The Detailing Starts

[jackbaps]

Right today I am going to attempt to remove the swirl marks from my Racing Blue Clio 182. After much advice my weapon of choice is the Ultimate Detailing Machine. This is an orbital polisher which not only spins, but oscillates as well developing random orbits, with varying elliptical orbits. This makes the process much more like that of a hand (just a lot faster) therefore much safer than the rotary in beginner’s hands!

UDM

The UDM has to be imported from America (normally through Autopia) as it is not yet available in the UK. Shaun (182_Blue) is an absolute legend when importing! He has a link which minimises the risk of import tax and he normally has 10-15% discount codes! So a big thanks to Shaun.
As this machine is imported it is 110v and has the American two pin plug (Live and Neutral). This obviously has to be changed but I am not going to go into detail as Shaun already has:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=136&highlight=delivery%20from%20autopia

Mine

I also ordered lots of pads for the polisher as well (just in case):

2 x Sonus 6” SFX-1 Swirl and Scratch Remover Pad
4 x Sonus 6” SFX -2 Paint Polishing Pad
2 x Sonus 6” SFX-3 Final Finish & Wax Pad· 1 x Sonus 4” SFX-1 Spot Pad
2 x Sonus 4” SFX-2 Spot Pad
1 x Sonus 4” SFX-3 Spot Pad

For the 6” pads I bought the Sonus 6" DAS FlexPlate as the one you get with the UDM is a smaller 5” one. For the 4” pads you need a 3.5” backing plate which Sonus also do.

After loads and loads of searching many forums for the best polishes to use I ended up buying the Meguiar’s #80 speed glaze and the #83 dual action cleaner polish. I am not going into depth with these as again, if you search any of the cleaning forums you will find vast amounts of information! These both come from Gareth at Detailed Obsession. If you have not used this company yet I recommend you start! What a great service! Always extremely quick delivery, great prices and advice by the bucket full! Thanks again Gareth!

Right so here are the products to be used

All of them came from Detailed Obsession. Missing from the picture is a Poorboys waffle weaver drying towel.

With all of my new toys I tried out a quick detail on my brothers bonnet (an old rotten 205, literally with mushrooms growing through the carpet!!). I used the #83 then #80 on a Paint Polishing pad and I was very surprised, after my first attempt 80-85% of the swirl marks have been beaten!

Before

After

50/50

In the after and 50/50 pictures please excuse the deeps scratches/chips etc all over the place, it was just the swirls I was aiming to get out! Also please excuse the bit I missed at the bottom of the second picture! LOL.

Bare in mine the siwrls before I think I have achieved quite a bit for my first go so after this experience I think I am daring enough to attempt my bonnet or maybe the roof just in case (I haven’t decided yet, any suggestions)? So onto the process.

• Rinse the car to get rid of as much dirt as possible
• Foam the car, leaving for around 30-60 seconds
• Lightly rinse off foam
• Wash the car using Poorboys super slick and suds with the two bucket method and lambs wool mitt/micro-fibre mitt for the wheels etc
• Flood the car by removing the hose nozzle
• Dab/lightly wipe off excess water using a Poorboys waffle weave with some help from Meguairs quick detailer
• Clay (I am still using the Meguiar’s Quik Clay as I have loads left).
• Machine Polish with #80 on a Sonus SFX-2 Paint Polishing Pad

If this combo does not improve the swirl marks I will step up to the #83 using the same pad.

• Hand Polish/Glaze with ClearKote Vanilla Moose Glaze
• Hand Wax using ClearKote Carnauba Moose Wax

I am going to attempt the bonnet/roof this afternoon. Later on next week I will be doing the whole car but I will be adding a sealant into the process before applying the wax (I think?!).

Anyway, here is a before picture of my bonnet

That’s enough writing for now; any comments/help/advice will be much appreciated!

Thanks guys, fingers crossed, wish me luck!

 

[Rich]

Nice one, looking forward to see the results on the Racing Blue.

 

[scala]

Top stuff, can't wait to see the finished result.

 

[jackbaps]

Right now for some results:

Bare in mind this was my first proper attempt. The swirls seem to be 70% gone. I am happy although i do still have some noticable scratches (in laquer not paint/primer). Maybe I need to do slower passes, more passes do it more time etc etc. But this will all be done properly after I get my test panel.

However I do have some marks on the bonnet...now I didn't notice these before but they may well have been there, just hidden with the rest of the swirls. OR I could have made them by putting too much pressure on the UDM? I am unsure at the moment to the answer.

Thanks

 

[TeZ]

looks good fella.

 

[Brand86]

It's very hard to remove 100% of defects, the last 10% is often a b**ch. Chances are that even if they seem faint but a few passes won't remove them then they are deeper than you think, and removing them fully will remove too much clearcoat, so you will be better off leaving them.

Try using a glaze such as CG EZ Glaze after polishing, this should fill any minor swirls left that the polishing hasn't removed.

 

[DH_GTI]

nice work !!!!!

 

[Alan]

Good work.

I'm not a fan of UDM tho..

 

[Gaz_]

It's very hard to remove 100% of defects, the last 10% is often a b**ch. Chances are that even if they seem faint but a few passes won't remove them then they are deeper than you think, and removing them fully will remove too much clearcoat, so you will be better off leaving them.

Try using a glaze such as CG EZ Glaze after polishing, this should fill any minor swirls left that the polishing hasn't removed.

Agree, there are still some in mine. Its better to leavein a few, annoying yes, but better than needing a respray lol

 

[Brazo]

The very fine swirls/haze left in is a result of a polish not being broken down properly, try working it for longer - hth!

 

[Tigger]

I love this colour, probably more than Black as I've recently spent 4 days correcting my paint :star:

I'm guessing you have to look really closely to see any swirls in the light blue paint?

 

[jackbaps]

UPDATE 4/SEPT

Right first things first thanks to everyone especially Andy H for the help/advice. All of it has been extremely useful!

On with the work:

I bought a scrap panel to test my polishing on as I just couldn't compensate making a mess on my new 182. I made sure I bought a racing blue clio panel aswell so i knew how much cutting it took etc to remove swirls/scratches.

Now after all of the advice it was obvious that I was not working the polish for long enough, and how right was this! This time around I worked the polish for at least 5 times as much as I had previously and the results were a million times better, no hazing, no swirls, I am very happy!

Here are the pics:

Before

50/50 (Halfway through polishing)

After

PLEASE excuse the polish left on in the picture below...it looks like a scratch but there are no scratches

Thanks all for the advice...next up is wet sanding/polishing and stone chip repair (as soon as I get my touch up paints). Then move on to my actual car!

Jack.

 

[Gaz_]

Good work. I tend to work the machine about 2" or so per second and pass about 12 or so times. Very time consuming but good with the Menzerna range. How many passes were you getting to acheive the above finish?

 

[pullthru]

amazing results jack! very impressive!

 

[Rich]

Nice work, as Gaz asked what was the work time/number of passes, Megs 83 again ?

 

[jackbaps]

Sorry I should have said:

I used the 4" SFX - 2 (white polishing) spot pad this time! I did two/three hits of #83 and then two hits of #80. Each time I did about 10 slow passes and then rubbed off a little polish and checked it under the light. Then if there was marring I polished for a further 5ish passes until I was happy.

I took the advice of some people and drew a line on the back of my backing plate and applied enough pressure each time for the line to pass about twice a second (of course I couldn't tell exactly but I was trying my best!!)

Thanks

 

[JD]

thats a funking good idea, who told you that little gem of information??

jamie

 

[JD]

p.s what speeds were you using? i use my megs 83 on the yellow sonus pad, 3-4 to spread, then 5-6rpm to work in the polish. then use 80 on the white pad, then if going all out srp on the blue pad

jamie

 

[V1NNY]

how often can you use machine polishers before you start damaging your paint?

 

[Rich]

Your should not damage your paint - over time however you will reduce the thickness of the clearcoat. Depends on lots of variables, what pads and compounds you use and how far you go with to removing every mark you see.

 

[SCOTT_182CUP]

hi. good work and thanks for this write up. i'm just waiting for my UDM to arrive so I can do my RB to. Overall how did you find it, easier or harder than you expected. Looking at your before pics your paintwork looks in similar condition to mine with the swirl makrs so this has been good to read. Is there anything you would change next time you do it or got anymore advice on using the UDM on a RB

 

[jackbaps]

combine04: I can't remember who told me...but it was a cracking idea! To spread I used speed 3 and did three quick passes and then I used speed 5 to work the polish in. Didn't need to use speed 6 to be honest! I was however working/passing a lot more than the first time I tried and the hazing eventually goes

SCOTT_182CUP: It was harder than I thought...the paint on the clio feels preety solid. I had to work the polish a lot longer than I thought.

The only advice I would give you is to get a test panel best thing I have done as now I feel a lot safer going to do mine!

Thanks!

 

[Brand86]

Speed 5 is fine on the PC, speed 6 goes mentally fast so I just leave it on 5. I normally spread the polish on speed 1 though, have seen some people who just wipe the PC pad over a panel before turning it on too.

I also normally put spots of polish directly onto the panels rather than the pad once it is primed - obviously easier on horizontal rather than vertical panels though!

There isn't really one fixed way to do things, just what works for you and may be different car to car.