rotery pad problem

[2000]

before I start this, let me say I am not saying I perfer the other brand, it's just the oppesite. megs pads are easier to control, and easier to get close to edges and such. now here's my problem, I did my black truck the other day, which I use halogens to see my swirls, a dewalt rotery set at 1000 , a megs polishing pad , and #82. when I got done I noticed some swirls in the sun, very far apart and long ,that didn't surprise me with it being black, so back into the garage. switched pad to megs finishing pad, #82, and a speed of 1000. looked awsome in the garage, no swirls under the halogens or floresets, but when I pulled it out in the sun there where micro swirls all over. I pulled my rotery outside just to do a test area and no matter what I did I still got the same results. I even tried the pc with a finishing pad and it help alot but still very small micro swirls (keep in mind I'm trying to achive the upper level of perfection, from 10 feet away it looks great.) I finally figured the common denominator was that I'm new to using megs pads so I got out my old finishing pad from high temp, which I think is made by lake county, just as a reference. I was able to remove the swirls. any ideas as to what I did wrong? as I stated earlier, the high temp pad likes to hop so it takes more controll to hold it flat, I want to leard the curve to use megs pads! I'm going to post a pic of the other pad (finishing) just as a comparision if anyone is filmilair with them. thanks in advance.

[Tim Lingor]

Hey 2000,

The long swirls are called holograms. With practice, you will be able to avoid getting them.

As to the swirls, a few things come to mind. First, do not buff #82 dry. Alway buff well but remove while still damp. Second, with a polish like #82, speed up the rotary to ~1300RPM. Third, prime the W-9006 Finishing Pad with #34 Final Inspection. Finally, move the buffer in a cross-hatch pattern, with the final passes following the direction of wind travel.

If all the above are being done, then the issues could be too much pressure on the pad. The W-9006 pad can, if it is too staurated with #82, can start to bounce. As such, people tend to apply too much downward preesure on the buffer. This in turn creates more heat, and more swirls.

Lastly, you can also try a W-8006 Polishing Pad. It may be that the W-9006 Finishing Pad and #82 is not aggressive enough to remove the swirls (the W-9006 pad is very mild).

I hope this helps! Please keep us posted!!

Tim

[2000]

Originally posted by 2hotford
Hey 2000,

The long swirls are called holograms. With practice, you will be able to avoid getting them.

As to the swirls, a few things come to mind. First, do not buff #82 dry. Alway buff well but remove while still damp. Second, with a polish like #82, speed up the rotary to ~1300RPM. Third, prime the W-9006 Finishing Pad with #34 Final Inspection. Finally, move the buffer in a cross-hatch pattern, with the final passes following the direction of wind travel.

If all the above are being done, then the issues could be too much pressure on the pad. The W-9006 pad can, if it is too staurated with #82, can start to bounce. As such, people tend to apply too much downward preesure on the buffer. This in turn creates more heat, and more swirls.

Lastly, you can also try a W-8006 Polishing Pad. It may be that the W-9006 Finishing Pad and #82 is not aggressive enough to remove the swirls (the W-9006 pad is very mild).

I hope this helps! Please keep us posted!!

Tim

thanks for replying........I don't believe you would call these long swirls halograms, aren't halograms where you could see the track of the buffer? these was more like random giant swirls they were here or there and largly spaced apart and when I said large I ment the scrach line within the swirl was long. I can rule out to much pressure as I was tring to bearly touch as i tested and the megs pad don't tend to bounce at all compared to the one I was using. lastly I can add that their was a large difference in the pads (going back and forth) from what I was ending up with. the polishing pad left the large random things and seemed to work alot better on the hood and top and not so well on the sides. the finishing pad made very, very small swrils, but much more in numbers. I really was shocked when I pulled it in the sun and saw all them because it looked great under all three types of light in the garage. I'll tryied the higher speed and it helped but didn't completly slove the problem. I do feel that my speed is slower than marked compared to my old black and decker, but I didn't want to push it so I only went up to 1800 once and backed back down , at that speed it seemed dry up the #82 way to fast. I'm wondering if maybe I didn't have enough #82 on the pad? I primed it (also did the #34 thing but it was final inspection) and was doing the bead pick up trick, when I use the old pad I can't seem to get the pad right and all I get is sling all over so I would just put #82 on the pad and smear it around and than start buffing.please be patiant with me, I want to get this down right with these pads.

[Mark McGuire]

Hey 2000, I always thought you kept that big be u ti ful truck of yours so nice with just a P\C. Now I find out you are also adept with the roto buffer.
Hope things are well. Keep up the good work.

[2000]

adept with the roto buffer............hardly, just to stupid to be scared of one. I uslly maintain with a pc but once in a wahile tha scates are to big so out comes the rotery. frist real job ( the level thats been shown on here) on black so I'm finding out that I'm not the hot shot I thought I was.
a tip for you...if you ever want to complane about white paint jobs work on black for awhile.

[Tim Lingor]

Hey 2000,

If the long wavy looking swirls can only be seen from certain angles under the sun, they are either holograms or like you say, buffer marks. If it is buffer marks, that tells me that the paint may have been worked too long and got hot. It also suggests that perhaps not enough product was being used. Try and avoid going over 1300 rpm with #82, as it does breakdown way too fast at the higher speed. Are you removing the #82 while still damp?

Here is a trick to try, spray the body panel with a light misting of #34 Final Inspection. Then lay your bead on the paint, pick it up with the buffer and continue buffing. Warning: you will get even more sling!

As for buffing pressure, start off with a fairly heavy pressure, and the begin to ease up as you work the product. I still think part of the problem is the amount of pressure. Too little and the pad does not apply enough aggressive bite to do the job. Too much all the time, or staying at the same pressure is just as bad.

As for the sling, we all get sling. In time when you get the hang of using the pick-up method, you will get very little. But even the very best rotary users get sling!!

Cheers!
Tim

[2000]

ok I'm confident that it's not halograms we're talking about (i should of took pics ) but as this case thats neither here nor there. can I use final detail for spraying the panel? or does the silicones interact wrong for what I'm doing? at this point I could give a rats tail about sling...I just want to look at perfection when I get that down, than I'll worry about how neat I am when I do it. baby steps with a big rotery. any guess on why the hood seemed to do better than the sides with the polishing pad? not saying that my presurre was right, but I was "paying attention" to starting with good pressure and backing off.

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

I would prefer to use #34 Final Inspection, but you can always try the Final Detail as well.

I wish I had some pics too as it is hard to suggest solutions without seeing the problem first hand.

As for the hood, that is hard to say. It could be that you moved the rotary a little slower. Sometimes on side panels it is easy to move the buffer too fast.

Keep at it, we will figure it out!!

Tim

[2000]

hey 2hotford,
what size pads do you use? would the smaller ones help with this or is that really have nothing to do with whats going on?

[Tim Lingor]

Hey 2000,

I prefer to use the 6.5" pads at least 90% of the time. The larger pads work very well but take more experience in using them.

Tim