[zaxjax]

Those deep scratches look like RIDS which are a pain in the ass to get out. A PC doe snot have the umph to get them out

[lopealle]

i agree. i had to buy a makita for my car. which i still haven't used yet. just sitting in the box. as for the work it looks really clean.

[carve]

I went to great lengths to get the scratches to show up on camera...maybe too great. I'll try to take some pics in the sun this weekend (it's been raining here). Most of them look like swirl marks in the sun, and you can't really feel most of them.

For reference, the scratches around that paint blob are the remenants of me using 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper, followed by rubbing compound, two layers of Poorboys SSR2.5/orange pad, 1 layer of SSR1/white pad, Klasse AIO, and two coats of class HGSG. In direct sunlight, even that looks like a blob of paint with a particularly bad swirl mark around it. Any tips on grinding it down without wearing through the paint? (The pic right before the blob was the SAME PIC, but focused on the reflection rather than the paint)

[Envious Eric]

quite possibly sanding tracers as well on the trunk lid! those look pretty deep!

i would hit up detailersdomain.com and get some of the 5.5" uber pads in orange, blue. Get some meguiars 105 and 205, and some menzerna FPII/85rd

process would be something like this: which is my usual go to process

PCXP with orange/105/speed 6
PCXP with lc white pad/205/speed 6
PCXP with blue/FPII/speed 6

works like a charm every time, but takes about 9-10 hours total!

[Alan(iX)]

Originally Posted by carve

Thanks for the tips. I suppose I'll wait until next year and try a heavier compound. SSR2.5 is supposed to be one step below compound. It was really hard to get the shots above...big macro lens on an SLR and sharpening and contrast enhancement in photoshop.

I just went out and played with the camera some more. Here are a few shots of the trunk when NOT focusing on the scratches. I also have a couple of pics of the exact same spot again- focused on the reflection, and focused on the paint itself. I did one of the worst spot on my paint- a poorly repaired chip, to show how big a difference the camera can make. These are unshopped, and most of the worst scratches in the preceding pics are contained in these pics of the trunk. The last two are on the hood, and are the same pic with different focus.

The close up pics of the trunk look like bad body work.
No amount of buffing and polishing will fix this.
The scratches are in the primer coat which show thru the color and clear coats.

[ToadHollow]

Originally Posted by Alan(iX)

The close up pics of the trunk look like bad body work.
No amount of buffing and polishing will fix this.
The scratches are in the primer coat which show thru the color and clear coats.

With the exaggerated magnification the OP used for those pics; I would guarantee any paint job would look the same.