My first shot at detailing [pictures] and Questions

[Leadfootluke]

Take it easy... please?



This is just on the roof of my truck. Looking for advice and suggestions as I make my way around the whole vehicle.



Steps include:



- Dawn Wash - Starting 2BM and Grit Guard [trying to form that habit outside of ONR washes]

- Clay with Megs Smooth clay and ONR as lube

- Megs 105 on 4" Cyan Hydro Tech pad [prepped with KBM]

- Megs 205 on 4" Tangerine Hydro Tech pad [prepped with KBM]

- IPA wipe down following removal of M205

- Various LSPs





Look at all the pretty swirls.

Clayed and cleaned

Taped up

M105 once over

Left [untouched] vs right [M105 once]

Paint looking better..

After M205 50/50

Better 50/50 with tape removed.

Finished the other half of the hood, then retaped for LSPs





We will see which quarter lasts the longest

Used the Collinite waxes I had, the KAIO and TW Ice for kicks and giggles.

No good after shots. Sun went behind the clouds again. I will be sure to get them soon. I know it is hard to compare the results with different shots.



Questions I have at this point.

- Would you do anything different? My methods are those prescribed in the M105/M205 thread. KBM, priming, pressure, time spent, etc.

- Some of those scratches are deep [just able to catch a fingernail on]. Would it be hard for me, as a beginner, to wetsand? I understand how it is done, and this is a 12 year old daily driver in Michigan, it gets beat up. I am willing to try it on my truck.

- What other pads should I have? I only have the 2 Hydro Techs at 4" apiece. Are there pads that would cut more but still be DA friendly, or to apply a LSP with? I don't mind using my hand, and I think using the DA would just speed it up. Just looking to expand my options

 

[dennn]

Personally, if working with the DA, I would have used Ultimate Compound or SwirlX with the cyan pad. From that picture, the swirls didn't look too deep, and using Ultimate Compound would have been much easier to work with compared to M105. I find M105 a little tricky to work with (dusts, dries, and gums quite a bit) and I would only use it on severe defects or wetsanding. Perhaps the picture isn't doing the swirls justice. Just my opinion.



Depending on how deep those deep scratches are, sanding them may be more concise than going over them with a heavy compound and a cutting pad. I have had feather-sanded about five different deep scratches on my cars and I find that feather-sanding produces much quicker and better results than just machine buffing. I have recently purchased a paint thickness gauge. I measured the paint thickness on the spots. For four of the spots I measured, the readings indicate that wetsanding did not remove much paint at all, compared to the surrounding unsanded area. Of course, paint thickness differs depending on the area.



For all my deep scratches, I sanded in extremely short strokes using 2500 grit paper. Usually, three strokes with light pressure was enough to completely level out the scratches. Small traces of the scratch left behind would be taken care of by M105 and a wool pad.

(You can still see some small traces of the original scratch, but they were completely gone after going over it with M105 and a wool pad.)



If you were to do this, just know when to stop. Discretion is essential.



If you were to wetsand using a DA, you should consider getting either the LC yellow or orange cutting pad to remove deeper defects. A purple foamed wool in the 3.5" size also works well on the DA for removing sanding marks. I tested the 3.5" purple foam wool with my PC-XP and it was able to remove 2000 grit sanding scratches, although not as quickly as with the rotary.

 

[jrelh]

Whats the link to the M105/M205 thread?? I tried searching was unlucky. I need more reading to do while at work; before I attempt to do it on my own, good news is I have a car that doesn't work to practice it on!

 

[Leadfootluke]

Personally, if working with the DA, I would have used Ultimate Compound or SwirlX with the cyan pad. From that picture, the swirls didn't look too deep, and using Ultimate Compound would have been much easier to work with compared to M105. I find M105 a little tricky to work with (dusts, dries, and gums quite a bit) and I would only use it on severe defects or wetsanding. Perhaps the picture isn't doing the swirls justice. Just my opinion.



....



If you were to wetsand using a DA, you should consider getting either the LC yellow or orange cutting pad to remove deeper defects. A purple foamed wool in the 3.5" size also works well on the DA for removing sanding marks. I tested the 3.5" purple foam wool with my PC-XP and it was able to remove 2000 grit sanding scratches, although not as quickly as with the rotary.

Thanks for the advice. Actually, I have had spectacular luck with the M105. Did not dry, not dust too much, and did not gum up. That obviously doesn't mean it won't in the future though. The swirls you saw were only half the the problem. Several cat scratches from sliding down the roof to the windshield.



I have also been looking at LC pads to supplement my cyan and tangerines [I.e. an Orange with m105, Grey with m205, and Blue for LSPs]



The Megs UC is pretty cheap, would you try to pass over the roof in this case with that, before the M205 and get a similar finish as M105?

Whats the link to the M105/M205 thread?? I tried searching was unlucky. I need more reading to do while at work; before I attempt to do it on my own, good news is I have a car that doesn't work to practice it on!

http://www.autopia.org/forum/machin...e-else-have-little-trouble-105-205-combo.html

 

[dennn]

Thanks for the advice. Actually, I have had spectacular luck with the M105. Did not dry, not dust too much, and did not gum up. That obviously doesn't mean it won't in the future though. The swirls you saw were only half the the problem. Several cat scratches from sliding down the roof to the windshield.



I have also been looking at LC pads to supplement my cyan and tangerines [I.e. an Orange with m105, Grey with m205, and Blue for LSPs]



The Megs UC is pretty cheap, would you try to pass over the roof in this case with that, before the M205 and get a similar finish as M105?







http://www.autopia.org/forum/machin...e-else-have-little-trouble-105-205-combo.html

Don't get me wrong. I love M105. The dusting and gumming is not too much of a problem considering its insane cutting power and and finish quality.



I would definitely use UC over M105 whenever possible. UC isn't only cheap, it also finishes smoother than M105 in most cases, at the cost of slightly less cutting power. So if the job doesn't really require a rotary and tremendous cutting power, using UC and DA is definitely the way to go.



With my previous detail on my G35, my plan was to compound it with M105 and a rotary. But with the KBM, UC with a DA was able to achieve just enough correction to remove the light-medium swirls on the paint. The finish produced by UC was so fine that I was able to go straight to PO85RD with a blue finishing pad. I wouldn't have been able to do that with M105. So, in other words, using the least aggressive method possible for the job can potentially save you one polishing step. That's just my style of polishing. You can adjust it to suit your needs or completely disagree with it. If you are working with the DA, Ultimate Compound is an excellent product in most cases. Many people compare UC with the Super Intensive Polish (which I also use on my Porsche and BMW with ceramic clear coat), but if price is thrown into the equation, there's no comparison. That's just my opinion of course.





Anyway, nice pictures! And good luck!

 

[Leadfootluke]

Agreed... SIP and PO85RD are excellent, but expensive choices.

 

[Accumulator]

I have also been looking at LC pads to supplement my cyan and tangerines [I.e. an Orange with m105, Grey with m205, and Blue for LSPs]...

I suspect you won't see any big improvement from using a milder pad with the M205; I finish with the similar-to-tangerine Griot's pad. I've never seen an improvement from using a milder pad with either M205 or my Menzerna 106, but that's just me on the clears I was working.



You could use a blue/red/gold pad for the LSP if you like.

 

[Leadfootluke]

I suspect you won't see any big improvement from using a milder pad with the M205; I finish with the similar-to-tangerine Griot's pad. I've never seen an improvement from using a milder pad with either M205 or my Menzerna 106, but that's just me on the clears I was working.



You could use a blue/red/gold pad for the LSP if you like.

I am just looking to add some more pads. Not necessary find different cuts, just additional pads for when mine are in use or being dried, etc. So my first thought was the popular oranges or gray.



I would like the Blue for an LSP though. Would that just speed up the process, or does it add to the quality of the finish?

 

[Accumulator]

..I would like the Blue for an LSP though. Would that just speed up the process, or does it add to the quality of the finish?

I can't really say. By the time you get out the machine and then clean up afterwards I dunno if you really save much, if any, time over doing it by hand.



It's more a case of different motions- moving the polisher is different from manipulating the pad manually.



I do think that you can sometimes get a *very* slightly better finish though, but only with certain products (primarily waxes). FWIW, I do all my sealants by hand (do want to try FK1000P by machine some time though) and I do maybe half my waxes by hand.