TheTransAmateur

I have a 97 ta. Its black and has lots of scratches. I washed the car and clayed it. I bought a cheap autozone buffer for 30 bucks its a random orbit one opm is 3800. I used meguirs ultimate compound and the pads were cotton that came with the buffer. After I polished it was smooth as glass and the paint looked less faded and a lot of the swirls with diminished. However, all the scratches remained. These scratches aren't deep, I don't catch my nail on them. Do i need to buy better products or is there something i need to do better to get results? Or does the car just need to be repainted? Any help would be really appreciated.

PontiacFan

iTrader: (104)

Some of the real polishing expert guru's should be able to suggest something here, but I'm gonna go out on a limb & say, ...

You really should have spent more money on the PC7424 for the variable speed & the different foam pads. Product is key to getting a professional looking result.
However, there'll be the next person come in & says I did it my hand rubbing & polishing compound, ...

IMO, & I don't know crap, I think the cotton pads aren't they best method.
I think that if you had the firm pads & something more agressive in a compound, you may get thru the scratches too.

Does your 'cheap' polisher have the velcro base pad?
So if it does, find a local auto-parts supply store that caters to the auto-body crowd & see if they have some foam pads that fit.
Then try the ultimate compound again.
Watch the videos of the experts on YouTube or AutoGeek.
See if you can learn anything from it & try again.

SteelCityYaga

Post up some pics of the scratches.

It sounds like you are dealing with some random isolated deep scratches (aka RIDS), you may have to wet sand the area to level the clear coat around the RIDS and then buff it accordingly.

I would think the store bought buffer may not have the rotational strength to break down the polish, the PCXP can achieve 6800 OPM. I don't have much experience with the autoparts store buffer, I bought the PCXP and a Rotary. PC for light corrections, Rotary for heavy stuff, though I reach for the PC more.

Indyjc

iTrader: (1)

Look up Adams Polishes, they have a great forum and videos that are a great way to learn. Good luck

bigj2717

iTrader: (15)

If the scratches arent that ddep then you just need to get a better machine. That thing from autozone will not get out all the marks. Like pontiacfan said look into spending a little money and get a PC with some good pads

Dirty Vegas

iTrader: (12)

You need to step up to a better compound. I just used the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with my PC7424 and an aggressive pad and still had plenty of spiderwebs. It was much better after a second pass, but I usually get it out with one pass on that pad.

For dark colored cars, I've personally had best results with...






Here is my car after Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, Polish, and Wax.



It's a crappy cell phone pic because someone didn't think to use our Canon...

meine96ws6

iTrader: (4)

are you happy with the results? i have been thinking about using those same products.

Dirty Vegas

iTrader: (12)

Yeah, Ultimate was pretty good. Went on smooth, came off clean. I wouldn't recommend it for trying to remove swirls and spiders.

2000ssowner

just like other people said, do you have any pics of the scratches?