Black 91 civic with a roof that has a sandy feel to it.

I did my research and used meguiars pure polish, a standard 10" orbital buffer and foam buffer pad.

(I read this way a beginner avoids leaving swirl marks from a high speed buffer.)

While there WAS an improvement, I was not happy with the results. It is still sandy and not reflective.

While I only did one pass, I am pessimistic about getting rid of that sandy look and feel.

Should I just keep polishing it, maybe use a different kind of pad or try a high speed buffer?

A body shop said I did not need a new paint job and wanted to charge me $600 to polish my car

 

Try a clay bar to remove the 'sandy' feel. An orbital polisher isn't abrasive enough to remove it. As far as your paint not being reflective, you may want to post some pics of what you're dealing with. It's probably oxidation. In that case, your best bet is a high speed rotary with a wool pad and a medium cutting compound. $600 to polish your car? They must be into ****. I wouldn't charge my worst enemy anything more than $200 for a paint-only detail job. Especially on a Civic. Good luck. PM me if you need more info.

 

if your close enough i would charge you 250 to wet sand and buff your whole car

 

hand buff it and see how it comes out...you can be a lot more aggressive and apply a lot more pressure sometimes....just do a small patch....

 

IM me on AIM = stiffdogg06

I detail cars for a living. None of the above posts are helpful but maybe the clay bar.

Just IM me and I will help ya bud.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RoadRage212 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try a clay bar to remove the 'sandy' feel. An orbital polisher isn't abrasive enough to remove it. As far as your paint not being reflective, you may want to post some pics of what you're dealing with. It's probably oxidation. In that case, your best bet is a high speed rotary with a wool pad and a medium cutting compound. $600 to polish your car? They must be into ****. I wouldn't charge my worst enemy anything more than $200 for a paint-only detail job. Especially on a Civic. Good luck. PM me if you need more info.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes an OP is abrasive enough. Buy a Porter Cable 7424 with an orange lake country pad .

Rotary polisher take learning or you WILL burn your paint.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stiffdogg06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yes an OP is abrasive enough. Buy a Porter Cable 7424 with an orange lake country pad .

Rotary polisher take learning or you WILL burn your paint.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks. I looked it up and its going to be around $150 for the porter cable and couple of pads.

Im thinking about going with the orange lake country 4.5" smart pads and using a drill adapter to work with my electric drill (650 rpm).

Either the white or orange pad for very light cutting and grey or blue finishing pads for final finish. Yes the drill is slow (around 650 rpm) but it may get the results im looking for. I only need to do the roof and bumpers. Let me know what you think. I'll post pictures up after its done.


Modified by AlphaKennyWun at 10:34 PM 7/2/2008


Modified by AlphaKennyWun at 10:35 PM 7/2/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AlphaKennyWun &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Thanks. I looked it up and its going to be around $150 for the porter cable and couple of pads.

Im thinking about going with the orange lake country 4.5" smart pads and using a drill adapter to work with my electric drill (650 rpm).

Either the white or orange pad for very light cutting and grey or blue finishing pads for final finish. Yes the drill is slow (around 650 rpm) but it may get the results im looking for. I only need to do the roof and bumpers. Let me know what you think. I'll post pictures up after its done.


Modified by AlphaKennyWun at 10:34 PM 7/2/2008


Modified by AlphaKennyWun at 10:35 PM 7/2/2008</TD></TR></TABLE>

Some pictures before would be nice so I could possibly tell you what pads would be best.

By the sounds of it, I would use ORANGE for the first step of compounding and then WHITE to do FINISHING POLISH, and thats basically it. I'd only use black/gray if i was going for 100% swirl free finish. The blue pad is WAY to soft to remove much scratches/swirls. I only use the blue pad for applying liquid wax and glazes.

If you use the Porter Cable 7424, Use speed 6 with the orange pad to do your compounding/polishing. Use a pyramid system. Start on speed 3-4 to spread product, and then 6 to work it in, and then back to 3-4 to burnish the paint.

http://www.detailedimage.com is a very good site to get some supplies, the owner George is a VERY nice guy. They have sales/deals ALL the time. So I would def. check them out and send george and e-mail. (tell em andy sent ya)

But there is A LOT to detailing a car. I have no problem with you IMing. I will be gone most of the day Thursday/Friday. But will do my best to get back to you bud.


- Andy

 

When I first got it. The hood is going to be replaced due to rust spots but the paint on the roof, tailgate and bumpers is about this condition.





After first wash and wax...Notice how the tailgate, bumper and roof are not as reflective as the sides of the car. Paint is in this condition now.

 

Looks like bad oxidation to me. But since they are not close up in direct sun, I can't tell if its bad swirls. But from the body, it looks like an older model car so I suspect bad oxidation which is basically just a dead layer of paint. You car may be single stage paint, and if you do polish it, plan on going through quite a few pads since the dead paint will be transferred to your pads. ( take some rubbing alcohol and rub it against the paint to see if the paint transfers to see if it's single stage.)

A piant cleaner would clean it nicely.

Or a nice compound/Polish. I have products I can recommend you but not many OTC. A few that you can buy OTC may help with a orbital polisher.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

 

^ damn dude that is nice any info or instruction on how you got rid of that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stiffdogg06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yes an OP is abrasive enough. Buy a Porter Cable 7424 with an orange lake country pad .

Rotary polisher take learning or you WILL burn your paint.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not trying to be argumentatitve, an OP will work for a lot of things (I only use one to apply waxing sealants) but a high speed rotary is the superior product.

When is anyone supposed to learn how to use one if they are constantly discouraged from picking one up?!? Of course it can burn the paint. But I'd rather tell someone to use caution when operating one than tell them not to use one at all. He already said he was replacing the hood. Its a perfect practice piece.

You're not the only pro detailer in these threads.

 

A good high rpm orbital polisher w/ the right pad can burn through the paint as well. Basically anyone that isn't careful or ignorant with buffing /polishing tools can ef things up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stiffdogg06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
AFTER:

</TD></TR></TABLE>
Good work, btw. What pad/compound combos do you use?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RoadRage212 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I'm not trying to be argumentatitve, an OP will work for a lot of things (I only use one to apply waxing sealants) but a high speed rotary is the superior product.

When is anyone supposed to learn how to use one if they are constantly discouraged from picking one up?!? Of course it can burn the paint. But I'd rather tell someone to use caution when operating one than tell them not to use one at all. He already said he was replacing the hood. Its a perfect practice piece.

You're not the only pro detailer in these threads.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I understand he is replacing the hood and that would be the perfect spot to practice. But do you expect someone to practice for 2 months and then go at it with their car? No, they will go at their car ASAP. The Porter Cable 7424 on Speed 6 with a yellow LC pad will be hard to burn paint even on BMW black soft paint. I've tried burning paint on many spare fenders. Its' tough with the 7424. The edges of parts are at a lot more risk of burning then other spots unless its been previously polished poorly. That's why i first taped off edges with blue painters tape when i first used the rotary till I could use it correctly without skipping/bouncing it around.

If the OP does plan on going to the rotary route, please be careful and practice. You WILL and I repeat WILL burn paint sooner or later. But it's better if you do it on your own car.

On the black Sebring i used Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on an orange pad with a Makita 9227 and then Menzerna 106ff on a white pad with the 9227 and I forget what LSP I used.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stiffdogg06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


If the OP does plan on going to the rotary route, please be careful and practice. You WILL and I repeat WILL burn paint sooner or later. But it's better if you do it on your own car.

On the black Sebring i used Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on an orange pad with a Makita 9227 and then Menzerna 106ff on a white pad with the 9227 and I forget what LSP I used.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I totally aggree with you on that one. Eventually you will burn SOMETHING on your car with a rotary buffer. It is inevitable. But judging by the results you got with the Sebring, its the only way to go. I also use a 9227. Its my baby and she's getting a little workout today. I've got a '91 civic hatch that needs a good once over and I'll post some before and after pics if the owner of the vehicle doesn't mind.

Here are some tips if you want to tackle this project yourself and you are inexperienced with buffing:
1. Tape up all edges of panels next to the panel you are working on.
2. Tape up all plastic mouldings. These burn a LOT faster than any metal surface and taping this off will prevent the buffer removing a piece of paint, or damaging an unpainted moulding. Come back and buff these last if necessary.
3. Use a couple pieces of newspaper to go between the cowl and the hood. Tape the pieces that stick out to your windshield.
4. Work one panel at a time. NO skipping around.
5. Work in two-by-two foot sections. This assures an evenly-polished product.
6. NEVER buff above 1500rpm and NEVER stay in one place longer than 7-10 seconds. Keep it moving in an 'S' pattern back and forth and up and down over your two by two foot section. Let the buffer do the work. Don't force the buffer down on the paint job. The weight of the buffer is enough.
7. RELAX. Its not as hard as everyone makes it out to be.

 

I bought a hood from a junkyard. An original OEM unlike the old one which rusted out and was not salvageable.

I polished and waxed the car last weekend with an orbital buffer and meguiar's polish and their wax.

I had to give it several passes with the machine to lift the debris and oxidation. It came out really shiny and smooth but I would like it better.

I can only imagine what it will look like with the porter cable and pads.