Introducing "roughness" to paint using my rotary?

Hi gang -

Hopefully someone here can help me.

I recently purchased a Makita 9227C, and I've been practicing on some junkyard body panels. This afternoon, I did the following, on a dark red metallic trunk lid from some sort of late 1990s VW (a Passat, I believe):

- 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound (1200 grit) with yellow Edge 2000 pad
- Menzerna Intensive Polish (2000 grit) with green Edge 2000 pad
- Menzerna Micro Polish (2500 grit) with blue Edge 2000 pad

All starting at about 900RPM, up to 1500RPM, and closing at 900RPM.

What I'm seeing is a sort of a "roughness" on a lot of the areas I worked on.

I don't know if this was there already, since the panel came off a junk car, and was in quite bad shape when I got it. But it's not something I noticed until after I got done, so I *believe* this is something I did.

Did I get the paint too hot? Too aggressive a compound?

I'm really at a loss here, being completely new to using the rotary. I'm really looking forward to using it on my car, since it's obviously capable of producing some stunning results - but I'd rather leave the "ruination" to junkyard panels.

Here is a photograph that I've got in one of my galleries on the S2000 forum. You should be able to click on that and get a larger version of it.

Any thoughts from the experts? Please, don't let me ruin something on my S2000...

 

Was part of the panel repainted??

 

Cooter, I don't know. It came from a junkyard, and was in neglected, weatherbeaten condition when I got it.

 

This is just my opinion but that doesn't look right, I mean I can't see you inducing that into the paint/clear coat...that to me looks like either bad re-paint or some serous damage to the paint...but more like bad-repaint. You said it feels rough too, what comes to my mind is poor clear coat re-spray..but that's just my guess.

Just curious, is the panel single stage paint or does it have clear coat? Meaning did your pad change colour, the colour of the panel? If so that's single stage paint if not then it's clear coated. If it is clear coated then I would still say poor clear coat re-spray..but that's just my :2cents:

 

It's definitely clear coated - the pads all stayed the same color throughout the practice session.

I thought I must be crazy, so I went out to the deck and looked carefully at this trunklid. The part where it curves down towards the taillights - which I didn't touch with the rotary at all - has the same marks on it. Like a wet sanding job gone horribly wrong. Now that you guys have said "looks like a repaint," I started to notice more and more evidence that this was obviously taken to Maaco (or similar) at some point in its life.

I guess I need to be a little more picky when choosing junkyard panels? Tough to turn down stuff that's offered up for free though.

Quality of the paint job aside, this rotary is proving to be really impressive when I pay attention to where I'm aiming it. But man am I glad I've gotten some practice on junkyard panels. One of the other ones - off an old Jetta - had this big "character line" running down it from front to back. I wasn't even working on that area, but the edge of the pad took the paint right down to primer in one section! A valuable lesson. Look CLOSELY at the areas you're working on, and the surrounding areas, and be mindful of where you aim this tool!

Thanks guys - I feel a whole lot better now!

 

I am going to with Nica on this, it looks like a very poor repaint and paint prep. The panel doesnt look like it was sanded smooth and the paint is filling in the crevices and when you polished it you just made it more noticeable.

 

My opinion as well. The only time I've seen paint that messed up was after a respray. I've had panels so hot you couldn't touch them and it won't do that to the paint. Could be a good time to practice your wetsanding! LOL

 

That's a great suggestion. Thanks!

 

Nica = right .

 

Spare panels are great to work with, when I first got my Metabo I abused my rust bucket Jeep and on purposed tried to burn the paint....first lesson I learned was be careful with edges. Second it doesn't take much to burn through clear coat and paint. Well you get the picture, spare panels are great to learn on. As you found out you can do what ever you want to them...but just as long as you learn something.

Wetsanding is a great idea, that you should you ever have to wetsand a vehicle you'll be better prepared :thumb: