I called Turtle wax, to find out about TW rubbing and polishing compounds, and Premium blends of each one too yup.

First, we had to play 20 questions - how I got the tele #, zip code, part #'s for the compounds, etc.; no problem, you get what you pay for uh huh.

After that, she read to me the label and instructions. HUH? Just fax me a picture, huh?

"Can I get a QC techie or someone with info on the chemicals and grit in the compound?"

So while I'm waitin', I browse the site, and find more of the same, and this:

http://www.turtlewax.com/main.taf?p=6,2

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Shineologists, huh? Is that what they call 'em? Cause judgin' by the peek-a-boo swirlies that keep re-appearin', I'd say the shineologists don't know 'stuff' from shineola!

SIR Rancelot OUT!

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lol

Mythbusters proved you can polish a turd. It was most facinating.

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Lemme guess who did it...

Turtle Wax R&D, which means, they DO know 'stuff' from Shinola.

What are you wasting your time with turtle wax for... that stuffs junk.

DG

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Really.

3M, Meguiars, Mothers.

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rubbing and polishing guys, NOT WAX.

Don't tell me you can tell the differences with different brands of rubbing and polishing compounds...

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Those would be my first 3 choices off the shelf, in that order... Followed by Menzerna and 4Star if you want to spend a couple $$.

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I can.

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Of course you can!!! I haven't used Turtle Wax in about 7 years, so I don't if they have changed their products recently, but looking at their site they seem to offer the same junk that they offered 10 years ago.

If your paint is not on its last leg, you don't want to get near a compound: compound is way to agressive, especially if you are using an orbital or rotary.

I would start with a light polish, and work my way up from their. Whats good about 3M and meguiars is that they offer an "almost" professional product off the shelf. You can actually get results with their off the shelf products. Turtle wax is 100% consumer hype and nothing else. Mothers is also a "consumer" product but they make a really decent one.

Whats going to be your method of application for this stuff?

DG

Just put the little can down and it will be ok!





YOUR GETTING WARMER, MUCH WARMER



OK, STOP!

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Hand. For the last 6 weeks, on and off. 2000 grit, rubbin C, polishin' C, go back and do it again where somethin' got under the paper, or into the paste, or the original 'splotches' didn't pull, find another swirl, go over it again UGH.

$24+/qt. When you gotta' hit some spots again, THAT will add up.

Paint is good, I'm scared of power goin' thru the clearcoat.

Only problems is when a hair falls off, or some leaf grit blows onto it, or something falls off your shirt. YUP, you sure can see what it does.

Hummm... I don't know your past history with the car (I haven't seen any other posts about this) but your leading me to believe A. You just repainted it, or B. You had bad swirls so you rubbed it down with 2000 grit, and are looking for a way to get rid of the 2000 grit scratches and marring.

I can understand not wanting to use a machine if you just repainted it. That can be tricky, but if its the original paint you were trying to remove the swirls from then you should have no problem going at it with, at the bare minimum, a Porter Cable (PC), or if your feeling confident, a rotary, which I happen to prefer for serious paint correction, which is what this is.

Now if you are working on the original paint, and 2000grit'd the whole car you went way to far already. That takes a lot more surface area off than using a rotary with a polish and no 2000 grit. But don't panic, as long as you didn't go to crazy on the clear their is pleanty left.

Its going to be really hard to get 2000grit sanding marks out by hand; I've got to tell you. Original Corvette Clear is ROCK HARD (that means lotsa rubbing!). Your in for a long project but it can be done. If you are working by hand, I would order a bottle of Meguiars M105. Its meant for machine use, but it will work very well by hand. That should knock down the 2000 grit. Then I would hit it with a swirl mark remover, maybe like megs 82 or 83, 4Star SMR or LLC, 3M swirl remover, or Danase Swirl Abolisher I or II just to give you the short list of products you can use. Then I would finish with a good wax or sealer. If you get fed up and decided to purchase a machine, let me know and I will give you some direction on what pads to use with what products.

What color is the car?

Hope this helps you out.... don't be shy about posting some pics.

DG

Oh, and I forgot to mention... you can purhcase different types of foam applicators these days... all of them have a different cut... even if you don't want to use a machine these applicators will help you.

2 more things... 1. You need a good quality microfiber towel or you will reintroduce the scratches you just removed.

2. Definitely give the car a wash down with a heavy concentrate of dawn dish detergent at this point. Most consumer products, such as Turtle Wax are known for using fillers... they are not your friends in the situation you are in. You want to find products that do not have silicone fillers in them!

DG

Oh yeah - the clearcoat is hard alright, just like Don said.

It's black. The original owner lived in Plymouth NC, and I'm guessin' some Weyerhauser chemical rain etched the clear. Horizontal surfaces all had it.

I got them all out with 2000 grit, and all the rub marks from uneven pressure on the 2000 paper smoothed out real well too with lots or rc. No problem there. Use sanding block or sponge like Billh said too.

Problem is when a piece of grit gets in. If it gets under the paper, I can hear it, and stop, and rinse. If it gets in the rc, or pc, I can't hear it, I can only see it, after rinsing.

AND, I don't know if it's coming in the wind, falling off my sweatshirt, or IN the rc or pc, or all the above, or even in tap water (chunky style?). The wax pad I'm usin' stays in a bag, but I don't know it doesn't have impurites either.

First pic is fourth go-round (or so) with 2000 grit. Second pic is after polishing compound (again), and rubbing compound around that. As you can see, all the 2000 swirling is out, but at some point, something got into the mix again, and left 2 new scratches...

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Actually, your off to a very good start. It does not appear as though you went to far with the 2K grit. I didn't realize you had such bad acid etching.

Its always best to work indoors when doing this sort of stuff, but if thats not an option then you have to work carefully. I don't think I need to tell you to keep all pads and towels off the floor... seems like you already have a very good handle on how to do this.

You do have lots of patience, thats for sure. I don't think I could spend that much time rubbing out 2K grit and not go nuts.

Only thing is, like i said before, you may feel as though your making good progress; and you are considering the products that you are working with, But you could save youself alot of time and agony if you step up to a better set of products. I can see just by looking at the pictures that although the "compound" is removing the sanding scratches, its not doing anything to help the hazyness (which is going to lead to a lackluster finish) and you don't have anything (at least not that you've mentioned) that is going to remove those 3000+grit swirls.

I don't know if you want to spend the money, but you would be best purchasing a PC to finish up the job. It would save you alot of time, and its a great tool for a beginner that can be used over, and over and over again. If you're feeling Balzy, a rotary would make you life 100X easier, and as long as you keep it moving, and run it under 3000RPM you will not burn the paint.

As for products... as I had mentioned, M105 will knock down those swirls and remove the hazyness... You should be able to follow that up with a swirl remover of your liking. Seeing as how the car is black... "I prefer" a sealant system over a Carnuba system for both look and protection, although it comes down to personal preference.

To reiterate I would:

1. Wash the car with a heavy concentration of distilled water and dawn dish soap to remove fillers and clean the working surface

2. Get some a good quality, "REAL" Compound without fillers like M105 or 4Star MMC to remove both the heavy swirls and haziness.

3. Finish it up with a swirl remover, or swirl free "polish." This is your polishing step.

4. If your looking for 100% perfection, follow that up with an even lighter polish like Menzerna 106FF (which basically takes care of an "micro-marring" or holograms you may notice down the road in the paint in direct sunlight.

5. Wash the car again with dawn and water to remove compound and polish oils

6. Seal or Wax with your choice of product.

I know this seems like alot of work but if you want these results (or better; I'm not perfect either) then its what your going to need to do.
Before
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/BG528/Impala012.jpg[/IMG]
After
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/BG528/GMNationals010.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/BG528/GMNationals002.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/BG528/GMNationals012.jpg[/IMG]
Before
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/BG528/corvette080.jpg[/IMG]
After
[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/BG528/100_1460.jpg[/IMG]

Good Luck,

DG

Thanks for the tips!

Microfibre, huh? Really that good/fine? Cause it's time to dump the TW compounds. Only thing that has worked properly was the 2000 paper. It pulled the acid damage/etchin's, and actually left no scratches; only an uneven haze. That was the primary objective...

The stray swirl scratches have to have come from the compounds, maybe the wax applique that I used for polish.

Time to find the higher end stuff

PM me if you need any help. Its going to cost a couple $$ more but after your done the car will look as though you just had it repainted. The only thing you are achieving with the turtle junk is removing more clear.

Def go with the Microfibers... you will be amazed how the scratches just don't seem to reappear after you wipe the car down.

I recommended meguiars because it is readily available and even most body shops use it or 3M. You should seriously give Meguiars customer support a call and see if you can get some imformation out of them. They will tend to tell you to go ligther on the compounding (Like start with 83 or 84 instead of 105) but trust me, by hand you need a little more Umph!

Good Luck,

Dan

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It probably did... I remember using that stuff on a saturn a long time ago (like 7 years ago) and it felt like various size grits of sand ground into a sludge/paste. M105 will not feel like that.

Dan