Anthony Orosco Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 This is a short video of me working on a black Nissan GTR using (as of this date) soon to be released Lake Country pads called "Kompressor". These pads are designed to cut down on sling and also provide very smooth operation which is due to how the pad is able to flex and take on body panel contours. This is accomplished by way of the pads face being cut or sliced in a unique manner which leaves the pads face with numerous "blades". These blades "compress" with the weight of the polisher and this allows the pad to more easily take on the shape of the area being polished. Another benefit is that because of the blades there is no sling whatsoever (provided correct product amount is used). In our testing these Kompressor pads also seem to have a better cutting ability than their same ppi counterparts. These pads work well with orbitals also such as the Flex orbital and so far have proven to hold up through numerous cleaning using Lake Country's pad washer. Upon first inspection I figured these pads would get messed up easily by way of the "foam blades" being ripped up on edges and such and also perhaps be a potential risk at holding debris but both of those initial thoughts have proven to be false. These pads are very durable and do not hold debris within the foam blades. I have used the pads with various products such as Menzerna FPII, IP, Meguiars 105, 205 and also Optimum Polish and as seen in this video Optimum's yet unreleased Finishing Polish. The new Optimum Finishing Polish is, so far, a wonderful product and although Ron and I have limited use with this new beta version, what we have seen so far has been impressive. Long working times, finishes down excellent, easy wipe off and is orbital friendly. I am looking forward to more testing with the new Optimum Finishing Polish, these new Kompressor pads and also some even newer pads Lake Country is working on. I believe that many of you will take to these new Kompressor pads and they will soon be your favorite pads to reach for. I know they are for me as of right now. They will soon be available through Top Of The Line so check their website for their release. Top Of The Line As for this video - We had a Nissan GTR come into our shop for a ding removal on the driver side rear quarter panel. As Ron worked his magic on that I had a chance to speak with the GTRs owner and he expressed his displeasure with how the paint was looking (caused by what he believes to be careless workers at a car wash) so I inspected the paint with some lighting and went about cleaning and then polishing a small area to see how the paint would react. He was right, the paint was very scratched so I went with the Flex orbital, green pad and Optimum Polish II. This combo cleaned the paint up fairly well, enough to impress the owner and catch his interest in further paint correction. I then switched to a finishing pad and used the new Optimum finishing polish (OFP) which further brightened up the paint. He was sold and 2 days later booked an appointment for an exterior only paint correction. I then began some research into this "self healing" paint Nissan has put out on the GTR. Sadly not much is out there nor have many detailers had a great deal of experience with it but from what I had read and from my limited hands on experience I theorized that many detailers were attacking this rather unconventional paint through conventional means, this theory was further solidified upon the GTR's return to our shop as all the scratching were I had polished re-appeared! Ron and I were very puzzled about this because what we had read about this "self healing" paint is that it should "self heal" after several hours or days from minor abrasions to its surface. The more we fiddled with the paint the more I became convinced this paint needs to be treated with a different mindset. A call by Ron to Nissan North America confirmed this as they had very little information to give us (not their fault but rather it's an OEM matter) so we are now going to work with Nissan of North America and perhaps develop a "standard" method of care for this paint type. The issue is that the nature of this paint may actually work against detailers who go at the paint with an aggressive means to level out the scratches so instead of going at the paint with a cutting pad (orange, yellow or wool) which would of been my normal first thought had this been a typical paint finish (due to the severe marring/deep RIDs), and a leveling compound such as 105 or 3M's Extra Cut I opted for Lake Country's new white Kompressor pad and Optimum's new Finishing Polish (I also used 3M's Ultrafina. Trading off panels so as to compare the two products). Being that the weather was chilly we brought the car in, closed the shop up and turned on a heat lamp which not only provided excellent working light but also heated up the panels we worked on. This paint supposedly works through heat to aide in its purported healing process so we figured we would warm up a panel first before polishing. The combo I had chosen cleared the paint up quickly, which really surprised me because my first choice, which was more aggressive, did not clear up the paint as well nor as fast. I am under the belief now that heat, more so than friction (by way of abrasives) is the best manner to go with in correcting this paint type. So we went with 1500 rpm's for the first pass (white Kompressor pads/finishing polishes) and worked slowly, allowing slightly more heat build up than normal and used slower than normal passes. After that pass we switched to black foam finishing pads (also kompressor pads) and the same polishes. We worked the same speeds but with lower rpm's, 1000 to be exact (tapering off from 1500). Our last step was black foam (again kompressor) and the Flex orbital. We then Opti-Sealed the paint and we were finished. We were happy with the results and more importantly the owner was very happy. Nissan of North America is waiting for us to get back with them in a week to see if the paint correction holds or if the marring returns. The owner is on the PGA tour at the moment so the car is just sitting in his garage which is perfect for our test. He will bring it in for a wash upon his arrival back in town. We will give an update along with pictures........it was dark when he arrived so he hope for pictures next time. Here is the short video: Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porta Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Nice write up, shame that the Kompressor pads only comes in larger sizes, I like many others prefere smaller pads The OFP sounds like a winner, what kind of abrasives is it using? I have not a clue what kind of abrasives Optimum uses, maybee you could put some light over it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Orosco Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 UPDATED INFORMATION Here is another option or method of attack that can be tried on this type of paint.....for myself and any others. Instead of heat it may be that this paint needs to be cut or polished cold. I am told that this paint is like working with parrafin wax in that it must be cut or worked with when cold if not its consistency is too fluid. So perhaps this "self healing" paint must be treated with the same mindset. I believe I was right in my initial theory that a gentle approach is best but now perhaps along with that gentle approach we need to now add cold instead of heat so that the paint can actually be leveled out. How can this be done though when the purpose of using a buffer is to generate heat? Well one idea may be to spritz the panel down with ice cold water prior to, during and after the buffing process. Anyone care to add an idea? Anyone doing a GTR in the near future who cares to test this theory out? I would appreciate any feedback and I'll share mine as I gather it. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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