How many times can you polish before you go through the clear?

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Downgear

New member
I know this question varies immensely based on application techniques and products however i was hoping to get some insight on this topic. I use a makita rotary with menzerna P106ff and intensive polish on my car black s2000 (known to have softer paint). I have only done a full polish removing all swirls and marring once however after winter i know i will require some additional polishing. Also I found any clay I used over the years causes additional swirl marks and require polishing.



Some people say they use p106ff 2 times a year after each claying of the car....is this too often? I just want to get a general idea how much clear coat i am taking off by going over the car with these harsher menzerna products. I would like to ideally clay every once in a while but if it is causing too much damage to the paint to fix the marring afterwards, its not worth it. Lastly if i have very minimal surface swirls should i be using a less abrasive menzerna polish even though most autopians seem to love finishing with 106ff?



Any advice greatly appreciated!
 
Downgear- With any luck, you'll only have to polish once annually (after winter) and can get by with gentle washes and perhaps even glazes/heavy carnaubas (if your paint is really soft).



But yeah, I'd consider using the mildest product/pad/machine combo that'll get the job done. No point in wasting clearcoat.



Compared to the price of repainting a few panels, perhaps an ETG would be a worthwhile investment. At lleast you'd really know how much clear you're taking off.



Does Sonus green clay, used in a warm environment with plenty of Glyde lube, mar your paint?



Oh, and don't forget, it's not a matter of going *through* the clear...you'll remove enough to precipitate premature failure *long* before you cut through to the color coat. Removing more than one-third of a mil (that's about .0003" ) is unwise, though some people take a gamble and remove up to one-half mil.
 
Oh man, you can get away with a lot. I've had my car for 5 years and it's gotten:



Full compound including powergloss/Wool twice

Mild compound with orange pads via rotary 4 or 5 times

Polish with 106ff or equivalent 10+ times



Due to my current situation (live in dorms, when I'm home my mom and sister borrow the car and wash it/otherwise mess it up) I haven't been able to get away with light polishing alone. I would bet that you could get away with 106ff twice a year for 10 years.
 
I have had my truck for 4 years now and have only polished it out once. I intend on keeping it for a while, so I use a careful washing and drying technique and go the glaze route to hide the (not many!!!) swirls.
 
With mild polishes you could polish once or twice a year for 10 years and be OK. I've used compounds several times on my hood without issues.
 
Think about wet sanding the orange peel out. You could polish the non-edges 5 times a year for ten years with a foam polishing pad with ease.
 
aboveclean said:
Think about wet sanding the orange peel out. You could polish the non-edges 5 times a year for ten years with a foam polishing pad with ease.
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You could do this even with p106ff?





I always thought i was being a little too paranoid, but thanks guys for helping me ease my worry. I have been using rotaries for many years with wool and all sorts of products and never had a single problem. However i have only recently started using menzerna products and wanted to make sure now that i bought a half decent car that i kept it good.



Lastly is this sonus clay better than the blue clay magic? I always thought that it was just in the nature of clay, picking up contaminants and dragging them that created the scratches.
 
Try a mild clay like the Sonus green. I also had Clay Magic mar the crap out of my black Bonneville, but so far the green Sonus clay I bought has been fine.
 
Downgear said:
.. is this sonus clay better than the blue clay magic? I always thought

that it was just in the nature of clay, picking up contaminants and dragging them that created the scratches.
Click to expand...



I dunno about "better" but the Sonus green is so mild it takes some doing to cut through Meg's #5, let alone a healthy normal LSP. Unless your paint is unusually soft it shouldn't mar it. I'll take Grimm's experience as a good example.



To avoid the contaminants marring as they get dragged across the paint, don't drag 'em so much ;) I've been known to knead/replace my clay after a single, brief contact with my paint; I seldom move clay very far without inspecting/kneading/etc. it. Yeah, it takes a lot longer, but I don't mar the paint as much. If you can actually *see* some contamination you want to clay off, just do the minimum required to get it off the paint and onto the clay and then knead/replace the clay before any further contact with the paint.



It's sorta like washing...if you get some long scratches you're simply doing something wrong; if you get some short, irregular scratches then maybe it really was a case of marring being unavoidable (but at least you did your best to not exacerbate the problem).
 
Accumulator thanks for the info, i will definitely try some slightly different techniques. You seem to have been around a while, what is is your opinion on the number of times the average clear coat can stand up to a light polishing with p106ff?
 
Downgear said:
./. what is is your opinion on the number of times the average clear coat can stand up to a light polishing with p106ff?
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That one I *don't* know as I've never used p106ff :nixweiss



And, well different vehicles are different. You can really correct most Audis over and over and over, but three or so PCings (not even the rotary) has my Mazda minivan to where I'll have to start living with stuff pretty soon.



I finally got an ETG (and one that'll work on the aluminum Audis) and now I think I *REALLY* shoulda bought it ages ago... Costs less than getting a few panels reshot ;)
 
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