polishing over panel gaps??

K

king nothing

New member
on my 03 cobra I have some panels that "flow" into each other, trunklid and top of rear quarters, hood and top of front fenders. Is it OK to treat these as one panel and polish across them with my PC or is it a No No
 
No No.



You should always polish one panel at a time. Even if you don't damage the edges, you will have a better end result doing one panel at a time.



Remember the 2ftx2ft rule...never polish an area bigger than 2x2.



1x1 is preferable. Never more than 2x2.
 
IME this isn't always a yes/no type of thing :think:



I fully agree to work smaller areas than you think you need to :xyxthumbs



And if panel gaps involve uneven panel *heights*, where you'd be hitting a raised edge hard, then yeah, *WATCH OUT!* In those cases I tape the higher edge and deal with it as a separate issue.



But often, with uniform panel heights, you can simply work over them with no problems, at least if you're not being really aggressive. Don't use excessive product though, or you'll get it in the gap and it can be a real PIA to clean out.



Eh...I guess I shouldn't advocate corner-cutting, even if I often *can* get away with it :o
 
I do this from time to time. As Accumulator said, the real pain occurs when polish gets into the gap and needs to be cleaned out. But, this usually happens to me anyway, since I always try to polish all the way to the edge of the panel. Inevitably, there is some overlap and I get polish in the crack.



Mother's makes a detail brush with a rubber end that is perfect for this. Just spray some QD on or around the area and then use the rubber tip to clean out the cracks. Or, if the crack is big enough, you can use the rubber end to stuff a MF towel in between the panels. Works awesome!



I only see one potential problem. Does polishing over the gap detract from the correction ability of the product/pad? In other words, does the loss of surface contact reduce the amount of heat generation and therefore inhibit your ability to correct paint defects? I don't know the answer, but if there is one, I'm sure the answer is product/pad/machine dependent.
 
The gaps Im talking about are the hood/fender and trunk/quarterpanel gaps, so they will easily be cleaned out by opening the hood or trunk
 
I don't. Remember, foam is flexible, and dependent on the hardness of the foam, it is going into that gap. That's how edges are burned, and really, it's not a big deal to work around edges. I would NEVER want to burn through a panel edge on a customers car.
 
When you say tape them off, what do you tape? Do you tape the edge of the panel you are working on, or the edge of the adjacent panel? If you tape the edge of the one you are working on, how do you polish the edges?
 
I tape across the gap, so the tape is on the edge of two panels. This area doesn't get compounded, but you'd never know as it's usually less than 1/4 inch. I remove the tape for the final polishing, so the edges do get polished. You still have to be careful about buffing the edges, even with a finishing polish and gentle pad.
 
SuperBee364 said:
I tape across the gap, so the tape is on the edge of two panels. This area doesn't get compounded, but you'd never know as it's usually less than 1/4 inch. I remove the tape for the final polishing, so the edges do get polished. You still have to be careful about buffing the edges, even with a finishing polish and gentle pad.
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Thanks alot for the clarification. I think that technique will help me alot. I need to get some thinner tape though. How do you keep the tape from rolling or balling up when the pad hits it? That is one of the issues I had during my first polishing attempts
 
That is just practice and experience...



Make sure the pad is rotating down the tape line, not across it. If you're pad is rotating towards the tape it will always ball or roll up.



Pad pressure point should be parallel to the tape...thats the only way I can think of putting it!
 
SuperBee364 said:
I tape across the gap, so the tape is on the edge of two panels. This area doesn't get compounded, but you'd never know as it's usually less than 1/4 inch. I remove the tape for the final polishing, so the edges do get polished. You still have to be careful about buffing the edges, even with a finishing polish and gentle pad.
Click to expand...





I do exactly this ^^^ and it works fine for me.
 
King Nothing said:
When you say tape them off, what do you tape? Do you tape the edge of the panel you are working on, or the edge of the adjacent panel? If you tape the edge of the one you are working on, how do you polish the edges?
Click to expand...



It just depends (don't you hate answers like that :chuckle: ).



If I'm doing very aggressive work I tape it with the tape going over onto the next panel, then I peel it off after I've finished the panel in question and retape. This goes quick and easy. And it seems that there's less chance of the tape getting pulled off/balled up.



Taping oh-so-carefully, where the tape goes exactly where it's needed and no farther, can be a PIA. Sometimes it's worth doing, but generally I'd rather do a lot of fast/easy taping even if I do go through a lot of tape and IPA/etc. (which I use to remove any tape residue). IME, it's this type of taping that's most readily disturbed by the pad too.



I do go back and do *something* to the taped areas, even if it's just a few passes with M105 by hand.
 
Slow and low rpm's with 3" or 4" pads. I strive for maximum control

and have to work very tight concave areas at times. Less than 1 inch.



SM Arnold 3.5" wool/synthetic blend was working nicely for a while.

But their velcro baking is terrible; comes off easily. I rip 'em out

and re-glue them with 3M Structural Adhesive. The advantage of this

pad is that it can be tilted 90 degrees.



P1000777.jpg




LC Purple...is just not aggressive enough to remove 2000 grit marks.

Not very durable either.

P1000762.jpg




Now, i'm using MICRO-SURFACE TufBuf Black Natural Lambswool

with a 3M 3" interface pad. Considerably better in just about every way.

Except being able to tilt 90 degrees. Still, the cut/finish is amazing at a very

low 600 rpm (there about). Panel gaps/edges are easily dealt with.
 
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