How many of you actually measure the depth of the clearcoat before polishing? I know it's a must for wetsanding. The reason I ask is what happened about 1-2 years back before I had the gist of this gig. I was buffing the hood of my friends 97 Jetta, SSR2.5 to SSR1, then S100 wax. After a few weeks, right on the body line of the hood, where it elevates on the hood, a thin white starts to appear and then grow with time. Is this my fault, or was it just terrible paint to begin with? There's a good chance that it was resprayed, red paint was all over my pads. This was done with a Porter Cable 7424.
From my stand point. The first part of you question is simple. Only the people that can afford the measuring devise... The second part of your question. I don't know...
If you're polishing paint with a clear coat the only thing that will cause your pads to change colour is strike through... Unless the respray was with single stage paint (which is unlikely if it was done by a professional) you made it through the clear.
Thanks Buddy. You know, I remember back in the ole' days when we used to have the same number of posts :giggle:
That's the thing, the instant I started polishing I remember him asking me a question so I stopped and looked at the pad and there was already red on it, so I'm guessing it's single stage. I only spent about 15 minutes or less doing the entire hood, I just wanted a quick little practice session.
It is a 1997 jetta and if it was resprayed it should have had clear coat put back on it. Call your friend. Find out. We all need to know now and it would make you feel alot better. Very funny situation maybe odds are you did not do it if you remember correctly and only did like you said. no one noticed thats all and you thought you did It. Thats the answer...:thumb:
Haha yea, probably. I just needed some closure. That paint would have been bound to fail soon enough anyway. With a PC7424 I can't see burn through happening, and the problem came about a month after I did everything.
You can burn the paint with a pc. Also from what you are saying in your first post , you went through the paint unfortunently.
Hmmm, even after the line formed about a month later? That clear coat must have been completely shot.
If you really want to be sure you should check another part of the car with a hand applicator and a mild polish. If the pad changes colour you're playing with single stage.
I'll have to sneak over there in the middle of the night and get it, he probably won't let me back at his car.
Well paint gauges are not cheap but in my opinion they are worth every penny. Calgarydetail, crossroad and my self had a yellow Vett to polish and thanks to the paint gauges we found out that the vehicle had extremely thin clear coat, we were getting readings in the 40 ish microns and like I said that is dangerously thin, meaning only light polish. Well needless to say we decided not to polish the vehicle and just washed it and waxed it. So me personally, I gauge every vehicle I detail. As for your experience, sounds odd. I mean if you saw paint on your pad and thin paint that to me sounds like you went through the clear coat oh and yes for the most part the PC is user friendly but it can still induce damage, specially if the vehicle has failing clear coat or not clear coated properly. But that's just my :2cents:
Why Use a PTG? Using a paint thickness gauge gives a professional detailer credibility and also acts as an insurance against ‘break-though’ of a clear coat, which would entail a re-paint and I suspect a very irate customer. Original paint has a better resale value than a re-painted vehicle, plus they will lose the use of their vehicle for some days. The ideal setup would be a DFT Combo for the metals and a PosiTector 200 B/Adv for the composites. For more information see article # 37 “Paint Thickness Gauge (PTG)” DetailingWiki a series of informative, unbiased articles dedicated to automotive detailing
