Tcut then polish!

[Spencer69]

Hi all and hope each enjoying weather. Now am in better health as title says will be tcutting car as have always done with 'new' car.
So am after advice opinions in following:
Tcutting with pads and cordless drill (usually attacked this by hand but now tire too easily)
Following above will be using renew polish, again with pads and drill.
Know have done own research and plenty of youtube so not really scared of using pads for 1st time, but any words of wisdom are welcome.
Ooh, last point, obviously will wash car before above but when should I deal with chips and scratches? In my mind should be done once above tcut and polish have been done as will give me clean areas which need attention. Thank you for any replies.

[Jocko]

I am loath to T-Cut cars these days as it is just a thin clear lacquer top coat. With my Jazz, I hand-rubbed it with a clay bar before waxing.

[Derkie54]

There's not that much paint either, I used to watch the cars going through the paint booth I suppose on an Aston or Rolls etc you would get several coats of paint, not the case with your average family car.

[Spencer69]

Cheers both. Now that does surprise me. Only as when did by hand, with alot of elbow grease and time on each panel thought would equate to 1 or 2 light passes with pad and drill, cutting down the time and elbow grease.
I know that many vids comment on burning the paint, but with tcut/polish applied and making sure always wet with sprayer to hand, hoped I had this covered!
(May have to try on neighbours 2019 car 1st...whilst he is in hospital!)
Now got me thinking....

[Spencer69]

PS. Actually may just try renew polish before going to tcut. See how that goes and what results achieved.

[Lord Voltermore]

If you mean actual T cut rather than using it as a generic name for other  mildly abrasive  renovation polishes   I'd be very wary of using it with a machine.  Its quite aggressive and can cut through clear lacquer and basecoat paint quite quickly unless you are very careful, and the machine can run at slow speeds. Especially on  swage lines etc.  Remember even at only  60 rpm  the rotating  mop is constantly moving and  cutting back or polishing at a rate equivalent to one  manual polishing pass per second. And quite possibly with more weight and pressure than  when polishing by hand.   

You might be able to polish out minor  scuffs without the need for paint.  But deep scratches and chips  cutting first  will tend to fill them with compound rather than improve paint adhesion.
Also polishing before, then again after to blend in a repair, is increasing the chances  of cutting through lacquer or paint.   
 

[UKjim]

If you use T-cut or any other abrasive with a pad on a drill you will burn through the lacquer in the blink of an eye.

If you want to use a machine use a random orbital polisher with a foam polishing (not cutting) pad and keep the speed below 3000rpm.

Honda paint is very thin.


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[Jocko]

When machine polishing a car you really need a Random Orbital Polisher not just an orbital.

This is quite interesting.
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/beginners-guide-to-car-detailing--ph-explains/44961

[Spencer69]

Right so tcut by hand only. And renew polish with foam pad and drill should be safe exercise. Pads are pretty soft and not advertised as compound pads.
Did 't realise tcut so abrasive and more than some compounds out there. Didn't think anything of it due to amount of videos watched but as you say if paint is so thin then bigger chance if burning.
Glad I asked here first before going all guns...or drill...blazing. Drill is speed controlled and obviously use on slowest speeds. Just trying to take the elbow grease out of it.
Many many thanks.

[Kremmen]

The professionals use a paint thickness sensor before machine polishing so they know how much they have to play with as it's so easy to cut through the laquer clearcoat.

[peteo48]

When machine polishing a car you really need a Random Orbital Polisher not just an orbital.

This is quite interesting.
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/beginners-guide-to-car-detailing--ph-explains/44961

That's a pretty comprehensive guide - thanks for sharing. I occupy a space between car detailers and the Fairy Liquid and knackered old chamois brigade.

One thing has always interested me - go into any Halfords and you will see an impressive array of big brand detailing products like Autoglym and Meguiars and even some smaller specialist brands like Auto Finesse (although I gather they have stopped stocking this and moved on to another niche product). There are also loads of specialist car cleaning suppliers on line not to mention Amazon.

But I almost never see anybody using this stuff (apart from me). I live on an estate with a lot of retired people but even here, with people having time on their hands, very little car care goes on and that is usually a washing up bowl with Fairy Liquid and an old bath towel. I have seen snow foam being used twice in my entire life, I have seen a mechanical polisher being used only once.

Where are these people? My neighbours think I am mad with my wash mitt and plush microfibre towels and dedicated car cleaning products.

[Kremmen]

I'm the same. When the weather is right I'm out there for about 4 hours doing it from top to tail, inside and out and I enjoy it.

Foam bath using the pressure washer, then the wash using a wash'n'wax solution.

Then the rinse and dry.

Finally I use a waterless wash with caranuba wax as that removes any left behind water spots and leaves a more slippery and shiny surface so when I drop the microfibre on the bonnet it slides off. After the wash'n'wax it doesn't slide.

Fairy Liquid is apparently one of the worst things to use as it contains salt that cuts through the paint and lets the sun fade it.

[peteo48]

That seems like a really good regime Kremmen. Not a lot of people think of using a waterless product this way but it makes perfect sense because the waterless wash will contain some cleaners as well as the carnauba wax so you get an extra clean along with the protection.

I may adopt this going forward.

[Jocko]

I bought myself one of those large soft squeegees the carwash guys use. Tried it for the first time yesterday and it certainly takes some of the strain off the microfibre towel. Didn't get nearly as wet as without the squeegee.
I just washed the roof and bonnet with waterless wash before waxing same with Bilt Hamber Double Speed wax. This is the first of my cleaning regime since buying the car in December (it has not covered 200 miles yet so despite sitting outside, since moving here, it was pretty clean).