Detailing with PC7224 ( confused )

[sebastien]

Hi Guys,

Like many others i'm new to the detailing world and I saw tons of videos and tons of how-to but honestly , I found a lot of info ( that's great! ) but I'm more confused than ever..

-First here's my situation : my car is an 08 Mazda RX-8 ( soft clear coat 70-80micron ) 1st owner.
-I'll be using a PC 7424 ( I have all the pads and accessories )
-My car have normal swirl marks and some water spots ( no major scratches only some minors )
-I want the best shine possible.
-I really fear going damaging my paint ( removing too much clear coat ) even if I know that the PC is a safe tool , I want to detail my car at least twice per year and I don't want to go trough my clear coat after a few years.
-I know m105-m205 seems to be great products but I'm not sure about using them twice a year.

What product may be better suited for my needs?

Thanks in advance and sorry for my English ( not my first language )

[yalerd]

Re: Detailing with PC7224 ( confused )

To have the best shine possible you'll have to remove all defects from paint so it can be as clear as possible. As far as detailing your car twice a year, it's not all about removing defects, it's more about not putting defects on the surface, for this see How to Wash Your Car (ShowCar style!).

As for products, you can use Ultimate Compound that is less aggressive than M105 and even get some M205 to combine both. Not always you have to start with Ultimate Compound or M105, always start with the least aggressive method, by doing a Test Spot you will dial in your process with just the products needed. So you can get M205 and do a test spot with it on the polishing pad and evaluate the finish. Go from there depending on the results

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Detailing with PC7224 ( confused )

Welcome to MOL!

To get started, read through the 5 Step Paint Care Cycle for information on what's happening with your paint, how to evaluate the finish and how to address different situations.

If your car does have soft clear coat (we're curious, by the way, why you state that it does if detailing is so new to you) then M105 is likely to be total overkill for your needs. It is by far the most aggressive product we make and was designed for use with a rotary buffer and a wool pad to remove 1000 grit sanding marks. That's pretty potent stuff, and far more power than needed to simply remove some light swirl marks.

If you plan on detailing your car twice a year, you should really concentrate on your washing/drying process as that is where the vast majority of swirl marks come from. Do that process correctly and you may not have to machine polish the paint twice a year! You might want to read through this article for some pointers on keeping a car looking good between full detail sessions.

[purpledrillmonkey]

Re: Detailing with PC7224 ( confused )

Hey, you have a similar set of issues to me

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43149&highlight=rx8

I have the exact same concerns about soft and thin paint. Now, Where is this fear coming from? In the research I have done online I have found probably a half dozen blogs/posts/articles stating that RX8 (Mazda paint in genral in some cases) is rarely thicker than 80 um and is fairly soft. I realize that every car is different, but my gut feeling is that this is the case.

HOWEVER, I think the term 'soft' needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I think the average person (myself included) underestimates how hard even a soft clear coat is. I have taken after the swirls and scratches on the hood of my RX8 and I can say without a doubt that #80 speed glaze or SwirlX (seperatly, not together) will quite readily remove swirls using a polishing pad, but not most random scratches. I have not tried Ultimate Compound yet but I do plan to and my gut feeling is it will not be too aggressive, but it will probably need to be followed with SwirlX or #80.

Now, compare this to the paint on my brothers truck which I practiced on. SwirlX and #80 did next to nothing after multiple passes, and even Ultimate compount on a light cutting pad did not remove all defects, mostly just the swirls. That is an example of a hard paint.

One point of comfort I can offer - the RX8's typically have some fairly blatant orange peel in the clearcoat, and I have seen countless posts shwoing the safe removal of the orangepeel with full blown wet-sanding and rotary polishing. After seeing what I have on my RX8, I would be shocked if you could easily get that orange peel out of your clearcoat with a DA polisher using the products mentioned here. With that said, if you ever do notice that orangepeel or fingernail-deep scratches are starting to be removed, that might be a real good indicator to re-think the products and processess you are using.

Just my 2c

[purpledrillmonkey]

Re: Detailing with PC7224 ( confused )

In looking into this a little more I should rephrase. You likely cannot remove the orangepeel, but you may notice a lessening of it. The DA polishing (especially with a softer pad) will remove paint in and out of the orange peel valleys, so I would not use that as a gauge for clearcoat removal.

Scratches that you cannot get a fingernail in should be a safe removal target provided you know for a fact the scratch is in the original paint thickness... any polishing or paint removal done prior to that sctach being present obviously means the clearcoat is thinner than anticipated.