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solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

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  • #1

    solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

    I'm working on a black '95 Audi, and I've never buffed a car that was anywhere near how hard this clear coat is! The car has severe swirls, RIDS and water spot etching.

    It's taking 3-4 laps with the the light cutting wool pad and M105 to get close to a swirl-free finish ready for polishing with M205. It's not touching the etching. I actually wet sanded with 2000 grit in a few spots and it got close to perfect but still left the etching.

    I'm also running into problems with M105 drying almost instantly when I run the buffer over it. It then becomes impossible to remove. This has never happened to me in the 10 or so cars I've used it on. I spur the pads before ever application of product, and only go a couple panels before I hand wash it and go to my other pad.

    I'm going to try less product on a fresh pad and see where that gets me. Maybe I'm pressing too hard in the effort to get more cut and it's causing it to dry faster?
    "Do the job right, or don't do it!" - Dad
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  • #2
    Re: solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

    OK. It seems like you have a few questions here.

    1. If the SOLO yellow doesn't have enough cut then give the burgundy SOLO pad a try or the Double Sided wool. That being said, do you have a way to measure paint thickness?

    2. Consider where the paint started. Maybe it's not going to get to 100% perfect? Again a PTG would be a good tool to have once you are using multiple passes with wool pads and heavy compounds.

    3. M105 on wool is great! However, getting the pad primed with some M105 first is fairly key as the wool will just try to absorb any product you are wanting to polish with if you don't. Once the pad is primed apply the M105 directly to the paint and hit the line ready to work. M105 on the rotary seems to work best if you keep your work areas small.

    4. How about listing your technique? RPM, size of work area, amount of product, etc.
    Jason

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    • #3
      Re: solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

      1. I don't have the burgundy wool or double-sided. I have an order coming from ADS tomorrow in which I SHOULD HAVE ordered one of those! I was scared enough to get the yellow wool pad in the first place. Now that I know it's actually easier to use than the burgundy foam pad, I'm going to make the jump.

      I don't have a PTG, unfortunately. That's one investment that I'd like to make, should I decide to do this more like full-time. I do about a car a week on average for pay. This is the first time that a car has defeated me. I've gotten swirl-free finishes before and have been using the rotary for three summers.

      2. The guy really just wanted the haze cleared up and most of the swirls removed. I'll get there, but it's taking too long. The car needs a repaint, as it has clear coat failure on the hood and a little on the roof. It's obvious the car had been parked near lawn sprinklers and has spent its whole life running, maybe weekly, through the cheapest cloth wash the owner could find (incidentally, the previous owner was a doctor!)

      My goal is to get 2 laps on every panel with the wool or burgundy foam pad to get the majority of defects removed, then M205/rotary and M205/DA and be satisfied with that. It will look substantially better.

      Here's my process:
      - hand wash the pad in soap (kitchen cleaner) and water, spin dry w/rotary and set out to air dry (I have two pads)
      - prime the pad with product very lightly and work it in until the whole pad feels damp
      - spin the excess product off away from the car on a high speed to avoid sling
      - apply a narrow bead w/Megs dispenser bottle, trying to keep it about 1/8" wide and 6-8" long. I know I have accidentally gotten more than that
      - set Makita rotary to one click over 3 (about 1550-1600 RPM??? 3 is 1500)
      - spread around work area with the trigger partly depressed
      - move up to full speed and work the small area (12x12 or so)

      Normally on a car I've been able to make a few passes without the product drying up. On this one, yesterday and today, it usually dries on the first pass and becomes almost impossible to remove, even with Last Touch and either microfiber or terry. It happens more, understandably, after the pad is getting more saturated. But even in the first couple applications I've had this happen.

      One area of question I have is angle of the pad. It seems like when I keep the pad flat, the gathering of product n the middle of the pad is worse and causes more of the drying and doesn't seem to cut as much. If I keep it tilted a little, I've able to get better results.

      I'm also having a hard time around the last 1-2" of a panel. I can't get the same amount of cut as in other places. I'm trying not to burn the edge, but I can't seem to figure out how to get decent contact. Because this car is black and the finish is so horrible, I don't have any slack here. And the paint is SO hard using M105 by hand does nothing.
      "Do the job right, or don't do it!" - Dad

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      • #4
        Re: solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

        I've tried several variations of the amount of product, the amount of priming, angles of pad, turning off my halogen in case it was causing heat, etc etc. Nothing worked until....

        I switched to the G100 and a cutting pad! As long as I'm working with a relatively clean pad, the product isn't drying up on me and is actually cutting better than expected. I'm going to keep jumping around to different products, pads and machines until this thing is done and figure out a system.
        "Do the job right, or don't do it!" - Dad

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        • #5
          Re: solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

          If you have the old version of M105 it has a VERY QUICK work time, maybe 10-15 seconds, with wool. This is a good thing!!

          Buzz it, buzz it again if need be, and keep buzzing until you are happy with the performance. Old Version M105: Ground Breaking for speed IMO>
          Let's make all of the cars shiny!

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          • #6
            Re: solo wool light cutting pad not "cutting" it?

            I have the newer, approved-for-DA, version. I had a lot more work time on a couple previous details for some reason. My technique didn't change.

            I found that M105 with a cutting pad on the DA actually provided ample cut to get some areas that the wool would have burned, which was one of my problems.

            I got it worked out. The car turned out fine. It needs a couple panels repainted, and the rest I was able to get mostly swirl free after a lot of work. I will be ordering a heavier-cutting wool pad pretty quick here, as the light cutting solo wool pad wasn't strong enough for the Audi.
            "Do the job right, or don't do it!" - Dad

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