Diff buffing for diff clearcoats

[gigondaz]

Hi, I'm new here, and having professionally detailed cars for more than 10yrs, I would like to share some of my experiences.

Different clearcoats exhibit different characteristics, and hence, respond differently to buffing.

HARD CLEARCOATS.
Hard clearcoats (eg: Akzo Nobel Sikkens, factory Audi finishes etc) might present some difficulties when you try to buff out your sanding marks. Under very strong metal halide lighting, when you use a strong, fast cut compound (eg 3M Extra Cut or Meguiars No85 Diamond Cut) + a 4ply wool pad, this combo hardly leave any noticeable swIrl marks on the clearcoat. It's a hard clear.

But most compounds have some degree of oils that partially cover up swirls that it produced.
Wiping with Prepsol/DX/M6000 solvent might not remove these oils completely.
However, 50% alcohol+50% water combo will remove the oils reliably and reveal the true surface.

For hard clears, I love Meguiars 105 compound.
It's very low-dusting, cuts very fast, easy to work with and finishes very well to a high gloss.
M105 leaves behind very negligible swirls....virtually none, on hard clears.
Follow up with the superb M205 Finishing Polish + Yellow Pad for a stunning finish. You're done!!!!

SOFT CLEARCOATS
Soft clearcoats (eg: Alesco Kansai - Japan, factory Honda finishes etc) might be easy to sand down, but after using a wool pad+compound to remove these sanding marks, the resulting swirls are much more difficult, time-consuming and frustrating to remove. On certain super-soft clearcoats, it is virtually impossible to achieve a swirl-free look unless you finish the job with a Dual Action and/or Orbital machine with very soft pads.

Do it wrongly, and the car still looks great indoors.
Take it outdoors, and it might look horrible.
After a few washes, when the compounding oils are washed away, you'll be devastated by the buffer marks and holograms.

The 4 steps below should generally give you jaw-dropping results on most soft clearcoats.
1. Rotary + Wool pad + compound (eg. Meguiars No85 Diamond Cut)
2. Rotary + Yellow pad + compound ( " )
3. Rotary + Soft/Finishing pad + light cutting polish (Menzerna 106FF)
4. Orbital or DA + Soft pad + ultra light cutting polish (Meguiars Swirl Remover)

Tip:
Never use solvent-wipes to check your results. Solvent wipes are not strong enough. Very mis-leading.
50% alcohol+50% water mix would be excellent.

 

[TAZ]

GREAT post. I agree with you about the 'oils' used within the compounds. They are pretty deceiving. My motto when I hire a wetsand buffer is "buff until you think you are done, then buff it some more"
I'll have to check out the M 105.

I see you don't really use 'foam' pads. DO they even use them over in Asia? I haven't used a foam pad since the mid 90's

Thanks!

 

[gigondaz]

GREAT post. I agree with you about the 'oils' used within the compounds. They are pretty deceiving. My motto when I hire a wetsand buffer is "buff until you think you are done, then buff it some more"
I'll have to check out the M 105.

I see you don't really use 'foam' pads. DO they even use them over in Asia? I haven't used a foam pad since the mid 90's

Thanks!

Bro,

I do use foam pads. That's why I mentioned "yellow" pad in my post.
After the 1st round of wool pad buffing, you have to use a foam pad to "refine" the finish ie....to remove the wool-pad induced swirl marks.

Normally, the most straightforward approach is:
1. Wool
2. And then yellow polishing foam pad (removal of swirls)
3. And then, soft finishing pad (normally black or beige, depending on which brand) - even more removal of fine swirls + "jewelling" of the finish to result in that showcar wet look.

Megs 105 ultra fast cut compound is one of the most wonderful compounds I've used. Shd be used with with Meguiars 4 ply wool pad for max superfast removal of sanding marks. The normal 2ply wool is not aggresive enough.

Megs 105 produces very quick results that you can see.
It "flashes off" very quickly as you machine buff, immediately leaving behind a super glossy look with hardly any swirls (on avg-> hard clearcoats). If you follow up with Megs 205.....it'll be very impressive. But pls be reminded that this 105 and 205 are not cheap at all:haha:.

This weekend, I'm preparing 3 units of Audi's latest 2011 model A8.
These are launch cars (show cars) used for the launch event.
On such hard Powder Clear Coats (PCC) used by Audi in their Sindelfingen plant, Megs 105 and 205 are wonderful!!!!

Next week, I'll post some photos of the launch event!

I love this website and forum!!!
Gotta go back to work now, buddy.
Will here again tonite:bounce: