I have recently found out that my paint on my car is a 1 stage with no clear. Every time I go to buff it, it rubs green off on my pads. I have a Makita rotary and use M105 with a yellow pad, M205 with a green, and Optimum finishing polish with a black or blue pad. Someone tell me if this is a safe setup for my paint? I am soon going to do a 3 stage correction because it is heavily swirled.
The differences between a single stage paint system (base and a colour coat) and a urethane clear coat (base, colour and clear coat) finish is that the single stage paint is generally ‘softer’ and therefore easier to polish (this is due to the colour pigment used (i.e. White is very hard (Mohs - 7/10) - Black is softer (Mohs - 2/10) single-stage catalyzed urethane is harder than single-stage lacquer. You’ll notice that the foam pad will pick up single stage paint colour i.e. on a black vehicle the foam pad will turn black, this is normal; it doesn’t mean you are removing all the paint. Using products that contain oils to provide a gloss is highly recommended The Optimum Hyper range of polishes, Menzerna Intensive Polish or Meguiar's M80, with its diminishing abrasives work very well on single stage paint, removing moderate defects and nicely refining the finish, the polishing oils will restore gloss and depth. Start with Lake County (LC) Orange (light) cutting foam you may also want to try an LC Green polishing foam pad.
^^^^^^^^^^^^ Agree and to add: Megs #7 Show Glaze works wonders for single stage. You can use a "soak" method in which you let the polish soak overnight, then remove and you can reapply if necessary.