So I'm trying out my UDM today for the first time. I decided that I'm going to stay away from the cutting pad my first time around because my paint is in relatively good condition. The way I have been checking my work is by looking at the paint under a 500W work light for swirl marks and spiderwebbing.

Should I still be seeing the spiderwebbing if I have polished enough with the medium pad? After going over a panel with the medium pad I am still seeing some spiderwebbing, and I'm not sure whether to proceed onto the next step (finishing pad) or go over it again with the medium pad.

How can I tell if I've done enough?

 

A little more info is needed.
What color pad, what products, and what is your technique?
It may be as easy as changing pad, changing product, or continuing with a few more passes while increasing speed, and slowing arm movement.

 

My parents knew I was looking into getting a UDM so they bought me the Sonus kit for my birthday. I am using the SFX-2 pad and polish, and plan to follow with the SFX-3 pad and polish. I am leaving the SFX-1 pad out of the picture until I'm more comfortable using the machine, unless you think it's imperative that I use it.

Basically I am wondering if I should still be seeing any imperfections on the paint surface if I've done enough.

 

Well you need to decide what you can live with also. If theres a 90% improvement, I'd say leave it be. The more you try to correct, the more clear coat your removing. Theres a 100% chance your eventually going to get more swirls, and you know your going to be polishing again. Why risk removing 100% knowing this?
Sometimes its safer to use the same product and polishes, but adjust your technique a little by increasing speed, and/or decreasing arm movement. This as opposed to trying a more aggressive pad and polish.
If the SFX 1 is Orange, go for it. Its a very versatile pad. I know the 2 is white, and the 3 is for sealants. Im not certain I would use the 3 for anything but sealants though.

 

The SFX1 pad is Yellow as far as I can tell (but I'm a tad colorblind). It seems to be removing about 50% of the swirl marks and I think that's probably alright for my first time. I've been using it at about 3.5 on the dial (out of 6) because I assume I'm safer at lower speeds. I really dont want to hologram the paint or remove too much clear coat. Also, as you said, there's a 100% chance that I will end up with more swirl marks down the road.

So far I haven't been really compressing the pad at all because a few sites have said to use just the weight of the machine, whereas others have said to compress the pad 50-75% when using it. Should I be compressing or not?

Also, is a quick detailer really all I need to remove the residue from the polish before Zaino-ing?

 

Ah ok, SFX 1 is yellow, and that more aggressive for sure. It will mar the surface, but thats ok, and its designed that way for more serious corrections. Do you have the UDM or PC kit? And yes, slower is safer, and the proper approach if its your first time. More importantly then removing swirls at this point, continue to get comfortable with the machine, cuz ya "cant do crap unless ya know what your doing". And getting comfortable with the machine is the first step. Second step would be understanding what products are for what. Your getting familiar with the Sonus line, and thats another positive approach. Understanding what it is your trying to accomplish is nearly impossible unless you know what the product your using, is capable of doing.
As for pad compression, any more then 50% compromises safety, and is not real good for the pad. The pads need to breath a little. Depending on pad, you could apply just a few pounds, or like the yellow and orange, you need about 10-12lbs. additional pressure. But by all means, let the pad, machine and product do your work. I seldom use more then a few lbs at any time on any project, unless Im spot repairing. Sometimes if I need additional kick, I will opt for using 4" pads instead....

 

your going to need to up the speed....for my first time, i felt good using it on 4.5...i would start out slow to spread the polish and then turn it up....i would usually spread polish at 3-3.5 and then up to 4-4.5

 

i just checked the autopia site and looked at their sonus pad discreptions....i would start off with the white pad...the yellow might be alittle too agressive...unless your car is really scuffed up....

 

Without seeing your paint condition: 2 points of advice I have for you is turn up the speed and keep your movement slow. You should not see any spiderwebbing when you are finished! you may see an occasional deeper scratch here and there which like Excel said ...is it really worth going more aggressive for a random scratch here and there? Probably not for a daily driver as it will get scratched again in the future anyway but as far as spiderweb scratches that is the whole purpose of buffing your car....to remove them. You will not get halogramming from using a UDM (that is created from the high speed of a rotary). Now when I am correcting I almost always bump the UDM to speed 6. Most polishes these days use diminishing abrasives meaning they start out bigger particles and as the polisher moves over them they get smaller and smaller and alot of these polishes are designed to be used with rotary buffers or high speed buffers. TO really see results you need to break these polishes down and at a speed of 3 on the UDM just is not going to cut it (no pun intended) Look, the UDM is not some scary machine to be feared. I would label it as almost idiot proof. It is difficult to ruin your paint using a rotary buffer. Everyone always freaks out over a rotary when in actuality its not as easy to burn through paint as what some people think. Now take a UDM which is much less powerful and very different mechanically than a rotary and practically eliminates the ability to burn paint (just be careful around edges with a compounding pad) so don't be afraid to use the machine at its intended application speeds.

 

Excel, thanks for the advice. It's a UDM by the way. As you said, it's most important that I become familiar with it so that the next time around I really get 100% out of it. I think that for my first time things are going pretty well.

Vinnier, I started off with the white and wasn't getting the results I had hoped for. With the yellow pad I got closer to what I wanted. I am thinking that when I go over it again with the white and finish off with the sealant I should be in pretty good shape.

Conan, yes I did notice that the polishes seemed to break down after a bit. I suppose I will try bumping up the speed and slowing down my movement a bit. How long should I spend working a 2'x2' area? Also, anything different about applying the polishes with the medium and light duty pads? Should I be going more slowly, giving more pad pressure, or spending more time on each area?

Also, I should mention the finish is in pretty good shape, just minor spiderwebbing. I've only got 23K miles on it.

 

if you go to the website you got the machine from there are some videos on how long to polish a section and what to look for so you can tell that the polish has broken down....

the polish is usually broken down and you can stop the machine when its about 80% gone...you will start to see the paint getting shiny and the polish getting very thin....this is the time to stop and wipe it off with your microfiber towel....

 

I wasn't the one to buy it so I'm not sure what site you found videos on. I checked sonus-usa.com and didnt find any there. Could you give me a link?

 

Click here to see breakdown stages. BTW, these are stills and not video. The videos are located here. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Hawhyen, vids were very helpful. I was definitely going too fast with the machine.

 

autopia-carcare.com

it would be my guess that your kit came from here....they have various videos of how to do whatever it is you want to do with the machine...also, you can check the ultimatedetailingmachine.com site for how too's as well....

 

If you're in doubt of being done with the mid grade, go to the next lighter step and see if that fixes it, you may be seeing finer stuff being revealed- especially under a hardcore worklight

Better to go back to more agressive sets and speed, than overdo while learning

 

I didn't want to start a whole new thread, because everybody's seen a CGP TSX, but here are pics of my car post-UDM:





Thanks for the help everyone, she looks great! For a 4 year old daily driver it's pretty incredible

Unfortunately the exhaust broke in half today...but that's a different thread

 

It just never ends does it!! Car looks really, really nice also!!!