phee

iTrader: (5)

Hey guys, I decided to finally detail my OWN car yesterday and was highly disappointed with my results. I used optimum polish on a white pad on speed 4 on my porter cable(after clay of course)and I still have spider webs all over the car. Then I decided to use comound on a yellow pad at speed 5 then follow up with polish at speed 5 and no luck. After hours of frustration I did what I could and sealed her up and called it a day. Any advice?

TSC17

What kind of car?

For one, I'd use speed 6, medium pressure, and make sure you're working it long enough to break down the polish. Start out at 4 or so to work it in the area, then step it up to speed 6...be sure you're using slow movement and overlapping your passes. Be patient...heavy defect removal takes a lot of time with a PC! Even with soft Honda/Acura paint, it can take 10 hours or more to do a full correction job on a heavily swirled vehicle when using a PC.

exceldetail

Attemp and learn one panel at a time. Optimum Polish is a very mild polish, whereas the Compound is actually a very good swirl mark remover. I agree with the above post and add additional time and quality to your PC technique(s). Although the PC is an easy tool to use, its understanding the product your using, in conjunction with the pads and addressing speeds which take some time. Then add differing paint/clearcoats hardness/softness and theres a lot to leanr let alone master. Simple cleaning and spiderwbbing isnt really an issue with most paints, but attention for the more serious side affects of neglect come into play, it takes some time to master/conquer.
Now back to some advice:
Using the yellow pad will no doubt mar the surface. Its intended to cut/level the clear coat in rather short order. Using too much products prohibits this as well. And we all know Optimum is very generous with lubricants. The pores in the yellow pad tend to "absorb" abrasives until the pad is seasoned, actually "clogged" with product. Matter of fact, you can probably get better initial cutting with the yellow pad, using Optimum Polish! That way the lubricant protects the surface, while the pads large pore cells, cut the surface.
My immediate advice would be to use the Orange pad with the compound first. Master a 4sq ft area with these two items, then use the polish with the Orange pad, then white if necessary (color dependant).
Give it a shot! The majority of my details rarely exceed using a Orange pads abilities.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Man I need to buy that padset....