What did I do wrong?

I have a guess, but just wanting to tap the knowledge here.

Just got the Porter Cable

$139 7424XP , Gray

7424XP, parked in the shade and went to work. I bought a pair of the terry cloth bonnets and used some Mothers cleaner wax I had from last year. Used a generous amount of wax and applied, left some white residue behind. Waited about 20 min and removed in the same pattern.

The wax didn't seem to come off easily as I got down to the last of it..a little caking up so to speak. The removal bonnet had a ton of it on there pretty fast. I got the leftover off quick with a microfiber towel.

I used speed #3 for the whole job.

I am already planning to buy a backing plate and some good pads from Lake Country or a similar maker..thought I could get some locally but no luck.

So why did it come off so tough? Too much wax? The terry bonnet? Should I have tossed the wax since it was from last year? Something else?

I'm guessing I overdid it on the wax but not sure..

 

My first guess would be too much wax. A little goes a long way.
Also, change your polishing bonnets out for clean ones when they start to cake on.

 

I got the hood and it had started to cake a little..grr. At that point it was 7pm so I just tried to get through it best I could.

 

If its caking then that's too much wax.

 

You just had to much wax just keep the polisher on it and it should break down a bit more. Taking it off with the rag is a PITA and it can leave scratches.

 

I did the whole truck with the DA and took off as much as I could without really bearing down on it. Left very little behind for the rag and even at that I was careful with it..was merely out of necessity..

 

What really helps stopping the build up is to do one panel at a time and try to do it somewhere warm but not too hot and in the shade. If you do one panel at a time the polish doesn't have time to cook on. If you do the polishing in the cold the polish does all kinds of strange shit and cakes on like crazy.

I'm not familiar with the wax you used but the medium polish from 3M does the same thing. To get rid of the build up when it happens just give it another buzz with the polisher to "melt" the polish from solid to liquid. As I clear it up it gets very greasy looking.

I always have bad luck when I try to remove even small amounts of the built up wax by finger probably because I'm anal as hell and I have a black truck . You can see the individual scratches from the rags and it just bugs the hell out of me haha.

 

My Chevy truck before this was black..I am with you there.

And yes, I parked it in the shade and didn't have the engine going all day so it didn't bake the wax in. I'm more inclined to think I used too much wax.