More Aggressive Than #83 DACP?

[Setec Astronomy]

I'm working on my scratched and seriously etched (bird and acid rain?) 14 yo GM clearcoat. DACP on 5 with a yellow pad sort of did something after several passes, went to a red pad and at least I could see a difference.

This paint is pretty much shot, I think, so I can live dangerously! I doing this mostly as an experiment; is there another Meguiar's product I can go to and then go back and clean it up with the DACP? I'm not interested in using a rotary, I just want to give it the best shot I can with my PC.

Sorry, no pics right now, hard to get one to really show the etching.

[oldmodman]

I had the same thought a couple of months ago so I bought a gallon of #84
I tried it using my PC at speed 6 with the 7000 series pad. It wasn't doing much work even at that speed. After polishing a very small area I would check to see if the surface was getting hot and it wasn't.
I am afraid that to get more aggresive than # 83 may require that you try using a rotary.
My choice was the Makita rotary. It took quite a few tries before I could use it without making a huge mess with polish fling, and even longer before I worked up the courage to up the speed. At first I was using it a about 1000rpm and even using the small 6" pads it was still hard to control. You will be surprised how LITTLE build is removed using #84, a lower speed, and the small pad.
I was learning on an old trunk lid and decided to burn through the paint on purpose to see how much it took to do it, and it took a lot! Until I went to 1800rpm and the big pad I could work over a fairly small area without hurting the paint at all. Start slow but don't be afraid to try the rotary.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Setec Astronomy,

Meguiar's doesn't recommend anything more aggressive than the #38 DACP for removing defects with the PC. If the #83/PC/W-8006 combo is not removing the defects, then the next step would be as oldmodman suggests, to either learn to use a rotary or have a professional use a rotary buffer.

If you're living dangerously, then this might be a good leaner car?

Mike

[Setec Astronomy]

I can't live too dangerously, this is my everyday car, so I can't burn the paint off the roof! But seriously, it still looks ok, shiny and reflective from a distance, but up close it is seriously etched (I know that sounds contradictory), and I have recently developed some haziness and white spots.

Mike, do you subscribe to the theory that the older a CC finish gets, the harder? Or is it just that #83 DACP/PC is really not that aggressive in body shop terms?

[Bill D]

Originally posted by Setec Astronomy
IMike, do you subscribe to the theory that the older a CC finish gets, the harder? Or is it just that #83 DACP/PC is really not that aggressive in body shop terms?

Mike, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this theory as well. My older car definitely will need a rotary if I truly want a flawless finish.

[Mike Phillips]

I use to hear people say that clear coats case-harden over time. But I've never heard that from a paint rep.

Fresh catalyzed clear coat paint hardens chemically and through solvent-evaporation. Most paints being sprayed at the body shop level dry hard enough to wet-sand, cut and buff the next day. So in 24 hours, they have set-up hard enough to sand.

They will harden even more over the next week, and fully in about 30/60/90 days. (Within this window of time depending upon the paint, the solvents and the climate).

After a paint has fully cured and set-up over this time, I don't know how much harder it can get. It can only get so hard, there is a limit to it's hardness.

So I don't' think that paint gets harder, and harder and harder over time.

Mike