Help, please...

[JCPMZR6]

Hello everyone, I just got a G110v2 DA along with W8004 and W9004 soft buff polish and finishing pads, I washed, dried and clay barred my car, then I used Ultimate Compound-- Scratch X-- Swirl X-- NXT 2. and I can see fine scratches and swirls in the paint. What Am I doing wrong? Do I need to use a different product from Meguiar of course. More pressure? a cutting pad? higher opm? I will really appreciate any help-info. I want to learn the basics of detailing before I even attemp to detail a Porsche Cayenne(black) and a 2010 kona blue stang. Here are a couple of pics before the detail w/ DA polisher. thanks......

[Murr1525]

Re: Help, please...

What settings were you running the machine on?

Did the paint appear clear after any of your steps?

This is why it is best to focus on a test spot, so you can be sure of what is going on, getting better/worse, etc, before doing the entire car.

[speed3blackmica]

Re: Help, please...

oh boy..there could be a ton of variables..your technique, speed, pad, product, hardness/softness of the paint, which i can probably answer, mazda paint tends to be rather on the soft side..it doesnt take much to get the defects out..often, swirl X is more than enough..r u using too much pressure that the pad doesnt turn ? the g110 is a clutched machine and if too much pressure is applied the pad stops spinning, it still oscilates, but wont spin..you should take a black sharpie and put a line on your pad to see always if its spinning or not..just explain to us more your technique and exactly how your using the g110v2 and we'll be able to help you out

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Help, please...

First off, using Utimate Compound, SwirlX and ScratchX 2.0 is probably overkill. Odds are that one of these alone will get you the results you're after. Hopefully you used different pads for each of these three products, and better still a couple of pads for each and you cleaned your pads regularly in the process. Pad cleanliness is really important when polishing paint.

Speed3's assumption of Mazda paint is probably accurate, but you never know. Given that, and since you already possess all three of these paint cleaners, we would suggest the following:

Start with SwirlX and a yellow polishing pad. Apply just a thin bead of product towards the outer edge of the pad, or just a thin "X" through the middle of the pad. Set the G110v2 to speed 5, place the pad firmly against the paint, and turn the tool on. Apply enough downward pressure to compress and deform the pad, but not enough to stop the pad from rotating. Now move the tool slowly over the paint, working an area no larger than about 2' x 2', max. Overlap your passes by 50% and work that area in up and down strokes, then side to side. Repeat this two or three times, really taking your time. When the product appears to be very thin and translucent on the surface, but still wet, you can stop and wipe off.

Before going any further, pull the car out into the sun and evaluate the finish very carefully. If it appears that you've gotten rid of virtually everything, but just a few random defects are still present, give the area a second pass with SwirlX. If it appears that not much correction has taken place at all, step up to the Ultimate Compound. Switch to a fresh polishing pad, but use it exactly as described above, but on an adjacent test spot. Evaluate the finish once again and then proceed with the process that yielded the best result.

Odds are you will not need to follow Ultimate Compound with anything other than your wax, but you might want to see how an area looks after following with SwirlX. But if you plan on using SwirlX as a follow up to UC, you may find that a more gentle approach works best in this scenario. Doing so will be similar to using a finishing polish after a compound when working with a rotary, where the finishing polish is used to refine the finish after the compound was used for heavier correction. This is usually the case when removing very severe defects, so in your case it may not apply. But it's certainly worth the two minutes it will take to experiment.

The most common mistakes people make when working with a D/A buffer are:

• too slow of a speed setting on the tool
• not enough pressure on the pad
• moving too quickly over the paint
• using too much product
• not buffing long enough in one area
• working too large an area at one time

Shrink your work area, and slow down your arm speed. Give the product and pad time to work an area and correct those defects.

[JCPMZR6]

Re: Help, please...

Thank you so much for the replies. I did clean the pads often but I think my mistake was tha I had the OPM at 2k-2.5 k will try new settins in a test spot as suggested, once again thank you for the replies. one more thing should I try using only swirl-x on the cayenne at 4-5h opm? I afraid I'll mess up the high end car, specially bein a black car, It looks beautiful as it is but, can't get the idea off my head that it can look much better.

[Murr1525]

Re: Help, please...

If you only have very fine marks left, you should not need a strong cleaner.

And then on a new 'project', you would start mild, and get stronger if needed.

[semi-retired]

Re: Help, please...

I am curious about buffing. I have watched competitor videos where one has to buff until product breaks down and then wipe off residue. How does one buff using Maguiar's products?