Paint Swirls - Wash, Clay, Compound, Polish, Wax

thanks again for the info. I’m definitely not going to jump into this without doing the proper research. Are you suggesting that polishing may remove the swirls and that it it may not require compounding?

 

Sort of yes, as long as the abrasive liquid and pad are not too light. Check out the chart here and you can get an idea of the cut level. Notice some products that are called polishes have some cut to them. So one of these polishes on a medium polishing or light cutting pad could fix swirls on soft Japanese paint.

https://www.autopia.org/forums/pain...d-2-2017-autopia-polish-comparison-chart.html

 

This what I went with guys. Thanks for all of the help!!!! I’m going to try skipping the compound for now. I couldn’t find an iron remover locally so unfortunately I will be skipping that step this time. I plan to do this again in the Spring and I will order an iron remover prior to starting.

 

Sweet. You will be okay without the iron remover. Unless something crazy happens, you shouldn’t have to do this in the spring or at least not a complete paint correction.

Remember take your time and more importantly have fun!

 

I see you got the IPA covered.

 

I use gyeon iron removal but Pan just did a video using some eagle one wheel cleaner for iron removal since it has that in it's formula. Worked great and cheap. Should be available in a lot of local places.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WNnF_beoWA

 

Also, you can save a bunch of time by using a clay mit or Mother's speed clay 2.0 instead of an actual clay bar. I use the speed clay with some car soap.

 

I am not completely sold that iron removal is necessary. I need to test with a clay bar then follow up with iron removal. I would think the clay would get it all but not sure.

 

I haven’t started polishing yet, but I did foam spray, 2 bucket wash, and clay bar. I plan to polish in the am. The forecast is calling for light rain almost the entire day tomorrow. Is it ok to polish in light rain?

 

If rain drops are hitting the section you're polishing then it's just going to water down the cut/polish ability. If it's more than a few drops per 2x2' section probably best to hold off.

Truck looks good by the way, from this picture and distance, you can't see a single blemish. Do a test spot on a rear door and see if you're happy with it before proceeding. Try to keep whatever you do there the same throughout the whole truck, don't rework that section multiple times. I found my paint to be the thinnest at the top of the bed. Basically where your TRD sticker is anywhere in that section along the top of bed. Though I have white paint on a 2016 which is supposed to be single stage. I've heard conflicting info on whether this is true for other colors, generally ones that do not have flake in it.

 

1. Compound and polish generally require different pads. Pads will be labeled for their level of cut or polish. When I use compound it's because I want more cut, so I'll use pads that will help provide more cut in addition to compound. Wool pads for heavy cut, MF cutting or LC yellow for medium cut, and LC orange for light cut. Then its the same for polishing, if I want light polishing I'll use LC black pads with a light polish, I can get a heavier polish with that same polish by using an orange pad. Some pads like buff and shine urofiber, and I'm sure others, can cut and polish depending on what you use for a product on them. In the same breath, some products can provide heavy cutting or light polishing depending on the pad you use. Polish technology is very advanced these days. I probably just confused you more lol.

2. You don't need to use LC pads, but they are good. If you decide to go with LC, get the HDO line. I mention orange and black because they are the most commonly used by myself and are the most versatile. If you wanna buy pads off the shelf somewhere, autozone and I think O'Reilly carry Griot's pads which are very good, they may also carry Megs MF cutting and polishing discs aka pads. Don't buy cheap pads, they well shred apart and risk damage, not worth it. You will want at least 2 or 3 of each color pad because they clog up with product and clear coat. You should be cleaning pads as you go, compressed air works well, so does a toothbrush or slightly stiffer brush. Turn your polisher to speed 4 or 5 and blow air, or drag brush across the pad as it spins.

 

Haha awesome!

 

Looks like all good stuff. How many pads did you get? Edit:I see the polisher came with a pad and also some nice all in one polish/wax, that's actually some good stuff. Good buy!
I will try to find a really good article about the versatility of the M205 you got. You can cut and polish with it. It's good stuff, if I didn't get a crazy deal on a carpro bundle of clear cut and essence, I would still be using the 205 for most projects, I still use 205 a fair amount. Including this old Chevy, heres a few 50/50 shots, I was using M205 with 2 different techniques, an orange pad and that griots GG6 you have.

 

Ceramic Pro.

 

Here ya go, detailedimage has some really good reading. Last spring I would read one article/blog every night before bed. Learned a lot and got some great ideas and deals as a result.
Good read on M205
https://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/meguiars-m205-cutting-finishing-versatility/

Good info and tutorial on 105 and 205
https://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/polishing-how-to-with-meguiars-m105-m205/

 

your Chevy looks really good. It’s good to see how versatile Megs 205 is.

 

Ok guys, it's supposed to rain here for the next two weekends but I'm planning on using my in-laws' garage to polish this coming weekend. Plan is to two bucket wash, clay, polish, then apply the Megs Hybrid Cermaic wax. I have M205 & a couple of orange Griots pads. Should I invest in a lighter pad as well? I've been reading that the orange pad is for cutting and using it with polish could leave swirling. Any thoughts on this?

 

What techniques did use for that finish?

 

The usual steps of foam wash, IronX, nanoskin clay mit, then wash again.
I used my griots GG6 with megs M105 and M205 to buff out as much of the damage I could.
For the deeper scratches, swirls, and heavy oxidation I used M105 with 5" LC yellow cutting pads and Megs 5" MF cutting discs. A few spots that were really bad but repairable I used a 5" wool cutting pad.
Then I buffed out the whole truck with M205 on 5" LC orange pads and buff and shine urofiber pads. I used the technique that I linked a few posts back, lots of product on saturated pads. This gives the M205 more cut and really works well.
Then I went over the whole truck again with some 5" LC black finishing pads. I used normal polishing techniques for this step.
Once I had the paint finished to the best I could get it I wiped the while truck down with Carpro Eraser to make sure all the polishing oils were gone and the paint was ready for some protective layers.
For a sealant I went with Jescar Powerlock with a 6" red pad. The powerlock was really nice to work with and added a lot of gloss and depth to the paint, I did 2 coats and waited about 12 hrs between coats.
I'm sure I missed a few steps somewhere in there.

 

The answer always is to do a test section to confirm if you can get away with the least aggressive combination you have. Since you only have the one liquid, and pad you'd have to adjust pressure, passes, speed setting or other technique to compare against. I suspect the results wouldn't be too different outside of a less aggressive pad may produce more gloss but could remove less defects. Did they have the black finishing pad available to try?

If you're going to try and choke through the whole truck with two pads be sure you're cleaning the pad out often. Having compressed air to blow out would be ideal. You'd be much better off splitting the truck into 4 or more pads when doing a one step like this (if cutting even double that). Or divide the truck into sections you could do on different days.