How much product is left on paint after polishing?

[MichaelM]

In my quest to perfect my rotary usage I seem to be struggling with the final polishing step. I have every combination of speed/pad/pressure/and product I can think of and still have light swirling/marring of the paint in the form of buffer marks. I think my main concern is trying to determine the proper amount of product to use and what the produc looks like when the polishing is complete. Do I need to use ALOT of product and stop polishing while there is still a uniform layer of product left on the paint or do I buff untill there is no product is visible?

Obviously w/out seeing my technique it is hard to evaluate what I am doing incorrectly but some guidance would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting tired of hand polishing and using the DA as a last step, would like something faster. I'm sure getting a good workout though!

Thanks to all who reply!

[Mike Phillips]

I would recommend reading the below two threads in the Hot Topics because they discuss in detail working what can and what cannot be done with a rotary buffer as far as creating a swirl free finish.

Need HELP! - How to avoid holograms?

How to avoid swirls and holograms?

In the end, in order to guarantee a completely swirl free finish on a dark colored paint in bright lights, you're going to need to re-polish each panel either by hand or with a dual action polisher to insure any swirls induced by the direct drive circular contact between your pad and the paint is removed.

That, or use a coating or two of wax to insure any remaining holograms or swirls are eliminated.

Read the above two threads however, there is a lot of good information in them that would not be efficient to try to re-post into this thread.

Mike

[MichaelM]

Thanks for the info, Mike. Alot of good stuff in those threads.