gone postal
New member
Well, I jumped into the deep end of the pool - no floaties, no lifeguard - and bought a Makita rotary w/ no machine experience whatsoever. I want / need one and don't see the point in learning on another tool that is widely considered so safe you can't really screw up (DA) and then upgrade later. Anyway, the dark green '02 Audi A6 I just bought a few months ago has bad water spots - I'm sure a lot of you have seen worse, but I've never owned worse and it's bothering the hell outta me. So today I washed & clayed car, genuflected, grabbed my lucky rabbit foot, etc and broke out the Makita.
I used 105 on a Burgandy 2.0 pad and followed that w/ 205 on a black finishing pad. I did two passes w/ the 105 & one w/ 205. I'm pretty happy w/ the results. I wasn't attempting to completely remove the spots b/c I'm new at this and don't want to push it / don't know how far to / what's safe, etc. The spots are still there, but lessened dramatically. I know Audi's have hard clear, but I just don't know how much more I can safely do and if the spots are even removable.
Here are some "split" shots of hood. First attempt at doing this w/ camera and I'm limited to my T5 lights in garage b/c it's 11pm right now. I don't see any holograms, swirling, etc, but I guess I'll know tomorrow when it's out in the sun. (sorry, it appears Flickr isn't letting me hotlink, so I had to do it this way)
hood split 1 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood split 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood split 3 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood split 4 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Here are some completely finished results for the hood to show reflection
hood finished on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood finished 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood finished 3 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
And here are two pics of the remaining damage
spots on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
spots 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
What do you think?? Also, the spots are contained to the roof, hood & trunk. I want to do the whole car though. Should I limit the 105 to just one pass on the side of the car since it doesn't have the same kind of damage? Also, how the hell do people hold these vertically? It's not bad on flat surfaces where its weight works on it, but I'm not sure how much pressure to use once vertical. The few times I rounded an edge (rear of trunk), it seems to want to skip around a lot. I'm sure it'll come in time, but looking for any tips.
Finally, on the 205, I'm having a hard time knowing when I'm "done". With the 105, I wait for it to go clear and then start backing down (Zenith method). The 205 seems to never go away. I can make a pass and that area seems "cleaner" than it just was, but it's like that every time I swipe by (like I can see a tiny film residue and it gets "cleared" w/ every swipe of the rotary, but swirls are in its wake). I'll work an area for 2-3 min at 1000rpm and then back down to 600 for a pass. Not sure if "Zenith" is necessary for 205?!?
I used 105 on a Burgandy 2.0 pad and followed that w/ 205 on a black finishing pad. I did two passes w/ the 105 & one w/ 205. I'm pretty happy w/ the results. I wasn't attempting to completely remove the spots b/c I'm new at this and don't want to push it / don't know how far to / what's safe, etc. The spots are still there, but lessened dramatically. I know Audi's have hard clear, but I just don't know how much more I can safely do and if the spots are even removable.
Here are some "split" shots of hood. First attempt at doing this w/ camera and I'm limited to my T5 lights in garage b/c it's 11pm right now. I don't see any holograms, swirling, etc, but I guess I'll know tomorrow when it's out in the sun. (sorry, it appears Flickr isn't letting me hotlink, so I had to do it this way)
hood split 1 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood split 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood split 3 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood split 4 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Here are some completely finished results for the hood to show reflection
hood finished on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood finished 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hood finished 3 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
And here are two pics of the remaining damage
spots on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
spots 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
What do you think?? Also, the spots are contained to the roof, hood & trunk. I want to do the whole car though. Should I limit the 105 to just one pass on the side of the car since it doesn't have the same kind of damage? Also, how the hell do people hold these vertically? It's not bad on flat surfaces where its weight works on it, but I'm not sure how much pressure to use once vertical. The few times I rounded an edge (rear of trunk), it seems to want to skip around a lot. I'm sure it'll come in time, but looking for any tips.
Finally, on the 205, I'm having a hard time knowing when I'm "done". With the 105, I wait for it to go clear and then start backing down (Zenith method). The 205 seems to never go away. I can make a pass and that area seems "cleaner" than it just was, but it's like that every time I swipe by (like I can see a tiny film residue and it gets "cleared" w/ every swipe of the rotary, but swirls are in its wake). I'll work an area for 2-3 min at 1000rpm and then back down to 600 for a pass. Not sure if "Zenith" is necessary for 205?!?