Swirl and oxidation removal on G35 Sedan hood

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imported_Intermezzo

New member
If you plan on buying Charismas at the Fieldcrest Cannon outlet site or at one of their outlet stores, consider stopping by at your local Linens 'N Things store. The one in Burbank, CA is selling bath sized IRR Royal Velvets for 4.99 each. They aren't Charismas, but they seem soft and plush.



I think a lot of stores are trying to liquidate all the old RV's because apparently they are coming out with a new RV towel that is softer and plusher.
 
My local ROSS has first quality RV for the same price. They comes in batch. At one point 2 months ago they have like 20+ in one store. THen they are gone for like a week and then some more. Check it out too.



My personal favourite is the Wamsutta 100% Supima Cotton towel I got at Ross. I only managed to get 3 of them. $5.49 at Ross.

Ross also has some Charisma for $5.00 from time to time.



George.
 
So my buddy comes to me asking if im able to remove whatever is on his hood. So i check it out and there is tons of swirls and oxidation for being in the sun and just treated terribly(From Previous Owner). So i said sure no problem. Let me see what i can do. Swirls were heavy and oxidation wasnt too bad but clearly visible. So i washed the car, used some P21s, and water/alcohol to remove the old wax. Pulled out my Flex, White pads,Orange pads,M105 and finally M205. Didnt come out too bad. Still some light swirls and was wondering if if was doing something wrong or didnt put enough pressure on the flex. Oh also did i mention it was my first time buffing out swirls and such. But wanted to get your guys opinion to see if i can do better. Heres some pictures:

50/50
DSC00273.jpg


As you can see, there is still some light swirls on the left side that was worked on.
DSC00274.jpg


Final Product(sorry sun was going down so i couldnt get it on the hood)
DSC00275.jpg

DSC00276.jpg

DSC00277.jpg


As i said first time i did something like this so feel free to let me know what i did wrong. Willing to learn and do it the right way.
 
It doesn't look bad at all, but maybe better pictures would help. I would go over the area again with M105 with a orange pad and put some pressure ( more then you did before ) then use M205 with white pad. When you use the Black pad with M205 then you need to go very slowly during your passes.
 
You might also want to make sure that you are priming your pad properly. Put on a good amount of M105 and work it into the pad with your fingers. Once the pad is completely covered with polish wipe off excess with a MF. Then add 3 -4 dime sized dots of polish and spread it around a 2 x 2 area with the machine off. Then turn it on to speed 3 to spread it around. Once the polish is spread onto the polishing area, dial up the speed to 5-6 and make slow overlaping passes with a good amount of downward pressure. Work the product until you get the desired results. The biggest problem with using 105 for the first time is there is a learning curve. Work a small area before you move on so you know what works and how to proceed.

BTW, there was a big improvement over what you had before.:thumbup:
 
Thanks Barry. I will do this next time i see the car. Just afraid that i will go through and burn the clear. I do all of the work in a cool and enclosed area. But thanks a lot for the advice and how to. Will help out a lot with my future jobs.
 
SIDetailing said:
Thanks Barry. I will do this next time i see the car. Just afraid that i will go through and burn the clear. I do all of the work in a cool and enclosed area. But thanks a lot for the advice and how to. Will help out a lot with my future jobs.
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Don't worry to much about burning through the clear. A flex is a forced rotation DA, so it is much safer then a true rotary. Just keep the Flex moving in slow overlaping passes.

You will be fine.
 
SIDetailing said:
Awesome!! Thanks for the help. Any other advice you could give? Could i add more swirls if im doing it wrong.
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Unfortunately, adding swirls is all to easy!
Make sure that your pads and work surface are both clean. Clean pads often, or change pads. There are just so many things that can cause swirls.
 
I've been working on my wifes 2007 Infiniti G35... with black paint. We got it used after a 3 year lease, and I think the previous owner took it to every gas station car-wash he could find. He was probably an inspector for them, and had to hit at least one a day, based on all the swirls and holograms and such.

Anyway, I'm having the same problem of getting rid of all the scratches. After repeated rounds of M105 with orange pads, and finishing with M205 with white and finally black pads I still see some small scratches with my LED light.

Yes it's a ton better then what was there before, but not the level I'm going for.

I even tried the Menzerna 85R micro polish, by hand, but that didn't seem to do much for me either.
 
shizam1 said:
Anyway, I'm having the same problem of getting rid of all the scratches. After repeated rounds of M105 with orange pads, and finishing with M205 with white and finally black pads I still see some small scratches with my LED light.

I even tried the Menzerna 85R micro polish, by hand, but that didn't seem to do much for me either.
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Are you seeing scratches that are still there from before you began buffing or are you seeing micromaring?

If it is micromaring then you need to make sure you are working clean and try hitting it again with 205.

If it is still scratches from before you began then more than likely if they arent removed during the compounding step the following steps will not remove it. When compounding you have to make sure you level the paint all the way. The following steps mainly clear up some of the micromarring from the compounding step and enhance the finish. If you are still seeing some from before you buffed then those are obviously the deep defects and you have to determine if it is worth chasing or not.

Jon
 
PAR Detailing said:
Are you seeing scratches that are still there from before you began buffing or are you seeing micromaring?

If it is micromaring then you need to make sure you are working clean and try hitting it again with 205.

If it is still scratches from before you began then more than likely if they arent removed during the compounding step the following steps will not remove it. When compounding you have to make sure you level the paint all the way. The following steps mainly clear up some of the micromarring from the compounding step and enhance the finish. If you are still seeing some from before you buffed then those are obviously the deep defects and you have to determine if it is worth chasing or not.

Jon
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Very good advice from Jon.
Sometimes you have to know what you are capable of correcting. Don't keep trying for perfection if it is not obtainable. I would just try adding more pressure while you are compounding and polishing. MAke sure the work area is small about 2x2, and take your time.
 
PAR Detailing said:
Are you seeing scratches that are still there from before you began buffing or are you seeing micromaring?

If it is micromaring then you need to make sure you are working clean and try hitting it again with 205.

If it is still scratches from before you began then more than likely if they arent removed during the compounding step the following steps will not remove it. When compounding you have to make sure you level the paint all the way. The following steps mainly clear up some of the micromarring from the compounding step and enhance the finish. If you are still seeing some from before you buffed then those are obviously the deep defects and you have to determine if it is worth chasing or not.

Jon
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Wel, I thought I had gotten all the scratches out with the M105 and orange pad, and that's why I switched to M205 and white, and then tried to follow up with the M205 and black.

The scrathes look parallel and 2-3" long at least.

As far as keeping clean, I'm only doing one panel so far, and have used new/clean pads as far as I know.

One thing I haven't done is an IPA wipedown, so maybe I'll do another run with M105 on an orange pad, do a wipedown and I'll see something different.... Maybe those "scratches" I'm seeing are reside of the polish from when I removed it with a microfiber towel, but maybe didn't get it all.

I was finishing with Klasse AIO, which I assumed would remove any residue on the paint.
 
bmw5541 said:
Very good advice from Jon.
Sometimes you have to know what you are capable of correcting. Don't keep trying for perfection if it is not obtainable. I would just try adding more pressure while you are compounding and polishing. MAke sure the work area is small about 2x2, and take your time.
Click to expand...

Well, the scratches shouldn't be TOO deep, since I can't feel them with my fingernail.. I'm putting a bit of pressure on the initial passes, and then lightening up as I've read about. And it's taking me about an hour to do the trunk lid, so I'm definitely taking my time!

I'll play around some more this weekend, but seriously, my wife is going to kill me if I spend any more time out there.

I think I've told her about 5 times "Ok, this is the last thing I need to buy, with this I can get your paint smooth".

I have around 15-20 pads of different colors, bought the new meguiars machine, bought M105, M205, Menzerna 85R... bought that LED flashlight so I can see what affect all this is having... new microfiber towels...now I'm off to buy some Isopropyl Alcohol, distilled water, and a squirt bottle :)

I think I have a problem.
 
So the IPA wipedown did not make things happier :(

The trunk lid looks much better than the rest of the un-touched panels, but is still covered in swirls.

I saw another thread on here discussing the different types of paint defects, and it seems like what I have is random deep swirl marks, probably from machine car washes.

So I'll be going back to M105 and this time with a yellow pad.

I mean the thing is covered with them, and they just look like swirl marks, so they are not isolated deep scratches. If you didn't compare it to the other panels, you'd think no work was done, but once you compare you definitely notice a huge difference. So at least all my hours spent so far haven't been wasted!

I'm just operating on the principle that they CAN be removed without removing too much paint. Worst care, I remove all the paint, and then we get it repainted, and then the result is beautiful new paint! It's a win-win!

Maybe I'll take some pictures of the joy of buying a used black car ;)
 
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