PC Buffer trails!!???

D

dshreter

New member
So I've had a few threads started here I realize... I'm not having much luck with my porter cable.



Here's some background:



Tried polishing with my optimum compound and polish with someone else's PC- wound up with a hazy finish.



My own PC wasn't working right, figured out I'm missing a washer on my backing plate. The PC seems to be working right, but I don't have enough experience to really REALLY know. Maybe the spindle is out of alignment now?



Whatever, I'm trying my PC and polishes again... Going to try to polish at a faster speed (up to 6, was only at 5.5 before), and give it more time. So that was today. I thought I was having success with the compound getting some scratches out, but when I wiped off the panel I realized I have buffer trails! :scared: Is this normal with a random orbital to get buffer trails? They're like little half moons of small scratches. I tried getting rid of them with orange pad and OC and they're not that easy to get rid of either.



What am I doing wrong? I really didn't expect this to be so difficult, everyone says using the random orbital is so easy and fool proof. Well not this fool! :(
 
You have to follow the compounding up with polishing. You can do this 3 ways;



A) Using a finer polish.



B) Using a softer pad.



C) (Most Popular) Using both a finer pad, and polish.
 
What pad did you use? I had this happen recently when I went to the most aggressive yellow LC pad with Hyper Compound on my hood. And like you, I had almost no luck getting the marks out with a couple different passes trying an orange pad and Hyper Compound, and after that Polish. When I have some free time later this summer I might try and tackle it again.
 
there is no 5.5 speed on the PC - its 5 or 6



orange pad and optimum compound and speed 6 used to be my go to combo, but it takes too long to break down...I was spending 8hours on details - too long!!!



but you should be able to polish a section for about 10 minutes on speed 6 with optimum. Are you spending that long?



for your half moon marring, its possible its from not breaking down the polish enough, or it could be the nature of the PC rotation. try bumping up to speed 6 and polish it out. If that doesnt work, then try a heavier compound that is easily broken down by a PC (IP, 83, etc), then go to OP if you have that on a white pad or even a blue pad from LC....



good luck
 
half moon shapes are from not breaking down the polish enough

and/or there is something on the pad that is making the "small scratches"



wash your pads well before you use them again



F.Y.I. they are not buffer trails
 
Tispho said:
So much goes for "you can't damage your paint with a PC"?
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hazing and micromarring is not "damage" to the paint...it is simply incomplete polishing. once you finish the process properly with lighter polishes and/or less abrasive pads, this goes away. it is common to follow the strong stuff with the lighter. that is what is called "LSP ready".



to me, damage is burning the paint.



.02
 
I find that aggressive products work better (not just faster/more efficiently, but *better*) with smaller pads, like 4" ones.



And sure you can damage paint with a PC (been there, done that)...for that matter you can damage some paints by hand.
 
I'm finding that the optimum just isn't really strong (right word?) enough for the paint on my A3. Unless I'm supposed to work a small section (1x1) for 20 minutes, my results so far are just unacceptable. I'm getting hazed paint, only very slight defect removal after LONG working times with the compound, and the polish takes FOREVER to work. On a section I tried compound with it finished hazy (expected). To bring back the original gloss with the polish took ages on the very smallest of sections.



I think I'm going to try menzerna 1066FF to polish the car, and forget about major defect removal since the car is white anyway.
 
Is your car an A3 as in Audi A3?

Audi's have some extremely hard clear, I don't think you can get fantastic results on an A3 unless you're using a rotary.
 
dshreter said:
Yeah, 2006 White Audi A3. And now I need a rotary to get really good results? Son of a gun...
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If you can afford an 06 Audi, what's another couple bucks for a rotary and pads :) :getdown :spot
 
dshreter said:
Yeah, 2006 White Audi A3. And now I need a rotary to get really good results? Son of a gun...
Click to expand...



A PC just doesn't spin fast enough to get the job done. Look on the bright side though, you have an Audi!! We're all our own worst critics, i'm sure your car doesn't look as half as bad as other cars out on the road.
 
If you can afford an 06 Audi, what's another couple bucks for a rotary and pads
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I don't remember mentioning that I could afford my car! :chuckle: I'm a graduate student! I don't know that I want to take on learning how to use a rotary either. What kind of results do you think I could get with Menzerna polishes and a PC?
 
You could always just go to a pro detailer - get r done right and use the PC to maintain it. I've never done an Audi, but I have done BMW and they have very hard clear coats. I still remember the pain in my tired old middle aged body after spending 10.5 hours on a 325i and that was when I decided to get a rotary. But, I detail on the side - if you're just going to maintain your car, going to a pro aint a bad deal.
 
dshreter said:
I'm finding that the optimum just isn't really strong (right word?) enough for the paint on my A3. Unless I'm supposed to work a small section (1x1) for 20 minutes... I'm getting hazed paint, only very slight defect removal after LONG working times with the compound, and the polish takes FOREVER to work. On a section I tried compound with it finished hazy (expected). To bring back the original gloss with the polish took ages on the very smallest of sections.



I think I'm going to try menzerna 1066FF to polish the car, and forget about major defect removal since the car is white anyway.
Click to expand...



Only way I can correct Audis with a PC is by using a 4" pad setup, at least for the initial, major correction.



I too find Optimum a bit tricky, and it sounds like you might not be working it long enough. But it's not gonna be aggressive enough for the Audi clear when used by PC, at least not for the initial major correction (I've used it, on an Audi, for the second of three steps when working by PC).



Spending 20 minutes on a given area is nothing when doing Audis by PC (and I don't mean that in a smart-aleck way). Heh heh, you should try correcting Audi clear by hand (e.g., behind the door handles)...twenty minutes won't even get you started ;) For that matter, I take a lot of time on them even with the rotaries, it's just the nature of the Audi clear. The upside is that with good wash techniques you won't have to do the correction very often.
 
I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but has anyone had success with 1066FF on a recent Audi with a PC? I know its designed for the newer hard clearcoats. At this point I'm not set on complete defect removal and would be happy if the whole car was just polished out nicely.
 
toyotaguy said:
there is no 5.5 speed on the PC - its 5 or 6



orange pad and optimum compound and speed 6 used to be my go to combo, but it takes too long to break down...I was spending 8hours on details - too long!!!
Click to expand...



I was just curious, what do you generally use for polishing now?
 
I have the old Optimum line of polishes, and I believe the Audi owner is looking for more aggressive and faster break-down products. I am too to be honest. I've tried the newer line of Optimum polishes on Audi clearcoat, and it too was also a bit slow to break down, but the finish came out nicely. So, I am asking everyone to list a line of polishes that are more aggressive and much faster at breaking down then the Optimum line.
 
dshreter said:
And now I need a rotary to get really good results? Son of a gun...
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Not neccessarily. Follow Accumulator's advice and try 4" pads first and if that doesn't work try 4" pads with different polish. All on speed 6.
 
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