Pc Use W/dacp

[FryeBaby]

I am doing my wife's car a 97 Camry. This is my first time using my PC. It needs a good cleaning so I am starting with DACP with a Meg's 8000 pad. After I have done the hood, trunk and roof. There are horizonal scratches (very light) that I seem to have created, that look like swirl scratches but they are sideways on the hood and trunk. I put an X on the pad and spread it around and then I work it till it is gone at speed 5. It wipes away easy. Sometimes it seems to have little dried dots. The pad was new out of the bag. Is this normal and will I will clean these scratches when I go to the next step of #80 Speed Glaze? Am I doing something wrong? I work the PC slowly back and forth doing a quarter of the hood at a time. I was trying to remove some water spots also. The spots are diminished but still there. I am going to use a Meg's finishing pad for the #80. Any help would be appreciated because I am disappointed in my work. I will be finishing her car later this week. Thanks, Wes

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Wes,

These scratches, are they in straight lines? Like this,

____________________ (Or maybe have curves to them?)

I'm not sure what's taking place, but maybe this will provide some insight. When machine cleaning with the combination of products you listed, you'll often remove all the light scratches and other imperfection in the surface only to expose and highlight the deeper ones that remain. By removing all of the light swirls and scratches, anything that remains is deeper and will now stand out like a sore thumb.

Often times you will be better off to leave the deeper scratches behind and removing them requires removing more paint and this reduces your UV protection. If this car is a daily driver this is usually the norm, if it's a show car then some people will want to spend the time to remove even the deepest scratches.

At this point, I would suggest re-polishing the areas using a lighter cleaner/polish such as the M80 Speed Glaze using a fresh, clean/dedicated W-8006 foam pad for this product at the 5.0 setting. Work the product over the surface thoroughly using a slow arm speed with about 4-5 pounds of pressure over the head of the polisher. The foam pad should always be rotating. (You can put a black mark on the back of the foam pad to monitor this).

Then wipe off and inspect.

[FryeBaby]

Thanks Mike for the reply and the help. Yes the scratches are a straight line but they don't look very deep. I thought the DACP would take them out. I apply pressure to the PC at first then less pressure as I work it. I try to move the PC slowly across the area and then up and down. I am pretty sure I'm working it long enough but what will happen if you work it to long? Can that cause problems? The 8000 pad that I'm using is that a pad that should be used with a PC? The website that I purchased it at said that it was for PC or rotary but other sites I've been to say the 8 inch pads are just for rotary use. Thanks everyone for your help, Wes

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Wes,

You can use the 8" pads with the dual action polisher, but... it will not be very effective for removing defects at all. The reason is because you are spreading the pressure your are exerting, plus the cleaning action of the rotating and oscillation movement over to large of an area to remove small particles of paint, which is what you have to do in order to remove a defect that is below the surface.

Get yourself a couple of W-8006 foam polishing pads and then you'll start seeing some defect removal.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

The below diagram depicts the removal of paint to remove an etching, but the same hold true for removing swirls and scratches.

[FryeBaby]

Thanks Mike. I was wondering about the size of those pads. Would they be okay to use for applying NXT, AIO and maybe waxes or would they not do a good job on that also? Thanks for noticing my post at Autopia. I need all the help and knowledge I can soak up. I have alot to learn. I will buy the smaller pads and I think that will help. I am planning on DACP, #80, AIO and then #16. I thinks her car will look pretty good. Thanks, Wes