For those that don't know my packages. I have 3 basic ones. Polish Seal and Clean 3 Layers of Gloss Auto Detail Comprehensive detail 3 Layers of Gloss Auto Detail Comp Exterior 3 Layers of Gloss Auto Detail Normally a comp exterior will take about 8 -10 hours, This one pushed 13 straight. I don't eat lunch, i don't stop. I nibble on nuts, drink 500 gallons of water. S430 before. I should note that the battery was dead. So I did an ONR wash inside the garage. the car has less than 16k on it. Is hand washed once a week. Pre-ceramic clear coat. Dried with cotton terry and leather chamois. These shots were taken after wash before using the clay pad. Claying was done with the clay pad, and ONR as a lube. Side note, using the PDM i was able to find out that the edges were 1.5-2.0 mils less than the areas 1 inch or more away from the edge. Someone had buffed the flutart out of this at one point. For instance 1 inch in from the edge on the hood it was average 4.2-4.8 mils. on the edge it was 3.3 or less. Not much paint to work with. I also noticed it was the same on all the major curves and body lines/creases. Moral of the story. I had to be extremely careful i how i polished this. I ended up checking each panel along creases and curves as i went. Marking the low spots with a wet thumb print. Pictures after claying and taping. Afters. This is about 9:30pm I am spent. I have no during polishing pics. Once i found out what it was going to take to get rid of the marring i knew i would not have the time to take photos. Process, Sip Yellow LC 1500, sip Green LC 1500, 106 FF White 1200 1z glanz I think about 10.5 hours of polishing or so... So was it total defect removal. No. I would say 95%+ on each panel. I had issues with the edges. Those that i did not feel comfortable compounding fully, i polished. Usually i was able to do within 1/4-1/2 inch of even the thinnest edges. Why do i mention this. well it underscores how necessary it is for professionals to take the time to measure paint. Even though it had 16k on it, it had 100k paint thickness, even though it had only 16k it had 90k daily driver marring. An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of sweat. I would not want to pay for a respray on any of these panels.
Very nice detail there Grouse :applause: those were some wicked swirls with a touch of holograms nice :thumb: You sure did a great job and polishing this one out, but you know what they say can't rush perfection :shakehead: no sir, you want to get perfection you have to take your time and do things right. Thank you for sharing pictures look lovely :woot: Oh and I 100% agree with you with your statement, you just never know. 16K is nothing and one would assume that the paint would be nice and thick but I personaly don't like to assume anything, assuming things has gotten me in trouble many times...well said Grouse :applause: Now excuse the ignorante question but the LSP was 1z glanz? I don't know these products, sorry
Great Job:thumb: Thanks for the advice about measuring paint too!!! I have a Mercedes lined up for a complete exterior detail, and I was wondering how many passes of each Polish/Pad did you do? The car I have lined up is probably as bad or worse than this car. The owner has a subscription to turtle wax car wash(swirl machine) for a year unlimited car washes. He said he usually takes it to thier place 2 times a day. One before work, and one after because its down the street from his house. This is one of my first complete exterior details. I have some experience, but I'm just trying to get as much advice as I can, so I don't mess up the paint.
Ahhh :thinking:, Thanks I guess I should be extra careful with this detail. I'll take things slow and start with the lowest cut method.:thumb: Is there any advice you could give me? Especially with the paint. This is my first time doing a detail on hard paint. One more quick question? What should I generally tape up before polishing? Sorry if its a bother, I feel like I'm cluttering your thread.
Now that you have done that. What products do you use, what pads, what machine what speeds do you normally work at What is the speed at which you normally move You tape everything that is not paint and that will be stained by polish or wax.
I use the Menzerna Line, I have : SIP, IP, 85U, 106FF Pads: LC Pads, I have Foamed wool, Yellow-Red I have a Flex Usually around 3-4 At the start after I spread the Polish I move like an 1inch a second with some pressure, as it polish gets broken down near the end i'm moving pretty quick like 2-4 inches a second with barely any pressure. I have practiced the"slow cut"method, but only a scrap panels.
Wow, that's scary. I can only immagine how bad the paint is going to be. Do you have a paint meter? With that many swirls, I'd be super careful. Let us know how it goes!
I wish, Hopefully some day. To tell you the truth i have less than fond memories of canada. It makes me a bit biased. To this day i still call it canuckistan. I do want ot make it to vancouver soon. I need to finish our passports for the family.
slow cut? With the flex i think you will want to start with probably green sip at speed 6. Work it down till there is almost no visible product. then wipe off. I have never had problems with sip filling or hiding or not being fully removed by a mf. If this does not remove 90% or better of the marring step up to yellow pad at speed 6. then back down to sip green. After that I would look at 106 white lc pad at speed 6.
Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try, and I'll post up the results. Slow Cut method I learned about on the UK forums. It's basically working the polish with low speed on the machine and no pressure so the polish cuts but doesn't break down. Eventually all the lube is going to run out so you spray a quick detailer on the pad you're using, then repeat until the polish eventually looks clear(about 3 times). Then you break down the polish by applying normal (10-15 pounds) of pressure at speed 6, and go over the area. The work area is recommended 1 sq ft. Its a long process, and very messy, but gets good results. Sorry if it's confusing, I'm pretty sure you could find a better explanation somewhere, or if someone more versed in the subject comes along.:thumb:
sounds similar to the slow pass method i use. However that is working at 1000 rpms for 3-7 min per work area. I do apply quite a bit of weight.
"...So was it total defect removal. No. I would say..." 300% improvment...Just PLAIN AWESOME :applause::applause::applause:
Great great work, very impressive! Too bad we couldn't get any outside shots, you would have really been able to show it off that way.
