Astral

Detrich, sounds like you are on a good path! Looks like the fellow forum member knows what's up

For the sake of geeking out, I am curious: which orange pad are you using? (who makes it?) How are you using the Sonus SFX 1 w/ the orange pad? (what speed PC and how fast are you moving it across the paint?) You probably should use a lighter pad (green or white, basically a "polishing" not a "compounding" pad) with SFX 3 for a better gloss--I think the orange pad may be too coarse for that step (if that's the only pad you have).

You can get rid of the damage, well, not overnight, but over a few days. Much patience is required for heavy correction with a PC random orbital (as I'm learning). Plus, with our harder paints, things take even longer. Plus, if you have only one or two pads, you can only go so long before the pad gunks up and loses effectiveness (and you have to wash + dry it before continuing).

I agree though that by gradually polishing, you can spread the "pain" (time expended) and also perhaps avoid polishing too much in one step.

Well, good luck and keep us posted! Take pics of progress or something

Detrich

i've been using the 6.5" light orange cutting pad + sfx1 and then the 6.5" white polishing pad + sfx3: speed 4 to spread and 5 for polishing in both cases. (www.auto-geek.net) i'm not exactly sure what i'm doing wrong, but although the surface is shiny like a mirror when i'm done polishing/ waxing, i still can see some swirl marks and dust scratches on there, tho none of them are deep. maybe i'm just not polishing long enough or hard enough? this is definitely a skill that requires practice, patience, and time to develop i guess.

but, yah- running out of pads has been a pain, so i stocked up on more orange pads. but, come to think of it now, i forgot to order more white pads. (doh!) i will have to remember to do that before my next attempt.

so far my car's been polished a couple of times. and, the next time i do it, i'll remember to take some pix so we can monitor my progress. it's definitely looking much better than before i did anything. and, now that i stopped using mr. clean, i also know that it's not getting worse- at least in my case.

Astral

detrich, the pads sound good.

It's definitely a skill that requires practice and time, like you said. And patience! For sure.

I like to spread at 2-3. Try turning it up to 6 and see if that gives better results. I normally use just a notch below 6 (not sure if it's 5 or 5.5).

Move in half-overlapping passes at 1" per second. Apply enough pressure to make the machine bog, and then back off a bit.

Do you have a bright light to check your work with? A 500W halogen can be wicked bright and show you all the defects in the area right around the reflection. You can use this to check your work as you go.

I would say you should try Menzerna Powergloss with a yellow compounding pad, but honestly, I only heard that recommendation for our harder paint, and I haven't tried myself yet, so I shouldn't be recommending that until I get feel for it.

When I polished the paint on my car, I had a similar experience to yours: a couple of passes with something like SFX 1, and yet some swirls (that don't look all that deep) remain. So that's why I'm hoping Menzerna Powergloss w/ yellow will behave better.

Detrich

Here are some dusk shots after a day of detailing. (Thanks for all your help Jun!) We still couldn't remove all the dust scratches left by the Safelight Auto Glass in Pasadena, CA. But, from a few feet away now, the water spotting is getting less noticeable... This is after after 4 or 5 months (1x per month) of doing the full body detail with the porter cable and after kicking Mr. Clean to the curb.

Sadly, I discovered some cabin roof oil stains (courtesy Galpin Mazda in Van Nuys) and scuff marks on the passenger-side plastic footwell that were made by either the Safelight or Galpin - not really sure which... (@#$%!!) but, oh well, what can u do...

I'll try to take some shots in the sunight when I get a chance. Am SO incredibly sore right now- it isn't even funny...

Astral

detrich, check out some ideas on headliner cleaning... cleaning interior roof

Detrich

thanks astral. here are a couple more pix. i'll take a look at that thread and give it a try and let u know.

how's your detailing coming along? doe u know how to repair minor plastic scuffs by any chance?