Hazy after polishing - and now I'm lost

[stevedun]

Hope I can get some suggestions on how to fix my issue before going any further. Bought my wife a new 2015 Nissan Altima about a month ago and have been waiting for some decent weather to really make it shine. Finally got up in the 60's this weekend so I got to work on it and now I've run into a problem. Here's what I have done so far. By the way the car is black and now I remember how good they look can look and also how it shows every flaw.

- Washed with Meguiars Gold Class wash - 2 buckets for wash & rinse and a good microfiber wash mitt. Everything great so far.
- Did the clay test and while smooth I did a small section with clay and I could tell a difference so I went ahead and clayed the whole car (using the Meguiar's clay kit) - all ok here as well - looking even better.
- Next step used Meguiar's Ultimate Polish (pre-waxing glaze) and here's where I ran into my problem. I pulled the car in the garage and did small areas by hand with a terry cloth applicator pad - wiping/removing with microfiber towels. In the garage the black is looking good and I'm feeling pretty proud. Next step is wax but I ran out of time so I planned on finishing the next day.
- Came out the next morning to get ready to wax. Car is in the sunlight and it looks hazy. It also looks like I got in a hurry (obviously I did) and wasn't removing all of the polish as I have splotches of polish in various places where I just didn't get it all off. But even where there isn't excess polish it is hazy at certain angles. Got a new microfiber towel and tried to remove excess and got most of it but still looks hazy and uneven. Got another microfiber and dampened it just a little and wiped down again between damp and dry microfiber. Still looks hazy. Tried some Quik Detailer with another clean microfiber and nothings working.
- At this point I don't want to do anything else until I can get some suggestions.
- Do I need to use another product to remove the polish and then reapply? Do I polish again and this time be more thorough?
- Any help/suggestions appreciated.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Hazy after polishing - and now I'm lost

We have a very strong feeling that this is where it all went sideways for you:

did small areas by hand with a terry cloth applicator pad

Cotton terry cloth may seem to be a nice, soft material for working on paint, but the reality is that all those cotton loops have a bit of "bite" to them, and that material in and of itself can cause fine marring. The softer the paint, the greater the chance of marring, and it's fairly common for Nissan's to have paint that is relatively soft. Our recommendation would be to go back over a small section using the same Ultimate Polish but a soft foam wax applicator pad instead of the terry cloth. Even with the foam pad it is critically important to distribute pressure as widely as possible and avoid, at all cost, using fingertip pressure. Finger tip pressure on a foam pad can result in cheetah spots in the paint, and that problem can actually be surprisingly deep and require a more aggressive process to remove.