PC finishing polish technique...

W

wannafbody

wannafbody
With the advent of Megs UC and 105 which leave such nice finishes for compounds it seems as if the final polishing technique can be changed. In the past you'd compound and then have to use a fairly aggressive polish to remove the hazing. With UC and 105 the finish is so nice you can move to your finishing polish and you don't really have any haze to remove. The only thing you are attempting to do is bring the gloss up. In the past you'd apply pressure to the PC to remove the haze. When using 4 inch pads on the PC the pad will spin fairly well. Simply apply your finishing polish and skim the pad across the surface allowing it to rotate-similar to a rotary. Let the polish and the pad do the work. This technique worked well for me with ZPC and I suspect that it will work well with most polishes:waxing:
 
wannafbody- Yeah, I agree that M105 has changed the game a bit by not leaving really nasty hazing, but...



Inspected under the SunGun, it often leaves *much worse* hazing that I thought it did. A lot worse than the 1Z Pasta Intensiv that I used previously.



But yeah...I've done OK following M105 with a number of different things, including 1Z High Gloss. I'm only using M105 on pretty hard (or downright *VERY* hard) clear, and I seem to need a follow up with a fair amount of bite. If I go *too* mild, that only-visible-under-SunGun hazing can still be there, and a few times I even saw it under (real/natural) sunlight.
 
I used Ultimate Compound which is less aggressive (I'm assuming because of the extra oils for OTC consumers) and which should leave a slightly better finish. I also believe that ZPC is a bit stronger than 3m Ultrafina, FP2, Optimum finishing and Menzerna so it's possible that an intermediate step may be needed with M105.
 
On soft paints like BMW jet black, #105 will leave enough hazing that it can take #205 with a cutting pad followed by #205 with a polishing pad to remove the hazing.
 
Scottwax said:
On soft paints like BMW jet black, #105 will leave enough hazing that it can take #205 with a cutting pad followed by #205 with a polishing pad to remove the hazing.
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Good point Scott, some paint is harder than others. It's odd that GM clear is so hard yet mars so easily:bat
 
wannafbody said:
Good point Scott, some paint is harder than others. It's odd that GM clear is so hard yet mars so easily..
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Just goes to show how abrasive "dirt" can be, huh?



On GM (and other hard) clear, I like to use a Griot's orange polishing pad (a LC tangerine hyrodtech would probably work about the same) for the first follow up pass(es) with M205/etc.
 
wannafbody said:
Good point Scott, some paint is harder than others. It's odd that GM clear is so hard yet mars so easily:bat
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I hate finishing with a DA on GM paint! :furious:
 
Accumulator said:
Just goes to show how abrasive "dirt" can be, huh?



On GM (and other hard) clear, I like to use a Griot's orange polishing pad (a LC tangerine hyrodtech would probably work about the same) for the first follow up pass(es) with M205/etc.
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Very true, I live on a road that is covered with ash in the winter. That ash is ground up by vehicles and kicked into the air and lands on vehicles. It's practically impossible to wash and not introduce some marring.
 
Rasky why do you not like finishing with a DA? I am curious as I only have a DA maybe I should step up sooner that I planned.
 
Scottwax said:
On soft paints like BMW jet black, #105 will leave enough hazing that it can take #205 with a cutting pad followed by #205 with a polishing pad to remove the hazing.
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Are you referring to a rotary application Scott? If so, and the paint is soft, why not just use a DA and totally eliminate the need for 3 steps?
 
9935annivgt said:
Rasky why do you not like finishing with a DA? I am curious as I only have a DA maybe I should step up sooner that I planned.
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I do like finishing with a DA, but I've not been able to get the paint to finish perfectly with M205 and a DA on the last 6 or so black GM cars I've done. Menzerna will finish down great on a DA but the rotary still seems to amp up the gloss a little more on those paints.....at least for me anyway. ;)
 
RaskyR1 said:
I do like finishing with a DA, but I've not been able to get the paint to finish perfectly with M205 and a DA on the last 6 or so black GM cars I've done...
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I wasn't (and I'm still not) 100% satisfied by how M205 finished via Flex 3401 on the Yukon's Carbon Metallic. Close enough that I didn't do another step on that beast with something else, but still not quite as nice as I think it could be.



I felt the same way about the M3 and a quick pass with Menzerna did improve things just a little bit.
 
I have a dark metallic blue corvette coming up and I was planning on using the Megs twins, looks like I need to plan to finish with 85rd for sure now,wass in the back of my mind but I think I will figure that into the time and cost estimate.
 
On car's that I'm not certain of, I reach for M205 1st and then tape off part of the same panel and test Menzerna 85rd. Many times there's not that much(if any) of an improvement, but there are times were there have been. I did a black Rolls Drophead Coupe a few months back and because of the inherantly soft finishes on these vehicles, I went with 85rd for the win because M205/white LC left gloss on the table for me.
 
If you think that the gloss can be amped up you can always reach for FP2 or Ultrafina and try a small section. I prefer to use ZAIO instead of a finishing polish but I'd think that SRP and KAIO would work fine with a PC as well.
 
wannafbody said:
If you think that the gloss can be amped up you can always reach for FP2 or Ultrafina and try a small section. I prefer to use ZAIO instead of a finishing polish but I'd think that SRP and KAIO would work fine with a PC as well.
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I aggree with you for sure. If ZAIO is good enough for Z2/Z5 I'd say that that should put an end to all this "confusion" about LSPs not adhering.



Plus ZAIO looks beautiful :bow
 
David Fermani said:
Are you referring to a rotary application Scott? If so, and the paint is soft, why not just use a DA and totally eliminate the need for 3 steps?
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No, a DA. I actually get a better finish with a rotary but leaving it hologram free is a challenge.
 
Scottwax said:
No, a DA. I actually get a better finish with a rotary but leaving it hologram free is a challenge.
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You're getting that much marring with M105/DA that you need 2 more steps to finish out? How bad is the marring/haze after your 1st/2nd step? Have you ever looked into any Menzerna final polishes? They could eliminate some time for you. I've never have problems being able to remove pad haze with 1 follow up step. Could polishing in the sun create your polishes to prematurely dry and create more marring?
 
David Fermani said:
You're getting that much marring with M105/DA that you need 2 more steps to finish out? How bad is the marring/haze after your 1st/2nd step? Have you ever looked into any Menzerna final polishes? They could eliminate some time for you. I've never have problems being able to remove pad haze with 1 follow up step. Could polishing in the sun create your polishes to prematurely dry and create more marring?
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This is pretty much only with jet black BMWs that it is an issue whether I polish in the sun or under halogens. On other paints, #205 after #105 does the trick-did a GTO and a Civic Si over the last couple of weeks where there was pretty much zero hazing from #105 using it in the full sun on black paint. One of these days when I get some time I'll post them up....but here is a cell phone shot of the Civic Si after #105 only on the right side:



halfnhalf.jpg
 
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