My 1st experience with a machine buffer

[zckid]

Hi everyone

This is my first experience with a machine buffer, used it on a scrap hood whcih had lying outside for a fairly long time at a friend's palce.

The hood was full of swirls, scratches, scuff marks and dull. a big dent too.

As for myself, I had to start somewhere (living in an island of sea, sand, sun and SwirLSSS n Orange Peel :rofl. I started early too as my little kid was sleeping, so no disturbance.... that explains the lack of before pics.

My arsenal had been quite limited:
A Clarke CP 180 rotary - a really heavy one - 5 kg
A white polishing and a pink finishing pad from Machine Mart UK
A bottle of Farecla G3
A bottle of M80

Washed the hood with some local MPC, dried and started off. I had to forget the machine's weight and focus on buffing. So this was it.

I began with Farecla G3. At 1st, I was rather unsure, but as I got some practice, the movement bacame easier and I got more comfortable with the rotary. Later, I shifted to M80.









Casper is here[i]



My daughter[i]







The Real Test







Under the sun came the real test. holograms, induced swirls and some swirl marks & deep scratches have not gone though there has been an improvement in the gloss, a reduction in the scratches and swirls.


In the end, reflecting on what I've done: pleased with the improvements but not so happy with the end results.

May be:
wrong technique
not enough cut in the pads
too much polish
buffing time exceeded
incorrect amount of pressure
wrong number of passes
wrong speed chosen at different polishing stages....

how to avoid these pitfalls??

While the adage says "Practice makes perfect"
It feels more like "Perfect practice makes perfect"

Your comments and opinions will be most welcome.

I look forward to hear from you

Thanks a lot

Zaid

[Wells]

It looks good Zaid, a badly damaged hood may just require a second or third hit to get perfect, or those scratches are that deep that they wont budge without you striking through, general rule of thumb (nail )
if you catch the scratch with your nail when you go over it, it is probably too deep for 100% correction. Did you use Zennith technique(think it is called that??)? ie few passes at low speed (speed 1, or 600-900rpm) then slightly faster for a few passes, then max at speed 3 or 1500 - 1800 rpm, hen back down, all the way to speed1 again.

[zckid]

(07-02-2011 10:13 AM)Wells Wrote:  It looks good Zaid, a badly damaged hood may just require a second or third hit to get perfect, or those scratches are that deep that they wont budge without you striking through, general rule of thumb (nail )
if you catch the scratch with your nail when you go over it, it is probably too deep for 100% correction. Did you use Zennith technique(think it is called that??)? ie few passes at low speed (speed 1, or 600-900rpm) then slightly faster for a few passes, then max at speed 3 or 1500 - 1800 rpm, hen back down, all the way to speed1 again.

Thanks buddy

The hood was really a nightmare. Yes, I used the zenith technique from Dave KG's guide on DetailingWorld.co.uk

My polisher( a Clarke) has 1000-3000 rpm (6 speed). I got it going from 1 (1000) to 3 and back.

It took me a half-day for that.

May be I need to do some wetsanding to level the surface. It's got some orange peel too. any ideas

By the way, is wetsanding the only way to remove orange peel?
Is there a best way to westand?

The pads I used are: White and Pink-jpg

May be the pads lacked the compounding power in the first instance?

i look forward to hear from you.

many thanks.

Regards

[Carn]

The amount of correction you can achieve will be determined by the severity of the defects, and the thickness of the available clearcoat you have to work with.

You may well get better correction from a few more passes, or with a more aggressive product, but without knowing how much paint you have to work with you may also compromise or completely destroy the clear coat

Wet sanding is about the most effective way to remove orange peel, but again without a coating thickness guage and sufficient clear coat to play with, the risks outweight the benefits IMHO.