Thought I would post up my learning process with Farecla G3 for fun, and to show that just because you dont get the results you want first time round, doesn't mean that the product is bad - just means your technique needed altering a bit, as mine did for the G3. 
Now, I've been using the rotary for a wee while now, got to the point where I no longer use the PC on cars unless the paint is thin as the crystal clear finish achievable by rotary when finishing cannot be matched on the PC. I have been mainly using Meguiars and Menzerna polishes on the rotary.
However, when in my local motorfactor picking up some more Meguiars polishing pads, I spotted Farecla G3 Paste Compound... Knowing that many bodyshops in Britain use this, I thought it would be worth a shot for fun - £9 isn't much for a full sized tube to try out either. :chuckle:
Got home, and got out a scrap panel and swirled it up with some steel wool:
Nice deep severe swirls that would warrant a farily heavy duty compound like G3. So I got out the Makita rotary and fitted a 6" Sonus SFX-1 pad. Now I knew that G3 required a lot of water to keep it lubed up, so I soaked the pad in water and squeezed out the excess... Then a line of compound onto the panel, and picked it up at 600rpm and spread at 600rpm around an area. Then up to 1500rpm - splatter everywhere!!!
- and made three passes before it dried out. Sprayed more water on the pad and made four more passes at 1500rpm. More water, then three passes at 2000rpm before slowing the machine down to 900rpm for two final passes to try and refine the finish... the resuts:
Oh dear, oh dear!!! Hologram city! 
Previously I have been able to achieve a near LSP ready, hologram free finish with aggressive compounds such as Power Gloss so seeing these holograms from one of my efforts was a little upsetting - cleared them quickly with Meguiars #80 on a Meguiars polishing pad.
A little dejected, but by no means was I going to give up here - G3 had to work better than that, it just had to!! :chuckle: The bonnet was safely tucked away in the garage ready for a demonstration I will doing at a Scottish detailing day shortly, so I got out another scrap panel and swirled it up:
Again, back out with the G3... This time, I decided that perhaps the SFX-1 pad was a bit too agressive and decided to step down to a Meguiars Polishing pad to see if it would generate the swirl removal I needed without the need for a more aggressive pad. Also, I decided on a little less water this time as tinkering around I decided part of the hologramming issue was splatter - in the splatter was unbroken down sharp abbrassives that I was picking up later in my setalong with broken down compound and hologramming the finish as I was trying to finish it.
Tinkered around with my techniques, and eventaully after trying different methods, speeds, no of passes and sets, I came down to this: spread at 600rpm, then two passes at 1500rpm. Stop, spritz pad lightly with water, then two passes at 1500rpm. Stop, spritz, 1500rpm. Repeat five or six times to fully break down the polish and just finish at 1500rpm... The results:
Cracked it!! :woot2: :getdown A finish free from holograms, that you could feasilbly call LSP ready... Naturally, I would still follow this with a light abbrassive such as M80 or PO85RD to refine the finish on a finishing pad, but it was great to see that, with a little practice, I could get ontop of the G3.
The moral of the story - dont give up on a product after one attempt, if it doesn't generate the results you want first time, chances are a change in technique and methods of application are all thats needed to get the results.
Now, I've been using the rotary for a wee while now, got to the point where I no longer use the PC on cars unless the paint is thin as the crystal clear finish achievable by rotary when finishing cannot be matched on the PC. I have been mainly using Meguiars and Menzerna polishes on the rotary.
However, when in my local motorfactor picking up some more Meguiars polishing pads, I spotted Farecla G3 Paste Compound... Knowing that many bodyshops in Britain use this, I thought it would be worth a shot for fun - £9 isn't much for a full sized tube to try out either. :chuckle:
Got home, and got out a scrap panel and swirled it up with some steel wool:
Nice deep severe swirls that would warrant a farily heavy duty compound like G3. So I got out the Makita rotary and fitted a 6" Sonus SFX-1 pad. Now I knew that G3 required a lot of water to keep it lubed up, so I soaked the pad in water and squeezed out the excess... Then a line of compound onto the panel, and picked it up at 600rpm and spread at 600rpm around an area. Then up to 1500rpm - splatter everywhere!!!
- and made three passes before it dried out. Sprayed more water on the pad and made four more passes at 1500rpm. More water, then three passes at 2000rpm before slowing the machine down to 900rpm for two final passes to try and refine the finish... the resuts:Oh dear, oh dear!!!
Hologram city! Previously I have been able to achieve a near LSP ready, hologram free finish with aggressive compounds such as Power Gloss so seeing these holograms from one of my efforts was a little upsetting - cleared them quickly with Meguiars #80 on a Meguiars polishing pad.A little dejected, but by no means was I going to give up here - G3 had to work better than that, it just had to!! :chuckle: The bonnet was safely tucked away in the garage ready for a demonstration I will doing at a Scottish detailing day shortly, so I got out another scrap panel and swirled it up:
Again, back out with the G3... This time, I decided that perhaps the SFX-1 pad was a bit too agressive and decided to step down to a Meguiars Polishing pad to see if it would generate the swirl removal I needed without the need for a more aggressive pad. Also, I decided on a little less water this time as tinkering around I decided part of the hologramming issue was splatter - in the splatter was unbroken down sharp abbrassives that I was picking up later in my setalong with broken down compound and hologramming the finish as I was trying to finish it.
Tinkered around with my techniques, and eventaully after trying different methods, speeds, no of passes and sets, I came down to this: spread at 600rpm, then two passes at 1500rpm. Stop, spritz pad lightly with water, then two passes at 1500rpm. Stop, spritz, 1500rpm. Repeat five or six times to fully break down the polish and just finish at 1500rpm... The results:
Cracked it!! :woot2: :getdown A finish free from holograms, that you could feasilbly call LSP ready... Naturally, I would still follow this with a light abbrassive such as M80 or PO85RD to refine the finish on a finishing pad, but it was great to see that, with a little practice, I could get ontop of the G3.
The moral of the story - dont give up on a product after one attempt, if it doesn't generate the results you want first time, chances are a change in technique and methods of application are all thats needed to get the results.
