Team-BHP - All about Car Polishing

Quote:

Originally Posted by kutlee (Post 3379324)

if waterspots are kind of etched on clear coat, you need to polish it. Same polish can be applied to glass as well. Always leave a coat of sealant and wax to keep it protected after polishing.

Thanks. Finally I managed to clean them off with vinegar. As a matter of fact, they were mineral deposits bonded to the surface possibly as a result of overspray from garden sprinkler. It worked like a charm. I'm posting the method I used, for benefit of others:

1. Prepare a solution of 1 part synthetic vinegar (4% acetic acid) with 2 parts water. (Dilute more if you plan to use it on clear plastic).
2. Spray on the affected area and let it work for around 10 seconds (not more).
3. Wipe gently with a MF cloth. Please be gentle because the solution as such will not have lubricity and you'll risk scratching.
The mineral deposits start visibly dissolving. Feels really good :)

Initially I started with undiluted vinegar. Everything was fine until I sprayed on headlight. I observed immediate discoloration (fogging). Luckily I had sprayed only a small amount otherwise the entire headlight would have needed to be replaced.

I never knew that sprinkler overspray can get bonded so fast. :Shockked: Curse the direct sunlight. But now I have a good home remedy for this problem.

Source of this idea:
Autogeek: How to remove water spots by hand
Autogeek: Using Vinegar to remove water spots

My experience with Optimum Finish Polish and a cheap rotary buffer

About a year ago, I had bought a cheap rotary buffer (Kzubr) from eBay for just 3000 bucks. I wanted to try it out, so got a small 8 fl.oz bottle of Optimum Finish Polish. I had no experience with any other polish except "Sonax Auto Politur", so I'll not be comparing this product with any other. This was my first time with any rotary polisher as well. I chose this particular polish to start off since I had read about it's long working time. My car is a 6 month old Honda Amaze Alabaster silver - Very soft paint. The paint itself was not in a very bad shape; the main idea was to get myself familiar with polishing (Just for kicks :))

All about Car Polishing-optfinishpolish.jpg

Product Claim
Optimum Finish was developed to produce the most reflective finish possible on even the softest and most difficult paints. The sub-micron abrasives will leave the paint absolutely perfect. "Buffer trails" or holograms are a thing of the past with Optimum Finish. The polishing agents are encapsulated in proprietary polymers that protect the paint from dry buffing and prevent any dusting. Optimum Finish will give you the perfect finish every time. As with all the Optimum polishes, Optimum Finish is an incredibly smooth, long working, zero dusting formula. Contains no fillers or silicone, and is body shop safe.

Color: Blue

Odor: Smells like paint

Consistency: Non oily Paste (A bit softer than colgate). A bit less oily to my liking

Abrasive type: SMAT

Fillers: None

Correction Ability: Good for faint swirls. That's all I could test. Like I said, this is the first polish that I've tried, so really can't comment much.

Backing plate and Pads used
Scholl Concepts' Soft Backing Plate
Scholl Concepts' Orange Foam Pad
White Foam Finishing Pad from spautopia

Process:
Gave the car a good shampoo wash (Sonax Gloss Concentrate) and decontaminated using Ultima clay block. On inspection of the surface, I found a few very light swirl marks on the boot lid and some on door panels. Nothing too serious. Finding swirl marks on a silver paint is a tough job because they show up only in bright light from an angle, not very obvious.
I started with Scholl Concepts' soft backing plate and Orange finishing pad. Primed the pad, wiped off the excess and began with the roof. For each 2 feet square area, I used 5-6 pea sized drops of the polish.
My cheap rotary is not only cheap in price but also in how it is. It claims to be manufactured in Russia, but I seriously doubt it. Apart from the solid build quality (heavy too), there's nothing European about it. On speed-1(600rpm), the rotation stops under load. So I had to turn the knob to a position in between 1-2 for spreading the polish. After spreading, once I started the polishing cycle, the foam pad started jumping; it was very difficult to control the buffer. It was just at speed 3 (around 1500rpm according to sticker, but possibly slower under load). Not realizing that since this is my first time and this was bound to happen, I tried to get smart by lubricating the pad by spritzing a bit of UWWP. stupid: This was the biggest mistake. Although it did help spread the product effortlessly, what actually happened is the working time got drastically reduced. The polish started to flash out with just 1 polishing cycle and in the second cycle the pad got dry and began jumping around.
I realized my mistake soon enough and fortunately had another inexpensive (but surprisingly good) white finishing pad that I had ordered from spautopia. I quickly switched the pads and continued. This time, I think I had adapted to the machine better because I was able to work better than before. The polish was spreading nicely and I was really enjoying the process. 5 pea-sized drops of the polish lasted for 3 cycles on a 2 feet square area. Vigorous vibrations by my machine could have made the polish to dry out quicker. I think it should last longer on better machines (Just a thought), but I think 3 cycles were enough on my paint since it was not in a bad condition, and also Honda paint is soft.

Result:
I did IPA wipe down twice per panel, just be be sure. Swirl marks on the boot and bonnet were gone and the surface felt like it was freshly waxed. There were still few very light swirls on the right door panel visible in bright sunlight, but I was totally exhausted to do it again. Man, machine polishing is easier said than done. I pushed LSP to the next day.

LSP: Finish Kare 1000P High temp paste wax
I applied the wax to the entire car, had lunch and came back to buff off dried wax. It looked as though it needed a chisel to take off the dried wax, but the final result was awesome. Super slick.
But I did have a numb arm by EOD. I plan to get some microfiber bonnets so that I can put my rotary to use for buffing dried wax.

Pics
Sorry for such crappy pictures. I just had my mobile on me.

Parting notes
I ended the eventful day with this thought - "Why in the world did I buy a silver car?" It's definitely easier to maintain, no doubt, but at the same time, it doesn't dazzle. If I had forseen my interest in car care, I would have got myself a more fancy color. Like Pedaltothefloor - your car looks like a blueberry candy to me buddy

And guys, any tips/suggestions most welcome with open arms.

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^ @Funda

7 year car means medium to heavy oxidation of paint iron contamination and swirls. If not maintained properly this will need professional correction or at least machine correction. If you are planning to do it by hand, painful days are ahead and there will not be much satisfaction the end.

Still if you want to continue, let us look at our options. Without prejudice to other products, let me list out some products I used.

1. Remove all previous wax/sealant deposits - For this you need to use diluted IPA (Rubbing alocohol available at your local medical shop). Branded cleaners specifically made for auto industry are Auto Finesse Verso, Capro eraser etc. They are not cheap.

2. Remove iron contamination - Use Capro or Auto Finesse products.

3. Do an IPA wipe down.

4. Remove swirls - Use Poorboys SSR range depending on the level of swirls on your car. Swirl removal is going to be difficult with hand.

5. Use fillers to cover swirls not removable - Use Poorboys Polish with Sealent or similar product.

6. Apply a glaze or final nano coating - Sonus Acrylic Glanz is good as a glaze or GTechniq c2v3 will give perfect shine and water repellancy. There are several other products too.

7. Appply wax if you really need. Since you are using sealent and glaze you need not use a wax.

8. For plastics, tires and interior - Use Carpro PERL. This saves you money since you dont have to invest in varied products for each part.

In all the steps use clean microfiber clothes. Use 3 layered applicator pads for hand polishing and product application. These are now available in online shops.

All the best.

After going through this and the waxes/sealants thread, got hold of following:
1. UPPP.
2. UPGP.
3. Opti-eraser clay.
4. Autoglym SRP.
5. ONR.

Tried the UPGP on my bike without polishing and the result was good, however, the bike is 9 months old and well taken care off, but the car is 3 yrs old and no care of the paint has been taken. There are a lot of paint chips due to stones, and a lot of swirls too. I was contemplating about getting the car polished professionally, but as Pedaltothefloor has rightly said in this thread, it beats the purpose of this thread!

So, here it goes:
1. Washed the car using Sunsilk Black shampoo (yes, I'm going to get a better shampoo soon, for the car I mean).
2. Wiped dry using Sonax Micro fibre cloth.
3. Removed Tar marks using WD40, works pretty well, you have to be patient though.
4. Clayed the car with the Opti eraser, using ONR solution as a lube.
5. Applied Autoglym SRP using the applicator that came with it.
Now, here I'm a bit confused, do I need to rub it in or do I just lightly apply it in circular motion? What I did was, soaked the applicator with water, then squeezed it to remain somewhat moist, then put some drops of SRP onto it and applied it lightly to the car in circular motion.
6. After about 10 minutes, SRP had dried completely. Removed it with a fresh sonax micro fibre cloth.
When wiping it off, will it shine more if I buff it more? I just wiped it till it was gone completely.
7. Applied UPGP using the applicator that came with it. Now, applying a WOWA sealant on a white car is such a pain. Its almost invisible.
A good 3 hours latter my first tryst with Polishing and Sealing was over.
The final result is no where near to some of the pictures in this and the sealant thread, maybe due to improper usage of the products, or maybe due to the fact that my car is 3 yrs old with no paint protection done whatsoever. However, what it looks now is many times better than what it looked before.
Here's what the polishing and sealing exercise did:
1. The paint used to look dull, now it looks like what "white" should look like.
2. The surface is ultra smooth.
3. Water does not want to stay on to the paint.
4. There's only a thin layer of dust in the morning, which is easily removed using the jopasu duster.

As, it rained today, the car gathered some muck here and there. Made a solution with ONR in a spray bottle and wiped off the muck with a Micro fibre cloth, while spraying it on one section at a time. Took care to rinse the Micro Fibre each time in water to remove the dirt it had picked up.
Is this the right way to clean the car in the rainy season? Could I spray water onto it using a water hose in the evening once I reach home, so that there's not a lot left to clean in the morning?
Here are the beading shots, sorry for the quality of the pictures, as I'm photographically challenged:

Quote:

Originally Posted by raghuvir (Post 3452541)

After going through this and the waxes/sealants thread, got hold of following:
1. UPPP.
2. UPGP.
3. Opti-eraser clay.
4. Autoglym SRP.
5. ONR.

Good choice of products there.

Quote:

So, here it goes:
1. Washed the car using Sunsilk Black shampoo (yes, I'm going to get a better shampoo soon, for the car I mean).

:( please get a decent dedicated car shampoo.

Quote:

5. Applied Autoglym SRP using the applicator that came with it.
Now, here I'm a bit confused, do I need to rub it in or do I just lightly apply it in circular motion?

For a filler heavy polish/glaze it's recommended to finish off with straight lines to allow fillers to do their job. Watch the below video from AutoGlym.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leAtV-mSUCA&sns=em

Remember, what you have is a filler heavy polish, please ensure not to use any hair shampoos as they would wash away your hard work. Use something which is LSP safe.

Quote:

whatsoever. However, what it looks now is many times better than what it looked before.

Good job for the first attempt mate.

Quote:

As, it rained today, the car gathered some muck here and there. Made a solution with ONR in a spray bottle and wiped off the muck with a Micro fibre cloth, while spraying it on one section at a time. Took care to rinse the Micro Fibre each time in water to remove the dirt it had picked up.
Is this the right way to clean the car in the rainy season? Could I spray water onto it using a water hose in the evening once I reach home, so that there's not a lot left to clean in the morning?

House off the muck.

Hello guys,

New to Car detailing, I bought :

1) Mothers Clay Bar and Detailing spray
2) Meguiars Ultimate Polish
3) Meguiars yellow Wax.
4) Lake Country 4" White, Orange cutting pads.
5) Lake Country 4" Gray Finishing Pad
6) Lake Country Blue 5.5" Finishing Pad
7) Bosch Skill Polisher (600-3000 RPM)

Since I am new to rotary, read alot and watched tons of videos, but too much knowledge is also not good.:D Decided to first give it a try on my Activa and Apache and then moving to Safari and Nano.

Washed, Clayed the vehicles.

It was pain initially as the rotary has mind of its own and was moving crazily over the paint surface, Had a hard time controlling it. It was hard time, I had to give perfect section passes, use zenith point technique, while doing this all was a tough task for a newbie, most of the concentration was on taming the buffer.:Frustrati So, decided to keep it simple and then on did polishing at 1000 RPM. Still had hard time controlling buffer on curves of panels. What I learnt is the handles that come with buffer are nothing but adding to pain, its better to not use the handles instead just use hand to put pressure on the head of buffer.

After polishing job, though it was only satisfactory as a first timer, maybe due to cloudy weather reflections were not great, but the bike was shining better than before. Did a round of Polishing by White pad and then Orange pad, just to give it a try finish was better with Orange pad. Applied Wax with Gray finishing pad and curtains for the day. Took me 2 hours for a Activa polishing partially and Apache fully.

Decided to buy M105 and M205 now as Ultimate Polish removed very minor imperfections.

Some suggestions needed :

1) Should I buy b5.5" cutting pads? Since a newbie I think 4" are okay as I will cover small sections at a time.

2) Should I first try M205 to test if it removes imperfections or straightly try M105 with M205 as finishing polish?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercedised (Post 3483726)

It was pain initially as the rotary has mind of its own and was moving crazily over the paint surface, Had a hard time controlling it.

Quote:

Still had hard time controlling buffer on curves of panels.

The unexpected moving of the rotary is due to the dry pads / non-prime pads / too much pressure esp for cutting pads. Its suppose to rotate on the paint surface w/o any extra support. What I follow is to spray a mist before starting each iteration so that the pad rotates smoothly, too much water can sprinkle the material all over the place.

Quote:

1) Should I buy b5.5" cutting pads? Since a newbie I think 4" are okay as I will cover small sections at a time.

A 5.5" pad would be better with a 5" backplate provided the backplates are flexible type for rounded edges or panels. Normal backing plate needs atleast .75-1" clearance to avoid any paint damage in these areas. I would prefer a 4" pad with a 3/3.5" backplate for small curvy areas and in all other cases bigger pads are better.

Quote:

2) Should I first try M205 to test if it removes imperfections or straightly try M105 with M205 as finishing polish?

Megs UP (filler based) and M205 does the same thing by removing the imperfections due to the compounding but later with better finish as it gives more working time than the UP. Till you finish the current stock of UP use it and once over buy M205 or any other based on the final protective sealant.