dougj1985

I am going to be giving my 2008 Black C6 a good wash, clay and polish, and seal this weekend. I am trying to manage my expectations on what I can restore my finish to so I don’t waste hours polishing when the products and technique I am going to use are inadequate.

I will be using a Porter Cable 7424XP, Meguiars 105 and 205, and a orange cutting pad and a black polishing pad. I believe with good technique and patience I can remove most surface scratches, oxidation and swirl marks, but I am not confident about three scratches in particular on the hood, top, and trunk lid.

These scratches appear whiter than swirl marks and are more visibile. On two of them if I run my finger nail over the area, ever so slightly I feel a little depression and my nail will catch. BUT its FAINT.

Will the PC and 205 and 105 system take down the scratches or is this a wet sand job?

If the PC diminishes the looks of the scratches will a good glaze fill in some of the imperfections at those three areas?

And then I have just some other general questions:
1. Do I need to tape or can I just eyeball my area to attack?
2. Do I need to polish everywhere to make the car looks consistent? The doors and most of the hood look great, I dont want to waste time and product on something that has a great finish already.

chupr0kabra

My rule of thumb is, if you can feel the imperfection, your best hope is that polishing will make it less noticeable. Glaze will help some, too.

I always tape emblems, handles, signals, etc. It saves me from having to dig around them later to get out the polishing dust.

I use M105 as a spot correction solution, not on the whole car. I use M205 all over, to enhance shine. The way I see it, there's no need to remove more clearcoat than absolutely necessary. YMMV.

One thing I'll add: Try not to let the polisher "free wheel" over any surface, regardless of which polish you use. That's a great way to introduce new surface imperfections. It's tempting to say, "This door looks good, so I'll just go over it quickly", but if you aren't paying attention, you might end up worse off than when you started.


-Mike

0Killrwheels@Autogeek

1. Take time to tape
2. Polish all areas as possible, use pad by hand in hard to reach areas after machine
3. Polishing will not remove scratches that can be felt by finger (professional repair is often needed)

Eminitrader

Yaeh if you can feel the scratches its way past the clear...

dougj1985

Thanks for the advice guys. Your opinions were correct that the polishing did not remove those three bad scratches but boy did it knock down all the other minor imperfections. After claying and polishing with the 105 and then the 205, it looked so shiny I was wondering if I was going to see better results after the Zaino. All in all it was a great experience for my first time. I am not sure why I was so hesitant in the first place, the PC made work a breeze. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to correct their finish.

0Killrwheels@Autogeek

waxes and sealants often add only a small change to a well prepped and polished finish. What they do is offer some protection. Add in good wash and drying techniques and less polishing is needed in the future.

Nice work ....