A guy at work just bought a Porter Cable DA, so we decided to test it out on my truck since he's still kinda leary about using it on his new Mustang. We decided to just try it on the hood, since that is where the paint is in the worst condition on my truck.

My hood has plenty of swirls, oxidation and water spots. There are also a couple spots where the paint in noticeably etched (kinda looks like a dry desert ground) in about one inch diameter circles. These spots have been filled in by previous waxing attempts, so the etching is filled with white "stuff". Definitely noticeable. After working on it today, it is evident that the paint is damaged beyond what I think can be done with a DA, I think to get it flawless again it will need to be repainted. Where some of the water spots were (actually most of them) the clear coat has noticeable impressions when you look very closely.

Anyway, we did the hood in sections, and even though it didn't come out perfectly there are some sections that are better than others. The front part of the hood came out very shiny and smooth although if you look at it from an angle you can still see the imperfections. Looking at the truck normally, it looks almost like new paint. However, the back part of the hood did not come out quite as well. It is smooth to the touch, but there is still noticeable oxidation and water spots. I realize that it's not going to look perfect as the paint is pretty much beyond complete repair at this point, but I do want it to look as good as possible and at least uniform. Right now it looks like I only did half the hood.

For right now, we only used products that could be found at Autozone, since we were just testing this thing out (neither one of us has ever used a DA). I first started with some Meguiar's Swirl-X on an orange pad since I felt that would be relatively non-abrasive. This cleaned up the front part of the hood pretty well, but did almost nothing to the back part of the hood. I was using speed 3 or 4 on the DA if I remember correctly.

After a couple passes of this, it was evident that I wasn't going to get any more out of it and the paint still looked like crap, so I stepped up to a white pad with Meguiar's Ultimate Compund. The front part of the hood came out looking very nice IMO (except for the un-fixable imperfections I described earlier) and the back half was noticeably better, but still not great. I did a couple passes with that and figured it was the best I was going to get with what I had, so I put on a coat of Meguiar's Cleaner Wax with a green pad and called it a day.

Now, I know that I'm going to need something more aggressive that Ultimate Compound in order to clean up the paint. We're talking about 4-5 years of serious paint neglect with maybe 2-3 cheapo wax applications (by hand) in that time. Rain, snow, mud, dirt...everything has been beating the crap out of my paint and I never really did take proper care of it.

Sorry I don't have any pics of the damage, but my camera is not good enough to get decent pics of what I'm talking about. It just comes out looking like nice smooth paint (will be good if I ever decide to sell the truck )

So what kind of suggestions do you guys have to get my paint back to looking decent?

 

Next time claybar first. Nothing worse than grinding in dirt and oxidation clay would have removed first.

Over the counter products have their limitations.
Order some Meguiars M105 and M205...Maybe at the same time order some maroon (heavy cut) and yellow pads and some more white and black (final polish) pads. Use the M105 on problem areas, the M205 everywhere else. Try different pad and product combinations. Orange pads are aggressive but unless you cleaned as you went along the oxidation would clog the pad quickly and make it not work as effectively.

Also make sure you are not pressing too hard with the DA and that it spins and oscillates as you work.

 

i've been doing some research since last night and found a couple of good tips. first thing i'm going to suggest to him is to put a reference mark on the DA to make sure it is still spinning. i may have been putting too much pressure on it now that i think about it and not allowing the pad to spin.

i didn't really think about clogging up the pad, but it is definitely possible that is what happened. we only had the pads available that came with the kit he ordered, so we were kind of limited in what was available to use. i also wasn't quite sure what products to use to be honest so i wanted to play it safe and figured the OTC products wouldn't destroy my paint too badly if i did something wrong. i'm definitely looking now into some more professional-focused products to get the results i'm after.

i've learned a TON after doing some online reading last night and this morning, and i'm convinced that the paint is not as irrepairable as i first thought. i'm sure there is some damage that can not be corrected at this point, but i still think that i can get some very good results.

oh, the paint was clayed a couple weeks ago after i washed the truck. i think that next time i try the DA i will do a really good wash and another clay to make sure i have a perfectly clean surface to work with. the claying will help to remove the wax i applied yesterday, correct?

 

Yes, clay removes wax.

M105 on an aggressive pad will probably give you some nasty holograms that will have to be worked out with M205 on a less aggressive pad. This is something you are just going to have to deal with when you are working with such a neglected finish.

Do you know any pro detailers who would at least look at what you have and make some recommendations? That's really the only alternative to posting pics.

 

there are lots of "detail shops" around but i've seen most of them in action and the most involved they get is applying wax with a low speed buffer (the kind you can buy for $10 at wal mart) and cleaning the interior and shining everything up to make it look good for about a day or two. nothing even close to what a lot of even the "amateur" detailers can do here or over at places like autogeek. people around my area just don't seem to care..."good enough" is fine with them and they'll pay someone $100 or so to make their car shiny for a week if it means they don't have to do it themselves.

i will try to get some pictures if the sun ever comes out. it's been cloudy/hazy here for about three days.

 

Good job using clay first. That was one of my first mistakes I made using a DA for the first time. I think my first attempts were made more difficult by not starting with a clean surface. Clay and IPA (50/50 90% isoprophyl alcohol) wipedowns are good surface preps.

I also learned the hard way that compounding and polishing surfaces with a DA is more about product and pads not just pressure. The DA has a clutch which along with making it hard to damage your paint also make it a longer, tedious process doing serious corrections. This is why many like the Flex. It has the dual action but no clutch.

When you do your photos dont be afraid to shoot in the sun or focus on the reflection of the sun or point of lights on the surface so you can clearly see defects. This was another lesson I learned after thinking I had done a good job correcting. Halogen lights and sunlight show and tell everything.

 

I had some major correction done a couple years ago by Lumadar - he used M105 on a Lake Country PFW pad with a Makita rotary. It did a great job, but hologrammed it big time. He followed it with M205 on a Flex with a polishing pad to clear those up. I hesitate to recommend something that aggressive if you don't have the experience, but a good pro would probably use something like that to bust through all the crap.

 

i will give the 105/205 combo a try next time. if it doesn't come out looking perfect or even with some holograms, it's not a big deal. honestly the truck spends more time covered in dirt and other crap anyway, so it's not like i'd even see them

 

I agree with sfam on the 105/205 combo. I tried that when using paint from this site and it was surprisingly easy.

 

Well at the bodyshop we use 3m perfect it 3000 compound with a wool pad then follow with 3m swirl mark remover black foam pad. Clean off with wizards mist and shine works and smells great. No silicone in it either.

 

forgot if new to buffing tape your edges!!!!!