Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

[somarr]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

Thanks! I understand that. But in this, case there were several passes made by hand. Is that not the purpose of the DA, to make it easier? So with a DA and the right combination of pad and product, you might have corrected the defect with less physical effort?

Again, I am just trying to understand on the decision as it will be a month or two before I can experiment with my new DA.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

First, this scratch was removed 'quickly' during a Saturday Class. Pictures from the first 2009 Saturday Open Class!


This Saturday class had 32 people in it. When you have 32 people to take care of and instruct, you don't spend a lot of time on one little scratch except to show,

• The defect
• The product
• The technique
• The results and then move on....

Make sense?

It's a lot different than you by yourself tinkering on your car in the garage on a Saturday, you don't have to hold the attention of 32 people.

Also, since it's a class, the idea here was to show everyone how to remove a scratch with the thing they already own, the human hand. Everyone there this day owned two hands, not everyone there this day owned a DA Polisher. So as an Instructor, you have to keep these kinds of things in mind so that you address the entire class, not just a segment.

Besides the above, when it comes to removing RIDS or Random, Isolated Deeper Scratches, this is where the word EXERT comes back into the equation.


Now this is key...

You can exert more pressure with 3-4 of your fingers pushing down onto a small area on a wax applicator pad than you can with the entire face of a foam buffing pad oscillating on a DA polisher. More direct pressure to a smaller area means more more paint removing power. The machine isn't always the answer to every defect.


So for educational purposes, we removed the scratch by hand.

Those are great results! I have to ask though since technique is only 1 part of the equation for defect removal, how do you decide application method, by hand or DA?

See the comments above on the word Exert. Also see the comments on addressing the needs of an entire class of people by teaching them both how to work by machine and by hand.

Since there were 6 or so applications, if you were using a DA, should you have started with ScratchX 2.0 and then moved to Ultimate Compound?

Typically you would choose the least aggressive product to get the job done. In this case I looked at the scratch and drew upon over 2 decades of experience detailing cars and newly gained experience working with Ultimate Compound and chose it as my first product of choice as I new it was going to require some cleaning power to remove enough paint to remove or reduce the visibility of the scratch.

Mike, any idea how much clear coat is removed?

No idea. In the big picture of life or in this case car ownership when you have an unsightly scratch like this example, right above the door handle, one of the things that every person getting into the car is going to use and thus see the scratch, you have to decide either to Go or No Go, that is you're either going to remove the scratch or learn to live with it. From that point of view measuring film-build becomes secondary to just making the paint look good again.

The goal of course is to remove enough paint to either remove the defect completely or improve the defect to the point that it's harder to see and doesn't bother you any more and do either approached without going through the clear layer of paint. Sometimes you just have to be careful and don't go crazy with the rubbing of product when common sense and your instincts put your brakes on.

Not everyone owns a Thickness Gauge, I don't and I've never relied upon one to do my work, I temper experience with a little common sense and caution. Besides that on the forum and in our classes we always tell people that some defects are too deep to remove safely so everyone has to have realistic expectations and often times just improving a defect to the point where it's hard to see is better and safer than trying to completely remove the defect and risk going through the clear and exposing the dull basecoat.

If you look closely in the last "After" picture, you can see a trace of the original scratch. You have to look closely though and that's the point.

Mike, could you tell you how you produce this great result as, Did you work by Hand or with a DA??

By hand. See comments at the top of this reply.

Thanks! I understand that. But in this, case there were several passes made by hand. Is that not the purpose of the DA, to make it easier? So with a DA and the right combination of pad and product, you might have corrected the defect with less physical effort?

In order to remove a scratch or any other kind of below surface defect you must remove a little paint.

In order to remove paint best, the pad on a DA Polisher needs to be rotating, not merely vibrating against the paint.

To keep the pad on a DA Polisher rotating you need to keep it flat against the paint and you can't push to hard.

If you buff on a curved in the body panel, or on a body line, as soon as you have more pressure to a small area of the face of the buffing pad this pressure will cause the buffing pad to stop rotating, thus stop removing paint.

Taking all of the above into consideration, plus the fact that you can exert more pressure with your fingers pushing down on a wax applicator pad hand you can with a 6" or 7" foam buffing pad, for some defects, the right way to remove them is by hand or a rotary buffer, not a DA Polisher. If you don't own a rotary buffer and/or don't know how to use one then you always have the "Hand" to fall back on and that's one of the reasons we always teach both hand techniques and machine techniques at all our classes.

Make sense?

Again, I am just trying to understand on the decision as it will be a month or two before I can experiment with my new DA.

Great questions! This is why the forum is here to do our best to share knowledge so you'll be successful when you go out into your garage and work on your car.

[Tuck91]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

Now that we have seen Ultimate Compound in action, I am looking forward to seeing some SwirlX in a writeup/review

[Buhundred]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

I've got a question, was that scratch deep enough to feel with your fingernail? and was it down to the primer?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

I've got a question, was that scratch deep enough to feel with your fingernail? and was it down to the primer?

If it was down to the primer then using ANY abrasive product would have taken it down even further into the primer, or beyond. Note that there is still color coat AND clear coat remaining in the after pictures.

So, even without fancy measurement tools you can tell it wasn't into the primer.

As for the fingernail test, I didn't touch it when I saw it, so someone who did would have to comment on that

[streetracer1232]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

i just used this stuff i had a scuff mark bad below my driver tail light used a buffer one application came right up

[MyFirstES300]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

In relation to M105, which is more aggressive, UC or M105?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

In relation to M105, which is more aggressive, UC or M105?

M105 by a fair amount.

[speed3blackmica]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

does ultimate compound need hazing/drying time ?

[mauriciodm]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

does ultimate compound need hazing/drying time ?

I have the same doubt.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

does ultimate compound need hazing/drying time ?

Absolutely not. Compounds and abrasive polishes work by being pushed against the paint and abrading the surface down. Allowing either product to sit on the surface and dry will literally accomplish nothing - aside from making it more difficult to remove.

[mauriciodm]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

Thank you

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

Thank you

No problem!

[BlackScreaminMachine]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

Very Impressed with results!!!

[tecka]

Re: Scratch Removed using Ultimate Compound

I might be doing something wrong but when I used UC to remove scratchs it looked great in the garage but when I took it out into the sun there were swirls all over the areas I worked on but a few were fine. What causes these swirls on one area and not the next?

I used the Gv2 with a yellow pad on setting 5 and did about 2' x 2' areas with 5 good passes.