Hyper polish woes?

[Wolfy]

So here is my second attempt to posting. I was preview my post and when I went back everything disappeared. Arrrggggg!

So my recent purchases have been the Flex vr3401 Da Polisher, Hyper Polish and Opti-coat. Can you see where I’m going with this . Up until now the only product that I have been using from optimum is the No rinse wash and shine. Great product btw! The Hyper Polish was the second of the 2 products purchased. I did have Maguire’s polish on hand but really wanted to give Hyper Polish a try since, once again, given the positive experiences most users had with the product. The flex is and upgrade from a PC 7424. In this case I wanted something with a little more power.

Not being familiar with either the Hyper-polish or Flex polisher I was able practice using these products first on my winter vehicle, a black 2001 Suzuki Grand Vitara XL7. The vehicle was riddled with swirls and scratches so it was perfect to test on before I moved onto my white 2010 golf GTI.

I did the usually prep work of wash and clay before moving on to polishing. I started off with the a white foam pad. I sprayed the pad three times and began to work on an area approximately of 2 x 2. I would make about 4 passes with the DA and then inspect. After about 3 rounds I moved on to an orange pad which I found did a better job at removing the swirls and scratches. At the end of it I was quite happy with the results. I was able to remove approximate 80%-90% of the imperfections.

I few weeks later I started on my GTI. I taped off the hood straight down middle. Below is a pic of the section I left alone. I was surprised to see that many swirls having driven on 10K.

 

 

Wolfgang

 

 

I began the polish process with a fresh new white pad. I didn’t want to use old one that may contaminate the hyper-polish. I worked in the polish in a criss-cross fashion with 3 passes both ways. After a few more rounds the area didn’t improve all that much. I had an orange pad but it wasn’t as clean as I wanted it to be so used a new yellow cutting pad that I recently purchased for this occasion. I gave the new pad 3 sprays and began to work the product in using the same amount of passes. When I inspected the area I saw that most of the swirls were gone but it also didn’t have shine I was expecting after using a micro-fiber cloth. Upon closer inspection I notice that the paint had micro blemishes everywhere.

 

 

I immediately stopped. I wasn’t sure what had happened but am hoping it’s reversible. Was I effectively removing some of the clear cot? I hope this is not the case. Let me know what you guys think. I would appreciate it..

[Joel Blake]

Hi Wolfgang

 

As far as I can see, I don't think there is a problem here.

 

There is a clear improvement in swirl removal from the top image to the bottom image. It just looks like it needs some refining. Yellow CCS cutting pads are very aggressive and in my experiences leave a lot of defects that need polishing out. I think that is what you are dealing with here.

 

My suggestion is to step down to a finishing pad with the Hyper Polish and you should see a major improvement.

 

Regarding removing some of the clear coat, that is exactly what you are doing here. Maybe I misunderstood your question.

[Wolfy]

Actually you a bringing up a good point. I meant to write "was I removing to much/all of the clear coat" I'm hoping it's not a problem at all and as you suggested it's just a question of using a finishing pad. It's just not something I saw when using it on my Suzuki but then again I know no two cars are the same and hence react differently as well. I'll give it a shot.

 

Thanks!

[Wolfy]

Polish usually just improves gloss. Your marring looks like a compound with a light cutting pad would be better suited. Then polish to shine it. Also, if you haven't primed the face of the pad or spread the polish over the area with the machine off, you may have dry buffed with the flex after four passes at high speeds. These are only guesses, but based on the pics, you just haven't cut enough.

 

Hi Chris,

 

I went with the polish based on what I read as it acts like a light compound when using it with a cutting pad. My thought was that I did not need to go with a compound at this time given I had only swirls.

 

I just find it strange that the pock marks(lack of a better word) appear after the polishing. Could it be the remininates left from the swirls and deeper cutting would remove it? I'll have to experiment further.

 

Pads were primed and product spread before polishing.

 

Thanks for your input!

[Bence]

Is the panel resprayed?

[Wolfy]

Is the panel resprayed?

 

 

New car purchase in 2010. I change the 2nd photo to show the net results better.

 

I haven't had a chance to do anything since but have been reading from various sites. Some have suggested that the VW/Audi paint can be quite finicky to deal with and that the clear coat is on the hard side.