I am currently working on my fathers 2005 F-650 work truck's bed. Its a Chipper Dump Truck for thats basically a small Semi truck since he owns a Landscaping / Tree service company. The Chipper Box is like the white utility boxes you see on work trucks that are not clear-coated but are painted with several thick layers of white gloss paint. I helped him acquire the vehicle about 2 years ago and the box is oxidized. It previously had vinyl letters from the previous company who owned the vehicle and since they had been removed you can still see the lettering since the rest of the panel is oxidized. I am polishing them out as well as the rest of the entire box since its oxidized. We are not looking to remove scratches but only to restore the original color and to put a coat of sealant over it to protect it. The panel on each side is about 20 ft long by 5 1/2 feet tall so you could imaging its a large area to work with and takes several hours to do not only that its all vertical. I got the drivers side done today but will have to go over it again tomorrow since I was working in the dark with only my 1000 watt halogens for light and might of missed some areas. Here is my problem. I already washed the and dried it today with a strong mixture of Dawn and some Mothers Car wash I did not clay it because its just too damn big and would have took too long and eaten all my clay up. I was polishing with the Makita using a CG Evolve 4R backing plate along with a 5.5" orange cutting pad and 3M rubbing compound. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong but the buffer is hard to control and it was not this way when I used it on my mustang this past week it ran very smoothly. I am guessing its acting like this because its eating away all the old oxidized paint. But it also hops on the panel every once and a while and I have to stop, because it wants to run away from me while polishing. I have been working up to 1800 rpm. I also been cleaning the pad with a microfiber and spinning the pad while cleaning it with a tooth brush after each section is done, and before re applying compound to the pad. I am wondering if I should spritz the pad or the area with water to help with lubrication but am worried it will just create spatter all over me the makita and the panel. I also noticed that there are alot of spots where it seems the manufacture of the box painted it and left areas all over it where there are small uneven dots of paint like spray gun splatter. I am wondering id this is is the reason I am struggling with the paint. I am going to go a local automotive paint store tomorrow morning to pick up some more compound and maybe a wool pad. Do you guys think using a wool pad with the 3M compound will run a little more smoothly on this oxidized paint than with an orange cutting pad. I ask because I really have to hold on to the Makita tightly if not it will want to jerk me. As said this is a work truck and all we are trying to do here is hold off on a re spray by removing the oxidation from the two panels. I also called all the Napa's and carquest's in town to get some more Duragloss 105 but they were all out. So I just went to Pepboys and bought some Autoglym Super Resin Polish for protection hope it lasts. Because I am not going to use my Blackfire Wet Diamond on this work truck. I am wondering should I apply AG SRP using my PC and a Black finishing pad or with the makita on 600 rpm using the same pad? I know this is a long thread and contains several questions but I am stuck here and since its such a large vehicle I would like to make it go as smoothly as possible because I still have the entire passenger side to do tomorrow.
kinda sounds like the compound is drying up. definately get some water/QD on your pad. Single stage paints tends to make polishes gum up really fast. slow down your polisher and it might become workable again, or just wipe those parts off and start again on the same spot. I think you should really work slow, keep the makita speed low so you can work it longer.
Which 3M rubbing compound are you using? Is it just the small bottle from Pep Boys? I tried that for kicks once and didn't like it much, it gummed in seconds, never used it again.
I followed the recommendations JL told me to do since I PMed him last night and he responded early this morning. I and used alot less pressure and the passenger side went very smoothly compared to the drivers side I did yesterday. I also was practicing the Zenith point technique the entire time un like yesterday. I just used a couple of 5.5" LC orange pads and kept them clean with microfibers and a tooth brush. I would also spritz the pad once with distilled water before applying the compound to it. This didn't create any splatter which was great, it helped alot with lubrication on the oxidized panel. I also went and bought a new bottle of 3M rubbing compound the regular 16 oz bottle not the professional line. The old one I had was so thick and nasty to use its thicker than tooth paste I cant even shake the bottle. The new one was liquidy and alot easier to use and gave me better results without clogging up the pad like yesterday. I then coated the the panels using AG SRP with a black 5.5" pad using the PC on speed 3 to 4 it came out great looking great. AG SRP was a breeze to remove after I let it sit on the panel for about 30 minutes. I was glad because I didnt want to fight removing a sealant after all those hours of polishing. It was dark by the time I got done so I dint take any pics but will try to tomorrow.
