Scratches in Paint & PC 7336 (aka PC 7424): Follow-up

A month ago I asked for advice on how go minimize or eliminate some scratches and swirl marks in my paint. Here is the follow-up report that I promised to give: Purchased Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher/Sander #7336 at Lowe's Hardware for $99.97. The 7336 is the exact same unit as the PC 7424 Polisher but also comes with sanding disk and was $25 less than the best price I could find on the 7424. I went to the Auto Geek web site http://www.autogeek.net/vcpad.html and ordered 5 different cutting/polishing pads and these polishing products: Polishing Products 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound Fine Cut 3M Perfect-It Swirl Mark Remover for Dark Paints 3M Finesse-It II Machine Polish Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze Wolfgang Pre-wax Polish Enhancer Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant I also purchased Wolfgang Black Diamond Tire Gel, more on that later. Polishing Pads Yellow Cutting pad (most aggressive cut) Orange Light Cutting pad (light cut) White Polishing pad (very light cut) Gray Finishing pad (no cut) Blue Finessing pad (no cut) I had the seemingly prerequisite swirl marks along with a few relatively deep scratches that you had to get at just the correct angle to see. To be quite honest, probably only I knew were there, but they bugged me, so they had to go! Started with Orange pad and 3M Swirl Remover and light pressure. It didn’t do much to the deeper scratches. Moved to the Yellow (most aggressive) cutting pad and 3M Swirl Remover and light pressure. Still not much change on the deeper scratches. Next step - Yellow pad and 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound Fine Cut and light pressure. “Normal” swirl marks gone and deeper scratches minimized somewhat but still visible. Needed a little more cutting power. Actually READ the instructions on the 3M bottle (don’t tell anyone, OK?) Yellow pad and 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound Fine Cut and moderate pressure initially , and as compound gets hazy, move to light pressure. Deeper scratches GONE! Here are product combinations (pads and polishes) I followed to work my way from aggressive to polish, and finally, sealant. For all combinations I started with moderate pressure and gradually decreased pressure as haze developed. Yellow Cutting pad (most aggressive cut) and 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound Fine Cut Orange Light Cutting pad (light cut) and 3M Perfect-It Swirl Mark Remover for Dark Paints White Polishing pad (very light cut), and 3M Finesse-It II Machine Polish Gray Finishing pad (no cut) and Wolfgang Pre-wax Polish Enhancer Blue Finessing pad (no cut) and Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze Hand applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant and buffed using a micro-fiber bonnet on my 10” dual action buffer You could probably use different combinations of a polish using different pads and get a slight variation on the cutting/polishing properties. I used this process on the top and the front fenders on the car. I am very pleased with the results I got from the process. There are still some remnants of a couple of the deeper scratches, but even I have a hard time finding them now. The Wolfgang Black Diamond Tire Gel is supposed to bring out the black in the tires and is supposed to last for weeks and not days. I used it for the first time yesterday and I like the initial results. I’ll report back on the longevity of the product in a few weeks. Update: I really like the Wolfgang Black Diamond Tire Gel. Not glossy, which is good, but tires look deep black with a low luster shine after it dries. Damn, this is long post! Sorry, but I wanted to be thorough.

Great post, thanks for the info. I have been thinking about buying one of those polishers, but then I think I should just spring for the cyclo instead. Any thoughts?

Gota911, I'm sure it looks fantastic. I am jealous of your color combination; I had the same on my '97 993. A sight to behold when shined up. I know that during this process you took some pics so we could all see how it turned out.

that is a great summary - i am going to peg this page for later. did you do any before/after? anyone ask why you never spend that much time helping to clean the house?

As someone with wisdom has said before... this post is useless w/o pictures!!! Please share!

I know, I KNOW... we LOVE pics! Like I said in the initial post, the scratches are hard to see. I did get one to come out in a pic, but in order to really see it you have grab your left ankle with your right hand, put your left hand over your non-dominant eye and then squint. In other words, you really can't see it at all. In the first pic, the scratch is immediately to the right of the reflection of the overhead light in the center of the pic. The scratch looks like a white shadow to the right of the light. See, I told you couldn't see it! Pic 2 is the rear after polishing and pic 3 is the tire with Wolfgang Tire Gel, but does not show up well. Pic 4 is the left front fender after the polishing process and it shows the shine the best. My wife is not in to cars nor is she real observant, but when we went out to brunch this morning, as we pulled into the parking lot, just out of the blue she said, "I think this is the shiniest I have ever seen your car." Well that told me that what I did was worth it, �cuz if she noticed, then it must be looking good! It was threatening to rain a few minutes ago but that has passed. I'll try to get some additional pics this afternoon and post them later today.

Ok, here are some more pics, shot outside under cloud cover. Crappy photographer (me) + crappy camera = crappy pics. Pics 2 & 3 show the top of the car from both sides. The top had the most scratches on it. I tried to get the clarity of the reflected light pole and then the trees to give you an idea of the finish now. I believe that simply opening the sunroof caused some of the scratches on it! Can I get out ot the "NO PIC" Dog House now?

Cyclo?? What is that??

No, she hasn't asked... yet! But I do the outside, stuff & she and my daughter do the inside... seems fair!

I think you better pack that polisher up and come do some practice on my car. I'm not real clear on some of the steps; a personal demonstration is in order. Really great work. I know exactly what you mean when the wife is not into cars. The first time my wife rode in mine she said,"I can't believe you paid so much money and it's not very luxurious." Whoa is me.Thanks for the pics.

John - Speaking of Paint... how is the bikini line coming along? Any progress on the "fog" dissipating?

Gota911 - I bought the Porter Cable random orbital and a bunch of pads. I have been reluctant to use the damn thing on my Black 03 C4 Cab. Did you have any experience with using one of these before you started on yours? I have a neighbor with the same machine and he says it is very safe if you follow the directions and don't get the speed too high. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

A cyclo is a pro dual head polisher that is suppose to be better than the PC. Check it out. http://www.rightlook.com/index.asp?P...PROD&ProdID=90

I had never seen one of these before. Looks interesting, and should do the trick. Since I don't plan on using this every weekend (I hope I don't get THAT ****) I don't think a professional unit at twice the cost is worth it to me. I like to buy good, quality products that will last. However, over the years I have learned that if it's for occasional use only, I don't need top of the line. Just my opinion.

Until two days ago, I had NEVER used a DA polisher on any car, let alone my P-car. I had a 10" DA buffer that I started using 4 months ago (right after I bought my 996) to remove paint sealant once it dried. The 10" buffer did bot have adjustable seed settings, so I was a little concerned that the OPM's (orbits per minute) might be too fast for applying polishes or rubbing compounds. If you keep the speed setting at 2.5 to 3 on the PC, you should be OK. The link below gives you a good overview of how to use the PC DA polisher. http://www.autogeek.net/dual-action-polisher.html I think it is best to start out with the least aggressive & least abrasive pad & chemical product combination, as I did initially. If all you need to do is polish before applying sealant or wax, then start with a good pre-wax polish and a polishing pad. You can always go to a more abrasive combination if you need to do so. If you read over the autogeek polisher "primer" and take the conservative approach as you are getting the feel for the polisher, you'll be fine!