3m Egg Pad and M09... on a trailer

[Motorsports-X]

So All i have at my disposal is a rotary buffer, and a 3m pad like this

http://www.autogeek.net/3m-double-ultrafine-pad.html

Im polishing a fairly oxided racecar trailer and its black. i removed all the decals already. so now i have to get it looking right. this is my first time with a rotary (1800rpm dewalt) ive always used Forced rotation polisher, but the dewalt is all i have right now.

I wasnt sure if the paint was single stage or powder coat so i went ahead and soaked it with 2-3 coats of M07. (its soaking right now actually) and the rag did turn quite black. not sure if its paint or oxidation but i figured it wouldnt hurt to put it on. i am sure that regardless of the type of paint its not clearcoated

anyways, im to the polishing phase now to get out the swirls and i remembered the 9 was also a mild cleaner with very little abrasion, but after reading some about 9 im wondering if i need to take it back and get 80.. or something else. there isnt much paint over the aluminum, so i have to go easy, so i like that 9 is DAT.

any suggestings for me? should i maybe go get a different foam pad? i do have a air powered DA but i wasn't trying to get into hearing all that noise honestly. LOL.


(edit) looking through supplies i do have some 3m machine polish as well.

[BillyJack]

Re: 3m Egg Pad and M09... on a trailer

I would exchange the M09 for some M80 if I could. I have and use both and I like M80 better for single stage paints. It's about 2 steps greater than M09 on a 1-10 aggressiveness chart. Usually, M09 is used as a second step to refine swirls on a previously-polished finish. Do a test spot and see how it goes with your pad. The 3M blue pad is a rather soft one and you may need something with a bit more cut. I've even used M80 with a wool pad on a rotary when doing an SS paint restoration. Since it's versatile, readily available and very inexpensive, you may also want to try some Ultimate compound.

Bill

[Motorsports-X]

Re: 3m Egg Pad and M09... on a trailer

So my buddy did 3 stages with 3m stuff and it gave it a deep dark shine. I did one step with the 09 and the blue pad and the shine definitely came back with a much easier clean up and only one step. Only difference is his side had far fewer swirl marks on it. Def need more cut but not as much as he had in 3 steps. Shining the led mag light on it and you can literally see the aluminum underneath. I'm going to step up to the black foam 3m pad and go for it. Neither of us are that worried about the swirls. The paints to thin. Just want the black to come back and it is. We are seriously considering base/clearing it next weekend since there are defects that nothing but a paint job can fix.

I must say that with the 09 and the rotary you have a very limited work time. Maybe it's just me but I tried to get it to go clear and everytime I did it just seemed to be ridiculously hard to get off.. Streaking and hazing and so forth.. Stopping with a light film left seemed to give good color and removal, but it takes very little work to get to that point. Almost so quick it seems like you had no time to do anything. I'm running the rotary between 800-1000 (variable trigger . hard to be precise.) I miss my rupes...


Another note for meguiars... I'm using uqd to remove the dried on 7 and I notice that when I'm spaying it on, a huge cloud of product is lost every spray.. Maybe a different atomization orphus would help? Maybe slighty larger droplet size? ( I actually have a patent pending for a atomizer right now so I've studied them a little bit) just a thought...