Tchan1

iTrader: (1)

I have a black IS250 and I have been test polishing with the Menzerna SIP I just got. I did a section on my trunk to see how good it is and it does look real good. But once I put my surefire on it I can still see swirls. I did two passes with a 4" orange pad and it is still there. Should I do some more passes or I need to step up to the yellow pad? Or just a more aggressive product? This new paint is so hard to work with.

Forgot to mention that I am using a PC

mysteryan

Had that problem before, was able to get rid of most of the swirls switching from a 5.5" orange, to a 6" yellow on a UDM w/ SIP. Are you applying enough pressure? You should have about 50% pad compression.

Tchan1

iTrader: (1)

yeah I have been putting a good amount of pressure on it. I might just have to try out the yellow pad

MoeMistry

Can you take a picture? Lexus paint is VERY soft...no need for anything more aggressive. What technique are you using? Here how you should be polishing with your PC:

1. Put a dollop of polish at 3-6-9-12 o'clock on the pad. A small amount the size of a dime.

2. Put the machine on the car and start at setting 3.

3. Spread the polish around...it should cover half the hood nicely.

4. Increase speed to 5 and with moderate pressure, guide the polisher SLOWLY from left to right then right to left. You basically are moving slow in a figure S pattern. The key is VERY VERY slow. It should take you about 5 minutes to do half the hood with a PC.

5. When the polish becomes transparent, you should see some gloss and your reflection in the paint, you're done. Wipe with clean microfiber towel. The swirls, if medium to light, should be eliminated.

6. Follow with Menzerna Super Finish and white CCS pad using same technique. You can use half the polish and go twice as fast during this step. The same end result needs to be achieved. A transparent and slight glossy finish before wiping the polish off.

Hope this helps

XhyDra

iTrader: (8)

^ +1 those steps should be sufficient.
As a matter of fact I'm able to polish out most defects on the ISx50's paint with just a white pad and 106FF. That's how soft the paint is. Unless it's some really deep scratches the lowest cut takes care of all the swirls. Make sure you have the machine for 3-5min in the area you are working on.

Tchan1

iTrader: (1)

I did about 4-5 mins on a 6x6 area with the S pattern at a slow rate with the 4" pad. Maybe I am not using enough polish? I think the total amount I use was about a dime size and I just spread it around speed 3 and then upped it to 6

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

My car is 6 years old and I got rid 80% of my swirls with a very light cutting pad (LC green 4") w/ Power Finish followed by P085RD.(Thanks eyezack87)

MoeMistry

Best thing to do now is take some pictures. Before/afters would be great. That way we're not shooting in the dark.

UDel

What caused these scratches and swirls? Was it just normal washing and drying or could something harsher like a cat on the hood, branches, someone using a very dirty rag covered in dirt and grit to wash your car, bad automated car wash? Was the car always like this? With normal scratches and swirls you should easily be able to get rid of them with Menzerna IP and a orange pad after properly using the PC. Even that is a little overkill for soft lexus paint.

If your car always had these scratches and swirls something pretty bad happened to your finish at the factory, on the way over, or at the dealership and you may not be able to get rid of them with normal polishing if you are already using SIP and 4" orange pads and putting enough pressure. If those scratches were always there I would take it back to the dealer and see what they say.

Tchan1

iTrader: (1)

I will take pics as soon as I can go over to gf's house to get my camera. But for the swirls I got most of it off and you can't see it if you just look at it directly. But once I put my surefire on it you can still see some swirls.

MoeMistry

The LAST place you should take it is the dealer...unless you want to spend hundreds having a professional detailer fix the dealer's handy work.

Tchan1

iTrader: (1)

Funny thing is that I had this theory that maybe using a orange pad with SIP would be too aggressive and probably will do more harm than good. So I tested this theory out by using a 5.5 white pad spread with 3 and then upped to 5, worked it for about around 5-6 mins. Then I followed up with 85rd with a 5.5 black pad. I am glad to say that it WORKS!

So does this happen often? That using more aggressive pads than needed will actually not get everything out?

Todd@ProperAutoCare

What you may have been seeing, althought not usually common with the PC, is marring from the product or pad being too aggressive for the paint type. This is why sometime you need to do a small section with atleast the first two steps(with a PC this should be all you need). The second step as you may know, removes the marring(very fine swirling) that the previous pad/polish combo left while removing the swirls in the cars paint. SIP/White used to be one of my favorite combos for soft paint until I started using Meguairs M205/Orange or White pad.