Help PLEASE

[kraftdda]

I have been reading these forums most of the summer, this fall I decided to pull the plug and order some meguiars products for my boat and jet skis. I was impressed with the results that I got so I decided to get some products for my autos. I ordered from a reputable company and actually placed a phone call and talked to them first about what I was planning on detailing. The main cars that I will be dealing with are a 2005 chevy pickup, silver in color, the other is a 2007 GMC Yukon black in color. The company recommended M 80 and 21. I have a Flex ro machine. First I did the chevy pickup, I washed, clay, M 80 applied by Flex with orange flex pad, removed by hand with mf towel, then 21 applied by hand and removed by hand. This turned out really nice, so next came the GMC. Basically followed the same procedure. After the M 80 it seemed that the Yukon seemed to look somewhat worse than when I started. I keep going hoping that the 21 would make it all better. Well when it was all finished it looks worse than when I began with the M 80. It seems to have more swirls than before and somewhat of a cloudy haze on it. Tonight I have done a lot of reading and think that some of my problem may have been the orange pad and that I may not have worked in the product long enough. The M 80 was very hard to remove. I just returned from the garage and tried a white pad and worked it in until almost dry and it initially appears like it may have worked better. I only did a small area, but the M 80 came off much easier and it does appear to be less swirls now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I also have a question on the wheels on the GMC, they are factory 20" six spoke aluminum, what is the best approch for these, wash, clean, wax, or only wash and wax as I believe they are probably a "clear coated" wheel, and what are the best product to use for this. Thanks in advance.

[InfiniteDetail]

Re: Help PLEASE

Sounds like you are on the right track. I'm not sure if the Flex pads have the same color system as say the Lake Country pads, but if they do the Orange is too aggressive of a pad for 80. I'd use a blue, green, then white pad in that order (least aggressive to most aggressive).

If you use too much product it will gum up the pad and won't work very well. Also, if you don't work it long enough it will be difficult to remove. 2 or 3 pea sized drops on your pad are plenty. You should get 2 or 3 minutes of working time with M80.

Also, keep you pad clean! Search for an article on this forum called "Cleaning your pad on the fly". If the pad gets gummed up the polish won't break down and will be hard to remove.

As for the wheels, if they are painted then I use All Wheel Cleaner to wash them then follow up with a Meg's Cleaner Wax.

Good luck

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Help PLEASE

After the M 80 it seemed that the Yukon seemed to look somewhat worse than when I started. I keep going hoping that the 21 would make it all better. Well when it was all finished it looks worse than when I began with the M 80. It seems to have more swirls than before and somewhat of a cloudy haze on it.

One of the things we really try hard to teach people on this forum is the idea of doing a Test Spot, that it test out the products, pads and process you're thinking about using over the entire vehicle to just one small spot or section and make sure you can make that one small section look great before going over the entire car.

If you can't make one small spot look good you're not going to be able to make the entire vehicle look good and you'll be glad you have only worked on that one small spot.

There are many different paint systems on the market both at the manufacturing level and the refinishing level and what this means is what works great on one type of paint may not work great on a different type of pad. Thus the importance of doing a test spot.

I've been detailing cars for over 20 years and I ALWAYS do a test spot because I never know how a paint system is going to react until I work on it and a person never gets so good they can just "know" how a paint is going to react.

Besides your choice of pads, your tool, your technique and your product are huge factors and if M80 isn't working with this tool and pad you might try getting something less aggressive like maybe try some ColorX with a polishing pad to a Test Spot.

ColorX is inexpensive, easy to find and pretty much Bubba-proof, so maybe get some and first see if you can restore clarity to what you have right now. Then if you still want to go after any swirls and scratches not removed we can help you with this also but first lets get your paint clear and shiny first.

Tonight I have done a lot of reading and think that some of my problem may have been the orange pad and that I may not have worked in the product long enough.

Meguiar's doesn't recommend using cutting pads with DA Polisher for the exact reason and problem you're experiencing. It's not that they can't be used successfully with DA Polishers but it's when they don't work a person new to machine cleaning and polishing usually doesn't know how to recover and usually doesn't have a huge arsenal of other products to test to see if they can undo the damage.

On other forums you'll get guys posting one liner posts recommending you to using a cutting pad but no much more and if you run into problems you'll find real quick that most people are short copy writers and it can be hard to get reliable help that the poster will stand behind. So be careful who you take your advice from.

Check out this thread and look at the ugliness one detailer got after taking the advice from some other person on another forum.

Cutting Pads with the PC - Is this a good idea?