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So I started detailing the black 996 turbo I recently acquired, I've been using my 7 inch Porter cable rotary buffer with a soft white foam pad. I've been buffing with meguiars ultimate compound and the speed on my rotary has been on the lowest setting the entire time. I noticed in a few small areas around edges and curves the clearcoat is is worn and I have been extra careful to move quickly over these areas. It seems as though the clear is super thin on this car. As anyone else ran into this issue?
You need to run the buffer off the edge not onto edge, with compound you can burn through the clear quicker than you can say crap if the rotation of buffer turns onto the edge.
pretty much ALL factory clear is thin, Porsche better than most but I went trough mine trying to buff out an old stain in the clear. I've learned only use DA when absolutely necessary on factory paint (on a re-spray you can DA many times).
If just refreshing use a clay bar instead of DA it's "almost" as good.
One step deeper than clay is the mequires ultimate compound you are using but applied by hand...that stuff is indeed crazy unique...it's like no other compound...i still haven't figured out what it actually is. don't know how you could have done that on low with that stuff....maybe it was already there... really good caranuba can almost hide the damage.
It's usually very thin, but also very hard. The factory stuff is like buffing glass, but you can go through, and who knows what has beed done to it in 15 plus years, everything from respray to multiple buff, and even wet sand buff. I do know that a factory untouched paint is pretty hard to run through, you can and have to lean on the buffer to remove scratches.
That pad looks like a compounding pad, and by the looks of its condition, would be better suited for less desirable paints. The pad may actually be more aggressive than you think. For polishing you may want to get a waffle pad, and the black ones are softer. There are also much better products than the meguiars that a will be much easier to use. 3m perfect it is pretty good and user friendly. The pad selection is also kind of important.
3D also makes some good products that are supposed to not have as many fillers in the polish. Fillers will give you a false sense of the actual finish by hiding the swirl marks. This is great until you wash the car and it removes these fillers, and shows the real swirls and scratches. That pad with the tears will actually swirl the paint,, it won't be very noticeable on a lighter color car , but if you are working on black, I would suggest stepping up the process, it will be worth it. Once you get the paint sorted out, it may be worthwhile to apply some 22ple, it is good stuff and actually keeps the car cleaner, and also adds a wet look if the paint is properly corrected.
Ok, to start with the responses are all over the map. I am no expert, I just follow what the experts do.
Let's start with two places where we can learn about finishes, products and proper application of those products:
Larry Kozilla at AMMO NYC
Jeff Brown from BUFF DADDY
both of these guys have enough information available free Online that anyone will be well sorted after watching and learning.
Enjoy!
it is a Porter cable rotary buffer, the pad is a soft foam polisher from wesco autobody. I've been using it on the lowest setting which is about 1k rpm.
it is a Porter cable rotary buffer, the pad is a soft foam polisher from wesco autobody. I've been using it on the lowest setting which is about 1k rpm.
I can definitely attest that the clearcoat on these is hard, also the paint is quite thin. I've attached the measurements I took on my 2003 midnight blue. Measurements are in mils. Most cars I've worked on are more like 5 mils. My meter is not fancy enough to differentiate the basecoat from the clearcoat thickness. Probably the best bet with these cars is to try to fill swirls with carnuba versus repeatedly polishing them out.
Note the reading #21 behind the door has clear film on it. I don't think the paint there is actually any thicker. Also, these readings are from a 996TT. I just used the GT3 diagram as it was the best I could find.
The non orbital polishers scare me, as they can easily burn through clear and paint. I'd get a cheap da polisher from harbor freight and start with the least aggressive pad and polish combo. My go to has always been the meguairs m105 and 205. Look up the Jumkman on YouTube he is a little chatty, but does a great job explaining paints and process.
I do a machine polish just twice. Once when I first get the car and second time just before I sell it. In the years in between I use a simple spray on "wax as you dry" detailer's wax and maybe a little spot use of hand rubbed No. 7 auto polish after gentle washing. I receive many compliments on my vehicles' paint and shine.
04-08-2017, 07:10 AM
Is porsche clearcoat thin?
