Simple detail job turns into all-weekend job
08-25-13, 01:29 PM
#1
Driver
Thread Starter
Simple detail job turns into all-weekend job
The 2010 IS250C I bought for my wife last month did not seem to be in too bad of condition. It had been detailed by the dealer and had some minor holograms, but I figured some polishing with Menzerna SF4000 would get those out. When viewed in the sun, the holograms appeared to be the only defect, the paint looked pretty good otherwise. The car is Smoky Granite Mica.
The night before I started, I took a closer look at her car in the garage and saw that the horizontal panels had a fair amount of water spot etching. I still didn't think it would be a problem, because I've polished water spot etching out of my own cars before and it wasn't that bad. Now that I think about it, the sealant that was on my own cars probably prevented the water spots from ever doing serious damage to the paint.
So I did six section passes with SF 4000 on a white pad with my DA polisher and ugh, not a dent in the etching, Then I got out the SI 1500 on an orange pad and did eight passes, and this is what I got:
The line bisecting the reflection of the fluorescent light is where the tape was - left side has been polished, right side has not. The torn postcard is there to help my camera focus. Still far from defect free. I had some Meguiar's 105 Ultra-cut compound so I tried that and it worked a little faster, but doesn't finish up a nicely as the Menzerna. To get a little more power out of the polisher I also switched to 4" spot pads.
I decided not to try anything more aggressive (etching is so bad I could go purple foamed wool pad on a rotary or even wet sanding), since my wife already thought the paint was perfect before I started, and the defects aren't visible outdoors. Fortunately only the horizontal panels have the etching and not the vertical panels, presumably because the water mostly runs off of the vertical panels and doesn't just sit there. I'm having to spend about 3x as much time polishing, so what should have been finished in one day is now taking all weekend.
Also took this picture just to show how pointless reflection shots are. The roof has the worst of the etching, and is far from defect-free. There's still polishing residue on the roof. That doesn't stop the paint from being highly reflective.
The night before I started, I took a closer look at her car in the garage and saw that the horizontal panels had a fair amount of water spot etching. I still didn't think it would be a problem, because I've polished water spot etching out of my own cars before and it wasn't that bad. Now that I think about it, the sealant that was on my own cars probably prevented the water spots from ever doing serious damage to the paint.
So I did six section passes with SF 4000 on a white pad with my DA polisher and ugh, not a dent in the etching, Then I got out the SI 1500 on an orange pad and did eight passes, and this is what I got:
The line bisecting the reflection of the fluorescent light is where the tape was - left side has been polished, right side has not. The torn postcard is there to help my camera focus. Still far from defect free. I had some Meguiar's 105 Ultra-cut compound so I tried that and it worked a little faster, but doesn't finish up a nicely as the Menzerna. To get a little more power out of the polisher I also switched to 4" spot pads.
I decided not to try anything more aggressive (etching is so bad I could go purple foamed wool pad on a rotary or even wet sanding), since my wife already thought the paint was perfect before I started, and the defects aren't visible outdoors. Fortunately only the horizontal panels have the etching and not the vertical panels, presumably because the water mostly runs off of the vertical panels and doesn't just sit there. I'm having to spend about 3x as much time polishing, so what should have been finished in one day is now taking all weekend.
Also took this picture just to show how pointless reflection shots are. The roof has the worst of the etching, and is far from defect-free. There's still polishing residue on the roof. That doesn't stop the paint from being highly reflective.
08-26-13, 01:12 PM
#4
Driver
Thread Starter
I managed to get two coats of Gtechniq EXOv2 on the car last night, on every surface except the rear bumper (it needs to stay bare so I can install a bumper applique, then it will get coated). It's my first time applying a coating, and it was pretty easy, as you don't need to be careful when wiping panels after application of EXOv2.
It was good that the application was so easy, as I was working in a poorly lit garage (I desperately need some halogen worklights). A product that required close inspection for leveling and residue removal would not have worked well in these conditions, but EXOv2 does not require much care when you wipe the panel after application. I wiped once in each direction with the small short-nap microfiber towels provided and a check with a small LED flashlight revealed no residues (confirmed this morning in sunlight).
I wasn't thrilled that they recommend two coats, applied 20 minutes apart, but the second coat went on much quicker than the first, as the surface was now very slick and the applicator could just fly over the surface. The surface feels amazingly slick and is very glossy. What I've read is that EXOv2 addresses the weaknesses of C1, which is its relative lack of glossiness and slickness. But C1 is a much more durable coating, and provides some scratch resistance which EXOv2 does not have. So EXOv2 can be used over C1 to provide the extreme slickness and glossiness (some problems with layering C1 have been reported, do your research before trying this), or on its own if you don't need the extra durability and protection of C1.
Yes, I know this is pretty worthless without pics. I'll see if I can take some in the next couple days.
It was good that the application was so easy, as I was working in a poorly lit garage (I desperately need some halogen worklights). A product that required close inspection for leveling and residue removal would not have worked well in these conditions, but EXOv2 does not require much care when you wipe the panel after application. I wiped once in each direction with the small short-nap microfiber towels provided and a check with a small LED flashlight revealed no residues (confirmed this morning in sunlight).
I wasn't thrilled that they recommend two coats, applied 20 minutes apart, but the second coat went on much quicker than the first, as the surface was now very slick and the applicator could just fly over the surface. The surface feels amazingly slick and is very glossy. What I've read is that EXOv2 addresses the weaknesses of C1, which is its relative lack of glossiness and slickness. But C1 is a much more durable coating, and provides some scratch resistance which EXOv2 does not have. So EXOv2 can be used over C1 to provide the extreme slickness and glossiness (some problems with layering C1 have been reported, do your research before trying this), or on its own if you don't need the extra durability and protection of C1.
Yes, I know this is pretty worthless without pics. I'll see if I can take some in the next couple days.
Last edited by PondScum; 08-26-13 at 04:28 PM.
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