machine polishing a black car ? ..
Discussion
Hi all
I have just bought a black car that seems to have been parked near a body shop as it has a very light covering of overspray , car looks mint but paint feels slightly rough to the touch ,just wondered what products people are using these days for this type of job ? im an ex painter (did the job for over 20 years and still do a bit now now when i have to! ) so am no stranger to a machine polisher, It wont need compound and there is no scratches in the paint so it just needs a quick lick over, to be fair it comes off quite easily by hand, I planned to use presta chroma 1500 polish and a soft pad on the polisher which should do the trick, then a coat of Presta fast carnuba wax I have , but open to suggestions on what people are finding is best on dark coloured cars as an old dog is never to old to learn new tricks !
thanks in advance.
I have just bought a black car that seems to have been parked near a body shop as it has a very light covering of overspray , car looks mint but paint feels slightly rough to the touch ,just wondered what products people are using these days for this type of job ? im an ex painter (did the job for over 20 years and still do a bit now now when i have to! ) so am no stranger to a machine polisher, It wont need compound and there is no scratches in the paint so it just needs a quick lick over, to be fair it comes off quite easily by hand, I planned to use presta chroma 1500 polish and a soft pad on the polisher which should do the trick, then a coat of Presta fast carnuba wax I have , but open to suggestions on what people are finding is best on dark coloured cars as an old dog is never to old to learn new tricks !
thanks in advance.
have you used clay before
if you're desperate pop into Halfords for the Meguairs Clay + Lube kit or browse www.detailingworld.co.uk for a bewildering array of wallet shrinking products
arguably makes one of the biggest differences
Happy Days
if you're desperate pop into Halfords for the Meguairs Clay + Lube kit or browse www.detailingworld.co.uk for a bewildering array of wallet shrinking products
arguably makes one of the biggest differences
Happy Days
Edited by ribenavrs on Saturday 27th November 17:40
thanks been on the detailing sites toady and Jeeeeezzzzz some take it very seriouly , some of the transformations i looked at are impressive, but reckon some of those blokes on there need to discover women 
looking at the Clays they do say they remove overspray so will give that a try ,would prefer to avoid machine poilishing the car if possible as it is pretty much scratch free, any idea what the clays are made from I know from experience that overspray isnt easy to remove so struggling to understand how rubbing the bodywork with this stuff is going to do the job ?
so if it works what is recomended as a good polish on a black to finish with ?
looking at the Clays they do say they remove overspray so will give that a try ,would prefer to avoid machine poilishing the car if possible as it is pretty much scratch free, any idea what the clays are made from I know from experience that overspray isnt easy to remove so struggling to understand how rubbing the bodywork with this stuff is going to do the job ?
so if it works what is recomended as a good polish on a black to finish with ?
Lol. You can say that again
Consistency is much the same as blutack, probably similar ingredients
Not sure how to describe it, maybe think of it as a razor that shaves off a layer of contaminant with each pass of the clay until it's gone
There are many different grades and obviously only you can decide which one you'll need according to how bad the overspray is??
The most harsh clays can induce hologramming but will easily polish out which kind of defeats your objective but if you get mild it'll just take a bit longer
Hope this helps ?
Consistency is much the same as blutack, probably similar ingredients
Not sure how to describe it, maybe think of it as a razor that shaves off a layer of contaminant with each pass of the clay until it's gone
There are many different grades and obviously only you can decide which one you'll need according to how bad the overspray is??
The most harsh clays can induce hologramming but will easily polish out which kind of defeats your objective but if you get mild it'll just take a bit longer
Hope this helps ?
JeffC said:
Hi all
I have just bought a black car that seems to have been parked near a body shop as it has a very light covering of overspray , car looks mint but paint feels slightly rough to the touch ,just wondered what products people are using these days for this type of job ? im an ex painter (did the job for over 20 years and still do a bit now now when i have to! ) so am no stranger to a machine polisher, It wont need compound and there is no scratches in the paint so it just needs a quick lick over, to be fair it comes off quite easily by hand, I planned to use presta chroma 1500 polish and a soft pad on the polisher which should do the trick, then a coat of Presta fast carnuba wax I have , but open to suggestions on what people are finding is best on dark coloured cars as an old dog is never to old to learn new tricks !
thanks in advance.
An aggresive clay will take care of overspray, Bilt Hamber, Meguiars Aggresive are some examples. With the claying some marring might be possible so the machine polishing could be inevitable. If it was my car especially black I would go the whole hog, clay, machine polish, sealant etc.....I have just bought a black car that seems to have been parked near a body shop as it has a very light covering of overspray , car looks mint but paint feels slightly rough to the touch ,just wondered what products people are using these days for this type of job ? im an ex painter (did the job for over 20 years and still do a bit now now when i have to! ) so am no stranger to a machine polisher, It wont need compound and there is no scratches in the paint so it just needs a quick lick over, to be fair it comes off quite easily by hand, I planned to use presta chroma 1500 polish and a soft pad on the polisher which should do the trick, then a coat of Presta fast carnuba wax I have , but open to suggestions on what people are finding is best on dark coloured cars as an old dog is never to old to learn new tricks !
thanks in advance.
cheers chaps..
the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
JeffC said:
cheers chaps..
the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
Hi there budthe pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
In my oppinion, cars can look rubbish a week later for 2 reasons:
1-The light source used while correcting paint is of poor quality. You need something thats going to mimin the sun, like a 3m sungun. Also as shown above 500w halogens work a treat. A mixture of hologens, sun guns, and camera flash will really help you with getting perfection. If the paint looks good under these 3 light sources, then it will look perfect in the sun.
2-Alot of compounds and polishes, though abrasive, have quite abit of filling properties. If you don't IPA wipe in between sets, you will never see the true picture. You need to do this to pull the oils out of the paint that the compounds and polishes leave and can hide some of the defects. If your paint looks good after a thorough IPA wipedown, then it will be its true finish.
The car SL above was actually booked in for an enhancement detail, but after I had chance to fully decontaminate the car, dry and give it a thorough IPA wipedown, this is what the paint looked like. Now to get the car looking good, and single stage paint correction would not of removed those bad boys, as I would have had to use nothing more aggressive then a fine abrasive polish. So i spoke to the owner, and decided on the bare minimum of correcting the paint. So on the car above I am using 3M fast cut plus, on a green compounding pad. This is removing the heavy swirls and rds. But once I have finished my sets, I'm left with micro marring and holograms left by the heavy abrasive compounds. So to remove these i'm using 3M ultrafina SE on a blue finishing pad. This seems to work well, especially for only 2 stage correction, and after IPA wipedowns, its keeping its finish.
So if you follow the above, and you obviously know what you are doing, then you should have a car thats stays in good shape. To be fair, I have only seen one bodyshop garage give back cars in perfect condition after fixtures and resprays, and thats Xquisite Automotive. Everywhere else, there happy as long as the cars shiny. Than once the sun comes out, its covered in swirls and micro marring. This is where after they flaten the surfaces, they just just a heavy compound, and too fast passes over the paint. This results in the abrasives not being able to break down and do there job, and in the end does the opposite and mars the paint instead. Hope this helps, and if i'm wrong about anything, i'm sure one of the oldskool pros will help correct.
Cheers
Mike
JeffC said:
cheers chaps..
the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
Those pictures have nothing on them, well at least the Merc won't have - the S2000 might have a layer of wax/sealant.the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
3M's glaze are full of fillers, so may be masking some of the problem, if you've not fully levelled the paint.
G3 is really a last resort for hard paints with RiDS (random deep scratches) - 3M Fast Cut + on a medium pad can give plenty of correction without going for a wool or compounding pad, just because their colour coded system suggests that's how to do it.
If you're feeling brave about trying other products, don't shy away from Scholl Concepts S17+ which is an excellent 1-stepper on most paints. For those that need a bit of refinement (darker paints typically), then their own S30 or the 3M Ultrafina can see off any holograms and buffer trails.
Give the paint a good wipe down with a slow-flash solvent to remove debris and polishing oils, etc, then put on a decent wax/sealant to protect it.
JeffC said:
cheers chaps..
the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
No offence, your knowledge is "limited" based on your comments. Some really good advice but air with caution before hammering your car with Farcela compounds. the pics you have posted up what have you finished off with? Ive seen loads of cars machine polished that look mint when first done but a week later they look swirly when caught in the light on a sunny day and some darkers cars that have been badly machined ive seen look milky. In the past ive done cars that have had car wash scratches with G3 Farecla/ then G10 then with a soft pad and 3m machine glaze and finished off with 3m imperial hand glaze, Ive no idea if the 3m products are still available but they used to be fantastic on black cars, as previously said i know things will have moved on so appreciate the advice.
the paint on my car is mint it looks like the after pictures you have put up (colour is basalt black ), but has a slightly rough feel when you wipe your hand over it pretty much like the car in the video posted above.
If your paint is rough then stay clear until the surface is ready for paintwork correction. Wash, apply tardis, wipe, apply iron cut, wipe, wash, clay, wash, then tell me if your paintwork is smooth?
daveR6 said:
JeffC said:
quote]
and I would have thought after being head painter in one of the uk"s top bodyshops for 15 years where only perfection was good enough that I might have picked up the odd tip along the way about paintwork
anyway all done today , I spent a lot of time going through detailing world forums and picked up a lot of info on different products, as they say every day is a learning day and some of the products ive never used til today really impressed me, the clay in particular, I dont know how that works but as said it does, anyway ive taken a few pics, im no expert with the camera so bear with me! these are some pics after Ive machine polished and waxed the car ,( ps I would only ever have used G3 Farecla if I had flatted any scratches out to get the paint back ) I didnt use the clay on the full car as I found as although it removed the overspray it also left faint scratches in the paint as Dave R6 said it would .
for some reason I cant get full size images only thumb nails so you will have to..
click to enlarge images.
thanks everyone for taking time to advise.
Edited by JeffC on Friday 3rd December 16:21
Very nice reflections there Jeff.
Clay works a bit like a razor blade does - except instead of cutting it grabs what protrudes above the surface of the paintwork.
G3 is really too aggressive to use on all paints, but being wetter than 3M FC+, can be the option for heavy correction on dry paints like Range Rover black, and darks in general.
Similarly the grabbiness of Porsche's sticky paints.
Assuming you've wiped those panels after correction to make sure you've not filled some, and refined with the G10, then a well deserved pat on the back, and beer are in order.
Clay works a bit like a razor blade does - except instead of cutting it grabs what protrudes above the surface of the paintwork.
G3 is really too aggressive to use on all paints, but being wetter than 3M FC+, can be the option for heavy correction on dry paints like Range Rover black, and darks in general.
Similarly the grabbiness of Porsche's sticky paints.
Assuming you've wiped those panels after correction to make sure you've not filled some, and refined with the G10, then a well deserved pat on the back, and beer are in order.
PJ S said:
Very nice reflections there Jeff.
Clay works a bit like a razor blade does - except instead of cutting it grabs what protrudes above the surface of the paintwork.
G3 is really too aggressive to use on all paints, but being wetter than 3M FC+, can be the option for heavy correction on dry paints like Range Rover black, and darks in general.
Similarly the grabbiness of Porsche's sticky paints.
Assuming you've wiped those panels after correction to make sure you've not filled some, and refined with the G10, then a well deserved pat on the back, and beer are in order.
thanks PJs and I will have a drink tonight on your advice lol Clay works a bit like a razor blade does - except instead of cutting it grabs what protrudes above the surface of the paintwork.
G3 is really too aggressive to use on all paints, but being wetter than 3M FC+, can be the option for heavy correction on dry paints like Range Rover black, and darks in general.
Similarly the grabbiness of Porsche's sticky paints.
Assuming you've wiped those panels after correction to make sure you've not filled some, and refined with the G10, then a well deserved pat on the back, and beer are in order.
In the bodyshop we used G3 a fair bit if we had to de nib any dirt after painting but agree for what i wanted on this car It would have been waaaaaayyyyy too agressive , in the end i I used the forementioned Presta 1500 polish, Ive used this for years for swirl removing and it works well, it has no silicones waxes or fillers and I applied it using the softest pad ive ever come across on my trusty old machine polisher, buffed off with a clean pad then buffed with a microfibre cloth (was really impressed with those as again never used til today!) then a nice coat of carnuba wax buffed with fresh micro cloth , was well impressed with the results paint is now as i wanted
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