Detailers, is this area random orbital polisher safe for polishing products?

 

Are they satin black finish?

If so, the equivalent on the XK8/XKR is known for being a problem area.

It's not the satin black surface itself but the primer which fails from a sub standard manufacturing process. The entire finish can lift in spots if anything too aggressive is used.

Graham

 

Yes it is black satin. It feels like a ceramic type of material but may actually be some type of plastic.....I'm not sure. I have some minor corrections I need to make but I'm reluctant to put any type of abrasive polish on it. Better safe than sorry.

 

This area is safe to polish especially with a da machine ( random orbital ) make sure the windows and the seals either side of the black window trims are masked up too. Don't use anything majorly aggressive but it is painted and clear coated like the rest of the car. Be a little extra carefull if using a rotary machine.
Hope this helps.

Darren.

 

start with the least aggressive products and pads first. What kind of products are you thinking and what kind of pads (colors)?

Cheers,
GREG

 

Griot's Orange Pads and Griot's 3 Polish....very minor blemishes only.

 

Door Sashes - Matte ones are usually wrapped from the factory in vinyl, and many auto manufacturers use high gloss acrylic panels (simulate a gloss black finish) which can be corrected much like headlight lenses (Polycarbonate) to eliminate these ugly scratches and marring.

For the best results, depending on how severe these scratches are I would recommend using a 3" pad system. This will allow you to focus on only the area that is being corrected.

The least aggressive approach would be to use a d/a polisher and a polishing pad with say a Meguiar's M205. Mask off the surrounding areas and do a test spot for the desired results your looking for. If this fails to cut out the defects, try bumping up to the Meguiar's 3" MF correction disc and D300 compound. After then polish up with the foam pad and M205, then wax or seal.

If this still fails to correct the area, I would then step up to a "Rotary" polisher if you know how to work one.

Here are some before and after photos of this type of correction performed recently on a 2013 Mercedes Benz E350 that was extremely scratched from the dealer in these areas...almost look like a vinyl record it was so bad!





After correction using a Rotary polisher, scratches were severe