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Black_Sunshine

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Hey all, I've been reading these forums and others for a couple years trying to learn how to detail. Bought my first rotary polisher last summer and played around with it on some junk cars for a while. This spring I spent about 30 hours polishing my black nissan titan and actually got most of the scratches from tree branches, and swirl marks out. But it was covered in buffer halos after the Menzerna Final Polish with grey lake country ccs pad. My arms and legs were dead so I just keep wax on it to hide the halos.



Anyway I started trying to polish a black volkswagen the other day and everything just plain didn't work. The orange lake country ccs pad and optimum polish made the buffer impossible to control for some reason. Then the pad would look totally caked up after about 2 minutes. Also it would be fine for about 20 seconds then the polish would get all blotchy as I went over it and seem to dry up and make the buffer move erratically. On top of it all it didn't seem to have much effect on the swirl marks either. I tried at different speeds and I tried optimum compound for a minute. I don't get why it would suddenly change, I used the same products and procedures as on the truck. There was about a 2 month gap between the two projects, can the polish go bad? Or the pads go bad from sitting? Any advice?
 
Heat and humidity give you trouble with Menzerna, but I'll still use it almost exclusively.



Orange is a bit more difficult to control on the rotary, just don't force it and you'll have a much, much easier time. It's dense enough to do the work for you. What size pad?



Wow, halos with final polish and a light pad such as that? You're most likely forcing the pad, as well as not breaking down the compound properly. I'd lighten up the pressure first, then learn to break down polishes.



Also, make sure the surface is prepped properly. Some cars, even though you wash them, are covered in sludge whether it be silicone, petroleum, some sealant, whatever - all of these should be removed beforehand. Prepsol is great, mineral spirits work alright too. An isopropyl alcohol wipe down probably won't cut it.
 
I have the same problem, seems like after I wash my car the holograms come back. I've used 106ff black pad then 3m Ultrafine with blue pad, but after I wash my car using ONR the halo's come back and show. I guess I have to keep practicing. Any advise. THX
 
charlesaferg said:
What size pad?



Wow, halos with final polish and a light pad such as that? You're most likely forcing the pad



make sure the surface is prepped properly.
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I used the standard consumer size pad 6.5" I believe.



I believe the halos came from the previous step which was an orange pad with optimum polish, it wouldn't go away.



I always prepped with a dawn wash, mothers clay bar with dawn soap water in a spray bottle, then just QD'ed each panel with pinnacle crystal mist QD spray just before applying the machine.
 
wannafbody said:
Ditch the orange pad with the roatry. You'll have better luck with a Megs yellow or LC german green pad.
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Hey whats the deal with the Lake Country Yellow Pad? On the website it said it was more aggressive than the orange pad. But on the plastic packaging it said it was designed for applying glazes? I found it did not want to remove any scratches, or swirls, with optimum polish or compound. Actually, the consistency of it reminds me of a "bug removing sponge" that I recieved after some kind of shipping error from autogeek.



I'll have to try out some new pads, something other than the LC CCS, but whats a good brand to switch to? I can get pics of the truck up here soon. Later.
 
Pics of my truck, I don't know why, but I didn't find any direct sunlight pics of the truck on my camera phone. Oh well.



Before:



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After:



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0612081821-00.jpg




0612081822-01.jpg




There were some ridiculous scratches from trees on this truck. Quite a bit came off with the orange LC CCS Pad and OC, then I got reckless (being a newbie) and used a wool pad with OP, they were all gone then, but I fear the clearcoat is dangerously thin. Oh well, my truck, my problem.
 
There's still orange peel on your paint, don't worry about the clear you didn't make it dangerously thin. Especially since there are still lots of scratches left. My thinking is you didn't break down the polish completely in your cutting steps which is why you have holograms.
 
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