After #3...?

[BartonGink]

I'm wondering what's best to use after #3 machine glaze when finishing freshly sprayed clear coat. #3 leaves swirls and I'm wondering whats recommended to remove them. Or is the problem my tehnique?

I also froze my bottle of #3, is it done for?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: After #3...?

Originally posted by BartonGink
I'm wondering what's best to use after #3 machine glaze when finishing freshly sprayed clear coat. #3 leaves swirls and I'm wondering whats recommended to remove them. Or is the problem my tehnique?

I also froze my bottle of #3, is it done for?

Hi BartonGink,

#3 Machine Glaze is a completely non-abrasive pure polish for machine application. It will not leave swirls by itself. The pad on your rotary buffer is likely the cause.

What kind of pad are you using to apply the #3 Machine Glaze?

Did you apply any type of compound or paint cleaner by rotary buffer before using the #3 Machine Glaze?

If you can answer these questions, I can help you.

As far as the freezing question goes, Meguiar's products have a shelf life of 3-5 years as long as they don't freeze. If you #3 Machine Glaze has frozen, then chances are you'll want to replace it. Before you do however, let's see what you're trying to accomplish with your clear coat finish because I'm not sure #3 Machine Glaze is the product you want to use, more than likely you should be using something from Meguiar's 80's series such as one of these three products,


#80 Speed Glaze
#82 Swirl Free Polish
#83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish




Mike

[BartonGink]

Thanks for the reply. What I'm doing is polishing fresh urethane clear coat, 24 hours old so it's still a little soft. I'm using an 8" foam pad on a rotary buffer around 1500rpm. I keep the pad as clean as I can, store it in plastic bag, clean with a toothbrush, etc. I polish in my sanding area because I don't have enough space, maybe I should do that in my paint booth instead... could it be dirt that's messing me up? I always have fresh air coming through and I keep it as clean as I can, but I do all kinds of grinding, welding, sanding etc in the same area. If I polish in my booth how much should I worry about compound messing up paint jobs? Is it likely to dry into a dust that could blow up into paint or stay in flakes that will clean up easily...?

I'll test this bottle to see if it's knackered, if so it's just another lesson. What is the best product to use on fresh clearcoat for a perfect finish? I'm going for absolute perfection, I want a perfect mirror finish and that's secondary to ease of use, price, etc. I'd like to use a buffer but maybe a machien and then hand glaze would work better?

Thanks for the good forum, I'm just starting out and I'm probably going to use maguiars exclusively for all buffing/polishing/waxing - one good unified system to work with.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Barton,

I'm out of the office for the AM, but as soon as I get back I'll get back to you asap.

Mike

[BartonGink]

No problem Mike. I'll also mention that I go right from 2000 grit to the #3, maybe that's my problem, I need another step in here somewhere?

[travisdecpn]

It sounds like you need something a little more abrasive than #3 to remove the sanding marks. You should be using one of the 80 series to remove the sanding marks then you can follow with #3. I think #84 is what can be used to quickly remove sanding marks via rotary. You should follow that with #80 to remove any marring, then for the added effect finish with #3.

[BartonGink]

I've tried color sanding with a back/forth motion in one direction and after the buffing I have circular swirls, so I don't think the sanding is the problem. I dunno, but I don't want a 3stage buffing process, I can live with two but three is taking too long.

[Mike Phillips]

The first thing I would recommend is to call our Customer Care Hotline at 1-800-347-5700 and order our how-to video on wet-sanding, cutting and buffing.

"How to remove paint defects"

Next, I would get the below products and you will have the best chance at creating a swirl-free flawless finish with a two-step process, but to tell you the truth, if you want to guarantee a swirl-free flawless finish on any paint system and in any light then you're going to want to do a three-step process with the last step using a tool like our G-100 dual action polisher. The idea being to for your last step process to get away from the direct-drive rotary action and switch to a dual action, oscillating-action to completely remove any light swirls or haze that exists.

Here are the products Meguiar's would recommend,


Unigrit Finishing Papers




Meguiar’s #84 Compound Power Cleaner
#80 Speed Glaze






Meguiar's W-9006 foam finishing pad
Meguiar's W-8006 foam polishing pad

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by BartonGink
No problem Mike. I'll also mention that I go right from 2000 grit to the #3, maybe that's my problem, I need another step in here somewhere?

After wet-sanding, for speed and thoroughness of removing your sanding marks, you should consider using either a wool pad or a foam cutting pad with a product like our #84 Compound Power Cleaner. This product uses a microscopic diminishing abrasive that cuts fast and then breaks down to leave a low swirl finish that is easily removed with a finer cleaner/polish like either the #83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish, the #82 Swirl Free Polish, or the #80 Speed Glaze.

The #3 Machine Glaze is a pure polish with not cleaning, or abrading ability and this forces you to rely on the pad and the machine for any cleaning or abrading ability.

The #80 Speed Glaze offers the benefit of providing a little protection through the use of a synthetic polymer that is still safe for use on fresh paint and for use in a fresh paint environment.

None of the products I've suggested so far will cause surface adhesion problems, i.e. fish-eyes in your paint.

While I'm not a big user of wool pads, they do cut fast and enable you speed up the process. Because each of the fibers that make up a wool pad also instill their own cut in the finish, wool pads will always instill buffer swirls that will have to be removed by re-buffing the area with the correct foam pad and some type of cleaner/polish that uses a diminishing abrasive.

Mike

Mike

[BartonGink]

I think I'll pick up some speed glaze and see what I can do with it, then decide on whether I need a 3step process or what I should start the process with. I'm still not sure whether my problem is sand scratches not being removed or the buffing process adding the scratches, in any case I have some expirimenting and practicing to do. Thanks!

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by BartonGink
Thanks for the reply. What I'm doing is polishing fresh urethane clear coat, 24 hours old so it's still a little soft. I'm using an 8" foam pad on a rotary buffer around 1500rpm. I keep the pad as clean as I can, store it in plastic bag, clean with a toothbrush, etc.

This all sounds good.

I polish in my sanding area because I don't have enough space, maybe I should do that in my paint booth instead...

This is a good idea, try to avoid creating any accumulation of unnecessary contaminants in your spray booth, this will only lead to a potential dirt in paint problem.

could it be dirt that's messing me up? I always have fresh air coming through and I keep it as clean as I can, but I do all kinds of grinding, welding, sanding etc in the same area.

Having a clean shop environment is very important for good results in the polishing process, we cover this in the how-to video. Given your two options,

1) Sand and buff in the paint booth
2) Sand and buff in the shop

The best option would be to sand and buff in the shop after doing what you can to clean the shop to whatever degree you can. If nothing else, try to do the wet-sand, cut and buff all at one time so that you or nobody else is generating air-borne contaminants and other dirt or abrasive particles that could enter into your buffing process.

If I polish in my booth how much should I worry about compound messing up paint jobs? Is it likely to dry into a dust that could blow up into paint or stay in flakes that will clean up easily...?

Yes, dust would be a problem, especially over time. Try to avoid sanding and buffing in your paint booth, especially if it's sanitary to start with.

I'll test this bottle to see if it's knackered, if so it's just another lesson. What is the best product to use on fresh clearcoat for a perfect finish? I'm going for absolute perfection, I want a perfect mirror finish and that's secondary to ease of use, price, etc. I'd like to use a buffer but maybe a machine and then hand glaze would work better?

Probably the most important thing you can do to insure a show car finish is to take control of your process at the very start, the wet-sanding process. This would mean using Meguiar's Nikken Unigrit Finishing Papers



Meguiar's Nikken Unigrit Finishing papers offer uniform particle size and uniform particle placement. This insures even, smooth sanding with sanding marks that buff out faster while leaving more paint on the car. These papers also help to eliminate dreaded tracers. The video covers this in more depth.

Thanks for the good forum,

Thank you for the kind words and thank you for registering and becoming a member of our forum. There are a lot of talented and very nice people that make up our online community that are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to help others get the best results from their time, money and efforts.

I'm just starting out and I'm probably going to use Meguiar's exclusively for all buffing/polishing/waxing - one good unified system to work with.

A Unified System, anyone that has read my posts on the Internet since approximately 1994 knows that one of my top reasons for loving the Meguiar's product line is because they offer a [bcomplete system[/b] starting with the Nikken Unigrit Finishing papers. There are a lot of companies out there, but the majority of them offer incomplete lines, thus you must look outside their system in order to obtain all of the necessary tools to perform some jobs, like the wet-sanding, cutting and buffing process.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by BartonGink
I think I'll pick up some speed glaze and see what I can do with it, then decide on whether I need a 3 step process or what I should start the process with. I'm still not sure whether my problem is sand scratches not being removed or the buffing process adding the scratches, in any case I have some experimenting and practicing to do. Thanks!

The Speed Glaze is a very versatile product. You can use it with a cutting pad, polishing pad or a finishing pad. You can also use it with a dual action polisher with a polishing pad.

It's quite possible that because your wet-sanding and buffing your fresh paint in a 24 hour window of time while the paint is still soft you could do all process with this one chemical and merely change pads to alter the aggressiveness, or non-aggressiveness of the product.

Remember to shake well before using. #80 Speed Glaze is very rich in Meguiar's trade secret polishing oils and offers a lot of play time, making it very user friendly and almost impossible to make a mistake. It also leaves the finish clear, deep and glossy. I'm sure you're going to love this product.

If you live in the SoCal area, try to come by one of our Saturday detailing classes here at our Irvine office, we always show how to remove swirls as a part of the class.

This weekends is ProwlersOnline.com

[BartonGink]

Thanks for all your help Mike, I feel a lot better equipped to polish my paint now.