ItsOnVoy said:
Thanks a ton for the input guys that helps a lot. xtitan1 thanks a lot for the links they help me a lot. I got some reading to do with them lol Now when you apply this compound to help remove the scratches how much does it hurt the clear coat or does it hurt it at all? Will this hurt it in the long run? From what I know when you wheel the car it heats up the paint and helps it blend right?
Brand wise I really like meguiars stuff, I have there clay bar and wax (paste) and I have seen amazing results so I might go with that compound brand and get there swirl remover. Too bad the Porter Cable is a bit costly, I might have to see if a buddy has buddy as one I can use or something. Learned from my mistake and won't be getting these scratches again like now. Or at least as much as I have now.
Yeah no problem.
If you can't borrow, a cheaper option is the Griot's Garage 6" polisher. It's recommended in the video above for people who's budget doesn't allow for the PC.
No, heating up the paint is very bad - that's what you want to avoid. That's the reason they make the dual action polishers now because the rotaries require a lot of experience to use without heating up the paint. More on this in the video above.
Does compounding "hurt" the clear coat? It makes it look better by taking out the scratches. But I think what you are asking is, does compounding abrade the clear coat. The answer is yes. That's how it works. The scratches are little sharp valleys in the clear coat. The polisher used with compound abrades away the clear coat until all of the clear coat is lowered to the level of the bottom of the valley of the scratches, so now there are no more scratches. Typically, paint these days is about 6 mils thick. I'd say you have about 3 mils of that to play with (extremely rough estimates). Optimally, you would protect the paint from getting scratches in the first place right off of the dealer's lot and never need to abrade the paint.
Obviously that's not always done, and therefore compounding is necessary to get out the scratches that were induced. However, you wouldn't want to be compounding very often, because it is abrading the paint and you don't have an infinite amount of clear coat on the truck. Once you correct the paint, you should protect it with a sealant and/or wax, and avoid automated car washes and dirty towels being used on the truck so that you don't incur any additional scratches and you don't require additional compounding. This is what I did with my truck.
Meguiars is a good brand. Everyone raves about the M105 compound and the M205 polish which would be a good combo for you. Now, some people may get carried away with the hype, but nonetheless I think these will get the job done for you. Do LOTS and LOTS of reading on that website. And watch that video, I know that guy - he's a good dude.
Again it's Wash -> Clay (with lube) -> Compound with polisher using a test spot to get the least aggressive method that gets the results you want -> Polish -> LSP (last step product, either paint sealant and/or wax)
My personal method was
BF WD Conditioing Shampoo w/ dual grit guard bucket method -> mother's clay w/ DP Clay Lubricant -> BF WD SRC Compound w/ Flex 3401 and 5" Hybrid Orange pad -> BF WD SRC Finishing Polish w/ Flex 3401 and 5" Hybrid White Pad -> BF WD All Finish Paint Protection Paint Sealant -> Collinite 915
Not having the scratches and having the surface be super smooth gives it this very wet look. Sorry for the crappy picture. Focus on the hood and how reflective it is, it's like ink:
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