What Causes Holograms?

[GLOCKer]

I was watching "Chasing Classic Cars" when I saw a commercial for that new show "Bitchin' Rides." I was struck immediately by the truck they were featuring in the commercial about this ridiculous high end shop, a bronze colored Chevy hotrod, that had holograms from buffing all over it. It was clear as day on the TV.

So that got me wondering, as a person new to detailing their own car, what cause this?

[RDVT4ME]

Re: What Causes Holograms?

Poor technique with a rotary buffer will definitely cause this problem.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: What Causes Holograms?

Poor technique with a rotary buffer will definitely cause this problem.

In a nutshell, yes. But on some paints it's almost impossible to completely avoid holograms during the heavier cutting steps, and in some cases even when doing a final finishing polish. But generally speaking, when you see really bad holograms it's down to poor technique with a rotary.

That poor technique is usually running at too high a speed on the buffer, putting the pad at a steep angle to the paint, and moving the tool quickly across the paint surface. Poor technique can also include poorly maintained pads, as a dirty pad will quickly contribute to holograms in the paint. But some compounds are so aggressive that they, too, will contribute to the creation of holograms. The holograms themselves are a series of semicircular scratches inflicted by this combination of heavy cutting pads and liquids working together with a lot of speed and pad angle. They tend to be closely spaced and the pattern creates that wispy look that appears to be deeply 3 dimensional. Yes, any scratch is indeed 3 dimensional, but we've seen holograms that literally appear to run a foot or more deep into the paint, and obviously that isn't really possible. The crazy thing is, the exact same tool that created those holograms can be used to remove them...... if you know what you're doing.

Keep your pads clean, run the buffer at slower speeds, keep the pad flat against the paint, and use a high quality compound and you'll dramatically reduce the creation of holograms.

[GLOCKer]

Re: What Causes Holograms?

Thanks for the info! When I detailed my Mustang last month, I did it with a orbital buffer bought from Walmart. Not knowing what causes the hologram effect, but being aware of them, I was a little worried about doing it to my car. I'm thinking though that my little orbital buffer probably isn't going to be spinning fast enough to cause the effect.

I'm still surprised that a shop that builds such high end cars would let that truck on TV with the amount of holograms on it!

[BillE]

Re: What Causes Holograms?

Where Mike is referring to a 'rotary', think DeWalt or similar. Do a quickie 'Google' for rotary buffers

, that will show ya a pic of them.

The critter you have won't cause holograms.

Bill

[Don]

Re: What Causes Holograms?

Where Mike is referring to a 'rotary', think DeWalt or similar. Do a quickie 'Google' for rotary buffers

, that will show ya a pic of them.

The critter you have won't cause holograms.


Bill

^^What he said