What am I doing wrong? Meguiar's Ultimate products

R

Reflection

New member
Hi,


 


I have a black car that I am working on and it was mascaraed in heavy swirls.


 


I used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with the Meguiar's DA polisher using their yellow polishing pad. Which I followed up with the Ultimate Polish and Ultimate liquid Wax.


 


I have compounded the car twice trying to get the paint perfect. The paint looks really shiny and fresh again, however if you look at the car under a light, you can still see some scratches and swirls. 


 


So I am just wondering if this is normal and if the car needs to be wet sanded in order to get the paint flawless. I am making sure to work the product in.


 


Any help would be really appreciated! 
 
Did you do a test spot?


 


How fast are you moving the machine (arm speed?)


 


What other pads do you have beside Meg's yellow?


 


UP is oil heavy... the finish could be a little worse than what you are seeing 'now'.  Have you performed any IPA wipedowns?


 


I wouldn't compound the vehicle again until you get a test spot 'worked out'.  (That's not an intended insult... you just want to maintain as much clear as you can at this point and there is no sense wasting time or film build until the process gets honed.)


 


I assume this is OEM paint?  
 
I tested a fender and I was happy with the results, but certain spots that were pretty bad like the hood, if you look closely with a light, you can still see some swirls.


 


I'm moving the DA slowly across the panels and I only have meguiar's yellow and black pad. 


 


I am new to detailing and still learning how to better my results. In fact, I just learned about IPA wipedowns from you. Seems like a vital thing I should be doing which I will start using.


 


It is OEM paint, never detailed once since they bought it over 5 years ago.
 
Hmmm... so no cutting pads.


 


Do you have a paint thickness gauge?


 


What is your timeframe with the vehicle?  You mentioned 'they'... are 'they' friends?  Or are 'they' customers?
 
Reflection- How many tries are you doing?  The UC isn't all that aggressive and even with more aggressive stuff it can take *many* attempts to do significant correction.  Sometimes you simply have to take off a lot of clear, which takes a lot of time/effort and leads to topics like Dellinger's query about whether you have an ETG.


 


Be aware that it can take a *LONG* time to do this stuff, and I don't mean just an hour per panel.


 


You have *MANY* incremental options between what you've already done and wetsanding (DO NOT WETSAND.  Period.  I'm not condescending when I say that you should leave that to people who are already familiar with/skilled at it.) and you should ramp up gradually.


 


I'm OK with compounds on gentle pads (like the Meg's yellow), but that thype of combo doesn't do much correction.


 


I'd try the UC with a MF Cutting Disk.  Do it right, which includes *LOTS* of pad-cleaning.  I generally like the MF Cutting Disks better than orange light-cut pads, but Meguiar's burgundy foam cutting pads can work quite well too (those are generally the only foam cutting pads I like/use/advocate).


 


Q: Why get it perfect?  Will it stay that way?  I don't see much point if it's just gonna get marred up again.  Just asking....
 
Hi guys, thanks for the great replies.


 


I am doing the car for my mechanic as a favor. This is just my first time using this equipment as well as working on such a damaged car. I'm used to using 3M's 3 stage polishing system on a rotary buffer at the shop I work at which gives me great results but I work on newer cars with lighter scratches and swirls. 


 


I don't need to get it perfect, I'm just wondering if I'm doing something wrong that I still see some swirls as this is my first time still seeing that amount after compounding and polishing. 


 


I guess what has happened here is the swirls in the paint were pretty deep and I have just removed the less major ones which was the majority of them?
 
If you 'feel' it is safe to proceed with another cutting step... I would:


 


Use UC again on the panels that you feel need to be refined more.  Speed 5, firm pressure (nothing crazy, just firm) and .5" a second, movement with the Megs D/A.  Keep feeling the surface... a D/A can elevate paint temps too.   Wipe down with an IPA solution, 2x.  Inspect with multiple light sources from multiple angles.  It may take several passes but you'll know that after the re-test spot inspection.  Once you have the passes necessary nailed down... then duplicate that on every section.


 


Then go with your finishing pad and UP with a lower speed and a faster arm speed to finish the re-compounded areas off.


 


The above is NOT going to serve you with 100% accuracy... as you know, you'll have to improvise and adjust your technique to how the paint is responding.


 


Best of luck.


-Gabe
 
Reflection- If you're used to using a rotary with something like the 3M PI-3000 system (I'm out of date on 3M's stuff, that's the last thing of theirs I've used), then what you're trying to do with a RO and the Meg's system is gonna be a *LOT* more gentle.  Whole different ballgame...
 
Accumulator said:
Reflection- If you're used to using a rotary with something like the 3M PI-3000 system (I'm out of date on 3M's stuff, that's the last thing of theirs I've used), then what you're trying to do with a RO and the Meg's system is gonna be a *LOT* more gentle.  Whole different ballgame...
Click to expand...


 


Accumulator is exactly right.  3m stuff on a rotary is gonna be quite different vs the D/A with the pads and Ultimate products you have.    
 
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