Leaf Stains

[punkguins]

Have a white car and 2 small leafs left a yellow/orange stain on my paint. I tried medium grade clay (no difference), bleach applied with a Q-Tip (no change), and orange Lake Country pad with a medium grade polish (Chem Guys V36). The pad/polish lightened it but didn't eliminate it. It now looks opaque as if it's just below the surface but it is there. I also used my Meguire's micro pad and the polish that came with that kit and that didn't help. SO, I am looking for any suggestions that might get rid of these 2 pesky leaf stains.

[The Guz]

Re: Leaf Stains

You may have to step up to a compound if a polish didn't do much. D300 and a microfiber cutting disk works great. If you have ultimate compound, you could try that with the orange lake country pad.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Leaf Stains

Staining from leaves is a below surface issue so claying won't do anything for it, as you've discovered. It sounds like you have our DA microfiber kit so give this a try:

• DMC5 cutting pad
• D300 Correction Compound
• fully prime the pad with D300 until the entire face of the pad is pink from the compound
• brush or blow out the excess
• add 3 pea sized drops of product to the pad
• set the DA to speed 4 (5 if it's a Porter Cable 7424)
• apply moderate pressure and work an area about 18" square surrounding the stain
• move the buffer slowly over this area in overlapping passes, moving side to side, then up and down
• repeat both directions twice
• wipe off the residue

That should take care of the issue. If it takes care of most of the issue but you still some remnants of the stain, give the area another pass after blowing out the pad and adding 3 more drops of product.

[punkguins]

Re: Leaf Stains

Mike, I'll try it later this week and report out. Just so I'm clear, I will use the correction compound that came in the kit (bottle is labelled D30016) but use a 5" microfiber (as opposed to the 6" that comes with the kit). Or, could I try your recipe with the 6"? I do have the Porter Cable 7424. One stain is on the front hood so it will be pretty easy. The other stain is on the roof towards the back edge so it's a very small, curved surface I have to work with.

[The Guz]

Re: Leaf Stains

Depends on the kit you want to get. The 5" or 6". Both kits come with everything you need. D300 is the compound and is used with the MF cutting disk. D301 is the finishing wax that will remove any hazing while leaving protection behind. The kit is designed as a two step system. You can follow D300 + MF with a polish such as ultimate polish or M205 on a foam polishing pad and finally the wax of your choice. You could also invest in D302 which is the polish for the DAMF system. This allows you stay entirely in the MF system.

[davey g-force]

Re: Leaf Stains

If you already have the 6" MF cutting pad, just try that. It will work just fine.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Leaf Stains

You can use the 6" microfiber discs that you have. I recommended the 5" only because I assumed you had the 5" kit, which is what you really should have for a typical DA buffer - that's how we designed the system.

[punkguins]

Re: Leaf Stains

I had time this afternoon to wash the car and follow Mike's steps. Initially, I squirted the D300 generously and smoothed it on the pad with my finger. I then used my microfiber cleaning brush to just lightly smooth it out. I ended up doing several passes but brushing the microfiber pad each time and then adding the 3 pea sized drops. I don't have a compressor, so brushing lightly was how I took care of excess.after each pass the pad would look matted so I would brush it thru before applying more D300.
I wasn't able to remove the stain and it doesn't appear to be much lighter than last week. Fortunately, only I can find them, but I was hoping to remove them.
Any recommendations but w/o harming the surrounding area?

[davey g-force]

Re: Leaf Stains

Hmm... the only thing I can think of is maybe it's your technique, or maybe you need to get more aggressive.

Perhaps it's a job for M100 with the Extra Cut MF pads. Or even wet sanding (which I wouldn't suggest you jump into yourself unless you're experienced).

*EDIT* Just had another thought: Before getting more aggressive, you should try repeating your above process again. Sometimes it takes two or three goes to get the more stubborn defects...

[punkguins]

Re: Leaf Stains

If I try it again, should I also increase the speed. I have the Porter Cable and was on 5.
Also, what's the next aggressive thing I could try in terms of polish and pad?

[The Guz]

Re: Leaf Stains

Try on speed 4 and slow your arm speed.

[The Guz]

Re: Leaf Stains

You could also take it to Irvine for one of the Thursday night classes.