How to Spot Holograms

[RSnider]

I've just painstakingly gone over my entire car with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and a rotary buffer to remove the spider webs. Now I'm in the process of going over it with a random orbital buffer and UC to remove a few holograms. I want to make sure I've removed all the holograms before I apply a glaze and wax, but the sky is overcast so no sun . I was wondering what is a good light source for illuminating holograms? I've been working with two fluorescent lamps (crappy for holograms, I know) and an LED hand torch. The LED torch seems to do a decent job at lighting up the holograms, but it is time consuming because it doesn't offer much in terms of coverage. Has anyone had experience with holograms that don't know up under artificial lighting but became visible in sunlight? If so, what were the lighting conditions? Household remedies would be great because I'm not about to drive to the hardware store in a freshly polished and unwaxed car.

[J. A. Michaels]

A lot of us use a Brinkman dual xenon rechargeable. They do a excellent job of finding any paint defects.

[RSnider]

Another quick question: Is it necessary to wash after buffing before glazing?

[Fly Bye]

Another quick question: Is it necessary to wash after buffing before glazing?

I guess you could...depending on what type of polish/compound you're using, some products dust more than others. If it were me, I'd just dust everything real well with fresh MF's, then, if I had too, I'd use some instant detailer to refine everything, and I think it would be ok at that point to glaze it, or wax it

[yalerd]

The LED torch seems to do a decent job at lighting up the holograms, but it is time consuming because it doesn't offer much in terms of coverage.

Here is a tip. Instead of evaluating where holograms are present and you don't have good lighting (this is very time consuming), why don't you polish the entire car with the DA or Orbital and inspect the surface once you are done.

[Fly Bye]

polish the entire car with the DA or Orbital

[RSnider]

Here is a tip. Instead of evaluating where holograms are present and you don't have good lighting (this is very time consuming), why don't you polish the entire car with the DA or Orbital and inspect the surface once you are done.

I like to inspect the car as I work to prevent wasting time with an ineffective procedure or worse - instilling yet more holograms.

[yalerd]

With the DA you won't be instilling more holograms, if they are still present as you work then you'll need to tweak your process to remove them.

What I meant before is to work on a panel, could be a test spot, and if you can remove the remaining defects chances are that on the entire vehicle you'll remove it. You work on a panel, as you did on the test spot, and inspect once you are done with that panel.

[RSnider]

I picked up a 1000 W set of halogen lights, but I can't seem to find any holograms. I KNOW the holograms are there because I saw them under direct sunlight yesterday. For those that use halogen lights to check for swirl marks, how far from the vehicle do you place the lights and at what angle to the surface?

[Lasthope05]

Halogens will only reveal swirls and severe holograms. They will NOT show light/feint holograms you would normally only see in sunlight. Your best bet would be do either work in the sun, go over car with DA and a light polish or get a brinkmann.