Junkyard hood *or* "I wanna be like Mike"

[Don]

Here's the junkyard hood I've been practicing on with the rotary. I've actually played around on both sides of the hood, but today I used #2 cutting pad followed by DACP/Polishing pad and one coat NXT by hand on the one side:


Before


After



Edge

The heavy scratches in the middle are from when the hood was tossed on the scrap pile and they are down to primer.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Don,

Dramatic improvement!

With the right products, pads and technique, the rotary buffer can be your friend!

[rusty bumper]

Nice work Don.

What do you think of the rotary?

Is it hard to control?

[Don]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Nice work Don.

What do you think of the rotary?

Is it hard to control?

At certain times and angles, the rotary seems to want to move around on it's own which isn't always the same direction you want it to go.

Right now (for me) it's a toss up as to which is faster, the rotary or the PC. My opinion is that I'm taking a lot more care with the rotary during use since I'm still learning. Otherwise, I like it a lot.

[Beercan31]

That has to be the shiniest scratch I've ever seen. (Tee Hee) I like how you removed all the spider scratches from the reflection....Nice work.

[Mike Phillips]

One thing to remember when removing swirls and scratches, (below surface defects), whether by hand, dual action polisher or with a rotary buffer, after applying and working a product against the finish and then wiping off any leftover residue, the lightest scratches will have been removed, while the deepest scratches will have remained.

Sometimes you need to evaluate the situation by taking into consideration the use of the vehicle, (is it a show car or a daily driver), and your guesstimate of the thickness of the paint. Then decide whether or not to continue to try removing the deepest scratches or learning to live with them.

Sometimes you're better off improving a defect than to try to completely remove a defect"

You can't always remove a defect completely, but you can almost always improve a defect to the point that your eyes can no longer see it, or see it easily without knowing where to look and then looking very closely.

When it comes to polishing paint, and specifically removing below surface defects...

"It's all about the film-build"