I am not understanding this...

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by 96Lude
Mike,

I recall that when I was wiping off #83 after having polished that it was very difficult to remove.

Somewhat normal for this product, it works well for the intended purpose, that is to remove swirls and other below surface defects, but it can sometimes be gummy or sticky on the surface after buffing and difficult to wipe off. The most common mistake people make when doing any kind of buffing is to not clean their pad often enough. Next time you start with a new pad, note how M83 buffs and wipes off easy when you first start out, then as you buff for a while the buffing and wiping-off become more difficult. What changed? Answer: The pad became more saturated with product. Clean your pad often, as in after each pass with product and make sure to always start with a clean panel before applying more product and buffing.

If I am working indoors in a cool garage, is there a guideline that you can give me as to how long I should work in #83 in a 2ftx2ft area? I am running the Rotary at 1300rpm.

I never time myself and often times there's no clock to watch while buffing, I can make point to document this in the future but at this time the best method of knowing when to quit is to buff till only a sleight film is left on the surface. Just to also make note, it's the norm that most people overuse their product, try cleaning your pad, starting on a clean surface and use less product than you normally use.

When polishing with #83 it seems to disappear almost instantly and from previous posts it seems that it will appear to do this when in fact it really hasn't broken down yet.

You will see this when starting with a brand new pad, or a dry pad because the pad will absorb a lot of the fresh product, but once you have broken in the pad then you will start to see your product more easily on the surface. It's a balance of not too much, not too little, just the right amount and always working clean.

Another option that I haven't tried yet is using my PC 7424 to apply #83, however I am afraid this will be too gentle.

M83 with a W-8006 pad on the PC is actually fairly effective on all but the deepest scratches on hard paint, if this combo doesn't work however, then the next best option is to switch to a rotary buffer as you are doing.

You might try switching to M84 with a W-7006 cutting pad on the rotary for serious defects and then once the defects are removed, all you have to do is then remove the swirls and haze left behind by the compounding step; this is usually easier and faster then trying to remove defects with a less aggressive product. It's a combination I use all the time.