help needed!

[valferca]

Hi guys,
I need some help. I keep my car looking good just by washing it once a week and applying waxes and Meguiar's M7 Mirror Glaze Show Car Glaze every 6 months. However, last week after trying to remove some swirl marks the paint looks horrible. It was my first time applying a polisher and i let it dry just like waxes. It was almost impossible to remove the polish from the paint so what i did was to wash the car once again. The paint looks very bad after that. I applied the polish with a 7" orbital buffer with significant amount of pressure. The finish and the gloss improve a little bit when i apply the Meguiar's M7 Mirror Glaze Show Car Glaze and wax after it. However, it goes bad again on the first rain or couple of days. I am thinking about using Meguiar's M205 Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish to try to fix this. what do you guys think? Did i damage the clearcoat? What would be the best way to fix this? I want my car to look as good as it used to do
Here is the link for some pictures i uploaded in google+

https://plus.google.com/108390135124877655616/posts/G4Ahj2nR38u

Let me know if there is a better way to upload the pictures.
Thanks for all the help guys. I hope ill be able to fix this problem.
Take care

[h_bomm]

I couldn't see your pics but I am willing to guess your clear is fine. M07 has no abrasives in it so you are not actuly removing anything. First, you're not supposed to let polishes or compounds of any kind dry on the paint, only waxes. Compounds and polishes do their work when wet. In most cases like removes like. Meaning, if you accidentally let some M07 dry on the surface, put some more M07 on your pad and it will rehydrate the dry stuff and it should come right off. So the best thing I can think of to do is to clay the area to remove the wax then try a little more M07. If that doesn't work then step up to M205. If that doesnt work keep stepping up if necessary. Don't be afraid of using the buffer again. Just keep practicing your technique and you'll get the hang of it!

[The Guz]

Re: help needed!

M7 has no correcting ability. It's a pure polish. From my understanding M7 is not supposed to be allowed to dry on the paint. Looking at your photos I would go with ultimate compound, ultimate polish and a synthetic wax like ultimate wax or NXT 2.0. Of course claying prior to starting off with a compound or polish. What type or buffer are you using?

[valferca]

Re: help needed!

Thanks for the response guys. The damaged was not caused by the m7. I used the m7 to try to grt the gloss back. The damaged was caused by a polisher called "polishing compound" from another brand other than meguiars (turtle wax).
Do you guys think i might damaged the clear coat with this?
And yes it was a rookie mistake. I didnt know i couldn let polisher to dry.

[valferca]

Re: help needed!

The pictures dont show much detail either. But you can clearly see the paint is perfectly fine in those places where i wasnt able to reach with the orbital buffer

[Detail Werks]

Try Ultimate Polish if your not satisfied with the results then try Ultimate Compound both with your Meguiars DA polisher. First with a Meguiars finishing pad (black foam) for more action try Meguiars polishing pad (yellow foam). Top with your favorite Maguire wax Ultimate Paste Wax is my preference.

[valferca]

Re: help needed!

I dont have the meguiars da polisher yet. Do you recommend applying the polisher by hand instead of using my regular orbital buffer?
I can get the da polisher if i have too as well.
Also, which of the two is the least agressive the ultimate polish or the ultimate compound? What do you think about the m205? Were you able to see the pics?

[Jarhead0754]

If u can get the da. In my opinion it does a better job and is alot faster. But either do ultimate compound followed by ultimate polish or u could do 105 followed with 205. And top off with ultimate wax or #26 yellow wax, or do both wax but do the ultimate wait 12 hours and the the 26.

[valferca]

Re: help needed!

Alright ill get the da system. Thanks for the tip.
Why do you think my paint looks like that? Do you think by using this products will improve the finish and give the paint back its wet look? Or will it look worse since ill be removing more clearcoat? I just want to be as safe as possible before applying any more products on the paint.

[The Guz]

Re: help needed!

I dont have the meguiars da polisher yet. Do you recommend applying the polisher by hand instead of using my regular orbital buffer?
I can get the da polisher if i have too as well.
Also, which of the two is the least agressive the ultimate polish or the ultimate compound? What do you think about the m205? Were you able to see the pics?

UP is less aggressive than UC. M205 is like UP but on steroids. It will give you more correcting ability. You should definitely invest in a DA polisher. Removing swirls by machine is the way to go. Doing it by hand is tiresome and will not remove most of the swirls. Harbor freight has a decent DA that just needs a 5" inch backing plate and pads. If not you could get the meguiar's DA power system to use with a drill and the proper pads.

If u can get the da. In my opinion it does a better job and is alot faster. But either do ultimate compound followed by ultimate polish or u could do 105 followed with 205. And top off with ultimate wax or #26 yellow wax, or do both wax but do the ultimate wait 12 hours and the the 26.

If you are just starting out with detailing, I would start with UC and UP. M105 has a little bit of a learning curve if you are new to all of this.

Alright ill get the da system. Thanks for the tip.
Why do you think my paint looks like that? Do you think by using this products will improve the finish and give the paint back its wet look? Or will it look worse since ill be removing more clearcoat? I just want to be as safe as possible before applying any more products on the paint.

As I stated earlier I looked at your pics and the car has a lot of swirls. They come from improper washing techniques or from automatic car washes with the brushes. UC and UP will fix those right up and give the car's clear some clarity.

[CCC4me]

Re: help needed!

Why do you think my paint looks like that?

The regular use of #7 has been hiding (filling in) the swirls. The use of the Turtle Wax removed the #7, plus it may have inflicted its own swirls depending on your technique.

Do you think by using this products will improve the finish and give the paint back its wet look? Or will it look worse since ill be removing more clearcoat? I just want to be as safe as possible before applying any more products on the paint.

Yes the M205 used properly will get the paint looking much better. As others have said, the Ultimate Compound would be the next step if 205 doesn't get it, but I think 205 will. You're not very far from Meguiar's--maybe you can make it to one of their classes soon?

[valferca]

Re: help needed!

UP is less aggressive than UC. M205 is like UP but on steroids. It will give you more correcting ability. You should definitely invest in a DA polisher. Removing swirls by machine is the way to go. Doing it by hand is tiresome and will not remove most of the swirls. Harbor freight has a decent DA that just needs a 5" inch backing plate and pads. If not you could get the meguiar's DA power system to use with a drill and the proper pads.



If you are just starting out with detailing, I would start with UC and UP. M105 has a little bit of a learning curve if you are new to all of this.


As I stated earlier I looked at your pics and the car has a lot of swirls. They come from improper washing techniques or from automatic car washes with the brushes. UC and UP will fix those right up and give the car's clear some clarity.

Alright Ill try my luck with the UC & UP combo first. Yes, the car has a lot of swirls now but they came after using the turtle wax polishing compound. Before that, it was perfectly fine..with just some minor swirls almost unnoticeable. Now the swirls are so bad that the paint looks hazed and doesn't have that wet look anymore. So I'm pretty sure most of the swirls came from me using the wrong polishing technique

[valferca]

Re: help needed!

Yes I agree with you that I inflicted the swirls when I apply the polisher

So do you guys think the paint looks like that just because the technique created a lot of swirls in the paint? or is it because I went to deep and damaged the clear-coat?
Here are some pics for those of you that were not able to open the link:

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Thanks guys for all the help!!!

[h_bomm]

Re: help needed!

I guess the only way to find out is to try using Ultimate Compound and see what happens. If your clear is already damaged then you can't do any more harm. I have a feeling it will come out just fine. It looks like some swirling. Try it out on a rear corner first. You said that you were going to invest in the DA Power System which is a good idea. Work a small area, 2 x 2 or so and work the product up and down then left and right till the UC is thin but still wet and wipe off with a microfiber towel. You have a small car so that will speed up the process a little! After using UC, I have a feeling most, if not all, of your swirling will be gone. Then you can use Ultimate Polish if you choose. Just make sure you don't use the same pad and towels for UP that you did for UC.

[BlackRam]

Re: help needed!

I see alot of people recommend UC w/UP or 105 w/ 205. Are these combos a "safe bet" for a daily driver looking to get the minor swirls out?