Discouraged to polish

Dont let it stop you for polishing. I went through on my truck all because i just nicked a curve in the panel with the edge of one of my pads. You just have to get over it and keep pushing on no matter what happens

 

props to you brendan for owning up to it and rectifying your mistakes. we've all had our fair share of mishaps im sure. like others have said, maybe try practicing on some scrap panels. pay close attention to how much heat you are creating on the panel as well. after doing a certain area, remove the polish and check the level of heat with your hand. keeping the speeds lower on your flex and simply working the polish longer would be a safer route if you're wary about strikethrough again.

 

:headbang:We have a PC that's sitting on our shelf like a paper weight. I'll trade you for your FLEX...

 

Thanks everybody for their support, means a lot to me...specially now after I've had two polishing incidents. Definitely helped me in keeping my head up. The owner is picking it up today so I'll keep you guys updated.

It's just on the driver side door, so it's not a full respray but it won't be cheap as well. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I don't think wet-sanding can fix this. If there is no more clearcoat left, you're just wet-sanding the paint, won't that take you down to the primer?

Thanks for the offer, I may end up keeping my flex but I'll probably pick up a used PC and play around with that till I get comfortable.

 

It can be very disheartening to make a mistake like that, I have been there for sure. I remembered when I was trying to knock down a scratch on the fender that was right in the middle where the fender curve is concave up, but was very close to the edge. Rather than leaving it alone, I decided to have at it with my PC and an orange pad and after 10 seconds, I had burned right through the clear and color coat. Now tape all the edges of fenders in addition to trim as a result of my mistake.

Isn't it always ironic that hindsight is 20/20? Sometimes, I wish that we could just avoid mistakes all together but almost everything you will ever do has a learning curve, including detailing. Keep up the work, don't give up on polishing because of this small setback!

 

I'll definitely learn from my mistakes

 

Hey Brendan,

Sorry to hear about that. As others have said don't let it get you down.

You did the right thing by the client by stepping up and looking after the mistakes by paying for the repaints. It says a lot about your character to step up to the plate and acknowledge the mistakes that were made. A tip is to put aside some money from each detail to cover for any issues that may come up, incidental or otherwise. If this were to happen again in the future ( hopefully it does not ) it will allow you to draw money from an account allocated for this situation rather than having to take it from your profit all at once or even worse having to borrow the money from someone else.

In terms of insurance, my insurance only covers incidental damage unrelated to polishing. Anything that occurs while I am performing a particular job ie. strike through is not covered by insurance. That is something you have to pay for on your own in terms of a respray. So although I'm covered from a lighting fixture hiting the car i'm not covered for work done on a vehicle.

I know it can be extremely stressful on your nerves, having issues breathing and not having an appetitive so just step away a little for a bit to get your nerves back. Do something that will relieve some of your stress, play some sports, hang with some friends.

If you ever need to chat just pm me and you can ring me up over the phone or msn.

Good luck and keep your head up.

 

Don't even buy a PC, just keep working with your flex, and make sure you take all the precautionary methord before polishing. Use a whole roll of tape on every car if you need to, and just take your time. The Flex is a great machine, and you will be taking a step backwards with the PC. Best of luck.


John

 

Thanks Nick, I'm going to help my parents around the house today but after that I might go hit the gym or something...anything to take my mind off of it. Thanks for the support though, really really meaningful to me.

Thanks John, I may look into a PC for things like tail lights and what not. I'm in no rush to buy one so I'll wait for a deal to pop up.







Thanks for the support everybody, you guys are awesome!:worship2:

 

I went through on one car... but I had a PTG, and I told the owner that it was scetchy thin, he said polish it anyways... I did... afterward he said no big deal, car looked 100X better overall...

 

Well I picked up the owner and told him what happened and explained what happened. Car has been polished with a really aggressive pad combination (most likely wool) and there was little clear left. So unfortunately the remaining clear is what I removed. He wasn't mad at all, very understanding and said it happens to the best of us. So that really brightened my day, he was happy with the rest of the work as well. Thanks for all the help guys. Definitely feeling a lot more "up" today.

Regards,
Brendan

 

:shead: I was reffering to you wetsanding the touch up paint. If its dead center of the drivers door though that might be hard to hide

Glad the owner was understanding. Most of them are

 

Good to know u are motivated!
Now that let's learn from experience, and improve where u need to!

 

Mate, the only way to make back the money that you lost in having to pay for the repairs is to do a few more FULL polishing jobs! The wash 'n wax jobs are easy, but they bring a lot less revenue as well. Find a nice one-stepper, and do those a few times.

Make that money and don't let this be a end to your detailing career!

 

Don't want to hijack this post, but this raised a question.
What is it about a rotary that makes it more prone to damage paint?
Is it the speed which makes more heat? or something else? Thanks Guys

 

heat. A random orbital machine keeps the pad moving constantly, thereby decreasing the creation of heat on the surface. Not that you cannot hurt the paint with a ro machine, it is just more difficult to harm the paint with it.

 

happened to me but not too bad. i was detailing a highlander a few weeks back and taped off all bumpers, painted mudflaps, etc. I was using the rotary with M105 and i got a little too close to a flap and nicked off some paint. really tiny amount, but i could have imagined what would have happened if i had decided to polish that panel instead. but i learned from it. i picked up my PC and used a wool pad and i'm getting better results with 105. the worktime is longer and i can control the cut a bit more. get back in there...it happens

 

so how did things go with the owner after all . . . . . i know he had mentioned it happens to the best of us but did he get to him or did he tell ya to not worry about the fix?

glad it worked out for the best.

 

dont mean to threadjack at all. but im still getting the hang of a rotary and would like to learn from this to take precaution for myself. My questions are:

1. how do you know when you have burned the clear? can anybody show a video perhaps?

2. What should you do in corners to avoid nicking the paint?

Brendan, I hope things workout for you man. at the end of the day Shit happens and we only learn from our mistakes. Keep your chin up and look at the future. If you happen to be walking and tripped on a rock that would be no reason for you to stop walking. Same way don't give up on your passions and hobbies.

 

1) You will know it immediately :yikes:

2) Painters tape or when you get close to the edges decrease rpms and pressure :buffer: