986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

MNBoxster · 05-15-2007, 12:11 PM

Hi,

@Perfectlap: That's quite a compliment coming from you - You're the MASTER DETAILER on this Forum!

Actually, I guess my car(s) never look bad, but this one had really accumulated a lot of swirl marks and scratches.

I also suspect the car was buffed prior to my buying it and lots of fillers in the compound made it look better than it was. The washings over the past 2 yrs. have washed out all the filler revealing more surface imperfections than I would have expected. I don't have that issue now because I clayed the car both before and after polishing it to remove any abrasive residue before going on to seal it.

Using the #3 Polish was agressive enough to eliminate these and the #4 gave it a uniform light-friendly surface. The Zaino (4 coats) is probably less than 0.5 micron in depth because after the claying and polishing, the surface was so smooth, there was probably not a lot for it to bond to. And that's one advantage to using a machine over hand polishing - uniformity, which creates a much more reflective surface.

Anyway, I'm satisfied, the car looks great. But, it was a lot of work, maybe 16-20 hrs. total - Wax ON... Wax OFF

. I figure I'll do this extent of a job every other year or so.

I agree that there are many hidden treasures out there just waiting to be released with some good old-fashioned elbow grease...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

05-15-2007, 12:11 PM	#11
MNBoxster Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Posts: 3,308	Hi, @Perfectlap: That's quite a compliment coming from you - You're the MASTER DETAILER on this Forum! Actually, I guess my car(s) never look bad, but this one had really accumulated a lot of swirl marks and scratches. I also suspect the car was buffed prior to my buying it and lots of fillers in the compound made it look better than it was. The washings over the past 2 yrs. have washed out all the filler revealing more surface imperfections than I would have expected. I don't have that issue now because I clayed the car both before and after polishing it to remove any abrasive residue before going on to seal it. Using the #3 Polish was agressive enough to eliminate these and the #4 gave it a uniform light-friendly surface. The Zaino (4 coats) is probably less than 0.5 micron in depth because after the claying and polishing, the surface was so smooth, there was probably not a lot for it to bond to. And that's one advantage to using a machine over hand polishing - uniformity, which creates a much more reflective surface. Anyway, I'm satisfied, the car looks great. But, it was a lot of work, maybe 16-20 hrs. total - Wax ON... Wax OFF . I figure I'll do this extent of a job every other year or so. I agree that there are many hidden treasures out there just waiting to be released with some good old-fashioned elbow grease... Happy Motoring!... Jim'99 Last edited by MNBoxster; 05-15-2007 at 10:36 PM.