Why does my paint seem LSP ready after compounding?

D

Danny318

New member
The first time I compounded/polished/etc my car a few months ago, I noticed that after using OHC the finish seemed smooth and shiny, and then I used OP with orange pad and it looked pretty much the same. I never noticed any of this 'micromarring' stuff.



So today I had to repolish my hood because it got all water-etched somehow. I figured I'd try and go deep and used a yellow pad with HTEC and a little OHC. I worked it long, till it was done. and it looks freakin awesome. Clear reflection, nice and shiny, etc.

I left it like that for now because I dont even know what I am going to get out of doing OP w/ orange. I am going to finish tomorrow, but wnated to see what you all think.



BTW, the car is a 1995 BMW with avus blue paint. 142,000 miles too.



Any ideas?
 
By rotary, correctly worked, medium abrasive compounds can be made to finish down LSP ready - especially so on less sensitive (harder) paint finishes. I frequently get Farecla G3 to finish down LSP ready with no need to get out the G10 to follow it, same goes for Menz Power Gloss and I'm honing #84 down the same track... :)
 
Dave KG said:
By rotary, correctly worked, medium abrasive compounds can be made to finish down LSP ready - especially so on less sensitive (harder) paint finishes. I frequently get Farecla G3 to finish down LSP ready with no need to get out the G10 to follow it, same goes for Menz Power Gloss and I'm honing #84 down the same track... :)
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You can get power gloss to finish down LSP ready? How is that possible as big as the abrasives are in that product?
 
Put a piece of tape down the door to split it in half, pull out a finishing polish, and see if the paint isn't infinitely clearer under the halogens after using it.. I think you'll be surprised.



What are you using for lighting while polishing?
 
I've noticed the same thing - but it may have to do with technique, I compound with a rotary using the 600-900-1200-1500-900 speed method and with the products/pads I use, I don't see the need to go back over with a PC and some finer polish.
 
Hey Dan



The only way to tell is to look in the bright sun or use halogens and see if you see any holograms. If you think it can look better then hit it again with a finer polish on a finer pad to refine the finish you are trying to achieve.
 
WilliamHBonney said:
You can get power gloss to finish down LSP ready? How is that possible as big as the abrasives are in that product?
Click to expand...



The Power Gloss abrasives are also very brittle, so they can me made to break down very well with the rotary - it takes a fair amount of time, with regular spritzing of the pad with QD but it breaks down very effectively. Its a technique I developed for myself using Farecla G3 and getting it to break down LSP ready and transferred it to PG which seems to me to be a very similar style of polish - heavy abrasives and quite dry.



On hard paints, LSP ready from Power Gloss is possible - on softer more sensitive paints, its much harder to achieve.
 
Whoops, sorry. I AM USING A PC, no rotory.



Its possible even with a yellow pad?





Also, will OP with a white pad do anything, or does it really need an orange pad?





Thanks for all the replys
 
Also I have one of those 2 bulb 500 watt halogen work lights, but I really dont get how to use it. When I shine it at the paint eveyrthin just looks hidden, I cant see swirls and even some scratches that I can see when I look at the reflection of the florescent tubes that are on the cieling..

Anyone got a tutorial on how to shine lights at your car to make everything stand out?
 
sdat1333 said:
look at the reflection of the halogen bulb
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Yeah I do, but its always clear. How close should the light be to the car? I usually have to move it all around and at different angles to get it to light up the swirls and imperfections.





BTW I am polishing with OP and a white pad, and I think it is making things a little glossier and clearer. hard to tell tho. Oh well almost done, then time for poli-seal, collinite 476, then opti-seal. should be sweet.
 
Dave KG said:
The Power Gloss abrasives are also very brittle, so they can me made to break down very well with the rotary - it takes a fair amount of time, with regular spritzing of the pad with QD but it breaks down very effectively. Its a technique I developed for myself using Farecla G3 and getting it to break down LSP ready and transferred it to PG which seems to me to be a very similar style of polish - heavy abrasives and quite dry.



On hard paints, LSP ready from Power Gloss is possible - on softer more sensitive paints, its much harder to achieve.
Click to expand...

Very interesting, I never could get good results out of PG certainly not to LSP ready.
 
Danny318 said:
Anyone got a tutorial on how to shine lights at your car to make everything stand out?
Click to expand...



Not Good..

shine006.jpg




Good...

shine004.jpg




Done...

shine003.jpg
 
tape your edges and check to see if the paint is hazy or cloudy looking compared to the taped sections. The eye can get tricked into thinking that the paint looks good when in fact following up with a finishing polish will take it to the next level. You won't know without a comparison point.
 
Just for the record, I used Menz SIP on my arctic silver '98 328i with a yellow lake country pad on a PC and it looked pretty good to me. There were some deeper scratches that I wasn't able to work out, but I didn't have any micromarring issues.
 
I have used both a single 600 Watt halogen lamp, standard incandescent, as well as a fluorescent overhead to examine my paint and I generally find defects more with the halogen. That said, none of these seem to really show me all the scratches and swirls unless I use a small LED flashlight held close to the surface about 1 - 2 feet away. What I do is hover around the paint surface while moving the flashlight head in small circles so the angle of light hitting the paint varies as I'm passing over. I seem to find all the small defects this way.



But hey, I'm just newbie. Take it with a grain of salt.
 
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