Least aggressive scratch removal

[Evanekul61]

Either by hand or my porter cable da. What product is the least aggressive for removing minor scratches? Would you use porter cable da or bare hand?

[Mark58]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

Depends on what pads you have, but I would try Ultimate Polishing compound. Again depends what you consider minor scratches. You might want to move up to Ultimate compound.Lot depends on paint, color and pads.

[Evanekul61]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

03 corvette millennium yellow. Very clean 13k miles. I will purchase what ever it takes. New pads if we decide on the da. Or the correct pads to be used by hand. Which is the least aggressive. And product

[Mark58]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

Most aggressive to least aggressive -->

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?28407-Aggressiveness-Order-for-New-Consumer-Products-This-will-surprise-you!&highlight=product+agressive

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

We saw your other thread on this topic but are responding here since it's likely where the bulk of the discussion will not take place.

Don't get too hung up on finding the least aggressive approach. Yes, you don't need or want to go overly aggressive, but "the least aggressive" method isn't as simple as finding the least aggressive liquid and applicator. You can take that to an extreme and frustrate yourself to no end. Besides, even working by hand you can go through the clear coat if you aren't careful - we've seen it happen plenty of times.

You've got a high quality DA buffer, not just a toy, and we highly recommend you put that to good use here. You'll get a better overall finish, and in much less time. This bright yellow paint has huge potential and we'd like to see you maximize that - and we assume you'd like to do that, as well.

In your earlier thread you received a recommendation to fully decontaminate the finish first, and we agree with that. After washing and drying the car give it a clay treatment to remove all the bonded surface contaminants that washing won't remove. If this car was very well maintained in the past, and it sure sounds as looks as if that's the case, the contaminants may be fairly light. Obviously that would be a good thing but you still want that stuff gone before you start working on the below surface defects; swirls, scratches, etc.

Once that's done we would do a test spot with Ultimate Compound. Use it with a W8207 Soft Buff 2.0 yellow polishing pad (get a W68DA backing plate for these pads, by the way, as it will make a difference) and speed setting 5 on your DA. Use enough downward pressure on the pad to compress it a bit, but not so much that it stops rotating. And keep the pad very flat to the paint as uneven pressure will also stop rotation. Now move the tool slowly back and forth in overlapping strokes, covering an area no larger than about 2' x 2', then move up and down in overlapping strokes covering the same area. Do both directions twice for a total of 4 passes, then wipe off the excess product and evaluate the paint in really good light. Now, you should be seeing one of three things happening:

1. All the swirls are gone. Great! Now continue doing the same thing, section by section, to the whole vehicle.
2. Some, but not all, of the swirls are gone. OK, you're making progress. If the swirls are almost completely gone then you probably just need to do one more pass to remove the balance. If you only made a little progress then make sure you've not moving too quickly and that the pad is rotating, and that you're staying in a small area. Adjust as needed, and shrink the work are down to as little as 18" x 18" if need be. Your paint could be fairly hard and just requires a more aggressive approach, and a bit more time, to remove all the swirls
3. You've made no discernible progress at all. This is disheartening, when it happens. Either you've made a complete mess of your technique (doubtful) or you've got crazy hard paint (it happens) and so you need a much more aggressive approach. Remember, if you're not pulling out the swirl marks, you're really not taking off any paint to speak of, so don't be too concerned about that.

Odds are you're going to see either #1 or #2 above, so adjust accordingly. Remember to clean your pad often as you work your way around the car, and you should probably swap over to a fresh polishing pad halfway through the session. Once you've gotten the whole car corrected to your satisfaction, we'd suggest moving on to Ultimate Polish on a W9207 Soft Buff 2.0 black finishing pad. Drop the tool speed to 4, ease up a bit on the pressure, but stick with the same work area (2' x 2' should be fine now since you're not really pulling major defects any longer) and again wipe the product off before it dries. This should go a long way toward adding serious gloss and clarity to the paint prior to waxing. As an option in place of Ultimate Polish, M205 Ultra Finishing Polish could well take this up a notch again, but it is a good bit more expensive than UP. Read through D/A Buffing 101 - An Introduction to the G110v2 and similar tools for more info on this whole process.

At this point you should be ready for wax. Put a fresh W9207 finishing pad on the tool, drop the speed to 3, and now lay down a thin coat of wax to all the painted surfaces of the car. Allow it dry fully before wipe off. If you choose to go with Ultimate Wax we would suggest applying it to just one or two panels at a time and then wiping off rather than covering the whole car. But NXT 2.0, M21, Gold Class, etc are best when applied to the whole car and then allowed to dry fully.

[Evanekul61]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

Wow. That's good stuff. I will make copies. One other ? What site do you purchase this from. I believe you gave me all the numbers I need. What temperatures can this be done in.
Thanks.

[Evanekul61]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

What clay do you recommend?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

Given the condition of the car, mileage, etc we're willing to bet it's in pretty decent shape and the bonded contaminants aren't too bad. Stick with the Smooth Surface Clay Kit as it will give you not only the clay but also the Quik Detailer spray lubricant, a microfiber towel, and a nice little spray bottle of Ultimate Quik Wax.

Temperature wise we generally suggest working when ambient is above the 50~55F range but many have had good results when it's cooler than that. But things can become a bit unpredictable then, so just keep that in mind.

As for where to buy, is it safe to assume Grove City means Ohio? If so, you may be able to find everything at a local Advance Auto Parts as they're carrying the pads and some of the pro line items in several of their stores. Unfortunately those items are rarely found at other well known auto parts stores, so often they end up being online purchases. The most well known of those include (in alphabetical order) amazon.com, autodetailingsolutions.net, autogeek.net and detailing.com Down the line though when it comes time to replenish materials, all of the Ultimate line products can be found at major retailers near you, from all the major auto parts chains to WalMart and probably even a local independent shop.

[Mark58]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

Given the condition of the car, mileage, etc we're willing to bet it's in pretty decent shape and the bonded contaminants aren't too bad. Stick with the Smooth Surface Clay Kit as it will give you not only the clay but also the Quik Detailer spray lubricant, a microfiber towel, and a nice little spray bottle of Ultimate Quik Wax.

Temperature wise we generally suggest working when ambient is above the 50~55F range but many have had good results when it's cooler than that. But things can become a bit unpredictable then, so just keep that in mind.

As for where to buy, is it safe to assume Grove City means Ohio? If so, you may be able to find everything at a local Advance Auto Parts as they're carrying the pads and some of the pro line items in several of their stores. Unfortunately those items are rarely found at other well known auto parts stores, so often they end up being online purchases. The most well known of those include (in alphabetical order) amazon.com, autodetailingsolutions.net, autogeek.net and detailing.com Down the line though when it comes time to replenish materials, all of the Ultimate line products can be found at major retailers near you, from all the major auto parts chains to WalMart and probably even a local independent shop.

I also found out that some of your local Auto paint stores are carrying most of the products.

[Evanekul61]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

Thx online for me.

[Evanekul61]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

It was suggested above to clean pads regularly during the job and also swap out to a second one. What is the correct technique for cleaning your polishing pad during a detail job.

[Murr1525]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

For a foam pad and a DA buffer, you would take a MF or terry towel, and hold the towel in your hand. Then run the DA so the foam pad spins on the towel in your hand.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Least aggressive scratch removal

For a foam pad and a DA buffer, you would take a MF or terry towel, and hold the towel in your hand. Then run the DA so the foam pad spins on the towel in your hand.

We would add that you should very firmly compress the pad against that towel when running the buffer. This cleans off not only the surface of the pad, but it forces excess product out of the pad and into the towel.