Help with Single base paint please

[glossy]

Hi everyone

One of the cars I look after is a Single base paint green 1997 BMW.

The original owner didnt look after the car very well and it was full of swirlmarks.

I stared to try and fix this after getting great results on cars with clear coats.

I used DACP and a yellow pad on a setting of 4 on my Makita ( from my research this is about the same as a PC on 4 )

After a few minutes per quarter of the hood everything looked great, except the pad was now green due to the single base paint.

I followed this up with some No82 speed glaze and a yellow pad and everything looked great.

Put on 1 layer of NXT with a beige pad and followed this up with a hand applied second layer 24 hours later without moving the car since the first.

The hood looked wonderfull with just a few deep marks still visable under the garage ligh and just about nothing in the sun.

But now a week later and having hardly driven the car or washed it most of the swirls seem to be back


What am I doing wrong here ??
I have read sometihing about mixing a solution of alcahol and water and spraying it on to make shure the DACP isnt just filling up the swirls.

At what setting do you normally use the PC for DACP ?


Thanks in advance for your help

[Mike Phillips]

Hi glossy,

How are things down your way?

Quick questions: Is this factory paint? or a repaint?

The 4.0 setting on the Makita BO6040 should be as effective, or more so than the 4.0 setting on the Porter Cable Dual Action polisher. I have found the BO6040 to be a much more powerful machine in the dual action mode than the PC.

You might go ahead and increase the speed setting to 5.0 however and try again using the #83 DACP. Remember to works a small section at a time and when starting a new section, overlap into the previous section for uniform swirl removal.

Be very careful around edges, body lines, high points etc as it will be easy to polish through the paint in these areas on a single stage finish.

Some people like to mix a solution of 50% isopropyl alcohol and water together and wipe the finish down after polishing and then inspect to get a more accurate reading of the finish and their results. If you do this, be sure to inspect in different lighting condition also, view the finish from different angles. If the swirls are deep, you may have to resort to using a rotary buffer, or the direct drive option on the BO6040

Keep us updated on your results.

Mike

[glossy]

Thanks Mike

Things are fine here, I just got my first load of the new edgeless Ultimate wipes, wonderfull product and a major chain store here has just started keeping NXT which has ment a 33% reduction in the NXT wax cost

The Paint is Original from the factory, but it is not a standard color. It is a special Individual color that was only available on one model and only here in South Africa called "ACID GREEN".

I have spoken to a BMW resprayer and he said it correct that this color does not have a clearcoat.


What I dont understand is that the finish looked perfect and then 7 days and 2 drives later about half to 3/4 of the swirls seem to be back and only I touched the car.

About how long would you say one should work DACP in one area? I worked it for about 5 Min in a 3 by 3 foot area, and upon wiping it off it looked great.


My thoughs ae that I just worked it long enough to get rid of 1/ 4 of the swirls and that the other s were just filled in by the DACP. Does this seem plausable ?

On the other cars with clearcoats "Speed Glaze" took all the swirls away and they still look pefect after many washes

Thanks again for your help

[Mike Phillips]

Hi glossy,

Good to hear NXT is now available at the your local stores.

As far as the PC goes, here is what I have found and try to teach at our Saturday clinics. When removing really bad swirls, or working on a finish that is in neglected condition, for the first step, the most important step, the cleaning step, you want to work small section at a time and work it thoroughly. Then, when you start a new section, overlap into the previous section for uniform cleaning, in other words, uniform defect removal.

From your description, I would say working a 3' square area was too large an area to work at one time. Working too large an area will not allow you to focus the cleaning power thoroughly enough over the finish, this is why for neglected or swirled paint, for the cleaning process only, you need to shrink the size of the area down.

Try shrinking this down to an area about 2' square or a little smaller. If you make four passes with the smaller foam pads, overlapping each pass, this is about as wide an area you want to work at one time, then just take and square that area.

Does that make sense?

As far as how long to work and area goes, you want to work the #83 until it has completely broken down, but not to a dry buff. As you're moving the polisher one direction, the film of #83 being left behind on the opposite side of the direction you're moving the polisher should still be a wet film, as soon as this film is dry, you have buffed too long. It's called the sweet spot and it's different on every car for a host of reasons, temperature and humidity are a couple of factors, paint type, pad saturation, are a couple of more factors.

Give it another try, reduce your work area, slow your polisher down, (not the OPM, but the rate at which you move the polisher over the surface, most people move it too quickly), and work the product until its almost dry, but not till it's dry. Then move to another section, overlapping into the first section.

After that, I would tend to go with the Speed Glaze on about the 4.0 setting and repeat. You don't have to work each area as much as you did with the #83, as you have already done the work, i.e. removed the defects, now your just bringing the surface up to a higher gloss before applying wax.

Any defect that this procedure does not remove, is an indicator that either the defect is to deep, or you need to substitute a rotary buffer for more aggressive cleaning action.

Hope this helps...

Mike

[glossy]

Thanks Mike , your replies are always excelent.

You miht laugh when I tell you , but I think i have found the problem................................................a female


Got some time and washed the car carefully and inspected the swirls, that turned out to be rather like little straight lines

So called the wife and asked if anyone had touched the car the two days I was away on business, and she say "Kind of"

Turns out there was a big wind storm ariving, so she decided to cover the car with a old carcover I had because I had worked so hard in cleaing it.

She was alone so just pulled the cover over from the front over the paint, causing all the fine swirls/stripes
And removed it herself aswell.

tested a small pice with speed glaze and it came right out

I just could not figure out how it happened because no-one was supposed to have touched the car

Thanks for all your help

[Mike Phillips]

Hi glossy,

I'm glad to hear you found the problem. Good job.

Mike