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Old 06-03-2009, 03:18 AM   #2
itskrees
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 122277
Join Date: Aug 2006
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Skokie, IL
Vehicle:
2007 WRX OBP
I turn cars into mirrors

Default

Here's a quick pic of my work area:


The tools of the trade:




As you can see from the pictures, I definitely had my work set out for me. The car had its share of RIDS, swirl marks, and holograms that inhibited the paint's gloss at its full potential. Before taking the buffer to the entire car, its important to first utilize a test spot and figure out the least aggressive process that will remove all the defects without sacrificing any more clear coat than needed. In this case, I chose a ~18x18" area on my rear driver's side door.





FYI...Subaru's paint is soft. STUPID soft. As in the type of paint that will scratch if you look at it wrong. This meant that great care needed to be taken when wiping off the excess polish residue in order to avoid inducing a new scratch onto the paint. However, the good thing about it was that the paint was able to get corrected with relatively mild abrasives.

The process that worked for me went as follows:

Rotary Application (Major parts of the body):

Meguiar's M105 Ultra-cut Compound on 6.5" Lake Country White Pad
Menzerna 106FA Nano Polish on 6.5" Lake Country Blue Pad
3M Ultra-fine Finishing Polish (Ultrafina) on 6.5" Lake Country Blue Pad

DA Application (Front bumper, Rear deck, Spoiler, and Trunk)

Meguiar's M105 Ultra-Cut Compound on 4" Lake Country White Pad
Meguiar's M205 Finishing Polish on 4" Lake Country Black Pad

Here's the test spot after M105 and 106FA (Ultrafina was used at the very end of the detail to remove any holograms left behind by the rotary and further enhance the gloss of the paint)




After developing the system to be used around the entire car, I proceeded to compound the entire car. This removed the deepest scratches on the paint, and the non-diminishing abrasives found in M105 made the process very efficient (roughly 1-1.5 hrs, 8-10 seconds each pass @ 1500 RPM). However, since the compound is a very aggressive polish, it left behind marks of its own that needed to be removed with a milder polish (similar to sanding). What amazes me is that there are a few people out there that are able to work M105 and leave the paint's finish nearly ready to apply wax. As you'll see in the next couple pictures, I'm not quite there yet .

After compounding:
Notice that although there are a large amount of swirls/holograms present, they are very mild and uniform relative to the scratches that they removed. This made it much easier to follow up with a milder polish to further level the paint.


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