da polisher and swirls

[magicman22]

Hello all,

Well after working with my new da polisher I feel that I have gotten the process down pretty good. I am trying to get swirls out of a black mustang (imagine that...swirls on a black car!)

Anyway I only have #80 speed glaze at this point and have only attempted the hood. I notice very little change. (sorry no pics). I am assuming my next step is to go to #83 and give that a try.

What I am wondering is: When using the da polisher and removing defects from paint I am essentially removing a very thin layer of paint...so would the pad that I am using take on the tint of my black paint? I vaguely remember when doing the the 3 step deep crystal system by hand that by the time I was done it seemed all of my applicators had been stained the color of my car.

My pad on my da polisher is staying the original color. Is this normal or will it take on the color of the paint job?

[Murr1525]

Re: da polisher and swirls

Well, if the paint was dirty, the pads can turn gray/black/brown. Or if the paint is single stage, or a tinted clear, the pads could turn a gray/black. A clean clear coat will stay clear.

As far as the swirls, the first question of course is are you using #80 correctly? Adding a bit of pressure, but making sure the pad is still spinning? Working in several directions over a small area until the product is a bit of a greasy color?

[magicman22]

Re: da polisher and swirls

I have kept the paint in good condition except for the swirls so I just washed the car first and dried. Then I used #80 and did small sections of the hood at a time. I did slow arm speed overlapping each stroke. Went back on forth and then went the opposite direction. If it still wasn't ready to be removed I went a third directions (criss cross). I applied the approximate pressure recommended by mike in his removing swirls article. I did not put marks on the pad to help ensure it was rotating but I did have a meguiars part number sticker on the back of the backing plate that I could watch to make sure it was still spinning. When breaking down the compound I used enough pressure to let the sticker slowly rotate and as then when the compound was almost completely broke down I applied less pressure and allowed it to rotate slightly more to help with the polishing at that point.

After that process my hood shows very little improvement with the swirls. Does my above technique sound correct or do you have any suggestions? Thanks