Weird Modeled Spot from using a DA Polisher w/ 105

[hotchy22]

So I had a pretty severe swirl scratch in the front hood of my 2016 BMW 340i Alpine White car. I started out using my Porter Cable 7424XP DA Polisher w/ a white Lake Country pad with 205. With this, the area around the severe scratch polished beautifully, but I wanted the scratch gone. I then stepped up to 105 w/ an orange quantum hex Chemical Guys pad. I started to see some very, very incremental results and seemed very tedious. I decided to step up to the yellow quantum hex Chemical Guys pad w/ the 105. After multiple passes, I finally started to see the scratch start to ever so slightly blend into the hood. I was working in about a 2x3 area doing a crosshatch pattern overtop of the severe scratch. As the 105 cleared I wiped with a microfiber in between and added more 105 to my pad... and repeated this several times.

I was just about done to where the scratch was almost completely gone when I noticed this modeled/porous spot raise beneath my polisher. My heart sank. Did I burn through the clear coat? Did the hood, pad, paint, clear coat get too hot?

When looking at pics of folks burning through the clear coat it doesn't appear to look like this. Is this correctable or will the whole hood need to be repainted? My impression was that a DA polisher was "virtually" safe, or dummy proof. I guess the key word is "virtually."

Would love to get your all opinions to see what my options are. Thanks for your help!

[hotchy22]

Re: Weird Modeled Spot from using a DA Polisher w/ 105

Here are the pics:

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_2326.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_30121.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_30151.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_43451.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_48541.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_60201.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_6146.JPG

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2594/medium/IMG_6966.JPG

[The Guz]

Re: Weird Modeled Spot from using a DA Polisher w/ 105

It kind of looks like you went through the clear at least looking at this photo.

[hotchy22]

Re: Weird Modeled Spot from using a DA Polisher w/ 105

I posted that pic to show the size of the spot, but doesn’t really have a haze like that in person. I believe that pic was taken with a flash so maybe it isn’t reflecting there because of the lack of the clear coat? Not sure. The spot has a pretty significant texture now... almost like orange peel.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Weird Modeled Spot from using a DA Polisher w/ 105

It definitely looks as though you've gone through the clear here, we're sorry to say.

I'm guessing the hood on this 340i is either aluminum or SMC rather than steel. As such it won't dissipate heat the way steel can, and both of those substrates will retain heat in spots and the outcome can be less than desired - as you've found out.

For a decade or more the Internet was loaded with comments that "it's impossible to damage your paint with a DA polisher", but in the last 5 to 7 years technology has exploded in the world of DA paint polishing. Compound and pad technology have taken us to where we can routinely remove sanding marks with a DA these days, whereas just a few years ago you'd be considered foolish to even attempt such a thing. And if we can remove sanding marks with a DA, we have the ability to remove measurable amounts of paint. Couple this with changing substrates and their heat retention characteristics that the OEMs are using and the situation only becomes more troublesome. Potentially worst of all is the ever growing move toward tinted clear coats. This is growing in popularity in Europe among the OEMs and is spreading from there. The potential problem here is that most of the tint resides in the upper reaches of the clear coat. So if you have to get aggressive during a spot repair process you face the very real possibility of removing a noticeable amount of tint from the clear in that one spot. No, you won't have gone through the clear, but you will have thinned it out enough to shift the color. And you're not going to fix that with more polishing.

So, back to hotchy22's lovely white 340i; since it does indeed appear that you've gone through the clear, the only way to fix it is to replace the clear, and that's a body shop visit, sad to say. The difference in texture may be due to localized heat warping or shriveling the paint (modern paint really, really does not like heat) or it could be due to orange peel existing in the color coat but being minimized by the presence of a smoother clear coat. I'll admit that last once seems like a bit of a long shot to me, but stranger things have happened.

[hotchy22]

Re: Weird Modeled Spot from using a DA Polisher w/ 105

Thanks, Michael... that is what I was thinking, but hoping it was something else. Obviously, a lesson I have learned the hard way, but for anyone else reading these threads about Random Orbital / DA polishers, BEWARE!! They are not foolproof... maybe leave the orange to yellow pads as well as the 105 polishes to the pros.