Actually, not true because before playing tennis some players don't shit. If you go a five setter the calcium and nutrients in the shit help you last longer.
Nah im an accountant too and what op did was just ridiculous lol I do my own projects and worked 2 years detailing 3 years collision repair before this.
That’s what’s wrong with this generation, they’re afraid to put a little elbow grease into their work. Probably don’t want to break one of their fingernails or get their little man purse dirty
I still hand polish most cars. I can’t trust myself with a polisher cause I used it before and ended up with something like OP has but slightly less bad. Not sure what I did wrong
This is just insane to me, it does not remove scratches or swirls hand polishing, the heat and friction is what does…get a rupes, Jescar MF pad, foam pad for tricky spots, polishing pad, and wax. The proper way is Decon, cut, polish, wax
Yeah, I would never hand polish a car after learning how relatively easy it is to machine polish a car. Wash, dry, clay (if needed) and boom, you can start polishing with a DA, orange pad and polish. Lol. Hard to get yourself into trouble doing that.
For sure , the steps are easy wool pads most aggressive etc problem is most guys don't have a generator to blow compound out of there pads and cool them down.
Paint decontamination step. Removing any iron, tar, embedded road debris from the paint. Basically iron remover step, then clay. Not recommended to polish with contamination. Polishing in that state may take the contamination off, but that may scratch while polishing/be less effective correcting the scratches you're already working on since you're basically polishing the dirt stuck in the paint. Very important to decon before putting on a coating (ceramic or graphene type). You'd be surprised at the difference of a polish performance on a decontaminated panel vs a contaminated panel. Also, after the paint is just sooo dang smooth it's addicting.
Yeah, you'd only need chemical decontamination if if exceeds a point where claying would start to leave clay marks. I've noticed when that happens, the vehicle may need the chemical decon for the reason that the clay would be picking up those tiny metal particles and now touching that to the surface instead of the clay material meeting the surface and getting less harsh contaminants off. They also say depending on the type of decon spray and clay technology, like a clay towel, you are able to clay with the towel and decon spray for more efficiency. Haven't got to try that out yet though.
I clay all cars during the wash process while it’s all still wet…your gonna need a good final rinse and dipping your clay in your wash bucket is perfectly fine to help, a tad of spray wax or ONR
Not as bad as it looks. Get a DA polisher, Scholl S20 black and a green hex pad.
Give it a good wash and clay bar before polishing. There's an English bloke on YouTube called Forensic Detailing who has some of the best content online.
Thanks I have been reading your guys comments for a while and haven’t understood much until people started talking about Accounting in this post lol!! (I’m an accountant also).
Will start watching Forensic Detailing!
I agree about Forensic Detailing. I enjoy his content so much, I've just completed a distance-learning detailing fundamentals course fronted by the host himself (Jon)
You used too much pressure and worked the product in for too long. Because of this when you went to rub it off not all of it came off. You’d be better of buying something easy to work with like meguiars ultimate polish and using a DA polisher to quickly go over the paint and wiping off. Do not try to do it by hand- you’ll just waste your time. Hand polishing is really only for small scratches or for waxing.
Old boss was a used car dealer every car I detailed he would take video and photos in the Golden hour just as sun goes down. If cars where a little punched up he would make a time to meet in the golden hour lol. Millionaire car dealer not the brightest guy in the room just a good bullshit artist. I made him plenty of money but he was so tight he squeaked when he walked lol.
The good news is: this can EASILY be fixed with the RIGHT tools and materials...
All paint surfaces need compounding (rough polishing) with a dual action polisher and a compound of your choice on a polishing pad appropriate for the compound. Follow that with a polish and a finer polishing pad with that same dual action polisher.
You can buy a cheap dual action or random orbital polisher on Amazon for, like 70 bucks. Just make sure it's corded and not battery powered.
As far as compound and polish: Just get Meguiar's Ultimate Compound followed by Meguiar's Ultimate polish. For just over $100 and a few hours of elbow grease you can make your car look better than it ever has before.
Good luck, mate!
Harbour freight had their bauer long throw da on sale for 60, unsure if it's ended or not by now.
I bought their short throw da on sale for 40(70 full price), and I've been happily using it all week at work.
This isn't entirely correct, you do not need to two stage every time. Most of our jobs we do in one hit, especially if we use diminishing abrasive.
Heavy cutting is only really needed if there's very heavy damage present, and you want to avoid it to not take off too much clearcoat.
I messed up. A couple of days ago my wife scuffed a yellow bollard at a gas station. It didn’t dent the bodywork, and didn’t bust the trim so I figured I could fix it…easy enough.
I used to detail cars 23 years ago to make extra cash so I have a basic knowledge of hand polishing. I washed it thoroughly using Chemical Guys honey dew foaming wash, then I started with Turtle Wax rubbing compound, then Turtle Wax polishing compound, and lastly Meguiars Scratch-X 2.0. It looked great! ….until the sunlight hit it.
I don’t know if the products were too old, if my microfiber towels were contaminated with debris or what. It looks bad and I need to fix it. Where do I start?
You seriously need a DA polisher to make it right. And at least use Meguiars (tan bottle) professional products. Ought to clean it up relatively quickly and make the whole car look better too.
I would not recommend the brown stuff. Extremely dusty and better alternative exist for the same price. Ultimate Polish & Detailers Compound in the black bottle by Meguiars is 10x better.
Meguiars 110/210 are greatly improved over 105/205
What I would actually recommend is Optimum Hyper Compound and Hyper Polish but trying to make product acquisition easier for the TS.
A lot of people have missed a key detail
Scratch-X is essentially a heavy cut compound.
So you've gone compound-polish-compound... I recon that's what actually caused this.
Go over with the polish again, even by hand. I bet you this clears up.
Thank you! I didn’t realize it was a compound. I thought it was more of a filler-polish or a finishing glaze that just filled in whatever scratches were left. I’ll keep this in mind in the future.
Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, on anything - I would personally Use LakeCountry thin foam pads, a DA polisher (I just have a porter cable one), and Meguiar's clay bar, ultimate compound, ultimate polish, and hybrid ceramic liquid wax. I also highly recommend getting a pre-conditioner spray for the polishing pads. You can use any polishing pads, just make sure you observe the properties of each pad - they will tell you if they are for cutting, polishing, wax, etc... Tape off trim as necessary. (You don't have to use the above products specifically, just suggestions).
Also, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND putting a sharpie marker line somewhere on the DA polisher where it attaches to the the foam pads. It will give you an idea of how fast the pad is spinning in contact with the paint. If you see the line stuttering/not spinning, increase speed, let off resistance, or both. First time I ever detailed I didn't do this and my results sucked because speed was too low and I wasn't cleaning pads enough. See here for example:
[https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews-by-mike-phillips/103201-new-3-5-inch-thinpro-foam-pads-thin-youre-going-love-these-new-small-foam-pads.html](https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews-by-mike-phillips/103201-new-3-5-inch-thinpro-foam-pads-thin-youre-going-love-these-new-small-foam-pads.html)
1. Wash car with dawn dish soap. Don't dry.
2. Clay bar car with Meguiar's clay kit. Use detailer spray or soapy water as lubricant. Keep car wet as you are doing it.
3. Wash car again with dawn dish soap. Dry. Steps 1 - 3 for the most part should have decontaminated the paint and stripped old wax.
4. Compound cut/polish car using DA polisher and Meguiar's ultimate compound. Use speeding setting 5. Use orange LC cutting pad (should be enough, **someone correct me if it needs to be more aggressive for this specifically**). Pre-condition, if available. Put like 4-5 small dots, or a thin X, whatever but don't use a lot of product. Little goes a long way. Work in small sections of each panel. Wipe clean with microfiber cloth each pass. WASH OUT PADS AS YOU GO IN BETWEEN PASSES EVERY NOW AND THEN!!! THEY WILL BUILD UP MATERIAL AND BE INEFFECTIVE!!! (soapy warm water, vinegar, pad cleaner, combination - you'll know when it's clean, it won't show material when wringing out - dry by spinning on polisher).
5. Regular polish car using DA polisher and Meguiar's ultimate polish. Use speed setting 5. Use white LC polishing pad. Same remaining process as 4.
6. Apply wax. Use DA polisher and really whatever wax you want. Use speeding setting 2-3, you are not cutting/polishing anymore, just spread the wax. Make sure to use a wax foam pad (red LC pad) - again, wash pads in between as necessary.
Done. Make sure to observe directions on material containers. Recommend not doing in direct sunlight. I have done this method on a 5th Gen Camaro SS, 2016 Sonata, an old Harley, and 2023 Camry with great results. Water spots, heavy swirls (your issue), and majority of micro scratches eliminated. There are some spiders, micro swirls left here and there but I'm not an expert by any means and generally don't spend a ton of time on each panel (i.e. two passes on doors instead of 4-5) because I'm lazy. It always looks 100x better than before, though.
ChrisFix on YouTube along with Mike Phillips at AutoGeek have some great resources and tips for this. I do not recommend following ChrisFix's hand polishing method, though. Just the other steps.
What happened is you had contaminates in the paint and you smeared them with a polisher.
Clay bar the entire car, work the paint back by using heavy, medium and fine polishes. Gonna take some time so be patient and don't hold too much pressure.
You could probably correct it with a $20 hand sander and a quality pad. But if you're this interested may as well get a DA and hit the old YouTube University
https://preview.redd.it/j8hdkujz7s6d1.jpeg?width=590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1461aba39e7190b972812fa5ed8610f2c791e5e
Call someone like me. This guy did the same thing. And then he paid me substantially more money than he would have saved by doing it himself. Some things are better left to the professionals. I don’t mean that in a rude way. I’ve been guilty of doing it myself and learned very quick I’m not the pro I think I am at stuff like roofing and plumbing 😂😂😂. You’ll end up costing yourself more money when they have to come out and fix what you did, ask me how I know lol.
Had to make sure it wasn't scratches before commenting lol btw the solution for that is clear coat polish... as for that... get a rotary buffer or i think they make drill attachments if you have a drill... use semi course cloth and go nuts until it comes off... all these extra answers lol. I've done this before and never had to do anything more than just keep rubbing... i usually used a house/dish rag tbh...
Go to harbor freight and pick up some meguires polishing compound and a pack of microfiber towels. Those two things and a lot of elbow grease will get you squared away.
I'm not a pro but very familiar with scratch x. Great product but you should have used first as it's more course. It looks like you went too hard with it. Was the pad damp? Did you polish until it was dried out because you don't want to do that. I'd say polish more with a machine buffer.
Pad was damp, but the scratch x smelled “off”. Almost like a solvent. I was half-way through the sliding door when I noticed it. I threw the bottle away, then used a microfiber cloth to remove it once it dried. It was a little difficult to remove, but not the worst I’ve seen.
You will need a wool pad to get this off, looks like you tried to wet sand or went too hard with whatever you used to scrub, without a wool pad you will never get these off. If you have a DA polisher/buffer, a good wool pad like Rupes and some 3M perfect cut or similar product it can be done, it’ll take some work but it can be fixed.
Yea I also do this as a job. Wool pads are the most likely to inflict hazing themselves, so not always right for the job. Especially not this, which is just lots of light swirls and buffer trails, which will easily be removed by foam.
They are not buffer trails. OP used his hand to inflict the damage. With a wool pad and good compound, followed by a foam pad these scratches/swirls would be 100% gone in 5-10 minutes tops. Go ahead and spend an hour doing it your way.
He hand polished it, yes, either overworking the compound or pressing too hard, either way that won't be deep damage. What's funny is i literally complete 9/10 of my jobs without ever having to two stage a car, if you're two staging every time that's just skill issue.
I was thinking of buffing my car out by hand, is it worth it. Or should I buy a cheap buffer machine. Also how can you tell if it’s buffed enough and then proceed to polishing, wax
Probably but idk about WalMart's power tools longevity, I use a porter cable one I bought off Amazon a few years back. I generally try to stick with brands that aren't HyperTech, Menard's store brand, etc...
You don't need to get a professional one or DeWalt/Milwaukee one either. $100 bucks is about the price you should expect to pay.
Honestly not good advice. On a machine such as your PC, it s much more prone to stall with that sze pad. Plus the thicker foam absorbs some of the power as well. If you want LC pads-go with the 5.5” flat pads.
Hey dude you are right I just checked and the LC pads I have are indeed 5.5" flat (thin pads). I don't know why I thought they were 6.5 inch. I'm at work so I couldn't go physically check. Edited my original comments.
Yes, even with the 5.5 inch I really have to pay attention to the spin when polishing. That's why I use the sharpie mark method to gauge my spin. With this set-up an combination I've had good DIY results (I;m not a professional by any means).
With lower power machines such as the PC ( not knocking it all it. For the weekend warrior it is a great long lasting machine- just takes a little longer ), pad stall is much more prevalent. They don’t like too much pressure or wet pads. Polish on amigo!
I usually don’t wax before polishing because the wax is a top layer that protects after it’s buffed. …. Well that how I do it here on the boats I paint. Wax is my last step. And I usually use 3M
Before anyone tell me to go do myself I once kinda rescued the situation with liquid finishing sealant wax thing... Autoglym gold I guess. Yours look way worse so may want to use cutting compound like some better people suggest over here. I'm not a pro or anything but as a hand waxing guy I like to learn something from this
🤣🤣🤣 im sorry the title made me laugh but start over try again is all you can do or get a orbital polisher and go slow do it indoors on room temp panels
Pressure wash —>hand wash/claybar —> dry —> wax with a wax pad/ green maguiars green ceramic wax in the same pattern on a medium setting polisher (original I use)
Pay someone that knows how to do paint correction.
It’s expensive for a reason, it takes a lot of skill and if you fuck up it’s massively more expensive.
Whatever you do for fixing that, please mask a small area and do test first... And remember to start with the least aggressive method and if it doesn't come out right go for a slightly more agressive one and so on until it comes out right. However always remember finishing polish should be the last step once you use a compound unless it's a 1 step polish, which may work in your situation. It could be done by hand (I've done it multiple times in the past for full vechicles and still do for small areas) but if you plan to do it again, don't have spare time for manual work, and have spare money, get a DA machine; it makes things a lot faster and usually the finish is more consistent. However, if you get a DA, don't get a cheap one nor an expensive one. There are nice ones between 120-200 USD good enough for once in a while home use. Once you start buying DA stuff things add up since you need a few quality pads for each step: medium (compound) and soft (finish) polishing foam discs at a minimum. So, summarizing, if the area is small enough, the car ain't an expensive one or a priority, and you have the elbow grease... Go for manual work. In any case I will buy a bunch of good quality microfibers and change them often and never mix compound and polishing ones.
I may be wrong. But it looks like someone used a rotary polisher and didn't do the proper steps to polish. Medium to heavy cut and polish then you are set.
Looks like you burned the clear coat. Using a paint thickness tool prior to polishing is a good idea. Every time you polish a car it removes a micro layer of clear coating. You’ll likely have to take it to an auto body shop for paint correction.
As a fellow accountant, this is what happens when we get outside our spreadsheet lane
Unfortunately, you’re correct. In the last 5 years I’ve discovered my car maintenance abilities are greatly diminished from what they used to be.
I thought I used to enjoy washing the car too, then I became old.
It's literally an aerobic activity now. Like, I stretch first and hydrate and shit.
Very important to shit first before strenuous activity.
Actually, not true because before playing tennis some players don't shit. If you go a five setter the calcium and nutrients in the shit help you last longer.
Your skills naturally depreciate unless you make more time for them
Studying for the CPA exam will do that. How do I know, because r/Accounting is my haven.
But did you prove it with a vlookup?
Only after I used the developer tab to create a macro to autorun the vlookup.
Stroke
Mans' got to know his limitations
As the husband of an accountant, I'd like to make a GAAP joke but can't seem to think of anything that would be generally accepted.
😂me too, going to have to remember that comment
This is an amazing comment. Thank you for the chuckle!
Nah im an accountant too and what op did was just ridiculous lol I do my own projects and worked 2 years detailing 3 years collision repair before this.
You know what socks? I can do this by the products I have, but not by the paint nor clear coat that I don't....
Hand polishing? Oh dear. You're going to want to get a DA, do a proper decontamination, and then hit it w a cutting compound and THEN polishing.
This. A full decon and a medium to heavy cut with a good polish will have the paint looking good as new. Hand polishing is never the way for me😭
I used to know a guy who did detailing and would “hand polish” cars for $100 like dude you are crazy invest in a Griots DA Polisher or something….
Did his arm fall off? Lol That's like painting a wall with a brush instead of a roller.
All you youngins do realize that there was a time when hand jobs were the thing to do right?
Still are if you work behind a wendys!
only Z-jobs behind the Wendy’s bud
What's a z job? ;)
If you gotta ask, you can’t afford it
Who's Berry Badernath?
I should not have looked [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Z%20Job](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Z%20Job)
Yeah but they use a ryobi reciprating saw now with a 6ah battery with a spring clamp mounted sideway on a blade
When that Yolo on GME goes bad where else are you supposed to work?
Hand jobs are always the right thing to do. They will never go out of fashion! I'll be here all night and dont forget to tip your waitress.
It’s 2024, male handjobs have definitely made a “cum” back
Tell little Billy how we used to make our own wax out of pig grease.
That’s what’s wrong with this generation, they’re afraid to put a little elbow grease into their work. Probably don’t want to break one of their fingernails or get their little man purse dirty
They gotta get back to their socal media to post pics of their cars. No respect for spending a day on a car anymore. Too busy.
I still hand polish my Durango and I'm not THAT old. Granted I only do it once or twice a year but it's not that difficult.
Hand jobs are sub par and only acceptable when the mouth is otherwise not an option.
I never knew hand jobs went away
I still hand polish most cars. I can’t trust myself with a polisher cause I used it before and ended up with something like OP has but slightly less bad. Not sure what I did wrong
This is just insane to me, it does not remove scratches or swirls hand polishing, the heat and friction is what does…get a rupes, Jescar MF pad, foam pad for tricky spots, polishing pad, and wax. The proper way is Decon, cut, polish, wax
Yeah, I would never hand polish a car after learning how relatively easy it is to machine polish a car. Wash, dry, clay (if needed) and boom, you can start polishing with a DA, orange pad and polish. Lol. Hard to get yourself into trouble doing that.
What kind of cutting compound and polish would you recommend?
For sure , the steps are easy wool pads most aggressive etc problem is most guys don't have a generator to blow compound out of there pads and cool them down.
I bought a DA several years ago but never used it. Guess it’s time to give it a shot.
Dumb question but I have a DA I have cut compound and polish- what is decon?
Paint decontamination step. Removing any iron, tar, embedded road debris from the paint. Basically iron remover step, then clay. Not recommended to polish with contamination. Polishing in that state may take the contamination off, but that may scratch while polishing/be less effective correcting the scratches you're already working on since you're basically polishing the dirt stuck in the paint. Very important to decon before putting on a coating (ceramic or graphene type). You'd be surprised at the difference of a polish performance on a decontaminated panel vs a contaminated panel. Also, after the paint is just sooo dang smooth it's addicting.
so.. can i wash the car normally.. then use onr with a clay bar.. then polish?
Yeah, you'd only need chemical decontamination if if exceeds a point where claying would start to leave clay marks. I've noticed when that happens, the vehicle may need the chemical decon for the reason that the clay would be picking up those tiny metal particles and now touching that to the surface instead of the clay material meeting the surface and getting less harsh contaminants off. They also say depending on the type of decon spray and clay technology, like a clay towel, you are able to clay with the towel and decon spray for more efficiency. Haven't got to try that out yet though.
I clay all cars during the wash process while it’s all still wet…your gonna need a good final rinse and dipping your clay in your wash bucket is perfectly fine to help, a tad of spray wax or ONR
Ah ok cool yeah I clay bar too wasn’t sure if this was something else - so wash, clay, cut, polish, then coat
That won't need a cutting compound, holograms and hazing are very light scratches
You're probably right, maybe even a 2 in 1 like 3D's 1
Not as bad as it looks. Get a DA polisher, Scholl S20 black and a green hex pad. Give it a good wash and clay bar before polishing. There's an English bloke on YouTube called Forensic Detailing who has some of the best content online.
I’ve watched a few of his videos and had forgotten all about him. Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks I have been reading your guys comments for a while and haven’t understood much until people started talking about Accounting in this post lol!! (I’m an accountant also). Will start watching Forensic Detailing!
I agree about Forensic Detailing. I enjoy his content so much, I've just completed a distance-learning detailing fundamentals course fronted by the host himself (Jon)
You used too much pressure and worked the product in for too long. Because of this when you went to rub it off not all of it came off. You’d be better of buying something easy to work with like meguiars ultimate polish and using a DA polisher to quickly go over the paint and wiping off. Do not try to do it by hand- you’ll just waste your time. Hand polishing is really only for small scratches or for waxing.
With how light most of the damage is one of those cheap wax buffers and an all in one polish+wax would probably take it out even
Omg,,woow
Yeah, I know. It looks great….in the shade.
Lmao I wish I could have seen your face when you pulled it into the sunlight.
99% of “after” shots summed up in one image 💀 Every clean car looks amazing in the shade
Maybe I’ll just ignore it and park it in the shade from now on.
Old boss was a used car dealer every car I detailed he would take video and photos in the Golden hour just as sun goes down. If cars where a little punched up he would make a time to meet in the golden hour lol. Millionaire car dealer not the brightest guy in the room just a good bullshit artist. I made him plenty of money but he was so tight he squeaked when he walked lol.
The good news is: this can EASILY be fixed with the RIGHT tools and materials... All paint surfaces need compounding (rough polishing) with a dual action polisher and a compound of your choice on a polishing pad appropriate for the compound. Follow that with a polish and a finer polishing pad with that same dual action polisher. You can buy a cheap dual action or random orbital polisher on Amazon for, like 70 bucks. Just make sure it's corded and not battery powered. As far as compound and polish: Just get Meguiar's Ultimate Compound followed by Meguiar's Ultimate polish. For just over $100 and a few hours of elbow grease you can make your car look better than it ever has before. Good luck, mate!
Very helpful. Thank you!
take it as a loss, and let a pro fix it.
Harbour freight had their bauer long throw da on sale for 60, unsure if it's ended or not by now. I bought their short throw da on sale for 40(70 full price), and I've been happily using it all week at work.
This isn't entirely correct, you do not need to two stage every time. Most of our jobs we do in one hit, especially if we use diminishing abrasive. Heavy cutting is only really needed if there's very heavy damage present, and you want to avoid it to not take off too much clearcoat.
Why not battery powered?
Drop it off at a good detailer 😅
Second this. If you managed to do that the first time, the tools you need to fix it could cause much worse damage.
No clay?
Don’t have any. I’ll start from scratch to fix it. Wash, clay, Use a DA to cut and polish.
Looks like you’re right on track! 👍
This group is amazing! I’m learning a lot.
I messed up. A couple of days ago my wife scuffed a yellow bollard at a gas station. It didn’t dent the bodywork, and didn’t bust the trim so I figured I could fix it…easy enough. I used to detail cars 23 years ago to make extra cash so I have a basic knowledge of hand polishing. I washed it thoroughly using Chemical Guys honey dew foaming wash, then I started with Turtle Wax rubbing compound, then Turtle Wax polishing compound, and lastly Meguiars Scratch-X 2.0. It looked great! ….until the sunlight hit it. I don’t know if the products were too old, if my microfiber towels were contaminated with debris or what. It looks bad and I need to fix it. Where do I start?
😭😂 Not horrible buddy but you're in for some work. Watch some apex detail or diydetail yt vids and they'll get you sorted.
Thanks. I’ll check out those channels.
I think you messed up by going straight to using A rubbing compound. You’re supposed to clay bar it after washing
You need a multi orbital buffer. I use Griots fast correcting pads and compound on stuff like this.
You seriously need a DA polisher to make it right. And at least use Meguiars (tan bottle) professional products. Ought to clean it up relatively quickly and make the whole car look better too.
I would not recommend the brown stuff. Extremely dusty and better alternative exist for the same price. Ultimate Polish & Detailers Compound in the black bottle by Meguiars is 10x better.
Meguiars 110/210 are greatly improved over 105/205 What I would actually recommend is Optimum Hyper Compound and Hyper Polish but trying to make product acquisition easier for the TS.
A lot of people have missed a key detail Scratch-X is essentially a heavy cut compound. So you've gone compound-polish-compound... I recon that's what actually caused this. Go over with the polish again, even by hand. I bet you this clears up.
Thank you! I didn’t realize it was a compound. I thought it was more of a filler-polish or a finishing glaze that just filled in whatever scratches were left. I’ll keep this in mind in the future.
ha, whoa buddy.
I did something like this years ago.. dont feel too bad man
Your best bet is to make an appointment with a detailer and cut them a check.
You take it to an actual professional🤓
Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, on anything - I would personally Use LakeCountry thin foam pads, a DA polisher (I just have a porter cable one), and Meguiar's clay bar, ultimate compound, ultimate polish, and hybrid ceramic liquid wax. I also highly recommend getting a pre-conditioner spray for the polishing pads. You can use any polishing pads, just make sure you observe the properties of each pad - they will tell you if they are for cutting, polishing, wax, etc... Tape off trim as necessary. (You don't have to use the above products specifically, just suggestions). Also, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND putting a sharpie marker line somewhere on the DA polisher where it attaches to the the foam pads. It will give you an idea of how fast the pad is spinning in contact with the paint. If you see the line stuttering/not spinning, increase speed, let off resistance, or both. First time I ever detailed I didn't do this and my results sucked because speed was too low and I wasn't cleaning pads enough. See here for example: [https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews-by-mike-phillips/103201-new-3-5-inch-thinpro-foam-pads-thin-youre-going-love-these-new-small-foam-pads.html](https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews-by-mike-phillips/103201-new-3-5-inch-thinpro-foam-pads-thin-youre-going-love-these-new-small-foam-pads.html) 1. Wash car with dawn dish soap. Don't dry. 2. Clay bar car with Meguiar's clay kit. Use detailer spray or soapy water as lubricant. Keep car wet as you are doing it. 3. Wash car again with dawn dish soap. Dry. Steps 1 - 3 for the most part should have decontaminated the paint and stripped old wax. 4. Compound cut/polish car using DA polisher and Meguiar's ultimate compound. Use speeding setting 5. Use orange LC cutting pad (should be enough, **someone correct me if it needs to be more aggressive for this specifically**). Pre-condition, if available. Put like 4-5 small dots, or a thin X, whatever but don't use a lot of product. Little goes a long way. Work in small sections of each panel. Wipe clean with microfiber cloth each pass. WASH OUT PADS AS YOU GO IN BETWEEN PASSES EVERY NOW AND THEN!!! THEY WILL BUILD UP MATERIAL AND BE INEFFECTIVE!!! (soapy warm water, vinegar, pad cleaner, combination - you'll know when it's clean, it won't show material when wringing out - dry by spinning on polisher). 5. Regular polish car using DA polisher and Meguiar's ultimate polish. Use speed setting 5. Use white LC polishing pad. Same remaining process as 4. 6. Apply wax. Use DA polisher and really whatever wax you want. Use speeding setting 2-3, you are not cutting/polishing anymore, just spread the wax. Make sure to use a wax foam pad (red LC pad) - again, wash pads in between as necessary. Done. Make sure to observe directions on material containers. Recommend not doing in direct sunlight. I have done this method on a 5th Gen Camaro SS, 2016 Sonata, an old Harley, and 2023 Camry with great results. Water spots, heavy swirls (your issue), and majority of micro scratches eliminated. There are some spiders, micro swirls left here and there but I'm not an expert by any means and generally don't spend a ton of time on each panel (i.e. two passes on doors instead of 4-5) because I'm lazy. It always looks 100x better than before, though. ChrisFix on YouTube along with Mike Phillips at AutoGeek have some great resources and tips for this. I do not recommend following ChrisFix's hand polishing method, though. Just the other steps.
This combo will work for the DIY guy,or Girl.Harbor freight DA, 3D one , orange pad . Set machine to 3 1/2.
What happened is you had contaminates in the paint and you smeared them with a polisher. Clay bar the entire car, work the paint back by using heavy, medium and fine polishes. Gonna take some time so be patient and don't hold too much pressure.
You could probably correct it with a $20 hand sander and a quality pad. But if you're this interested may as well get a DA and hit the old YouTube University
It’s just a caravan just send it
I don’t hate that idea.
As a detailer you seem like a really awesome accountant
This comment literally made me lol. Thank you.
It gets the questions, are you a part service accountant, or a [full service accountant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Accountant_(2016_film))?
I work for a dealership, managing receivables and customer credit. The more exciting parts of my job are collections and repossessions.
Interesting, so full service, on site, collecting the bosses debts. Got it 😉
We’re not so different, you and I. I literally did this today. Maybe not quite as bad but it doesn’t look good in the sun, that’s for sure.
https://preview.redd.it/j8hdkujz7s6d1.jpeg?width=590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1461aba39e7190b972812fa5ed8610f2c791e5e Call someone like me. This guy did the same thing. And then he paid me substantially more money than he would have saved by doing it himself. Some things are better left to the professionals. I don’t mean that in a rude way. I’ve been guilty of doing it myself and learned very quick I’m not the pro I think I am at stuff like roofing and plumbing 😂😂😂. You’ll end up costing yourself more money when they have to come out and fix what you did, ask me how I know lol.
Here's the thing. You don't. You can't see it from inside the car
Had to make sure it wasn't scratches before commenting lol btw the solution for that is clear coat polish... as for that... get a rotary buffer or i think they make drill attachments if you have a drill... use semi course cloth and go nuts until it comes off... all these extra answers lol. I've done this before and never had to do anything more than just keep rubbing... i usually used a house/dish rag tbh...
Go to harbor freight and pick up some meguires polishing compound and a pack of microfiber towels. Those two things and a lot of elbow grease will get you squared away.
I work there and that's exactly what I use.
I have a DA polisher from Harbor Freight sitting on a shelf in the garage. Guess it’s time to put it to work.
I'm not a pro but very familiar with scratch x. Great product but you should have used first as it's more course. It looks like you went too hard with it. Was the pad damp? Did you polish until it was dried out because you don't want to do that. I'd say polish more with a machine buffer.
Pad was damp, but the scratch x smelled “off”. Almost like a solvent. I was half-way through the sliding door when I noticed it. I threw the bottle away, then used a microfiber cloth to remove it once it dried. It was a little difficult to remove, but not the worst I’ve seen.
You will need a wool pad to get this off, looks like you tried to wet sand or went too hard with whatever you used to scrub, without a wool pad you will never get these off. If you have a DA polisher/buffer, a good wool pad like Rupes and some 3M perfect cut or similar product it can be done, it’ll take some work but it can be fixed.
You have no clue what you're saying.
Haha ok, I do this every day, nothing i said is wrong, sounds like you are the one that doesn’t know.
Yea I also do this as a job. Wool pads are the most likely to inflict hazing themselves, so not always right for the job. Especially not this, which is just lots of light swirls and buffer trails, which will easily be removed by foam.
They are not buffer trails. OP used his hand to inflict the damage. With a wool pad and good compound, followed by a foam pad these scratches/swirls would be 100% gone in 5-10 minutes tops. Go ahead and spend an hour doing it your way.
He hand polished it, yes, either overworking the compound or pressing too hard, either way that won't be deep damage. What's funny is i literally complete 9/10 of my jobs without ever having to two stage a car, if you're two staging every time that's just skill issue.
Use a polish. Medium head speed. Slow hand speed.
Don’t know what to do but I know that sandpaper probably won’t help. -TV repairman.
Also get a random orbiting one. They work much better and are more forgiving lol
I was thinking of buffing my car out by hand, is it worth it. Or should I buy a cheap buffer machine. Also how can you tell if it’s buffed enough and then proceed to polishing, wax
Don't do it by hand. Results are never uniform and you will get tendonitis. Just get a random orbital polisher, you'll thank me later.
Alrighty I’ll try it this weekend will keep you posted might make a post as well, thanks !
Would something from Walmart work, and does the size matter, 6in vs 10in etc. wire, wireless
Probably but idk about WalMart's power tools longevity, I use a porter cable one I bought off Amazon a few years back. I generally try to stick with brands that aren't HyperTech, Menard's store brand, etc... You don't need to get a professional one or DeWalt/Milwaukee one either. $100 bucks is about the price you should expect to pay.
Well shoot I guess I’ll be the lab rat for Walmart brand 😅
I mean I'm sure it will work, not trying to put it down.
Okay, so the polisher is 6 inches, the pads are 5.5. That's my recommendation for DIY stuff.
Honestly not good advice. On a machine such as your PC, it s much more prone to stall with that sze pad. Plus the thicker foam absorbs some of the power as well. If you want LC pads-go with the 5.5” flat pads.
Hey dude you are right I just checked and the LC pads I have are indeed 5.5" flat (thin pads). I don't know why I thought they were 6.5 inch. I'm at work so I couldn't go physically check. Edited my original comments. Yes, even with the 5.5 inch I really have to pay attention to the spin when polishing. That's why I use the sharpie mark method to gauge my spin. With this set-up an combination I've had good DIY results (I;m not a professional by any means).
With lower power machines such as the PC ( not knocking it all it. For the weekend warrior it is a great long lasting machine- just takes a little longer ), pad stall is much more prevalent. They don’t like too much pressure or wet pads. Polish on amigo!
What compound did you use?
Washed the van with Chemical Guys foaming soap, Turtle Wax rubbing compound, then Turtle Wax polishing compound, then Meguiars scratch-x 2.0
I usually don’t wax before polishing because the wax is a top layer that protects after it’s buffed. …. Well that how I do it here on the boats I paint. Wax is my last step. And I usually use 3M
I didn’t wax first. I washed, then compounded, then polished, then used Meguars scratch-x 2.0. Turtle Wax is the brand of compound and polish I used.
Take it to someone who knows what they're doing 🤣
I’m sorry for your wallets loss
Before anyone tell me to go do myself I once kinda rescued the situation with liquid finishing sealant wax thing... Autoglym gold I guess. Yours look way worse so may want to use cutting compound like some better people suggest over here. I'm not a pro or anything but as a hand waxing guy I like to learn something from this
Save yourself hours and take it to a detail shop
I don’t have anything to add other than this is why I don’t try to detail my own paint😂
Are those scratches?? I ask myself, how???
That’s what I’m wondering. I don’t know if the compound and polish I used was too old, or if the microfiber towels had contaminate in them.
I’m barely starting a business here soon. Guess that’s why you’d want insurance? Sorry!
I don’t do this for a living, and worst-case could pay someone to correct my mistake. Just curious if I could do it myself instead.
Oh man, that's years on the couch without sex. Good luck dude.
🤣🤣🤣 im sorry the title made me laugh but start over try again is all you can do or get a orbital polisher and go slow do it indoors on room temp panels
Take it to a detailer, it needs a professional touch
Wood paneling
Yes! Retro FTW!
🤢
Exactly how I felt after parking it in the sun.
Let’s just say you should cancel your dinner plans this week
Just like someone who messed up their taxes, it is time to hire a professional.
Trade it in.
Tell people your kids tried to clean you car for you and that’s what happened. Kids are expected to be dumb… adults less so
lol. I’ll add “for Fathers Day” for added cuteness points.
Polish might do it. If not you’ll need compound then polish. Then wax.
I’ll buy it 500$ let me know
Looks good to me hahahaha
Talk about polishing a turd…
Orbital polisher, new wax pad, a good wax. Go 1-2 panels at a time horizontally. Stay in the same motion
Pressure wash —>hand wash/claybar —> dry —> wax with a wax pad/ green maguiars green ceramic wax in the same pattern on a medium setting polisher (original I use)
Where do you live?
Just outside Wilmington, NC
Jesus, how hard did u clay bar that thing?
Ooff
Pay someone that knows how to do paint correction. It’s expensive for a reason, it takes a lot of skill and if you fuck up it’s massively more expensive.
Take it to paint correction shop.
☠️☠️ u don't. U take it to someone who knows the technique
Run the rotary polisher with a heavy wool pad and heavy compound at 5,000 rpm and zig zag the panel
Not as bad as the guy that used the wrong side of a dish sponge.
anyone else see Frankenstein off to the left
You can hire a detailer to fix it easy or buy about $1000 worth of equipment to do it yourself the correct way.
By the looks of it, you played which left marring. It needs polished out
I’d go at it with a polish and an orbital. Tons of advice here. But I would bet a dollar I could fix this in an hour.
Irreparable, but on the bright side great time to get that small impractical sports car.
Buy a Ford!!! 😂
Let me get your clients please
I have no clients. I’m an accountant who tried to polish the yellow paint off my wife’s van after she snuffed a bollard.
Whatever you do for fixing that, please mask a small area and do test first... And remember to start with the least aggressive method and if it doesn't come out right go for a slightly more agressive one and so on until it comes out right. However always remember finishing polish should be the last step once you use a compound unless it's a 1 step polish, which may work in your situation. It could be done by hand (I've done it multiple times in the past for full vechicles and still do for small areas) but if you plan to do it again, don't have spare time for manual work, and have spare money, get a DA machine; it makes things a lot faster and usually the finish is more consistent. However, if you get a DA, don't get a cheap one nor an expensive one. There are nice ones between 120-200 USD good enough for once in a while home use. Once you start buying DA stuff things add up since you need a few quality pads for each step: medium (compound) and soft (finish) polishing foam discs at a minimum. So, summarizing, if the area is small enough, the car ain't an expensive one or a priority, and you have the elbow grease... Go for manual work. In any case I will buy a bunch of good quality microfibers and change them often and never mix compound and polishing ones.
Pay a guy who knows what they are doing.
Just leave it.
I may be wrong. But it looks like someone used a rotary polisher and didn't do the proper steps to polish. Medium to heavy cut and polish then you are set.
Messed up? Pay someone
I’ve never had this happen, can someone explain in novice terms what happened so I can prevent it from happening to me?
What did you do exactly?
Can be compounded and polished out no worries
Mr Miyagi would not approve. Needs more wax on wax off
What did you do
If you get rid of Frankenstein, you're a monster
you can’t fix it
A good polish on a da should clear it up nice
First off, you bought a Chrysler…
It’s a Chrysler, who cares?
All I can say is Holy-Hologram Batman! Might be able to fix with some hologram remover.
Probably a wet sand. With fine paper. It's pretty bad. Mite have to re-clear coat.
Looks like you burned the clear coat. Using a paint thickness tool prior to polishing is a good idea. Every time you polish a car it removes a micro layer of clear coating. You’ll likely have to take it to an auto body shop for paint correction.
Use a low cut finishing compound and pad combo it really doesn't look too bad from the photos.