Compound drying out?

[MTLian]

So I tried polishing the swirls out of my silver Honda. In broad daylight the swirls are basically invisible but under a street light they really stick out. I found out that sun glasses paired with the sun makes for a nice way for finding swirls. The sun glasses obviously prevent you from being blinded when trying to look for swirls.

As you should have gathered, I'm compounding in near direct sunlight. I'd love to have my own pro garage but unfortunately, that wasn't the hand I was dealt and I have to make do with compounding in limited shade. I'm using Ultimate Compound with a porter cable and orange Lake country pad and it's finishing out great! I'm a total newbie at machine polishing but I think my technique is pretty sound.

Before polishing, I've been spritzing my pad with my home brew clay lube (made with optimum no rinse). I've noticed a few times that my compound dried and made little pebbles, some even 2mm in diameter. I'm guessing that when the compound gets that dry, it has near 0 cutting efficiency. Obviously, it is the daylight and heat that is the culprit, not the quality of the product (which I think is great).

Is it perhaps a bad idea to use clay lube? Should I use just straight water? How do you guys recognize the signs that the compound is drying and needs some water to get it working again? Will water reduce the cutting ability of the compound by diluting it, or is it better to keep the pad/compound damp/hydrated to avoid it drying? Should I spritz a little water directly on my working area? Thanks in advance with any suggestions for working with UC!

P.S. I tried M205 with a blue jeweling pad, a white polishing and the orange pad with no success. Even UC on a white pad didn't offer the correction I wanted. I had to use my most aggressive pad and compound combo available (UC + orange pad). I guess my Honda has harder paint than I thought!

[Ghawk]

Re: Compound drying out?

You seem to have a very good grasp of the machine correction process and your technique and methods are spot on, however, the problem as you are well aware, is the fact you are polishing in the sun. I know you do not have any other options easily available as you stated, but see if you can bum some garage space from a friend or local mechanic, it makes paint correcting much more clinical and sterile. As when you do corrections out side, one runs the risk of introducing foreign contaminates to the pads, resulting in a higher risk to damage your paint when buffing. I have however done a couple one step corrections out side, but it is always under the shade, and wight the assistance of a bright led flashlight. (Even phone flashlights work fairly well, I've nearly worn mine out)

I know this is not new information, and as you said you can only see the swirls in direct sun, but that is the only recommendation I can give!
There are very differing opinions on the priming of pads with a QD or water, so I cannot site whether this could help!

I hope this helped, I think I rambled a bit more than was good but thats what happens when you're on vacation, talking bout detailing!

Griffith Hawk

[davey g-force]

Re: Compound drying out?

From your description, I think you may be using too much product and/or not cleaning your pad 'on the fly' frequently enough.

If it is indeed the compound drying out due to the heat, many have used a spritz of QD or water to hydrate things again. It does lower the cut a little, but not much..

[The Guz]

Re: Compound drying out?

I have seen mobile detailers use one of those EZ up tents. Maybe consider using one of those. It does sound like the heat is getting to you. These guys gave you a good tip to keep the product hydrated.

Check this video out. Kevin Brown shows a good way to season a microfiber pad and foam pad. Foam pad is around 10:40. This may also help you out. Also be sure to clean the pad regularly as you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3218456505&feature=iv&src_vid=BgCmrGMhvss&v=TUdnj4CVFmQ

[MTLian]

Re: Compound drying out?

The driveway I have is my only option so it's either buff there, or not at all so I'd rather the earlier. I'm sure an EZ tent is way over my budget which has already been used up by MF towels, tons of fluids, cleaners, sealants etc and a porter cable! The buffing I'm doing is getting the job done and I'm managing to keep the hood at a reasonable temperature so I think I'm ok. I will try and keep my pads cleaner, I think that's the reason of some of the little pebbles. I don't think I'm using too much product because often on my third time across, the compound is barely visible. I'm using 3 pea/marble sized dots per section of about 2 square feet. Some times I think I'm actually using too little product.

Thanks for the video link, I'll check that out.

What about water vs clay lube? Which do you recommend?

[jarred767]

Re: Compound drying out?

A little pure water can definitely help in this situation, just make sure not to use too much as the pad can start to gum up if you use too much. Cleaning the pad on the fly is hugely critical too. If you can, doing it in the early morning or evening when it's cooler should help, but I bet you already know that.

I personally love mixing 105/205 at a 50:50 ratio and using it with my Rupes, but you could do the same with UC/205 as the 205 really helps reduce the drying out/dusting and it may still be strong enough to remove your swirls. Just another option.

Good luck man.

[C8N]

Re: Compound drying out?

When polishing outdoors and in the sun, you need to be mindful of the surface temperature of the paint.
Little spritz of water will help and in addition, try stick to early morning and late evening hrs when the temp cools down a bit.

[MTLian]

Re: Compound drying out?

A little pure water can definitely help in this situation, just make sure not to use too much as the pad can start to gum up if you use too much. Cleaning the pad on the fly is hugely critical too. If you can, doing it in the early morning or evening when it's cooler should help, but I bet you already know that.

I personally love mixing 105/205 at a 50:50 ratio and using it with my Rupes, but you could do the same with UC/205 as the 205 really helps reduce the drying out/dusting and it may still be strong enough to remove your swirls. Just another option.

Good luck man.

thanks for the great suggestions. Will try pure water. M205 was definitely not strong enough in my case, even on an orange pad. I might eventually try to mix UC and M205 but I'm still trying to get the hang of UC first. Even UC left behind some very minute little scratches, I might even have to do 2 section passes on the UC to get a perfect surface...