I have a SSB car that has very light scratches and swirls. Because of the color they are very hard to see but I wanted to perfect the paint.

On Friday I went to the local tool supply and picked up a PC buffer. Since I was in the area I stopped off at Dusold Designs who does nothing but incredible custom paint jobs on street rods and bikes. I told them what I was planning and he gave me some 3M products to try which were their #2 and #3 of their three step process. I also picked up some Maguires foam pads, burgandy, yellow and tan. Latter I remembered Mike suggesting not using the burgandy so I never used it and may take it back.

I washed the car with Maguires car wash and then clayed the car with Mothers clay bar and detailing spray. I decided to use the roof of my car as a test area under a 300 watt light bulb. I could see the light scratches in the roof. I first tried the 3M step two with the yellow pad on speed 5. I went over drivers side of the roof probably three times but the scratches were minimized on the first try but never got any better. I didn't like the 3M because it is very dusty! I then tried the same thing with the 3M ultra fine step 3. this is great stuff! The clear has never been more flat or transparant! But it had no effect on the totally eliminating the few very fine scratches.

I decided to try something different which was to start with Maquires scratch X. I used this on the hole car and like the 3M the scratches were minimized but still there but I didn't have to deal with the massive dust of 3M step 2. I then tried a product that some friends really like. I polished the car with Surf City Beyond clay. This is really nice stuff and easy to use. Like the 3M ultra fine step 3, I ended up with a deep, absolutely clear wet looking finish. Of course the very fine scratches were still there. Keep in mind that you have to really search for these scratches. the average guy wouldn't see them but I am sure Mike would find them immediatly. At this point I gave up and hand applied Surf City Barrier Reef liquid Carnuba. Wow this is a nice wax. The car cam out looking incredible to the untrained eye. It is incredibly slick and wet looking. I think this is about as shinning and wet as you can get with this color car. The fine scratching bothers me even though you have to look very hard to find them. I am not interested in just filling the swirl/scratches. I want them to not exist! Any suggestions?

 

robert im no expert but see a couple things. when first starting this wash the car with dawn liquid soap. this will remove the wax that is currently on the car. then do the claybar to remove the contaminants on the paint not the wax.

also a more aggressive compound may be needed such as meguiers #80 to cut thru the scratches.
i will be working on mine in the coming weeks!

 

Yea I know about the Dawn and forgot. it had been a very long time since I waxed it and I drive all winger long in Texas. The clear on these cars seems really hard and I wanted to not be to aggressive when using a new PC DA for the first time. I am wondering what would have happened with the burgandy cutting pad with the Scratch X ?? I got the Surf city stuff from Pep Boys and while I was there I saw a nice 3M swirl remover kit for DA buffers. It comes with three liquids and three self centering pads for $44.00 Anyone try this?

 

personally im no fan of the 3m products. maybe give chemicalguys.com website a try. more stuff there than you will ever use!

 

Pick up some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and use that with the yellow polishing pad, speed 5, and moderate to heavy pressure. That's what Steve (aka Mr-Lama) did with his black SRT6 and got outstanding results. For a refresher, his post is at https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...pic-heavy.html

Now, I would have recommended that you follow up the UC with Ultimate Polish to achieve the wet, glossy look you're after but since you've got the 3M UltraFina and it's working well for you, you may as well stick with it. And if you like the wax you're using, stick with that too.

There should be no need to wash with Dawn first as the compound step will take it off pretty effectively! If you did not clay first you probably should so as to remove the bonded contaminants without grinding them back into the paint or otherwise compromising the effectiveness of the compound.

As for the dusting issue with the 3M product, it may well be a rotary specific product that doesn't play all that well with a DA buffer. Our M105 Ultra Cut Compound is like that too, but our Ultimate Compound is a consumer product derived from M105 with the major difference being a much longer buffing cycle and nowhere near the level of dusting. You can pick it up at most larger auto parts stores and even WalMart.

When using the UC, don't be afraid to use a lot of pressure on the pad. You want it to keep rotating, but it will be rotating very slowly - that's fine, just don't bog it down. Keep the pad flat against the paint and it will continue to rotate.

Oh, and the burgundy cutting will definitely give you more cut, but it's a bit too aggressive for use on a DA and it usually ends up hazing the paint a bit in the process of removing defects. Not a big deal as you can usually clear up the haze with a secondary pass using a less aggressive product, but why add the extra step if you don't have to?

 

mike i was referring to the dawn wash to remove the wax so as not to build it up on the clay bar. easy to do and saves the bar (unless your clumsy like me and keep dropping it on the ground!! new bar needed! )

 

Thanks Mike,

I did clay the car with Mohters clay. It was the only clay at O'Riley's but it came with an extra free bottle of detailer spray. I saw the ultimate compund, polish and wax there. Since I was going to try the 3M I only bought the Ultimate wax, along with some of my old favrites, Maguirar's, detailer, gold class leather, Natural shine protectorant, and I also decided to try your Ultimate protectorant. I did a test of the Ultimate wax and it seemed pretty good. I just decided to use the Surf City wax for the whole car as I wanted to test it out.

I will give the Ultimate compound a try. If I can't get the fine scratches out I may try the burgandy pad on speed five or six?

 

Give the Ultimate Compound a go first, using the yellow polishing pad at speed 5 and a good bit of pressure. Move the pad very slowly over the paint, and confine your work area to no larger than about 2' x 2', maybe even just 18" x 18". I like to tell people to put enough pressure on the pad to stop it from rotating, then ease up just enough to get it spinning slowly again. And it will be spinning very slowly indeed.

If you find you need to move to the cutting pad, keep in mind that it may well haze the paint while removing the swirl marks (and that haze should clean up easily with a follow up of the same product on a polishing pad) and it might get really hot where the pad meets the backing plate. Looking at the motion of a dual action polisher the free rotating spindle assembly allows for full random motion, meaning the pad is constantly changing direction. Now looking at how the hook & loop of velcro works, you can see that the pad is constantly trying to break free from that hold. And that can generate a lot of heat on the velcro. So much so that with constant use it will start to break down the adhesive holding the velcro to the pad, or even the foam itself. This can lead to total failure of the pad. We see this with our pads, and with the Lake Country pads - it makes no difference. I've measured 231 degrees F in that area, with product literally starting to steam. That's not good! So keep the above in mind in the event you feel the need to reach for the cutting pad.

 

Mike you make me a feel a lot better. I burned two orange Lake Country pads today doing the Ultimate Compound I thought I was doing something terribly wrong until I read this. They were working fine I was confused if it was me or those pads (some cursing was involved!)

 

glad you guys are discussing this, I have put off too long the detailing of the cars...Mike, I am up for a kit, and I have a couple of powered buffers...not porter cable though...so I will read thru the thread on detailing....may have questions....

 

I, too, was very interested in the feedback on detailing in this thread. I've typically used the Meguiar's Professional Series 3-Step Product line (Mirror Glaze #2 Cleaner, Show Car Glaze #7, Hi-Tech Yellow Wax #26) when performing a full exterior detail. Based on the comments in this thread, and the use of a buffer I just bought awhile back, I'm going to give it a go again.

Later,

 

I highly recommend switching to Ultimate Compound and getting away from the #2 Fine Cut Cleaner. Ultimate Compound may be a consumer product that you can pick up at almost any auto parts store and even WalMart, but don't let that put you off. It is derived from our M105 Ultra Cut Compound in our pro line, which uses the latest abrasives technology. Ultimate Compound is just a lot more user friendly on a DA buffer than M105, and it offers faster cut and a better finish than #2 will. #7 is still fantastic stuff, especially for a dark colored car with single stage paint. Depending on the buffer you're using, I'd recommend M205 Ultra Finishing Polish for your Machine Gray Crossfire. Again, M205 uses the last abrasives technology but in a product designed to even further refine the finish. The amount of added clarity you can pick up with M205 is pretty amazing, and on a modern clear coat it makes the flake really pop.

What kind of buffer are you using, just for reference here?

 

well mike i went after the swirls on my everest green metallic slk32. tons of swirl on the hood roof and decklid. started with a lake country red pad with the ultimate compound. worked great for all but the toughest swirls. switched to a lake country purple pad and meguires #80 compound and reduced the work area and within 5 minutes gone!!! wiped all the panels down and applied a coat of poor boys black hole glaze and finished up with a coat of zaino # 5 polish. hood looks amazing and the metallic just pops in the sunshine! thanx for all the help from this thread! now if the dang cicaddas would stop crashing into the nose i would have it made!

 

Mike - If the swirl marks aren't significant (or don't appear to be) would you recommend using the SwirlX product over the Ultimate Compound? I've typically always done my detailing using products that were recommended for hand application, having not used a buffer/polisher on the surface. But I've gotten some nice results on other cars in my stable with the B&D Random Orbital Buffer I purchased last fall & want to use it on my XFire. I like it's compact design & ease of use.

Thanks in Advance,

 

Mike, I use the Lake County pads, specifically the ones that use the quick snap on-off. Do you know which pad I should use with the Ultimate Compound?

 

Quick snap on-off - can't say I've ever heard anyone refer to a pad this way. Are you using the 5.5" pads with the dimpled face or the flat ones - or a different pad altogether? With their 5.5" pads the crossover to the Meguiar's yellow polishing pad is their white pad, with their orange pad being a bit more aggressive. Their cyan pad is very aggressive but supposedly leaves a very nice finish in spite of that, but I haven't had a chance to try that one out with a DA buffer on really hard paint. But from what others have accomplished here using our yellow pads and Ultimate Compound, I doubt you need to go more aggressive than their white or orange pad.

Knowing how particular about your car's finish (and I applaud that since I hate to be the only one!!!!) I highly recommend following Ultimate Compound and whatever pad you choose with our M205 Ultra Finishing Polish on either our black finishing pad or a Lake Country black or red finishing pad. Slow the tool speed down to 3 and use just moderate pressure, but give it a long work cycle - ie, go over a 3' x 3' area multiple times to really refine the paint, adding clarity and gloss. The finish should look incredible at this point, and you haven't even waxed yet. If you want to stick with Adam's stuff for the wax, go for it. On a black car though I also highly recommend Meguiar's M26 High Tech Yellow Wax or Gold Class Carnauba, or even AutoGlym HD Carnauba or P21S. Or if you're willing to put in the time, lay down a coat of NXT Tech Wax 2.0 first, then 24 hours later put down one of those carnauba products over it.

 

Thanks Mike. I'm referring to the Edge2000 pads from Lake Countty. I used the wrong name because I didn't remember at the moment. I needed to know what paf from the Edge2000 is comparable to yours for the UC.

 

OK, gotcha. Wow, about the only time I hear someone mention Edge2000 pads is when they're using a Cyclo dual head buffer.

A quick check shows you've got options for yellow, green, blue and white pads. I'd start with the green medium cutting pad as a starting point and only step up to the yellow if you absolutely have to. M205 on a blue pad to follow up, then wax with the white pad.

I have to admit, however, that I've never used these exact pads so I can't comment on their effectiveness.

 

Mike they actually very good, and I like the fact that I don't have to worry about the pad coming off the velcro, and I can switch pads effortlessly, not to mention I can throw them in the washer with my microfiber towels if I want. They are two sided, so very easy to use.

 

Thanks Mike...I will order based on the discussion above.....the black car really needs to shine more...I don't have any swirls...but need it to pop...the aero blue coupe has never been done....can't wait to see what it will look like...