Soft clears

S

Shawn F.

New member
I have a black 99 Lexus LS400 I am working on with a few panels that have been repainted. The car is absolutely covered in cobweb swirls, halos and scratches. It is a VERY soft paint and to finish it seems just as bad as BMW Jet Black. I am having to finish down with LC CCS Red pad and Optimum Finish Polish in order to get rid of buffer trails and fine swirls. Not even a black pad and finish polish or Ultrafina works...

Also I am using a QD to help get rid of the polish residue but even that on a ultra plush brand new MF towel and no pressure is scratching the paint tremendously. I finally had to walk away for the night to finish tomorrow but just curious as to what pad and polish techniques you guys use to finish on such a finicky paint such as this?



I am of course not new to this whole finicky soft clear deal and I really do not have much time into this process on the car yet but did mess around with a few pad and polish combos and seemed that the red and Optimum Finish is the only thing that rids of the swirls. A green and/or black LC pad with Finish polish does not even help and actually creates more buffer trails. I start at 1200 rpm on rotary then finish at 1000 with just the weight of the buffer (sorry I do not use a DA type polisher, I have learned on a rotary years ago and always started and finished with one). This is probably the 3rd car this year I have had with this soft of paint and every one took a different polish or step to finish swirl free. As for the residue wiping, I have not figured this one out completely but I do know on typical soft paints a QD and little pressure is needed to wipe it off without marring the paint.



Pretty much this thread is to get your guys' techniques and suggestions on finishing soft paint since this seems to be a pretty big topic and multiple threads asking similar questions.
 
With a finish like that, I'd leave the last step polish on and apply an LSP over it. Removal will be easier. I last time I used Optimum's Finish, it was not an easy product to remove so it is not helping in this case.



What LSPs do you have?
 
Thomas, usually after final polish I use chemical guys glaze with acrylic shine then opti seal then optimum spray wax. This is after an ipa wipedown of course... I actually tried hd polish on a black pad with no success. Maybe tomorrow I try it on the red pad? With hd polish I stayed at 1000 rpm, little to no pressure and 2 passes meaning side to side, up and down then side to side and up and down and done. I even tried just once thinking it was too much but no success. It's just a very very soft clear.
 
I don't recommend the menzerna. I am fairly certain that those two products feature abrasives that are sharply faced to deal with ceramic clears. in my years of experience with them from 2003 to 2009, I never had much success with them on soft paint, either got away with it eventually or it just kept marring it slightly



We do alot of black and other coloured lexus vehicles for the dealer (they actually pay well)

My go to product for soft paint is Xpert 1500 High Tech, it was made exclusively to correct soft paints and is my finishing polish of choice on all paints

its nearly as runny as milk



have done many older model black ones. beautiful paint on those cars, maybe in the top 2 or 3 of all OEM finishes for gloss

here's one I did last year with 1500 high tech

note: I did that car mostly with the Makita BO6030 3mm orbit throw random orbital and used Surbuf, Microfibre then four foams (buff and shine hex logic up to 100 ppi)



as for residue removal, microfibre bonnet on an RO like the PC is what I do sometimes. faster and safer removal. just keep the speed to low or medium not tops

though leaving the residue on is a good idea too.



Lexus outside the workshop after maintain detail #2 - YouTube
 
Shawn F. said:
Thomas, usually after final polish I use chemical guys glaze with acrylic shine then opti seal then optimum spray wax. This is after an ipa wipedown of course... I actually tried hd polish on a black pad with no success. Maybe tomorrow I try it on the red pad? With hd polish I stayed at 1000 rpm, little to no pressure and 2 passes meaning side to side, up and down then side to side and up and down and done. I even tried just once thinking it was too much but no success. It's just a very very soft clear.
Click to expand...



Shawn - if the clear is so soft, what you normally do is out the window. if you have CG glaze, use that after your last step polish. That will remove it. I used to use Ez Creme. I would top it with Opti seal or Clear seal, on a pc and my softest pad. Than once OC CS was dry, if there was any high spots I'd go over it with a clean red pad and and my pc at low speeds to get off. Walked away.



Hope that is helpful to you.
 
Thanks for the info here guys! Thomas, I like the finish of Optimum Finish Polish but it's WAY too hard to remove and this is a common issue with it. As for what I did to finish this car is I took some of your advice and used a polisher to remove the polish (Ultrafina, a life saver) then applied CG EZ Creme Glaze with the polisher as well and removed with an ultra plush MF towel with NO pressure. Then I did my typical Optimum Opti-Seal, etc. Black color would not stop getting onto ever pad and towel I had as if whoever repainted this car didn't clean their gun or cup of base coat and threw the clear in and sprayed it with base coat still in the gun... That or some hillbilly was dipping and spit in it...

I will post some pictures tomorrow of the car and again I appreciate the help! The HD Polish is great btw and I will post my review on it soon. I will say that I did switch and use the Orange LC Light Cutting pad and HD Polish for my first step followed with the red ccs pad and Ultrafina which finished off nicely.
 
Use a very soft foam (LC Black finishing pad) and a mildly aggressive polish (Menzerna SF 4000 – Super Finish (PO106FA) as this type of ‘paint’ easily shows surface marring etc
 
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