pearsonmx6

I have a black car and its taking for ever to buff out the 8 years worth of swirl marks and light scraches, and longer if I have to buff a spot i wet sanded with 2000.

I have been running my buffer so long one of the springs on the brush heated up and lost its tension and now I need either a new buffer or new brushes. this might be a good reason to replace this cheap one with a makita.

gangnam style

what compound and pad combo are you using? it usually takes 2 passes with an orange pad and m105 to remove any scratches with a PC for mine

then again, black is the worst color if it's not immaculate as it shows everything.

acaringnihilist

When I detailed my previous V, it took quite a bit of effort with M105 and LC Yellow/Orange with the PC. Extremely hard clear.

gangnam style

i found the newer MF pads available, increase the cut substantially vs a foam pad.

they are a bit more fragile than foam but so long as you dont overwork it or change them out more frequently, should be a non issue. otherwise they may start to delaminate if they overheat. a vented/drilled backing plate will help as well keeping the pad cooler

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

I didn't notice my clear to be that hard. It's not quite as hard as a Mercedes from what I've experienced. I generally use a wool pad and a dewalt DWP849 if it needs some serious cutting, but not enough to wetsand.

pearsonmx6

I am using 3M extra cut compound and a 3M foam cutting pad on a makita buffer. followed by 3M machine polish, then meguires hand glaze with a carnauba wax on top of that.

joe_shmoe

I'd say the clear isn't super hard compared to European clears, but it's fairly hard for domestics. It seemed a lot harder to get the correction I wanted compared to the ease to put swirls in the clear.

I did a 95% correction on my car during the winter. My car is an '07 and had likely never been fully detailed (I bought it in 2010). In order to get a really deep cut, I started with a purple LC wool pad and M105, switched to a Meguiar's MF correction pad with D300, then finished with an orange LC pad and Menzerna SF4000 to remove hazing from the D300.

I wish I had used something other than the M105 because it dusted like crazy, and the Menzerna had a lot of oil that I had to remove before applying OptiCoat. It took a fair amount of time to do everything because it was with a DA. A random orbit polisher or a more aggressive pad/compound combo would reduce the detailing time.

Keyvon

If you went from a heavy duty compound straight to machine polish, that may be your problem. I just used the same products as you on my cts-v that had never been buffed in it's entire life. After the compound I used 3-m Finesse-it, then machine polish, it turned out very nice !! I broke down and bought Zaino products for the last steps by hand because I have a black car. Very nice paint after all the work !

Zexell

iTrader: (1)

M105 dusts like crazy. I will usually run a MF pad w/ D300, then switch to a finishing foam pad and M205. Works out great and finishes down real nice.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

Last spring/summer I did my first exterior detail. I spent months reading, asking, and learning at Autogeek forums before I went ahead with the job. I got a PC DA, the Meg's microfibre kit with both types of pads in 3" and 6", d300, d301, and collinite 845 and a few LC crimson pads for my final step. I spent a TON of time on it, and the results were awesome IMO. Unfortunately, I didn't do quite as well as I'd thought because by the late fall I could see many of the imperfections "reappearing". My washing techniques were always very careful and I knew these imperfections weren't (all) newly installed. It seems as though the Meg's MF DA compounds employ some fillers which tricked me into thinking that I'd "corrected" the finish, when in reality I just covered up the imperfections for the most part.
Ill be trying it again this spring (since I have all the equipment and materials now anyway) and we'll see if I can do any better this time...

pearsonmx6

It polished up fine with that combo and looks great now.

manitzchris

iTrader: (2)

im a newbie to detailing, i was looking into this kit any thoughts?

http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-por...l-remover.html

JDB

iTrader: (2)

PC is definitely the way to go for a newbie. You may be able to find it cheaper on Amazon alone and then buy a 5-pack of various pads and get a medium cut polish, fine polish, and sealant for less $.

I have used www.detailersdomain.com with coupon codes for supplies. I like Menzerna products.

JunkMan2000 on youtube has some great tutorials, funny guy as well.

jamesdem1123

How do you like the opti-Coat?

My paint is pretty swirly right now. I would like to get either a PC or flex and work it with m105 (orange pad) then po85rd (white pad). I'm just not sure where I want to go after that. I usually use zaino, but was thinking maybe zaino as a sealant and then Opti-Coat to seal that in. Maybe a carnuba after that. What are your guys' thoughts?

Coppertone

Opti-coat needs to go on a clean, sealant/wax free surface.

jamesdem1123

Yea I found that later. Not sure if I want to use it. or not. How does the shine compare to Pinnacle Souveran? I would like the deep wet look, not just shiny.

gangnam style

OC is more for durability than to make your paint pop. it'll protect the correction you've made, not necessarily enhance it.

i'd try collinite 845 for the wet look as well as decent durability

joe_shmoe

Collinite 845 also works really good at turning rubber back to black (window seals, etc) and has great durability. I don't recommend it for textured surfaces (black plastics in engine bay).

The posters above are correct. Need a clean oil-free surface for Opti-Coat to adhere to and remain permanent. It provides some shine, but more like the "just washed" look, not really any depth. I applied it more for protection since I currently have to use rinseless washes. I did mess up in applying the Opti-Coat. I didn't get a great wash/degrease before applying the Opti-Coat and have some dust underneath a small section. Now I'll have to compound off the Opti-Coat, correct the surface, and try again. I wouldn't recommend it if you're new to detailing and are in a time crunch.

I applied Blackfire Wet Diamond over the Opti-Coat. There's a zillion different waxes/sealants offering insane gloss. I don't have the resources to try them all, so I only know what I like.

gangnam style

how long did BFWD last on top of OC?

juSStin4171

iTrader: (2)

If any of you have not tried the Meguiar's M101 compound yet, I'd suggest you give it a try. It's not cheap, but it cuts like crazy and finishes much nicer than M105. I've noticed a lot less dusting as well. Just my .02