OntheJob

So today I went to work on my brothers z06 that was horribly swirled and marred. After 3 years of ownership the car showed the signed of the lack of care.

Background: I am new to this and I am trying to find out how to get the total 100 percent correction, from swirls to completely flawless, as many people on here show with their details such as Oaks, detailersdomain, and a few others.

Problem: as the pictures show below in direct sunlight and certain angles the swirls and imperfections have been minimized about 90 percent using a 1000 grit polish from "detail addict" and an "orange" uber pad.

question: how do I get the PERFECT correction? Are the imperfections that are still left indicative of needing a more aggressive pad, since I am already using the most aggressive polish I have? Either way on to the pics and please give me all the feed back and info you can... I am trying to become like the best detailers as mentioned above.

Pre wash/polish/wax:




Here you can see how major the swirls were




After the 1000 grit swirls removed, but there still seems to be SOMETHING LEFT SLIGHTLY IN THE PAINT, NOT SURE OF THE TERMINOLOGY... PLEASE INFORM ME.


AFTER THE 1500, THEN 2500 GRIT TO BUFF OUT THE PAINT STILL SEEMS NOT TO HAVE THE LUSTER I WAS AFTER.



ALL THE FOLLOWING ARE THE FINISHED PRODUCT AFTER THE POLISHING WITH ABOUT A 90 PERCENT CORRECTION OBTAINED, AGAIN HOW CAN I GET THE FULL 100 PERCENT CORRECTION?









AFTER THE ABOVE PICS, I FINISHED THE WHOLE CAR WITH THE 2500 GRIT POLISH, THEN SEALED IT WITH NXT 2.0, AND PUT A LAYER OF P21S ON TOP OF THAT AND THE RESULTS WERE IMPRESSIVE, WITH ABOUT 10 PERCENT CORRECTION NEEDED LEFT OVER, BUT OVER ALL FOR NOT HAVING STRONGER PADS, I BROUGHT THIS CAR BACK TO LIFE FROM WHAT IT WAS THIS MORNING.







IN THIS PIC ON THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER YOU CAN STILL SEE SOME OF THE CORRECTION LEFT THAT IS NEEDED, WHAT CAN YOU SUGGEST THAT I DO TO GET THAT OUT ON FUTURE CARS, STRONGER PADS?


MORE PICS

Aman

A mark of a good detailer is knowing when to stop chasing after the last little scratch in the interest of paint preservation. It would be great to have 100% correction, but not if it meant clear coat failure a few years later...

EDIT: You might want to invest in some lighter polishes as well. Meguiar's M105 and M205 are popular.

OntheJob

agreed and thanks for the input I will def look into a 3500 grit polish from detail addict, and the M105 and M205....

I guess after seeing some really impressive post from the pros on here with the flawless corrections I am def willing to learn as much as possible... but so far I think the results came out well.

Thanks for the input.

MEM3

iTrader: (1)

Sorry I cant help you directly but trying posting it on autopia.
http://www.autopia.org/forum/forum.php

Jesstzn

Is the orange pad the only ones you have? Somne of the "lack of lusture" to me looks like pad hazing from too course a pad and also possibly from dry buffing.

For a noob I'd suggest Optimum polishes because they have lots of lube & don't dust.

OntheJob

The orange ubers are what I use with the 1000 grit, then I used a blue final polish pad for the 1500, and 2500, grit... and a black uber for the wax/sealant... what do you suggest as far as polish/pad combos?

Jesstzn

Ok I can see a couple of possible issues here besides what Aman said. Also some of the perfect corrections you see are done by an experienced detailer with a rotary and you don't want to go there

a) You started too aggressive, rule of thumb is always least aggressive first then step up.

b) You don't have the correct pads to use with the lighter polishes. You need a white pad to use there.

c) The blue pad has very little cut so with the polishes used its not removing the hazing from the 1000/yellow pad.

How many of each pad do you have?

Which buffer?

Do the polishes your using dust up?

PortlandRL

Just a heads up but I cannot stress this enough; DO NOT, under ANY circumstances use a rotary on that rear bumper/garnish area. It will burn immediately.

Nick@Autogeek

If you're looking for a more aggressive pad/polish combo I would recommend a Surbuf MicroFinger Pad along with Meguiars M105 or Menzerna Powergloss.

The Surbuf pads have more cut than a regular foam pad, however they do not finish as nice so you will need to follow that up with a finishing polish such as Meguiars M205 or Menzerna PO85RD on a finishing pad.

Hope that helps.

OntheJob

A) I did start with a test panel and started with the LEAST aggressive compound, which showed no effect on the swirls working my way up to the 1000, the 1000 showed the most correction so I settled on that, then used the less aggressive and finer pads to bring out the luster and shine.... is that the right procedure? From everything on here I read I though it was....

Thanks for the info on the white pads I will def. pic a few up

for your "C)" comment is that where I sould be using the WHITE pads instead of the blue pads?

I have 3 of each of the following pads, all uber pads, orange, blue, and black.

The polishes I use have zero dusting.....Im using the new PC orbital 7424 or whatever it is....

exceldetail

Thats Vette paint my friend. Its not your average everyday paint....At a minimum, you'll need a XP or Flex (for a beginner). Orange pads, and Hyper Polish Spray have done very well for me on MOST paints. I tend to avoid Vettes like the Plague......Vettes have a rather large learning curve, as do Mercedes......