Help a newb out! (OP/OC frustrations)

S

Sware

New member
Well I've read up ALOT on this forum and finally had the chance to attempt my first real detail today. I'm working with a 2002 black BMW 3-series with lots of swirls.



Heres what I've done so far:



1. wash

2. clay

3. tape trim

4. POLISH with porter cable



...and that's where I'm at. I've done 2 passes with optimum compound on an LC orange pad then finish up with 1 pass optimum polish on a white pad. This removes about 70% of the swirls so I know they are working. I understand OP/OC takes a while to break down but despite this I still find it a pain to buff out even after working it for 5+ minutes. I've cut down on the amount I'm using (2 pea sized drops after the pad has been primed). It's also difficult to tell when its broken down. It's been about 6hours and I've only done about 2/5ths of the car!



So I suppose my questions are:

- Any tips for OP/OC?



- How long does a polish like... Menzerna take to break down? Is it easy to wipe off when complete? Is it easier than OP to tell when its broken down?



-Any other newb friendly polishes out there? I originally thought OP was a forgiving polish, but from my experience it's extremely frustrating



Thats what i get for cheaping out a bit and going with OP instead of Menz! Hah



I believe my technique is fairly good as it is removing swirls, I just need something a little quicker and easier. (I know, quick" and detailing don't go hand in hand)



Sorry for the poor sentence structure in advance :up
 
What specifically is your technique? How much pressure on the PC? What speed? How many inches per second are you moving it?



OC/OP are not real aggressive polishes (I've heard there are new versions being worked on) but tend to be good for those new to the PC since they don't dust and have a long work time-pretty much impossible to mess the car up and actually work very well on cars with minimal defects. Unfortunately, they are really better suited for the rotary than the PC if you have to do serious correction.



I find that Meguiars #83 and a Meguiars yellow polishing pad works very well on BMW paint.
 
I second Scott's statement in that the OP/OC aren't very aggressive with the PC. I've switched to Menz stuff for more serious correction but the Optimum stuff is still useful, standalone and as a mix to control dusting in SIP.
 
I'm putting about 20 pounds of pressure, spreading the polish around at speed 2, working it in at speed 5 then finishing off at speed 3 while going fairly slow at 1inch per second. The long work time is throwing me off and it doesn't seem to give any good visual clues on to when it's done.



Does menz have a shorter work time and go translucent when its complete? How about poorboys for a beginners polish? I bet these have been covered already but there are just so many topics when I search!



Thanks again guys
 
Sware said:
I'm putting about 20 pounds of pressure, spreading the polish around at speed 2, working it in at speed 5 then finishing off at speed 3 while going fairly slow at 1inch per second.
Click to expand...



try bumping it up to 6...
 
Menzerna Intensive Polish will go translucent almost immediately if you're used to long work times. I usually mix two dots of IP with one dot of FPII to give me a longer work time.



At first I thought IP's short time to break down completely would be an asset but having to repeatedly reapply polish to the pad grew tiresome. With longer work time I usually do a about a 50% larger area for longer and it saves me a good amount of time, especially if I'm one-stepping it. Just adding my experience. I can't say anything about BMW paint though.
 
If that is jet black BMW paint, alot of what you think are defects could be stuff that's being induced by your polishing. Try doing an application of your final finishing polish on a no bite pad and see how it looks. Jet black BMW is *soft* paint.
 
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