I have a black car and I just recently buffed it doing a 3 stage detail. I used a white whool pad and cut and then a blue whool pad and polish and then a blue foam pad and sealer. Washed it again. And pulled it into the sunlight after drying. Had no swirls or holograms. Now why after a couple days I wash it again using p21 soap and brand new mircofiber towels ordered from detailers domain do I have holograms? All over the car. I washed it twice to ensure a clean washing. I even did it with the bucket with the grit proector thing. I am so confused to why this happened. Help.
I bet that you did not really remove all of the hazing left from using your wool pad. You probably filled them with the polishes used in your later steps. You probably waxed it, further filling or hiding what was not truly fixed yet. So now what you washed it, all those fillers are leaving the paint and that's what you're seeing the hologram. This is why it's important to do an IPA wipe down after polishing to check the true condition of the paint.
Simply go at it some more, either from the beginning with wool, or if it is leveled out enough, just go with the foam only and polish it down better, making sure to check your progress by wiping it down with Isopropyl Alcohol [IPA] and looking at it in bright, direct light [LED or sun.] Only after you are satisfied with the results doing this method, would you apply a sealant. BTW, which sealant did you use? And what type of machine are you using?
Well see I used my works buffer with is a dewalt yellow one with the nut instead of the velcrow. So it wasn't an issue of the pad being unaligned. Now I did a Buick at work and the same thing happened. I don't care for what my boss uses but I don't have a choice. He uses ardex products. We use ardex white cut with a white wool pad. I always clean the pads every pannel and keep them fluffy. I make sure the the pad is always straight and flat. After cut we use a blue wool pad with purple polish. again all ardex. This I guess is ideally suppost to remove the swirls and such and then we use a blue foam pad with a grey sealer.
I took an hour on this black Buick to cut it. I took an hour to polish it. A half hr to seal it. I took along time on this and it still had swirls. I even went back over it and there's still swirls. I don't understand.
You need to follow the rotary with a da. You are removing defects ,but you are not polishing. Any time Ouse a rotary I follow up with a da. If you polish using a rotary and a foam pad, take the same pad and use it on the da,no more swirls! Also be sure you are using a polish that is not to aggressive.
I think an hour to polish the car is pretty darn quick... are you polishing each section long enough to break down the polish properly?
wow, 2 hours to finish both compounding and polishing just by yourself?.....you sure you work your compound/polish long enough?
That's my thought as well... I can't imagine taking less than 5 to 6 hours to do a medium sized car... maybe I'm slow?
I know of no good Detailers that are going to take only 5-6 hours to correct and polish any kind of car in any condition. This process takes time and only with time do you get perfection the first time around. If products for "production" are used with "production" methodology, then I am pretty sure the chance of introducing swirls and holograms goes up a lot, because you are cutting with wool pads and filling as you go, so not really seeing what has happened until it all comes off. I get Clients like this all the time, that went to a Production shop, it looked good for a few weeks, it got washed, and it looks like crapola all over again. Just delivered a Red Z4 BMW that had the Production treatment complete with much blazing white compound left in every crevice for me to clean out.. The Client thought I had painted their car all over again, it looked so much better and the clarity was 95+% and will stay that way because I remove almost all the defects using non filler compounds and polishes, and checked the work frequently with halogen and LED lighting. We have little sun up here in Western Washington.. I have seen Production detailers work and they love high speeds and using the edge of the pads to quickly go over a panel and its good to go. This will hardly ever bring the results that the Professionals turn out, sorry... Professionals hardly ever use wool or any type of wool synthetic, foam, etc., unless its absolutely necessary on say, a new paint job that was not wet color sanded down, etc, airplanes, etc.... Pro's will know how to use Rotary Power to NOT introduce swirls and holograms, and this does not happen if you are blazing speeding across your work using products that cut and fill at the same time.. None of this in my 50 years experience happens quickly unless you have many people who are equally experienced all working at the same time. It just takes time, good products and good technique.. Some of the newer machines, like the Rupes, Flex, Griot's random orbitals are closer to doing the result of a Rotary but with less chance of swirling, holograms, etc., but of course, they will take longer, because they do not rotate as fast as a direct drive makita 9227C, etc... So there are trade offs.. Understand that Production shops require the measures you use for that reason. Get them in and get them out.. This is fine if this is what you want to do, and I wish you much success. Custom Professional Detailers dont always operate at that pace for the reasons stated above.. If you are trying to get away from swirls and holograms, then a whole new technique, mindset and product and pad selection might need to be evaluated, but this may not be what the Business Plan wants at your shop. Good luck with this ! DanF
