*Official* Ask A Detailer Thread

Ok what did I do here:

First time attempting to detail the car:

-Rinsed
-Car pro Bug Off-
-Washed (carpro reset)
-Iron X
-Clay Bar the whole truck w/ Meguiars professional

At this point the truck looked really good. Paint was glossy smooth and but I could see small scratch marks due to the claying etc. Next I began to polish the car to get it ready to apply Cquartz Lite. Griots G9, Giots yellow pads and 3D ONE polish. Started on the rear quarter panel, then the doors and everything was looking ok. The polish didnt seem to come off the best even after using Carpro eraser to wipe off with. It would leave smear marks with my fingers if I touched it but overall was looking good.Then I did the hood......

After Eraser/wiping there was huge swirlmarks from the pad on the hood in certain areas. Sporadically all over the hood. I sprayed eraser several times and wiped to see if it was just suborn but it is rough to the touch and is not coming off. Not sure if I burned though the clear coat but I never stopped the polisherand its only in certain areas. I tried to get some photos but the lighting wasn't the best right now. Some of it looks like dried water and some is just a row ofswirl marks from the pad. Any thoughts on what I did and if its fixable?

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. It's difficult to diagnose detailing problems over the internet, but let me give it a try.

First of all, I doubt you burned through the clear coat with a G9. It's a random orbital machine and you'd literally have to sit on it - with a very aggressive polish - for a very long time to burn through. I'm not familiar with the yellow pads you're using. How aggressive are they rated? As for the polish, I use 3D One every single day at work and although it has its issues, burning through clear is not something you can easily do without really wailing away at something. Believe me, some of the cars I do require serious wailing, and I've never burned through. I'm also using much more aggressive pads and a Flex 3401 polisher.

The smearing you experienced is somewhat normal with 3D One. New microfiber towels work much better when trying to remove it. As they age, it gets easier and easier to smear the polish around when trying to remove it.

As for the swirls you have on your hood, let me ask several questions first. How old is the truck? Has the hood ever been repainted? Has it ever been buffed / polished before? Once I know the answers, I can give you a better idea what to do next.

Tom

 

Were you changing pads frequently? On the first fresh pad was the polish able to wipe off easy? How much polish were you using, with One and other polishes it doesn't really take a lot to do a section like say a quarter of the hood (3-5 small pea sized drops). As you work it 3-4 or more alternating cross hatches it should easily wipe up with just a rag. Eraser or whatever IPA type wipe you're using is only to remove that last bit of residue after you've wiped the polish away for the cleanest surface for the coating to bond to. If the polish isn't wiping away something is likely going wrong like using too much product. That is what the two pictures look like the trails from the polisher, not burn through.

That also is where I was thinking too much polish or leaving it sit too long. When you were working it did you happen to lay the back of your hand or touch the area to see if it was getting hot. Not sure if you overwork One will it get this way.

This is one of the reasons you've got to use IPA or Eraser with caution. Alcohol, rag and wiping do not all play well together, it makes the towel very grabby. If you're having to put effort into a rag when wiping it's likely going to leave marks. It's all a balance.

Edit: also you may want to let Eraser dwell a little bit to see if it can dissolve the polish better.

 

Tom,

Thanks for the reply. The pads are quote from AutoGeek: "multi-purpose for either light defect removal (depending on the product you are using) or for perfecting the paint after already removing swirls and defects from previous steps. Using the Griot’s Garage Perfecting Cream with the Yellow Foam Perfecting Pad leaves a flawless, ready-for-wax finish! " from my understanding they are pretty mild. The truck is a 2017, original factory paint (its Super White, hard to tell in the photos) I am not the original owner but I got it in 2018, I have never had it buffed or polished before.

I was probably way too much Eraser. I did the cross or grid pattern, equivalent to 2 passes roughly. It was about 45 degrees outside when I was doing the hood, no sun, so it probably wasn't getting hot.

the pad was a brand new pad, loaded up with a light initial swirl and then the 4-6 little pea sized globs like in the first photo.

 

How often did you change the pad, the pad loads up with spent polish and paint and starts to loose it's effectiveness. Blowing them out with forced air is good but there is a limit to how much you can clean like that. Using pad cleaner on them gets them wet so they'll behave differently then when you first loaded it onto the machine.

Also how much product did you use per section, with One you want to be more like this:



than this:



The second picture would be more geared for using a cleaner wax or AIO that lays down a wax or sealant.

 

When I started on the hood the pad was a brand new pad, loaded up with a light initial swirl and then the 4-6 little pea sized globs like in the first photo. But I probably put re-upped the pad like in the first photo 3 or 4 times for the whole hood. Was that too much?

 

Only one pad for the whole truck? You've got to clean them out with a brush and/or air after each small section as they fill up with the spent compound/polish and dead paint. If you've got the budget you change to a new pad every 3-4 small sections. That means 8-10 pads or more per process for the whole vehicle.

Otherwise the pad will completely change in relation to the first section you started with.

 

Sorry I should have clarified. All this is in regards to the hood. I put on a new pad before starting the hood. Halfway though it got dirty from a spot in the edge of the hood and I immediately swapped it out with a brand new pad. So the hood had basically brand new pads for the the duration.

 

Cool, another thought are you leaving the 3D One to dwell as you move to the next "section"? It needs to be wiped away before moving to the next small section. That's one reason I could see it being difficult to "remove".

 

Possibly. I was probably doing too large of a section at a time. The “stains” that are there now will not budge. Hit it with the eraser several times. Wiped with several new MF towels.

 

One trick that works with sealants and coatings but needs to be done sooner than later would be to reapply some of the product that's stuck on there. Reason being is the solvents that are in the product would hopefully reactivate what is stuck on the panel and make it easier to wipe. As for eraser it's meant to remove the residual remnants of oils that are in polishes and compounds. It's likely not designed to nor "hot" enough to dissolve what you're trying to wipe up.

 

Are you thinking I just need to redo it then. Smaller sections at a time, less polish and no eraser to wipe it off?

 

work a 2x2 section at a time. Then wipe off with microfiber, NO ERASER! Only use eraser at the end as a final wipe to remove any oils from the polish. Eraser is only used to remove residual after wiping off bulk with microfiber.

 

I was saying take a dab of 3D One and apply it to the buildup. Let it try to activate it so it can be wiped away. If it does then you can probably use the machine from there to spread it and wipe away. I wouldn't work the panel with the machine until you're confident that you can solve the problem of wiping it away easy, not with the aid of Eraser. Then with a clean surface rework the panel with fresh 3D One and pad if you feel it needs it. Another thing don't forget to shake well the bottle of 3D One as you use it especially after it's been sitting a while.

If all you've got are the yellow Boss pads, you don't have much cutting ability with that combo so expect more finish than correction.

 

I have used most of my yellow pads and only have the more aggressive Giots orange left. Can you clean the pads or are they one time use.


They are all 6.5 but the description is the same. Which one should I be using. Tough to tell without seeing the truck obviously. But first time its been clayed and polished in 3 years on the road since it was new. .


edit: Gorram, we posted at the same time. Ok I will go try that and see what happens. I still have 4-5 brand new orange pads left.

 

You can clean and reuse the pads no problem. I've always used a pad cleaner that you mix into a bucket. Have the bucket ready ahead of time and chuck the pads in to be cleaned later but also most of the work is done as they presoak. When you get to it massage anything that's left in the pad under running water. Once completely dry they are ready to go. I'm sure there are household cleaners that will work just fine too as long as you can rinse the residual out of them.

 

Ok I just tried it and it worked! It looks like it was just dried polish or residue. Should I just hand remove all of it or go over it again with the polisher. As for the rest of the truck. Will the orange pads be ok?

Also which pad cleaner are you using.

 

I'd remove whatever is on there without working it, when you've wiped away the dried up product then work at it with everything fresh. If you need to the machine to remove then run it on a slow speed.

Regarding what pad works, it's better for you to answer that by testing it. It's always about trying it with your paint, your machine, your pad, your abrasive, your technique... Then in your case color plays a factor. The Super White is a single stage so it will be have differently than another color so it's always about testing. You're not talking their most aggressive pad. But I would think BOSS yellow pad would be more enhancement and finish, orange would be more of a one step when paired with 3D One. If the orange pad combo doesn't remove the scratch it may be too deep to chase anyway. If you keep the truck in good shape when washing and touching it then you'll likely only need to ever hit it up with the yellow pads next time and use the orange sparingly when needed.

 

Yes. To do a whole hood with 3D One, I'd re-apply more polish only once. As for how many pads one would use to do a whole (average size) vehicle, I use 2-3 for each pass / product.

 

Ah, Super White. My favorite! To give you an idea what it can look like detailed correctly, here's my 2014 Tacoma with just over 100,000 miles on it.



And here's a 2016 4Runner with 76,000 miles on it that I did the other day at work.