Brand new and can't wait

[bobangles]

I have a 98 GMC Sierra P/U that has moderate swirl damage, water stains, and other assorted imperfections. It is dark maroon and really has the potential to pop.

I have been studying the threads and reading and watching everything I can to pick up how to take my detailing beyond hand applying wax.

I have a DA 7424, the pads and just about every product Meguiars makes. Today I could take it no longer and tried a couple of test spots . . . despite the brisk 34 degrees. -if I wait for balmy weather in SD I will die of old age.

I washed the vehicle and clayed the area's I intended to test. I used a light cutting pad with #2, followed by #82, #7, and NXT wax.

I will admit I lost my nerve. You guys make it look so easy on the videos and your before and after pictures are stunning. After a couple of minutes the product was turning to a whitish haze that looked like powder. I was afraid I was dry buffing the finish. The #2 did not wipe off particularly easy.

When done, there was a noticable improvement on the test areas, but the swirls were still present. The water marks appeared gone.

Did I pull the trigger too early. Should I stay working in the product longer? Was it too cold for the prduct to work effectively? Do I go with a more aggressive product (#83)?

I know, so many questons, but the thread inhabitants look patient and I know you can help. I would love to go to one of your classes. Any chance you are coming to SD?

bg

[9C1 MAN]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

welcome to mol Bobangles

[soonercivic]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

We meet again Mr Bobangles.....

Welcome!

First off the cutting pad isn't really intended for the PC but sometime it works great. Meguiars suggests using a W8006 pad.

It was about 50 degrees here saturday and the product became difficult to remove, that would possibly also explain the dusting your getting. Now make sure you are working a relatively small area about 2x2. Work the products until they start to haze, sort of like a wax would haze as it dries, then you have broken down the abrasives and need to wipe off and examine your work.

Always use the least aggressive product to get the job done, I suggest #80 though, its harsher than #82 but it would most likely cure whatever problems your having. If #80 still isn't enough, then step it up to #83 followed by #80, then #7 and wax.

I can't get them to come to OKC so I doubt they are coming to SD anytime soon.

[BlueZero]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

Welcome to MOL! Cant wait to see some photos. Might be that it was too cold out. I have never used #2 before, but you might want to pick up some #80. It is pretty easy to work with. And dont worry, in no time at all you will get the hang of it.

[Sydster]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

Welcome to MOL!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

HI Bob,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

I have a 98 GMC Sierra P/U that has moderate swirl damage, water stains, and other assorted imperfections. It is dark maroon and really has the potential to pop.

Your 9 year old truck should have a clear coat if it still has the factory finish, so just to keep everyone on the same page we're trying to remove the defects and restore clarity to the clear coat, that's how you make any clear coat finish 'pop'

I have a DA 7424, the pads

When you say "the pads" do you mean Meguiar's pads or some other brand of pads that came with your polisher where you bought it? Meguiar's doesn't recommend using cutting pads to apply chemicals and many of our competitors sell and recommend cutting pads when they sell the PC and once in a while people get into trouble when using these pads an taking advice from these other places and then we help them recover on this forum.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

I

despite the brisk 34 degrees. -if I wait for balmy weather in SD I will die of old age.

The best surface temperature range for applying cleaners, polishes, and protectants is approximately 60 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. More importantly, the surface does not feel warm or hot to the touch.

Basically, when you're working within this temperature range, it's not too cold, and it's not too warm to realize exceptional results from just about any Meguiar's product.

Meguiar's products will work easily within a much broader temperature range, such as, 50 degrees to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but guaranteed best results will be achieved in the 60 degrees to 80 degrees range.


We could trouble shoot some other issues you brought up in your post but the temperature factor is the first ting that jumps out as the cause of the problems. Is there any way you can get your truck into a warm, enclosed location?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

I washed the vehicle and clayed the area's I intended to test. I used a light cutting pad with #2, followed by #82, #7, and NXT wax.

We don't make a light cutting pad, we make a cutting pad, a polishing pad and a finishing pad. Cutting pads then to scour paint when used with a PC. They will remove defects, (remove paint), but if they leave finish hazy then it kind of defeats the purpose of trying to make the paint look good.

After a couple of minutes the product was turning to a whitish haze that looked like powder. I was afraid I was dry buffing the finish. The #2 did not wipe off particularly easy.

When done, there was a noticeable improvement on the test areas, but the swirls were still present. The water marks appeared gone.

Did I pull the trigger too early. Should I stay working in the product longer? Was it too cold for the product to work effectively? Do I go with a more aggressive product (#83)?

This sounds like you buffed too long or the temperature caused problems...

After a couple of minutes the product was turning to a whitish haze that looked like powder.

Never buff to a dry buff, when you buff to a dry buff you loose lubricity and increase the potential for hazing.


How large was your test spot?

Did you just do the test spot or did you do the entire truck?

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

Hope you can wait a little longer to try your work again, good luck.

[bobangles]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

I knew I came the right place. Thanks for the warm welcome and information.

I suspect the temperature was the main cause for my trouble. I knew it was a clue when my fingers turned blue while I was washing the truck. I guess I will have to let the temperature catch up with my ambitions!

Mike - I was using "lake county" pads with the DA, but I have Meguiars pads on order so we will be talking apples and apples. I did three test areas, each about 2'X2'. There was enough improvement that I am excited about things to come once I get the technique down.

The Meguiars DVD for dummies comes tomorrow so it will help me cool my heels while I obsess about what could be. I have #80, but honestly there is such a range of numbers with seemingly similar qualities that it does get a tad confusing.

Bob

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

I suspect the temperature was the main cause for my trouble. I knew it was a clue when my fingers turned blue while I was washing the truck. I guess I will have to let the temperature catch up with my ambitions!

Yes, working when it gets a little warmer will help a lot.

Mike - I was using "lake county" pads with the DA, but I have Meguiar's pads on order so we will be talking apples and apples. I did three test areas, each about 2'X2'. There was enough improvement that I am excited about things to come once I get the technique down.

#2 isnt' quite as wet as a product like M80 Speed Glaze, it works great but the M80 Speed Glaze definitively give you more play time and is easier to use overall.

Lake Country offers a lot of pads and quite frankly some of their pads like the Variable Contact pad just don't make sense, having the outside edges touch first can sound like a good idea, (holds the product inside the pad), but in reality if you only apply a light pressure then only the outside edge make contact with the paint and in order to make the entire pad make contact you have to push hard enough that you rob the PC of all it's power.

Cutting pads will be more abrasive but the abrasiveness tends to scour and haze the paint as it removes paint, so it's one step forward and at least one step back. Funny thing is, after all the talk about cutting pads on other forums, we get all our results just fine using our polishing pad and thus avoid the scouring issue using the cutting pads.

Personal preference as well as skill, experience, money to invest and time to spend all have to be considered.


When it comes to removing defects using the G100/PC here are the key techniques

Small Work Sections
Only work a small section at a time. How large a section is determined by paint hardness or softness and this you won't know until you start doing some experimenting with your tool, pads and products. Simply put,if the swirls and scratches are coming out easy with the "right" pads, products and technique then while your paint might not be what we would all like to call "soft", it is "Polishable", and that's what you want. A paint that you can work the defects out of.

If after using the right pad, product and technique you're not seeing good results then this could be a sing that your paint is hard and you'll want to try again but test on a smaller section, about as small as you want to go is about 16" square, 24" is about as larger as your want to work even in your paint is polishable.

Working small sections at a time means looking at your entire car and carving it up into section, image a patchwork quilt or a checker board. Working a large square area like a hood or deck-lid is easy, when it comes to curved smaller panels, then just let the panel be your guide and carve these sections up into their own small sections.

The important thing to do is to work a small section slowing using overlapping passes, whatever it takes to do this is what you need to do for the CLEANING STEP. That's because it is the cleaning step that your are removing below surface defects and this means removing paint and because the PC/G100 is a "Gentle" tool, or a tool with a safe and gentle action, (Oscillates and rotates but with too much pressure it stops), and because in most cases clear coat paints are harder versus softer, that is as far as it relates to removing defects, then you have to take your time during the cleaning step to allow the oscillating action and the combination of the foam and chemical to do their job.

When it comes to waxing, all you're trying to do is to spread out a layer of wax and work it in to whatever degree you can and for this you can tackle large section at a time.


Use the 5.0 Speed Setting
This speed setting works for most people and most paints and most defects. If you run the polisher any slower it will not have the power to remove paint effectively. If you run the polisher faster it wear the adhesive loose from the Velcro on both the foam and the backing plate.


Slow Arm Speed
Most people that attend our classes that have a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher and are NOT getting the results they see everyone else getting are moving the polisher too fast over the surface. It's a common mistake. Slow down.


Downward Pressure
You want to push down on the head of the polisher hard enough to force the diminishing abrasives to take little bites out of the paint as they breakdown but not so hard that the bad stops rotating.


Don't buff to a dry buff
Work the product in the section for an average of 2 passes in 2 direction, 3 passes in 3 directions if the product is still wet on the surface. Here's how we show people to check their product to see if it's dry or wet, when moving the polisher over the surface, wipe the surface behind where you just moved the polisher and the film should still be wet, not dry. (Hard to explain with a keyboard)


Always wipe off spent residue before adding fresh residue
Adding fresh product to used or spent product acts to dilute your fresh product.

Clean your pad often.
Most people tend to clean their pad once or twice while polishing the entire car, you should be cleaning your pad after each application of product by doing what we call,

"Cleaning your pad on the fly"

That is holding a terry cloth towel against the pad and pushing the towel against the pad and moving it around while the polisher is on. This shouldn't take but few seconds but you always have to keep your towel clean so you don't contaminate your pad.


Always do a Test Spot before tackling the entire car.
If you can't make a small are look good using your choice of pad, products and technique, you won't be able to make the entire car look good. If you can't make a small area look good, you'll be glad you didn't go over the entire car?

The Meguiars DVD for dummies comes tomorrow so it will help me cool my heels while I obsess about what could be. I have #80, but honestly there is such a range of numbers with seemingly similar qualities that it does get a tad confusing.

Bob

For the most part, 99/9% of all cars can be corrected with some combination of the below using a dual action polisher.

• Polisher
• Clay system
• W-8006 pads and one W-9006 pad
• M80 Speed Glaze
• Tech Wax
• ScratchX
• M83 Dual Action Polisher

This tood a few minutes to type up, hope it helps...

[bobangles]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

Excellent Mike! I feel like I just received a semesters worth of car detailing information. I appreciate you taking the time to go into detail -no pun intended. I know a lot of people are competing for your time.

I will print the post as it will have value long after today. You have hit all the major questions I have as I start. Very succinct!!

I will impatiently wait for the weather to warm up and give it another shot. I will document my progress with before and after shots.

To everyone else on the thread - how do you convince your wife that you are not imbalanced for talking to strangers on the web about the shine of your car? She caught me the other night watching a video on the internet . . . how to properly prepare and wax a vehicle . . . I think she would have felt better if it had been something more nefarious!

Bob

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new and can't wait

We never heard from you again?

How did your 98 GMC Sierra P/U turn out?