My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

[Zuke]

Went well I think, Terry from MOL came over today with his Mazda and we tried out the UC. I have a doctors appt soon or we would still be working on the car, with the UC it seemed to removed enough dull paint to bring a LOT of shine back, the car had almost no reflection in some spots. I loved how the UC worked, but figured it would have helped with the swirls more. I will post pictures when my brother bring my camera back, but im curious as to why there was such a great turn out with the paint, but not the swirls via UC. Nice meeting you Terry!

Pics soon

[StockDC2]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

It was great meeting you too Cam! I can't wait for your brother to get back so I've decided to upload pics that I've had from before . Unfortunately, these are with my point-and-shoot and are pretty crappy.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

Quick note: we removed the clickable links to the images and instead created direct links so the images would display in your post, Terry. We don't allow clickable links during a member's initial 30 posts.



As to why the UC would bring up a shine but not remove swirls to the level you expected, it has almost everything to do with the fact that you're working on single stage white paint. In general - and this is speaking very broadly - single stage paint is easier to work with than a clear coat finish because it tends to be much softer. White is the exception to that rule, and it's a major exception. The pigment used in white paint is titanium dioxide, which is incredibly hard, so even though you were able to remove the upper layer of oxidation (which is what made the paint look dull) you struggled to level the healthy paint underneath. The healthy paint that holds the swirls.

We recently had a late '80s single stage white Firebird in the garage and experienced the exact same situation. Even working with a rotary buffer and foam cutting pad with M105 we had to spend a good deal of time working to eliminate the swirls. Gloss was almost nonexistent when we started, but that changed pretty quickly. Those swirls though - ugh.

[Eddie6th]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

Good luck with the work...It's a nice car.

[Zuke]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

It was tough to capture on camera the dullness of the paint before, but after the UC you could cleary see the shine start to come back.

Befores:





Afters:




I know see what people mean by single stage paint, but with white you can really see where greese and other dirt was trapped in the paint, the UC made all that go aways almost effortlessly.

Note there was some touch up paint on the trunk. I really feel bad I had such little time with Terry. Looks like I fractured my shoulder blade @ Warped Tour and had a Dr Appt. Swirls to be continued.

Also Mike Stoops, I have M105 but only a G110, You said you had a tough time even with the rotary? Do you think this paint will have a chance with the G110 /M105?

[Tuck91]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

You guys did a great job, nice work on white.

As for your G110 and M105, you never know what you can do until you try. But use the least aggressive method to get the job done be sure to do some test spots and then dial in your process.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

Also Mike Stoops, I have M105 but only a G110, You said you had a tough time even with the rotary? Do you think this paint will have a chance with the G110 /M105?

We may have had a tough time on the single stage white Firebird, but that is not the exact same paint you have on this Miata. Both single stage white, both with TiO2 pigment, but that doesn't mean they will be equally responsive - or combative! - to the same input. The defects on the Firebird were pretty horrible, and the car had been badly neglected for many, many years. It was also a few years older than this Miata, so there are still a lot of variables at play here.

Depending on how long you worked the Ultimate Compound the first time around, you may want to give that a second go before moving on to M105. We would recommend that you do two test spots on the hood - one with UC and another right next to it with M105. Give them a critical evaluation under harsh light and make a determination from there.

[Eddie6th]

Re: My 1st attempt with single stage paint..

big improvement