general detailing questions

[stangone50]

hey guys wondering about a couple of things ..
the first thing i asked about in a prior post but i didnt get a direct answer ..the color on my hatch wing has faded and i believe it may be the paint under the clear coat . the finish still feels smooth .the paint is called vibrant red clearcoat . in the sun its red but has an orange tint to it but in this area just seems to have lost the red .. heres a couple of pics . maybe some one with a trained eye for paint can tell what is wrong ..
Pictures by ponyboy30250 - Photobucket

also i have this black n decker buffer . just wondering if its any good . i used it once before was pretty easy to use . heres a link .
Black & Decker Power Tools

last just some basic stuff .
i went out and got every meguiars product i could find lol including ,
clay bar,quick detailer,cleaner wax,ultimate compound,scratchx,swirlx,colorx and nxt 2.0 wax, all foam pads and microfiber towels....is there a differance in the uc,swirlx and scratchx or is it just different strengths of stuff ??

the paint itself from 5 feet back looks pretty dam good imo but when you get up real close there are tons of tiny lines, scratches , swirls i dont know but they are everywhere . i tried the swirlx in one spot and it didnt seem to have any effect ..

now should i stay in the same spot using the weakest product to the strongest till i see it do something or should i work with the strongest to the weakest like how i listed them above ? would i use the colorx or the swirlx before the nxt ?OH how careful do i have to be with the ultimate compound , does it really work that fast ...

well sorry bout all the noob stuff lol thanks alot guys this forum is awesome . i ve been learning alot just by reading through the threads .. tryin to soak it all in lol

[Carfire]

Re: general detailing questions

Just so you know you can not have clickable links in your posts until you have reached 30 posts. Read the Forum Rules. Also watch the language.
As for the buffer- it is fine for applying wax, and for light polishing. Anything over that a Dual Action polisher is fine, like Meguiars Dual Action Polisher or Porter Cable 7424.
As for the wing I am thinking oxidation. So Ultimate Compound applied by hand should do the trick, either using a foam pad or microfiber pad, foam would be preferable.
Work strongest to weakest, but do a test spot first, with the least aggressive method.

[akimel]

Re: general detailing questions

hey guys wondering about a couple of things ..
the first thing i asked about in a prior post but i didnt get a direct answer ..the color on my hatch wing has faded and i believe it may be the paint under the clear coat . the finish still feels smooth .the paint is called vibrant red clearcoat . in the sun its red but has an orange tint to it but in this area just seems to have lost the red .. heres a couple of pics . maybe some one with a trained eye for paint can tell what is wrong ..
Pictures by ponyboy30250 - Photobucket

I'm curious to hear what others think about this, too. Hopefully the MOL experts will chime in soon.

What year is your car? Has it been repainted? Is the faded portion of the trunk made of the same material as the unfaded portion?

also i have this black n decker buffer . just wondering if its any good . i used it once before was pretty easy to use . heres a link .
Black & Decker Power Tools

The webpage does not show the picture of your particular model, but my guess is that it looks like the other two waxer/polishers shown on this page. Am I right? If yes, this puts your machine into the category of orbital buffers (see photos). If your machine is an orbital buffer, then it is good for the application and removal of waxes but not for much else. Read through this thread: Rotary vs DA Polisher vs Traditional Orbital Buffer. Consequently, if you truly want to remove swirls, scratches, and oxidation, you will need to do this by hand or invest in a dual action polisher, like the Meguiar's G110 or the Porter-Cable 7224. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I find hand polishing to be exhausting. I would recommend that you save your pennies and get yourself a G110 and appropriate pads.

Al

[Mike Phillips]

Re: general detailing questions

the first thing i asked about in a prior post but i didnt get a direct answer ..the color on my hatch wing has faded and i believe it may be the paint under the clear coat . the finish still feels smooth .the paint is called vibrant red clearcoat . in the sun its red but has an orange tint to it but in this area just seems to have lost the red .. heres a couple of pics . maybe some one with a trained eye for paint can tell what is wrong ..
Pictures by ponyboy30250 - Photobucket

Here's the revealing picture,





Looks like it could almost be both fading of the color coat and clear coat failure, hard to tell for sure without being there in person.

I looks like red paint under the clear has faded, but some forms of clear coat failure can also look milky like this, for example here's the beginning stages of clear coat failure from this thread,

The Clearcoat Failure Photo Archive





Here's how you can figure out if the damage can be undone, take any paint cleaner, hopefully something like Ultimate Compound, ScratchX 2.0 but anything will work. Rub about a 2-3 square inch area with the product and then wipe off and inspect, if a little rubbing improves it a little, then chances are more rubbing will make it more better. If a little rubbing didn't make it a little better, then more rubbing won't make it more better.

Chances are the component will need to be repainted.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: general detailing questions

hey

i tried the SwirlX in one spot and it didnt seem to have any effect ..

Mark out a section on a flat, horizontal surface like the hood or deck-lid, something you can look down on and also place the sun's reflection on easily.

Take the Ultimate Compound and using a foam applicator pad like the ones in the picture below, apply and spread out about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of UC to about a foot square area. If you use painters tape it will give you a strong demarcation line between before and after to better emphasize the difference, or lack there of, but it's optional.

Now after spreading the UC out over the entire area you're going to work so you have a nice film of product covering the area, begin working the product over and against the paint, put some firm pressure behind the pad but no so much your fingertip area starts putting scratches into the paint. Find a balance of firm pressure but not Hulk pressure.






Work that section for about a minute using a combination of overlapping circular motions and back-and-forth, straight-line motions.

Do rub too long as you should never rub to a dry buff. You should always have a wet film of product on the surface, doesn't have to be runny wet, the idea is a moist film towards the end of the process, not dry powder.

Wipe off the reside and inspect in good light. If you do a good job of working the product over the paint it should look better, even great. Then you have to judge or get a feel for how long you rubbed, how big of an area you rubbed to get great results then duplicate this over the entire car. You work small sections at a time and overlap each new section into the previous section as the goal is UMR, that is Uniform Material Removal.

That way you don't have sections that are swirl free with borders around them with swirls still in the paint. Overlap your sections. (You do this by hand or machine during the cleaning steps)

Assuming you dial in your technique and rub a clear coat paint out by hand and get great results, afterwards, you can either polish it with a lighter product or if it really looks good after the UC you can go straight to wax.

[stangone50]

Re: general detailing questions

hey sorry i didnt realize about the links and my language .. what did i say lol

the car is a 1993 . it has original paint 34000 miles always garaged and yes i believe it is a different material i think its fiberglass as opposed to the rest of the body panels ..
and it doesnt really look like any of those pics . to me those pics looks like its dull , peeling back and spotted .. mine just kinda blends in theres still gloss i wish that link would work there were a couple other pics .. anyway thanks fellas : o)

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: general detailing questions

hey sorry i didnt realize about the links and my language .. what did i say lol

Yeah, I've been trying to figure that one out myself...

[stangone50]

Re: general detailing questions

just a follow up post ..
so i clayed the stang for the first time this morning and it was as easy as everyone says . the process went very smooth and i did not run into any problems. i try to keep the car generally clean and its always in the garage so i only needed about half stick of clay .. one thing though i think the detailer attracts lots of dust cuz every 10 minutes i had to wipe it down ..
from there i put on a thin layer of cleaner wax using a foam pad , letting it dry as i type lol

after that i tested a trouble spot with stratchx and ultimate compound . the uc seemed to work a little better and faster so im going to use that next with a microfiber pad ..
im taking a couple pics of the progress but i cant post them just yet ..
ill keep this updated .. thanks for all the help guys

[Alex C.]

Re: general detailing questions

Make sure you re-wax whatever areas you use UC on. As the UC will remove the Cleaner Wax you just put down.

[stangone50]

Re: general detailing questions

Make sure you re-wax whatever areas you use UC on. As the UC will remove the Cleaner Wax you just put down.

yep i was gonna do swirlx or colorx after .. if the uc removes all my swirls im gonna just go with the color x ...

[stangone50]

Re: general detailing questions

well the uc seems to be working not as good as i had hoped it made the paint look clearer but theres still plenty of swirls and small scratches and they dont wanna come out lol ..

should i just keep going over it with the uc then go back with the scratchx to try to get out the scratches or am i gonna need a machine ?

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: general detailing questions

You're going to need a machine. A dual action polisher with polishing pads. You can stick with UC (will be way more effective with a DA) or you can elect to move up to M105. Since you already have the UC, I would definitely try that first.

[Eddie6th]

Re: general detailing questions

Just so you know you can not have clickable links in your posts until you have reached 30 posts. Read the Forum Rules. Also watch the language.
As for the buffer- it is fine for applying wax, and for light polishing. Anything over that a Dual Action polisher is fine, like Meguiars Dual Action Polisher or Porter Cable 7424.
As for the wing I am thinking oxidation. So Ultimate Compound applied by hand should do the trick, either using a foam pad or microfiber pad, foam would be preferable.
Work strongest to weakest, but do a test spot first, with the least aggressive method.

I havn't got round to using swirlX yet.Can't find it here.i keep reading conflicting stories from different users here.Some love swirlx and some don't seem to have much success.Possibly technique,effort(by hand9 or hardness of certain clear coats.What do you think?

[john m.]

Re: general detailing questions

Swirlx is a great product if you have minor swirls, I think the majority of the reasons people dont have the greatest success with it is becuase like you said technique but also because most people dont have moderate swirls and need a stronger product. Idk just my .02 lol