ok so i bought optimum hyper compound and used it with orange pad and follow it with duragloss SMR with a white pad. well when i used the optimum it made my paint hazy and it gave me little very little swirls or idk..but it didn't remove my swirls, so i thought that was normal so i followed it with duragloss and white pad, and my results are -swirls still on my paint. am i using the wrong convo? or am i missing something? i did clay the car also. it shines but when the sun hits the paint i see swirls. if anyone is willing to help me out on what i need or if im missing something so i can order it right away or should i give it a second pass with the duragloss or optimum?. i have a black TSX thank you.

 

It sounds like your not breaking the polish/compound down completely. Compounds need more polishing time then a milder polish as it contains larger and/or more abrasives. You need to take additional time, additional passes and break the abrasives down completely. You will more then likely still get hazing, as thats the nature of "compounds". Its a given you will have to follow up with a less abrasive polish, and pad afterwards.

 

yea i figure that was the issue..well at least when i pass my hand through the paint it feels like glass VERY soft..i got a question tho...i use my car on the daily basis, work and school and its going to rain and all tomorrow here..i was wondering after it rains do i need to start ALL OVER again or continue where i left off?..i mean after it rains and when im ready to start polishing again i would give it a good wash, but i wouldnt have to clay again right? ( i dont park in a indoor garage )

 

Additional claying will not be necessary but you will definitely need to wash the paint again before continuing polishing. Exactly how are you using the Optimum Hyper Compound. Please give a step-by-step procedure for how you are polishing. Include details such as type of polisher, amount of product used, polisher speed, # of passes before stopping, hand speed, pad size and type, work area, and how you are removing the polish.

 

ok here it goes.

step 1: wash the car
step 2: parked in the shade and started claying
step 3: got my Porter Cable with an orange pad ( that i got from exceldetail.com )
step 4: took my Optimum Hyper Compound and put a thin circle around the pad. ( hope it wasn't a lot )
step 5: started with the trunk because it was BAD. did half of the trunk first.
step 6: i was doing the side by side and up and down and was doing like 5 sec per each side.
step 7: after i passed it like 4 times going back and forth (didnt know if i was putting enough pressure)
step 8: repeated step 7 with the whole car ( didnt use a light so i couldnt see my work )
step 9: after that, which took me A WHOLE DAY my paint looked hazy but it was like a mix of hazy & swirls, thing was the swirls looked more like small small spider webs they wasnt as WIDE as they were before.
step 10: i decided to go ahead and use my duragloss SMR with a white pad, just the trunk to see if maybe that will help. ( at this point i was VERY VERY unhappy and i was ready to quick ), i felt like all the time i put into it and my results were not what i see other people here getting. i even went on youtube and saw some videos and did exactly as they were doing it.

so now where im at? well i continue with the duragloss and did the other half of the car. and when took it off the shade and went to the sun, i SAW ALL THE swirls!!

am i using the wrong convo of products? or what am i doing wrong? please help me out here because the type of guy that i am, I AM NOT going to stop until i get the results that i want. so im hoping maybe you guys can help out a little.

 

oh and by the way started with speed 2 to spread the polish then pump it up to 5. pad size was 5inch and also got it from exceldetail.com ( i got everything from him ) if you read this THANK YOU!.
and i was parked outdoors but in the shade, and i got a question that when im ready to remove the polish with a micro fiber towel it like gets stuck to the towel and is a little 2 hard to remove. maybe the polish is not broken down completely?

 

definitely sounds like you didn't break it down enough, it shouldn't get stuck to the towel, it should wipe right up

 

This might be part of your problem right there.

You remove the polish immediatly on the section. If your polishing till its dry its marring and you don't polish and then let it dry before removing ..

I'm not familliar with the SMR but I also suspect you should be using Opt. Compound or polish on a white pad to remove the hazing made by the Hyper.

Typical noob mistake ... always go least aggressive first with patience then if not sucessul step up.
It takes more to correct a mistake than it does to correct the issue if done wrong.

 

The biggest mistake was polishing the entire car with HC before perfecting your routine. HC, as you have now witnessed, will mar the surface. Thats pretty much what they (compounds) do being as abrasive as they are. This is what causes frustration.
Im in agreement with Dale. You should have quite possibly tried the SMR with White first, then checked. If needed, then gone to HC. Then checked again. If the HC was broken down properly you would have minimized swirls, but still had a cloudy surface which the SMR/White would have cleared up.
Another error, you noticed your errors AFTER. Perfect one panel, and justify your technique with all polishes and compounds on one panel first. Then move on to another panel, and so forth.

 

ok so at this point, what should i try next?..should i just go with the SMR and white pad and try to get it remove or thats it? or just take it to a pro and let them do it?..it just sucks because i spend like $250 on towels pads, PC and polish and wax...so i would like to correct my mistake. so what do you guys think i should do next?..forget about the HC and just try to polish with the SMR and white pad?

 

I think this fits along with the context of the thread.

But one thing that I think always confuses me is how do you know the polish is broken down?

I really don't know what I'm looking for and what it looks.

Does it vary from polish to polish or from polish to compound?

 

I'm not sure about the SMR .. its says " for dark cars" and to me that tells me it might be more of a glaze that fills with little correction.

I would suggest getting the Optimum Polish and a white pad and slowly remove the hazing and as you do that you'll prolly remove a lot of the spiderwebbing too. The amount of $$ you spent has little to do with it .. You might have bought a 1 ton truck to haul 1/2 a ton.