First polishing experience with the Flex 3401

Nice job on the paint correction. SIP with the more aggressive pad really did the job.

 

I clayed / polished / sealed around 60% of the car yesterday. It took around 6 hours. Here's what I noticed…

1) There's almost no residue on the clay bar. The paint wasn't very contaminated. It was still a crucial step because I had small paint residues from previously removed drag racing numbers.
2) Some areas were more sratched (ie not swirled) than the one shown in the picture. Using only 1 dime per 18'x18' area was clearly not enough for these specific areas. I used around 1.5 dime and had to polish these areas TWICE (which means a total of 3 dimes) with 20 pounds of pressure at speed 6 to remove 100% of the swirls and 75% of the scratches. I'm a little bit disappointed, I expected the Flex + Orange pad + SIP + 20 lbs of pressure + top speed to take care of 100% of the scratches. I guess I'll need a more abrasive polish or aggressive pad next time. The paint still looks pretty good, because the majority of imperfections were swirls; not scratches. Around 10 swirls for 1 scratch.

Because of point 2), this required A LOT of SIP (~1/4 to ~1/3 bottle). This means a lot of money, but I guess it's the price to pay for all these years of neglect. Is this normal? I thought this huge 32oz bottle would be enough for 8-10 cars.

What about nano polish? Should I also use a dime per 18'x18' area?

Do you have tips to take care of these scratches without using so much SIP?

Thank you.
Yan

 

I think you used so much becuase you were asking the polish to do to much... consider, with enough time and enough passes, you would theoretically remove all of the CC with even nano... very small layers each time. So... you can make SIP remove deeper scracthes than it was meant to but you'll use more (waste) product this way. Stepping up to PowerGloss or another compound when necessary will let you stretch the SIP and Nano further. Use PG where applicaple and SIP where PG isn't needed. Then a round of Nano.

 

Here's the result of the first side of my supercharged Stang:



I'm not 100% satisfied yet. Still some scratches remaining and I wasn't able to remove 100% of the Natty's Blue wax. When looking at the paint with 500w of halogens, there are some barely noticable clouds. Any tips, except elbow grease?

 

Then step up to a rotary, wool pad and some power gloss, Meguiars M105, 3M extra cut, or Presta if you want 100% correction.

 

Good idea! I'll stop using the 700$ package that I just bought.

No, in fact I'll leave it like that and next time I'll add a power gloss to the ingredients (with everything else being the same: Flex, Nano Polish, etc).

 

O.k., you said you weren't happy with the results and I threw out a suggestion. Sorry you bought $700.00 of stuff that doesn't get the job done or work to your standards.

 

I agree w AR to get some M105, using so much SIP is a waste, but I dont know how M105 will work w a DA

 

Dont know either but with a rotary and wool his problems will go away.:thumb:

 

I'm not qualified enough to use a rotary. This is my first polishing job ever. I'll try some more aggressive polish / power gloss next time.

 

Here's the most scratched area of the car under the perfect angle to see the scratches. This is the front fender where I did a lot of mechanic (supercharger installation). Sorry for the dust, I didn't wash the car yet.


Most other areas are 95% perfect, but some areas like the one above aren't perfect. This is not really noticeable under "normal lighting", but under these halogens the scratches look bad. This is after two really heave passes of SIP (orange pad, speed 6, 1 inche / second, 20 pounds of pressure).

The result is still MUCH better than it was before. Next time I'll need to be more aggressive. Keep in mind the initial challenge:

 

PG might not even get rid of that, you may have to do some sanding

 

Yeah, I ran into the same issue with a Caddy CTS I did 2 weekends ago. I even broke out the rotary with orange pad and Menz PG at about 1500 rpm, and it didn't touch the deeper stuff even after 2 hits. It was the same thing with Meguiar's M105 as well. That's when I called the owner and said that they would probably need to be wetsanded which is something not in my arsenal at this time. Also found out that he's been taking it to the same brush car was for about a year. Sometimes you just have to let the deeper stuff go.

 

That's what I thought.

I'll look at the car under strong sunlight and decide if the scratches are visible enough for another job or not.

 

Here's the final result under stronger sunlight:


That's the most scratched area of the car. The scratches aren't visible unless I use 500w halogens.

Final decision: I'll keep it as it is, it looks badass.

 

You did a great job and if you can live with the scratches thats all that matters.

 

I have to send my supercharger to Vortech so the car will be useless for 1 month. I've decided to give M105 a try in order to get rid of the post-polish scratches showed earlier.

Is it a good idea?

Is it dangerous for the paint?

Which pad should I use? LC Foamed Wool 6.5"?

How should I proceed?

Thank you.

 

Did you ever end up trying the wool pad and M105? I know i could have asked in the other thread I revived, but figured it would be better to keep it here.

Also you can start doing other peoples cars and charging them for it to save up for a rotary.

Don't forget this is your first time and you did a great job!

 

Thank you.

No, I'll buy some this week and give it a try.

I don't feel the need for a rotary for now, the Flex + wool pad + M95/M105 should be strong enough for most of the minor scratches.

 

I've FINALLY received the M95. The M95 was a better option than M105 because I'm beginner and the M95 is more friendly. How do I proceed with the Flex? Same as with the SIP?