Clearcoat and polishing

[Jimi]

Is it true that clearcoat does not pass anything to be touched to paint?
I mean that polishing oils are unnecessary?

Paint is metallic silver with clearcoat.

[Murr1525]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

With clear coat paint, there are two layers of paint.

The color layer is on the bottom, and a clear layer of paint is on the top.

So polishing oils may not reach the colored paint, but you will want to care for the clear layer of paint.

[Jimi]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

With clear coat paint, there are two layers of paint.

The color layer is on the bottom, and a clear layer of paint is on the top.

So polishing oils may not reach the colored paint, but you will want to care for the clear layer of paint.

Yep, that make sense! I guess those conditioning oils may help somehow that "clearcoat" to be clearer... In my case paint is new and propably water-based

[Murr1525]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

Keeping the paint swirl free will help it be clearer.

But the oils will help keep the clear layer healthy, and fill in minor imperfections to help the shine.

With a new car, using a pure polish is optional. The cleaner/waxes and the cleaner/polishes still have polishing oils in them.

[Jimi]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

Keeping the paint swirl free will help it be clearer.

But the oils will help keep the clear layer healthy, and fill in minor imperfections to help the shine.

With a new car, using a pure polish is optional. The cleaner/waxes and the cleaner/polishes still have polishing oils in them.

So witch is best method when there are some light swirls (using consumer products):

1. CleanerWax + top coat using GC or NXT
2. DC1 cleaner + top coat using GC or NXT
3. Some other?

Is there some cleaner/polish in consumer line?

...But using pro line what are options then, what are you suggesting?

Thank you, Meg´s products are so rare and hard to get here in Finland


And little bit Offtopic, but how DC3, NXT and GC are compared by durability and shine?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

So witch is best method when there are some light swirls (using consumer products):

1. CleanerWax + top coat using GC or NXT
2. DC1 cleaner + top coat using GC or NXT
3. Some other?

What are you working on?

Removing swirls out of most clear coat finishes is kind of the difficult side because the paints themselves are generally hard and thus hard to remove small particle off of in an effort to flatten or level the surface out.

Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, Meguiar's Cleaner/Wax are both on the very, very, very light side as far as swirl removal goes. If you want to remove swirls out of a clear coat finish and you plan on doing this by hand then you need to find a way to get one of these new products and it would be best to have both UX and SwirlX so you have an aggressive compound and a light cleaner/polish to test with and then use.

Is there some cleaner/polish in consumer line?

SwirlX is a light cleaner/polish for removing swirls by hand or with a DA Polisher.

...But using pro line what are options then, what are you suggesting?

M205 is a light cleaner/polish in the Professional Line.

You want to try to get either UC and SwirlX or M105 and M205

See pictures below...

Swirl and Scratch Removers
Ultimate Compound
ScratchX 2.0
SwirlX


Most aggressive to least aggressive -->



M205 Ultra Finishing Polish & **NEW** M105 Ultra Cut Compound now for DA Polishers!
M205 Ultra Finishing Polish
M105 Ultra-Cut Compound - New Formula DA Polisher Approved

And little bit Off-topic, but how DC3, NXT and GC are compared by durability and shine?

On paint that is properly prepared to accept wax they are all going to look about the same with the edge to NXT in overall appearance improvements.

[TazManiac]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

OK, I'm getting back more into personal detailing after a few years and I find a chart on another forum that shows the following in order of least aggressive to most aggressive:
M07
M09
M03
M80
SwirlX and D151 show as being same characteristics
M205
M02
M83
SctractchX
UC
M105

OK, I've been reading here and it surpises me to see M09 shown as quite a bit less aggressive than SwirlX.

Also, I thought M09 would be more agressive than M03.

Can anyone straighten me out?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

Taz, you've gotten some misinformation there.

M09 rates a 3 on our cut scale, M03 rates a 1 and most of that is going to be due to the pad used when applied via rotary. Hand application of M03 will provide almost zero cut.

SwirlX and D151 are indeed quite similar with regard to cut, but that cut is higher than M83.

M205 actually has less cut than M80 (3 vs 4 on the scale) and is more in line with M09. Keep in mind, however, that M205 achieves this cut using SMAT so the level of clarity is likely going to be higher with these more high tech abrasives.

The list should read more like this:

M07
M03
M09
M205
M80
M02
M83
SwirlX and D151
ScratchX
UC
M105

[TazManiac]

Re: Clearcoat and polishing

Thanks, that makes a lot more sense.