Not too happy ..Think it's just me though!

yfzcentral

yfzcentral

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Hello All,

I'm rather new to the detail scene and have tried megs, mothers, and now Poorboy's.

This weekend I decided to work on my 2000 black 540i's hood since it need some work. I did the following:

Washed with gold class
Tried with WW towel
Clayed car with megs bar
SSR 2.5x2 with sonus green pad with PC on speed 5
SSR 1 with sonus blue pad with PC on speed 6
Laid Blue EX with a megs pad by hand
Let sit for 30 minutes, then took off with microfiber
Waited a day and applied Blue Nattys with megs pad by hand
Took off about 45 minutes later with microfiber..

Now here's the thing. The hood looks good, got a lot of the swirls out but not all of them since I was using a polishing pad. However, the clarity isn't all that great. It looks wet, but not as wet as when I just did claying/NXT. With NXT, the sharpness was a lot better as well.

I'm thinking a few things.

1.) It's me obviously and not the products
2.) The hood was badly damaged that I need to do the rest of the car before comparing?

What do you guys think?
 
Did the hood look like it lost clarity/got hazy during one of the previous steps? Maybe you didn't break down one of the SSR's enough. You could try going over it again with the SSR1 and see if the clarity gets better. One other thought may be that you like the look of NXT better. I would suggest that you apply NXT to half of your hood and see if you like the look better/see any difference. That way you spent only the time it takes to do half a hood instead of doing the whole car. (Do this before you re-do the SSR, obviously. ;) ) I've read that NXT can "blend in" swirls fairly well. Maybe it looked better because of that? (Although I've also read that Blue Natty can too, so maybe that's a moot point. :dunno )
 
u could also try like a pro polish or polish with carnuba after ur ssr1. somtimes this helps bring the clarity your talking about.

if you use the polish with carunba u can top it with nattys or your favorite wax but a sealent usally dosnt work over carnuba.
 
Work the SSr 1 a little longer....I think you put in some hazing that needs to be removed....EZ fix....
 
just polished my car out yesterday with ssr2.5.. really great! I used an LC orange pad and no hazing :dunno it's a mazda so it has relatively soft paint..

just try working in the ssr1, it'll remove the ex and the natty's but you'll get a nice finish after that. I never noticed any dusting from ssr1, probably because I really try not to use much :)
 
Re: Not too happy ...Think it's just me though!

I find the green pad to be a bit strong for SSR1. I would go with a Lake Country white pad if you have one.
 
I've used SSR2.5 with a cutting pad and then followed up with SSR1 with a polishing pad. Then P-w-C with a polishing pad.........What I've found is the SSR2.5 is fairly agressive the SSR1 is more towards a polish but you need to polish the finish out to smooth the clear coat in order to get that haze off for the two other processes...That's my take on these products.
 
My best guess is that you didn't work the SSR1 enough, plus you should use a good polishing pad with it. I use flat LC white pads when polishing. I also don't use the PC with speeds as high as you mentioned---I like to stay at 4-4.5 with a max of 5 if it's taking a really long time to break down the product. I work the SSR1 until it is just about invisible, then remove any remaining haze with a MF towel.
As Big Leegr mentioned--you might also have preferred the look of the NXT.
 
Guess I'll SSR1 with the blue pad again but on speed 4.5-5. This pad is a final finish and wax pad.

Where can I get a white LC pad at? I would need it pretty fast (USPS shipping preferred)...
 
I really think you need to go back to the SSR2.5 with a white LC pad as ScottP mentioned. You should see the clarity after this step. If the finish was in poor shape , a few passes with the SSR2.5 might be needed with a polishing pad until you see the results you are after. Then the SSR1 with a finishing pad will bring out the glow and brilliant finsh a black will show. The finish should have a great look long before the LSP is applied, as that is only the icing on the cake.
There is no exact science to detailing and it may take 1 pass per product or 12, you never know. As Bigleegr pointed out earlier don't look at the whole car, just concentrate on one panel at a time until it meets your expectations.:)
 
So i did some research and found this out from several people. As you can see below, (not my picture), Jet black BMW paint looks like coffee with cream in it. It's not pure black it appears...

This is just what my paint looks like now. I'm thinking that maybe i'm just being really picky now. :lol I'll have to take pictures and show you guys.

Thx!
3939After_2.jpg
 
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