LOOKING FOR SOME ADVICE/HELP

[Vettel-ish]

Had a eye opening experience tonight and want to see if I am not the only one. Working a very close friends Corvette C7. Car is tracked a lot and is in need of a correction and coating. Spent the day getting close with the car. Rupes 5" and 3". Sonax perfect finish followed by some Carpro eraser. Crystal Serum light and 2 hours later a coat of EXO. I know that glass coatings can be tricky to remove so I turned off the lights in the garage and got out the Scangrip.
In horror I see every tiny little scratch and imperfection in the paint. I take pride in my work and this made me question not only my skill but my whole operation. Has anyone ever done this? Kill the lights and bust out the scan grip. Is this normal? After 4-5 hours of compounding I was expecting perfection. I am super discouraged at the moment.

Sponsored

 

[kilobravo]

IMO, Perfect Finish wasn't aggressive enough to get the difficult marks and spiders. Based on what you said about how the car is used OP, I don't think that was the compound to start with. Again IMO, the lights in your bay were not adequate while polishing. Personally, I put very bright lights on tripods facing toward the area where I'm working..polishing or coating. I think that's the answer to the mystery...the marks were still there, just not visible in the existing light when you finished polishing.

So, based on what I see in the closeups, I would have started with a medium pad and M105, then a fine/ultrafine pad and Perfect Finish.

FWIW, I start out by comparing various compounds and pads with small, taped off spots. Hit it with the lights and you find out how aggressive you need to be. But, you find out before you finish the car. :-)

I know, we're all Monday morning quarterbacks so no disrespect intended.

 

[cerbomark]

agree with above and would add that you shouldn't move on while doing a job like this until one spot is checked and you are satisfied. That s so you don t spend 5 hours before realizing it s not the result you want. Then you would switch product, pad etc until happy, then complete the whole car. Other than the time you spent it s no harm.

 

[Vettel-ish]

No disrespect at all. Appreciate the feedback, did all the stuff you are supposed to do, just did not go hard enough on compound and pads. Was trying to be to safe in order not to harm the car. Lesson learned, still looks freaking amazing.

 

[kilobravo]

Andy: There isn't a THING wrong with being conservative and safe and we all learn by doing. If/when you find the time and energy to go after the remaining spiders, just tape off a couple three sections on a the lower section of say a rear fender, and test with three compounds of choice. As I said, I would go with M105 and a fine pad on the first square, buff thoroughly and check.

I also use one of these for the really close up looks...a very handy piece of kit.

Additionally, I highly recommend that if you do any further polishing, pick up a paint thickness gauge, something like this. Another extremely valuable tool to keep you out of trouble. You would be surprised at the differences in thickness you can find on some vehicles as you move around from side to side.

Then, if M105 and a Fine pad don't get them all, step up to a Medium pad. That is probably more aggressive than you will need. Fact is, you might be able to come back a second time with Perfect Finish after already hitting it once and that might achieve your desired result.

It is all DIY doable, it's just a learning process and one that unfortunately, takes time, energy, and money.

Hope you get her spider free down the road.

 

[lizardrko]

Similar to what others said. If you want perfection (which we as details need to know that perfection is almost impossible for those deep swirls), then you need adequate lighting, swirl finder light. Perfect finish is a finishing polish. It is not aggressive enough for those heavy swirls. You probably need more agressive compound plus a microfiber pad and then buff with perfect finish and a finishing pad (or a slightly less agressive foam pad and work your way down to a finishing pad depending on how agressive your initial combo was). Test in an inconspicuous area to determine the least agressive method to get to your desired look.

Sponsored