of milder products* remove. I get this all the time with 1Z polishes. So MAYBE it's nothing weird and you just need to follow up with the milder product. Get that 05937 and see what happens. If you can't "fix" it with the 05937, then THAT would be getting weird.



And, heh heh, if *I* had ss white paint, I'd get a PC.
 
Crap, I can't find 05937 anywhere accessible here in Toronto. Would any of the following products do??



-Meguiar's Step 1 "Cleaner"

-Meguiar's ScratchX

-Meguiar's ColorX

-whatever else is available at ****** Canadian Tire...



The car's immobilized, waiting for a fix... I tried some show car galze on it, and it didn't do much for the haziness. Could have been expected I guess, it's just a glaze.
 
Clayman- Sorry, not really familar with the products you've listed. The Scratch-X is probably a good idea, people seem to like it.
 
I might even be able to track down some #9 swirl remover and other stuff from Meg's professional line later tonight... Is there a specific product from that line I should try?
 
hey clay, you can get 05937 through the NAPA body parts place. they have a few locations within toronto such as scarborough and north york. go check their website specific locations.



and just my opinion on scartch X. its listed as $15 at Can Tire for a small/medium sized squeeze tube. i personally dont think its worth the money for a medium-mild abrasive. i'd rather go with the 3M product line.
 
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