[learnedinuk]

Recently I purchased a black sapphire metallic 335 that is almost perfect. Except for the ever present orange peel, that you don't notice until you notice it. Then you can never not see it again. It also has your standard light swirl scratches.

So being a do it yourself kind of guy I thought I would teach myself to paint correct starting with the oldest of my cars with the intention to work my way through 3 vehicles until i get to the BMW.

I present to you a 1999 Ford Explorer with 200k miles.

I started with Menzerna FG-400 and a PC 7424xp. Followed up with Menzerna SF 4000. It took most of the afternoon. Overall I am pleased with my first attempt. I think I needed a more aggressive cut to get rid of all the spots.

I had a hard time capturing the finished product but here is an example. The first picture is the untouched hood. I used the overhead light reflection as my guide for how it turned out. The far side of the hood in the second picture has not been touched yet. The side closest is complete. The third picture is my final project, if I can ever get the wife to stop driving it.

Just thought i'd share. Mom always said I should share.

[railesq]

What pads did you use?

[Detailed Image]

Definitely a great improvement! Keep it up and all the cars should shine better than when they were new.

[learnedinuk]

Lake orange and red.

Not sure what I should have used to get rid of the deeper acid rain marks. Is it just more of the same? Or shoul I use different pad/compound?

Should be fun to find out.

[Rob13567]

nice, how long did it take and did nothing bad happen?

[learnedinuk]

I washed and clayed it on Friday. That took about two hours. Saturday it took about 7 hours to do the whole thing.

I can't find any holograms or deep swirl marks. So nothing bad happened that I can see. Except once I lost my grip when doing the tailgate and bumped the buffer and that pad shot off. It flew a good 100 feet down my driveway and rolled perfectly on edge for another 200 feet. Embarassing.

I did find it was difficult to keep the pad spinning with any pressure. I used 6.5" pads and have since learned that 5.5" pads should make it easier to keep a little rotation.

Was really hoping to remove all of the deep marks on the hood. I guess they are a bit too deep.

[railesq]

If you were using orange with the FG400 you might have gotten a bit more correction with a yellow on the hood, if I'm reading things right. I'm no pro so I don't know what else might help.

Looks vastly improved, though!

[marketmaster]

I would advise to get a brinkman or some other light source for the bmw.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by learnedinuk

I washed and clayed it on Friday. That took about two hours. Saturday it took about 7 hours to do the whole thing.

I can't find any holograms or deep swirl marks. So nothing bad happened that I can see. Except once I lost my grip when doing the tailgate and bumped the buffer and that pad shot off. It flew a good 100 feet down my driveway and rolled perfectly on edge for another 200 feet. Embarassing.

I did find it was difficult to keep the pad spinning with any pressure. I used 6.5" pads and have since learned that 5.5" pads should make it easier to keep a little rotation.

Was really hoping to remove all of the deep marks on the hood. I guess they are a bit too deep.

One of the main reasons a pad will stop spinning with pressure also has to do with it being gummed up with product so if you didn't clean the pad for the whole session that might have been your issue

[learnedinuk]

Originally Posted by marketmaster

I would advise to get a brinkman or some other light source for the bmw.

I agree with that!

[learnedinuk]

Originally Posted by smithe90

One of the main reasons a pad will stop spinning with pressure also has to do with it being gummed up with product so if you didn't clean the pad for the whole session that might have been your issue

I did clean it but now that you mention it, it did seem to spin better after each cleaning. I guess I will try cleaning it more often.

Thanks.

[psnt1ol]

Ensuring the pad being level to the panel would keep the pad spinning. The PC is very sensitive to this and would stop at the slightest variation. Thinner/low profile pads would also help in getting the most from your machine (smaller rotating mass).

[Detailers Domain]

great job!

[learnedinuk]

Originally Posted by DetailersDomain

great job!

Thanks! Not too shabby I think for my first ever time with a polisher.

[Jed]

Nice job on the car-looks great! Keep it up!

Originally Posted by learnedinuk

Except once I lost my grip when doing the tailgate and bumped the buffer and that pad shot off. It flew a good 100 feet down my driveway and rolled perfectly on edge for another 200 feet. Embarassing.

That made me completely crack up for some reason as I visualized that. Not to worry, I think ALL of us have had an embarrassing detailing moment. For me, apparently my PC's switch was on after getting jostled around in transit.

I put on the pad, put some CG EZ Creme Glaze and patted down some areas of the surface of the car and then plugged it in. Product was slung at me, my car, the garage wall and my buddy... :\