New to the use of buffer! Frustrated!!

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Flawless Image

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Ok, here is my truck.. The paint is freakin horrible. It was formerly a snow plow truck up north, so its got quite a bit of 'flaws'. Basically, I used some new stuff and I used my high speed rotary and my Air DA.



Here is a few before and afters. Let me know where I am screwing up please..



Drivers side fender. Not touched yet.

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Passenger side fender. After Meguires Swirl and Scratch Removal with DA and Orange Pad. And after Wax using white waffle pad and High Speed Rotary (at a very very low speed)

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Hood before same process as above.

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Hood after same process as above.

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here are the pads/polishes I am using.. And I use my DA at just 75 psi, not moving fast at all.. no heat build up..



Orange Pad on DA

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Yellow Pad on Rotary

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Dont have pics of my wax, but its same name brand as the Acid Rain Removal stuff. Polishing pad is in background (white pad)
 
I have never used the swirl X and have no clue on the pro wax.



I would ditch those products and use some quality products.



Putting a wax on with a rotary will cause major issues and the Pro wax is loaded with silicones and will only get worse as they get forced deep in the paint.
 
SwirlX is a fine product, but it is not the right product in this case (it's meant for use near the end of the polishing cycle for light defect removal).



I would invest in a few different polishes - M105, M205, PO106FA, and PO85RD. That should cover you pretty well.



Pads are a personal preference. I like flat pads over anything (the CCS just don't do anything for me). The LC orange, white and black are very good. Meguiar's Soft 2.0 pads are nice and easy to use.



It's a good idea to get a different backing plate, than the stock one that came with the Harbor Freight rotary.
 
Sorta-random thoughts follow:



Some air-powered D/As are *VERY* different from "D/A polishers". The ones I used in the bodyshop (back in the day) simply had the wrong throw for use as polishers, didn't matter what speed/psi you ran 'em at, they were just the wrong tool for that job.



Even if the D/A in question is OK for this application, the orange pad isn't mild enough for final polishing (IME).



I wouldn't use the rotary for LSP application (though I know a few people do). I'd use it for *correcting* the paint (and I can't finish out 100% hologram-free with it so I'd need to do some kind of follow-up either by hand or with the *right kind* of d/a or random-orbital polisher).



Pro makes good products IMO, I used to really like their paste wax, but some are better than others and I wouldn't call any of their stuff "cutting edge modern" (not that *that* necessarily means anything at all).



You probably can't beat Meguiar's M105 for serious, initial correction, but some people have been reporting issues with M205. I wonder how the Pro Acid Rain removal stuff (via rotary) followed by the Swirl-X (via D/A with a milder-than-orange pad), followed by the Pro wax (by hand) would work :think:



I wouldn't be moving on to the wax step until the prep is sorted out, and I'd be working on *one* panel until I had it all figured out. I'd start the "figuring out" process by determining exactly a) what is to be accomplished- including why/why not and how/how not, b) what the commonly-accepted means of doing that are and why, and c) what the comonly-encountered pitfalls are and how to overcome them.
 
Looks like you got the big stuff out, but you need to tidy up with a good final polish..



Make sure your white pad is clean (or better yet buy a black 3M pad), remove the wax with a Dawn wash, clay that Mo-Fo', then hit it up with some Ultrafina (follow directions on the bottle).



That should make your paint look perfect.



PM me with pics if that doesn't work ;)



Kenny
 
Use Megs super degreaser mixed 20/80 to clean out the pads. Make sure they are sparkling clean and rinse out very good. Spin dry on the rotary to dry.
 
yep. very first time. i have always waxed by hand, but after being a member of this site for a few months now, i see that i have to learn MUCH more before becoming a 'good' detailer.. So im doing trial and error techniques on my own truck first..
 
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