Using a D/A to get full correction

Just finished this Benz, and was blown away with the end result, but the process was a headache....never seen paint so murdered on a 2011...It needed full compounding, polishing, and loads of finessing to get the entire car looking like THIS (the only acceptable delivery in my eyes)


Image by austinpatton03, on Flickr


Pretty much the whole car had this consistent damage...

Untitled by austinpatton03, on Flickr

As stated before, the process was exhausting using a rotary because the compound sometimes left concentric circular granule marks which took sometimes 2-3 passes with power finish to fully remove. I just hated chasing every last bit of concentric circular marks, I think they may be what some refer to as "pig tailing". I kept my pads clean, still occurred rather frequently. The whole time I just wished I had a better D/A than my 4 year old PC and better D/A cutting methods/products. I feel that a rotary takes a lot longer to do a whooel car with because in order to be careful and get in all the tight spots you have to work on small areas and just the immense concentration for the crazy long hours (27 for this job) is really stressful. I feel a D/A would be a lot more enjoyable to use.

BUT I really want to get great cut....can you guys suggest the best way/ equipment/ polishes etc.. to get enough cut so I can consistently get 95%+ correction like I did on this job with a rotary?

Already have griots orbitals in mind with surbuf pads for use with M105 and also the microfiber cutting system (suggestions from Jimmy Lucci)

Any help would be a triumph

 

D300 with the Megs cutting disc or OPT Compound 2 with the Optimum Microfiber cutting pad both work well.

 

The circular marks you speak of are likely not from an object on the pad, but rather using too much pressure, a slight degree of tilt, and/or too thin of a pad. This causes the foam to compress enough that the hard outer edge of the backing plate presses into the paint through the foam.

The MF system and Surbuf pads are the best way to cut with a D/A.

 

Darkstar752, aha! I see your point, and that makes a lot of sense now that you mention it! I will definitely be giving the surbuf and MF system both a try with a pair of griots orbitals on my next detail.

 

You mentioned M105, but also consider Optimum Compound II, D300, or the new HD UNO (V4 isn't bad either, so take your pick on that one).

 

The Megs MF cutting disc with D300 works unbelievably well, even on a 7424XP. If I get a panel that is really bad, I'll add a drop of 105 or 101 for a "boost" of cut. The MF cutting disc with D300 also finishes down well enough to go straight to your LSP for one steppers.This was done with the above combination.

 

What color and brand of pad/s were you using with Meguiars 105 and the Rotary ? I have used a lot of Meguiars 105 in the past, and still use it occasionally for spot repairs, and the only problems I used to have with 105 was that it wanted to dry up and die very quickly in the initial correction, so I had to keep the spot a little moist with a spray bottle, to get the compound past this stage and then it worked better and finished down really nicely, even with purple foam wool pads.

I think if you keep practicing with the Rotary, you will be fine. Sounds like you might have had too much product on the pad at times, but for sure, M105 is not the most user-friendly compound anyway. Guess that is possibly one of the reasons that Meguiars developed M101 for foam pads cause its way easier to work with.
I find it much faster to correct with a Rotary and dont ever do those small 2 x 2 spots - I will do a whole section of a door if its not a really long one, and I mean not the whole door, but either the top half, middle half or the bottom half, as broken up by door moldings, etc..
I can also use a 3" pad on a Rotary with an extension to either spot correct a certain defect, or get into a little place that really needs fast correcting at a lower level, etc..

If you are going to keep using a heavy cut compound, I would suggest getting the Menzerna compounds and polishes a try. Some of them were made specifically for this type of paint you had, and all behave very nicely with a Rotary, compared to M105.

There are probably just a few people left around here left that will tell you they use a Rotary all the time, and I am one of those people. It works great, its very fast, I get awesome results, and Im not being vibrated to death. But that's just me.

I am going to try out microfiber pads sometime too - but on my Rotary !

Totally respect and admire all the Random Orbital/PC users here and everywhere and have seen some incredible, beautiful work done with those tools.

Sorry this job was such a challenge. Your results are stunning though ! Awesome job !!!

Dan F

 

Its not too late for you Dan. Come on by and I'll show you how to use the PC! oke:

 

wow that is a crazy photo you posted up mr 911 . . . . . very nice. I may need to bust out my PC again LoL.

 

911Fanatic, just curious, I know you are an amazing detailer and have knowledge about RIDS, but on that vett, just cause the lighting in the pic doesn't show it, I'm curious if the PC with MF and D300 got rid of the RIDS too. Obviously the gloss is amazing, just wondering about the RIDS/swirls etc...

 

My main concern is how the paint will look in direct sun, as in like my pic of the Benz at the top of the thread...I'm trying to deliver results that my customers can go to a car show and amaze their buddies that they don't have swirls and light scratches all over their paint, and that a finish like that "can be done"

 

I was able to get rid of pretty much everything that didn't require wet sanding to remove. When I post the write up, you'll see how badly maintained this was. Even after the MF discs and 101, there are some scratches deep enough to stand a dime up in.

I think it will all depend on what you are starting with. That Corvette was badly abused and needed more work than even a three step polish to correct 100%. The BMW 1M I am working on right now is coming out between 95 and 100% on every panel using the MF discs and D300 with the odd spot of M101 for support. If the sun pops out today, I'll get pics of both for you.

 

What did you use on the Benz? Have the same car for next week, but only with light swirls.

 

Well, It may look like light swirls, I thought this one was light when I first inspected it. Just gonna have to wait to see under halogens to see how deep everything is. The main problem is, the cerami-clear is so hard that what does get in, even lighter stuff takes very heavy cut to remove, at least that was my experience. Please let me know how yours turns out!