Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

[slow3v]

Hey fellas, I'll try to keep this short and simple. I've been a long-time user of Meguiars car care products, and recently I invested in a Porter Cable 7424XP and the Megs DA Microfiber Correction System.

I followed the instructions and washed the car with Megs Hyperwash, dried it and began by applying some to the pad and priming it. I set the PC to speed 4 which is about 4500-4800OPM from what I've read. I was a bit impatient, but I did a panel at a time rather than a 2x2 area at a time. I went over the each entire panel with some pretty firm pressure 2x, then lightly (the weight of the buffer) 2x. Then I wiped the stuff off with a microfiber. I used this process with the entire car, with the exception of splitting the roof up and doing one half at a time. Then I moved onto the wax, switched pads and lowered the speed of the buffer a bit to around 3300OPM is my best guess based on the setting (around setting 3). I waxed the car like usual, doing large portions at a time. It was a cool and cloudy day, around 50F so I knew the wax wasn't going to bake on. I cleaned the wax off, and noticed some panels (namely the hood, and the roof, among other random spots) had a VERY rough texture to them like the paint was FILTHY. BUT, the car LOOKED absolutely stunning.

SO, I clay barred the rough feeing panels and they were left babys bottom smooth. I noticed the color of the stuff on the clay-bar was a grayish blue like the color of the finishing wax! So, my question is, did I leave the wax on too long? (only about 5-10minutes, in the cool cloudy weather) Did I use too much speed/not enough pressure? OR, should I have clay-barred the entire car before polishing at all?

Im wondering if it's the latter, because I really wasn't sure of the paint condition as far as grit goes before polishing. I bought the car in Feb and I haven't had the chance to give it a good detail yet. This is my first time working with it, and I bought it used, so I have no idea how the prev. owner kept up on it.

Has anyone else experienced a gritty, grainy feeling after having used this kit? Thanks, any input would be greatly appreciated.

If anyone is interested, here is how it came out. Note that there is metallic flake in the paint (Tuxedo Black Metallic). Sorry for the cell phone pix.







Nick

[davey g-force]

Re: Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

Nice reflections!

That's a bit of a strange one, but it sounds to me like you may have used too much of the Finishing Wax.

FYI you will now need to re-wax any areas which you subsequently clayed, since that would have removed your wax..

[slow3v]

Re: Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

Nice reflections!

That's a bit of a strange one, but it sounds to me like you may have used too much of the Finishing Wax.

FYI you will now need to re-wax any areas which you subsequently clayed, since that would have removed your wax..

Thanks for the compliments! Maybe you are right, I'm not sure. I'm wondering why it would build up like that though, or make it feel grainy. Actually, you know what it felt just like? Overspray.

After I clayed, it felt really smooth and the bead up in todays rain was AMAZING so I'm not sure it removed all of the wax but what do I know. I don't doubt there is less protection though. Next nice weekend we have it'll definitely get rewaxed. Might clay the whole car and use my Autosport Carnauba wax. I think Weathertech makes it. I LOVE it. I just hate claying because I feel like no matter what, its going to leave swirl marks.

Just wondering though, is it necessary to clay before doing a polish job on any car with the correction compound? I thought corrective compounds took away the need to clay.

[davey g-force]

Re: Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

No, you should clay first to remove above-surface bonded contaminants (assuming it needs it - sounds like yours would).

Then compounding / polishing takes care of below-surface defects.

[EXECMOBILE]

Re: Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

Meguiars 5 step paint care cycle: http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...-Cycle-Updated!

Always wash then clay first. Then polish, protect and maintain.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

I was a bit impatient

And that was your downfall, entirely.

You bought the car in February and you're in New York. That car has been exposed to some fairly nasty stuff during that time and it was bound to have very noticeable above surface contaminants. While rushing into things the way you did will rarely cause any true damage, it can greatly diminish your results, which is what seems to have happened here.

The proper process when it comes to taking care of your paint finish is to wash and dry the car fully, using proper washing/drying techniques, and then inspecting the finish. Start out by simply touching the paint, either with your bare hand or with a sandwich bag over your hand, to check for the presence of above surface bonded contaminants. If the paint feels totally smooth then claying is not called for, but if it feels at all rough, claying is order. Now get some good light on the paint, either by pulling the car out into the sunlight, or by using a good swirl finder light like the Brinkmann Dual Xenon. Check for below surface defects like swirls, etch marks, etc. Removing these is where the DAMF System you have comes into play, or you could use Ultimate Compound, foam pads, or any of the wide variety of liquid paint cleaners on the market. But of these two correction processes, claying and paint cleaning, the claying should come first (if needed, of course) so as to eliminate all that crud on the surface before tackling the below surface issues. Failing to do so only compromises the efficiency of the compounding/paint cleaning step and can start to accumulate the crud in your pads and grind it into the paint. So that was your first mistake (but we suspect you already know that at this point!).

Now, as to the actual use of the DAMF System; kudos for following directions on the speed settings for each step - you'd be surprised how many people just crank the tool to max and have at it. It's also nice to see you took the time to prime the pad and, although you don't spell it out, hopefully just used 3 pea sized drops of product for each section you buffed. But it's the section size you buffed that is concerning. Doing full panels at a time can potentially cause a few issues:

• product could start drying out on you
• you will accumulate excess amounts of paint abraded from the surface
• the combination of the two can lead to clumping in the microfibers which can lead to pigtails in the paint
• working such large areas greatly diminishes the cutting efficiency of the product
• long duration buffing with little time between can lead to rapid heat build up at the pad/backing plate interface

One thing you did not mention that is critically important is the cleaning of the microfiber pad while compounding. This should be done after every section pass, not every panel. This is done to not just fluff up the fibers but to clean out the accumulation of both removed paint and spent product to avoid the clumping mentioned in the bullet points above. You should NEVER skip this step when using microfiber pads. Further, should you find you need more cut from the DAMF System, rather than turning up the speed of the tool you should instead shrink the work area to even smaller than 2' x 2' (hint, hint) and/or apply more pressure. Just keep in mind that although you can apply a crazy amount of pressure to the pad in this system and still maintain pad spin, you shouldn't have to get that aggressive. Doing so can and will lead to excessive heat at the pad/backing plate interface that can be detrimental to both. In fact, we have seen temperatures rise as high as 310 degrees F there during intentional punishment testing (a new record set just a couple of weeks ago by yours truly - not that I'm patting myself on the back, but still !!), and it only took a couple of minutes to make that happen. And yes, the pad was still spinning while torturing it. Common sense is your friend.

With regard to the grainy feeling you noticed following the DAMF process and the resulting color of the contaminants on your clay, we chalk that up to the bonded contaminants you failed to remove before compounding (even though that process would have removed some of those contaminants) and the color you saw isn't unusual at all. D301 DA Finishing Wax is probably the easiest wax in the world to use; it goes on like butter, dries very quickly and was designed to be a "single wipe" wipe off, meaning you only spend the absolute minimum time taking it off. There's just no way that D301 can leave a gritty feel on the paint, even if you applied it silly thick and let it dry all day. It might be a bit more difficult to remove if you did that (no longer a "single wipe" wipe off) but it won't leave the surface feeling gritty.

So, it appears lesson learned here. You may not have done things according to the book, but at least you now know that even deviating from proper practices isn't really going to cause any major problems. But we always tell people that they should slow down to work faster. That means that taking short cuts, or doing things that appear to be getting things done faster, doesn't always mean less time spent on the job. Quite the contrary, as incorrect processes can lead to doing steps over to correct a mistake, repeating steps to achieve the desired result, or taking a step backward and having to do a couple of steps over. For example, in your situation the fact that you clayed after waxing means you likely removed some or even most of the wax you applied. Remember, you waxed over all that crud on the paint which you then subsequently removed so in effect you negated at least part of that earlier step (or at the very least dramatically compromised its effectiveness).

While we fully understand your excitement at using this system for the first time (new car, it's black, this is a cool system - we'd be excited too!) we also applaud you for stating publicly that you let that excitement get the better of you. Again, no harm, no foul. It's a learning experience and now, hopefully, you'll get even better results the next time you work on this, or any other, vehicle.

[slow3v]

Re: Question about the Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System

Thanks for the very lengthy and informative reply! I DID indeed clean the pads before adding more compound (obviously I needed to add more for large panels like the hood, etc). I also did a 3 dollop or pea sized drop per application, or a thin swirl if the pad was still spinning. Again, thank you very much, this clears up a lot. When I do the lady's car ('09 Kia Rio in Silver) I'll definitely follow these instructions. My car came out so well, I feel like hers will be a piece of cake.

It should also be noted, the Fusions clearcoat seems to be VERY hard. Even after compounding, the paint had so much reflection and clarity, it appeared as if it wasn't dulled or marred at all.