Still swirls?

[Wolf-Strong]

I have a 1990 Nissan Maxima with a Pearl (CHO) paint.

The swirls on the car have always bugged me, so I went ahead and got a PC, #80, #83 with the 6.5" Polishing pads. Problem is, after lots of work, there are still swirls left in the paint. Im starting to wonder if my paint is too hard or what.

Wash/clay/polish/wax was my working order...and while there are swirls, the paint still shines and is smooth as glass.

Did setting 5; worked it in horizontally doing a half pass over the previous layer. These are pictures of after I just gave up, waxed it, and called it a day. Advice please?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Still swirls?

Getting good results with the G100/PC, requires you're doing everything just right, most people get just one thing wrong and then we see posts like yours.

Let's run down the basics.... hang on a second...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Still swirls?

From this thread,

G-100 and Technique

• working too large an area (as noted, a 2' x 2' area is recommended)
• not working the product long enough (let those diminishing abrasives, uh, diminish)
• working the product too long (don't let the product dry up on the paint)
• using the wrong speed on the machine (basically 5 to polish, 3 to apply wax or sealant, 5 to remove wax or sealant)
• moving the machine too fast over the paint (don't try to keep up with the "sound" of the machine, take your time and move s-l-o-w-l-y)
• not using enough pressure on the machine (the PC is great, but you still gotta do some work! xlbs of pressure can be hard to judge, but you should see some good compression on the pad, but not enough to slow the machine down)
• using the wrong pad/chemical combo (don't apply 80 with a maroon cutting pad, don't buff off NXT with a bare polishing pad, etc)

There are several variables to consider when polishing with a PC, but once you learn the proper technique you can accomplish some great stuff with one. At least the thing is safe enough that if you do screw up it's rare that you'll do any serious damage. Just don't drop it on the hood of your car!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Still swirls?

How far is Del Mar from Irvine?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Still swirls?

Some of the most common mistakes are,

Working to large of an area, try only carving out about a 16" square area and try to make just this one section look good on the hood.

Moving the polisher to fast, when you're removing swirls, you need to move the polisher very slowly.

Too low of a speed setting - Make sure you're on the 5.0 setting

Too little pressure, push down on the head of the polisher with around 10-15 pounds of pressure, but the pad should be rotating, if it's not rotating the reduce pressure. Make sure you're holding the pad flat against the finish, if you put pressure on an edge you can stop the rotating action.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Still swirls?

Mapquest shows,

1 hour, 8 minutes Total Est. Distance: 66.39 miles


Perhaps sometime in the near future you can attend one of our Saturday classes?

[mdbluebrd]

Re: Still swirls?

Some of the most common mistakes are,

Moving the polisher to fast, when you're removing swirls, you need to move the polisher very slowly.

How would you define "very slowly". I'm guessing that moving 6" (roughly the width of the pad) every 2-3 seconds is slow, but that's strictly my perception of what slow is and may be totally different from yours.

[Whelan]

Re: Still swirls?

To me moving very slowly with the 83 worked best. My paint looked just like yours with the swirls and webs and its black too! When I say very slowly I mean just like bluebird does. 6" every 2-3 seconds. That is with applying a solid 15-20lbs of pressure and working a small area. I usually would mark the area off as in when the pad was put back to the surface I would turn it on and square off the area quick, then do my passes. I did 2 up and downs and 2 side to sides. That usually was good enough to ensure good application and breakdown as well as easy removal with a microfiber.

I must say that my hatch looked the worst and actually took a good solid 2-3 applications to really get the marks gone.

[Wolf-Strong]

Re: Still swirls?

I definatly agree that my technique was wrong, and I think I know what I did wrong. I definatly want to attend one of those Saterday classes sometime in the near future though if the drive is only a hour long!

I will try again in a few days, make sure I have the right pressure and such Thanks!

[pcfxer]

Re: Still swirls?

Assuming the surface is prepped appropriately, you should be able to move even slower than 6" every two seconds. I like to let the G-100 "walk" me along the surface. There is a tendency for the G-100 to want to move about one inch or so every few oscillations, simply guide it and take care to apply the right pressure and angle (none) of the pad.

[Detaillab]

Re: Still swirls?

keep in mind as well that you may need more than one pass to get a perfect finish.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Still swirls?

Del Mar to Meguiar's will actually be closer to just 45 minutes on a Saturday morning. I drive past Del Mar all the time on my way to see clients in San Diego - piece of cake. Wolf-Strong, even if the drive was 2 hours it would be well worth it. I had much the same issue as you on my first attempt with the DA polisher and one session with Mike Phillips at Meguiar's and I was well on my way to achieving great results. Now I'm totally hooked.

I highly recommend it.

[Detaillab]

Re: Still swirls?

I drove 400+ and it was worth it, so you had better go!

[Sergei]

Re: Still swirls?

The rule of thumb I have used is about 1" per second (a 12x12 section should take 12 seconds for each pass up/down or side/side). Use 50% overlapping passes and change direction each pass (north/south, then east/west). By doing a test spot, you can determine how many applications of M80 (or M83) you need while using a certain pad. You may need to do 2 to 3 applications of M80/M83 to get rid of the swirls. The test spot will indicate to you what you need to do - before attacking the whole car.

[Wolf-Strong]

Re: Still swirls?

Wow thank you for the replies! I've been hammered down busy lately so I haven't gotten a chance to try again. Next week though I am on it.