DC#2 - difficulty with working on Black

[S60slipstream]

Hi,

Polished my S60 yesterday with DC#2. The colour of my car is Balck Sapphire Metallic. Applied with applicator pad. Experienced difficulties removing/buffing it as the polish consistently mixed with the water trapped between the bumpers, trims etc. This caused the polish to smear into a greyish/whittish film over certain areas. I had to remove/buff three times, twice with terry cloth and once with Meguiar MF. Used different materials to buff as I did not have enough MF which once damp, it started to smear the polish across the surface.

I did not experience this problem when polishing my 318i which is Silver Metallic. Probably the smearing was occuring as well, only that it did not show due to the colour. Black (very deep black) is just very difficult to work with. Any ideas?

[magnus]

Very frustrating!

I just did my 66 Mustang with the Deep Crystal System Polish (Step 2) and was fairly pleased with the results.

I've read other posts about people using leaf blowers or an air compressor (different from compressed air) to push the water out of all the cracks and crevices. I have not tried this myself, as I do not have access to either pieces of equipment, but it sounds logical.

Hope that helps!

[gb387]

I have had problems if I let the DC#2 sit too long. I only polish a very small area at a time then remove it, by doing so I never have any trouble and the finished product looks great!

Do not let the polish dry that seems to be when I had the problems. I have a black truck as well and use to use DC#2 now I have changed to #81 Hand Polish and I like the product much better, gives better results and is easier to use! It will cost a little more but I feel it was worth the change.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's a couple of suggestions,

All Meguiar's pure polishes, (which is what Deep Crystal Polish is), are meant to be applied to a new, like new, or a previously cleaned surface. If the finish has been neglected and is not in excellent condition this can cause a pure polish to be smeary and difficult to remove.

It is very important to apply a thin coat. Work the polish into the finish and then remove it immediately. Meguiar's pure polishes do not need to dry before removing and in fact shouldn't be allowed to dry before removing. Meguiar's pure polishes are not waxes or paint protectants, they are products rich in polishing oils that add brilliant gloss, reflectivity, depth, clarity and richness to paint. Depending on you skill level, you can either apply and remove a polish section by section, (a small area), or apply to the entire car and then remove all at once. It requires a higher skill level to do the latter. Only Meguiar's waxes need to dry before removing.

Most problems with applying or removing a pure polish come from applying too thick of a coating, applying to a finish that needs to be clayed or cleaned first with a paint cleaner, (or both), or not using a good quality 100% cotton towel, or a premium quality microfiber polishing cloth.

Hope this helps...

Mike

[Marc08EX]

I have to agree with gb387, if you let the polish sit too long to kinda dry up (it doesn't really dry to a haze, right?), it would be hard to remove.. What I did was to just polish the front end, then remove immediately.. Then I polished the sides and the back, then removed immediately. I did the roof afterwards.. Try this method and maybe it would be easier to remove this time. Hope this helps!

[S60slipstream]

Thanks for the advice. Now that you have all mentioned it, yes, I think I let the polish sit before removing it. In fact, when I first used DC#2 on my other car, I did apply and remove it one section at a time. Tried doing the whole car for my Black S60.

Should not be that my surface is not prepared as I had a new coat of paint sprayed a month ago (which was when I got hooked on the fine art of detailing in the first place). Still learning..... and boy, is there a lot of resources/tips/advice here in this site. I am certainly converted to the "Meguiar's" religion

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by S60slipstream
Still learning..... and boy, is there a lot of resources/tips/advice here in this site. I am certainly converted to the "Meguiar's" religion

Hi S60slipstream,

Just to let you know, I'm still learning also and all the true Professionals that I know are always trying to learn new information that will help them.

Mike

[popiah]

Hi S60. I am from Malaysia too. Where in Malaysia are you from? The advice given by everyone ehre on applying polish works great. Rub it in, wipe it off. Immediately the shine looks so much better. If you run out of DC2, you can give Show Car Glaze a try. It works great too. Cheers.

[Don]

The thing I've noticed about ALL of Megs pure polishes is that unlike many other products where you need to use ample amounts to achieve the best results, Megs polishes abe best used sparingly.

As Mike will tell you these things are LOADED with polishing oils and if applied too thickly, they will set up like concrete...the PC/G100 won't touch the hardened residue unless you use even more product on a fresh pad to cut through the gummy remains.

Start off with a few dime sized drops, or a thin "string" around the circumference of the pad, and only add more when you can no longer see the polish being applied to the surface.

These polishes also "spread forever" so that means that very little product is needed to cover a large area.

[hatrik3]

If your having problems with water in the trim I have heard of others using leaf blowers. But since I dont have one, I just dry it off as good as I can by hand then drive around the block a few times so the water works its way out of all the nooks and crannies. My neighbors look at me funny but they already think im nuts detailing my truck every weekend. Black is tough to detail, but I have black because nothing looks prettier when its clean.

[RamAirV1]

Working on Black

Getting all the water off the paint is extremely important before polishing and waxing. Otherwise it will be a messy project.

I tried a leaf blower and did not like the results at all! It left a lot of pin sized water spots that were almost impossible to remove, even with DACP. Driving around the block is good for coaxing the water out of those hidden spaces. Open the hood, trunk lid, and doors and wipe off the excess water in all those openings. Also, rinse the car with a flow of water (no nozzle), not a spray, to get most of the water off the paint before you start drying your car.

Even the flow from a basic hose can be improved for rinsing your car. Take an old section of hose with the female connector and cut off a 10-12" section. Screw that onto your hose and you will get a better flow of water. Plus if you bump into the paint with the end of the hose all that's there is the rubber hose end and that will not damage the paint like a metal hose connector.

I also believe that the #81 is the best of all the pure polishes. Great depth and gloss plus easy to use.

RamAirV1

[Don]

I use my bissel Big Green Clean Machine to vacuum out the water from the mirrors, trim etc.

I have an extra crevice attachment for my bissel, and I cut part of the end off of it to make it the edge flat (it still has the angle cut, but the very ends are flat) then I glued a piece of felt around the end to prevent the hard plastic from contacting the paint or trim on my car. Works great and there's no risk of getting grit on the paint from driving the car or using a blower, and I'm not chasing little water beads all over the place

[RamAirV1]

The Big Green Clean Machine sounds like a good idea. It must have powerful suction to do that.

Just like you said, I was chasing little water beads all over the place with the leaf blower, and it was a 200 MPH+ model.

RamAirV1

[S60slipstream]

Thanks again all.

Some updates on applying my newly-gathered info. This time, I made doubly sure that every bit on my car was dry to a tee. Opened and slammed the doors and bonnet a couple of times each, sneaked my terry cloth into gaps between bumpers, drove around the car park a couple of rounds and the works. Are we nuts just to achieve the ultimate in shine nirvana?

Then applied DC#2 again, this time wiping off each section at a time. No longer difficulties. Topped it with NXT (first time using the product) and buffed and launghed at the same time as I could not believe how glossy it got. Even shinier than when my coat was new, yup, unbelievable but true.

Then the tropical rains came as always on a Sunday afternoon....

[Don]

Originally posted by S60slipstream
Thanks again all.

Are we nuts just to achieve the ultimate in shine nirvana?


Of course, it's called "The Sickness"



Then the tropical rains came as always on a Sunday afternoon....

Of course, did you really expect the weather to stay nice so you could enjoy the results of all your work?