Optimum Compound Hazing

[Sjbiss]

Hi everyone,

Fairly inexperienced polisher, have only done it a few times with good results using  a Porter Cable 7424xp and Meg 105 & 205.  Decided to try the Optimum compound and polish II combo and it also worked well but I noticed the compound left a bit more haziness than I was used to getting with M105.  It cleaned up with a couple passes of polish II and took a bit more effort to get a clean finish.  Wondering if this is normal, if I need to change my technique or I used to aggressive of a pad.  I used a Meg foam red cutting disk because I have lots of them on hand and a Meg foam yellow polish disk for polish II.  My question is, should I expect a good amount of haze after the Optimum compound, should I use a less aggressive pad or did do I need to change my process?  I primed the pad, used used 4 pea sized dots  and did 4-6 slow passes on speed 5 (basically the Junkmans process if you have ever watched his vids).  The polish didn't seem to break down as much as M105 or M205 so maybe I didn't work it long enough??    My paint is generally in good condition with only micro marring that can only be seen with a flashlight but there are a handful of spots that will need to be compounded so I want to get my technique down.

Thanks as always for your help.

[A&J]

The compounds job is to cut and cut fast through imperfactions! Its job isnt too look great afterwards...Thats why you have to polish after using a compound (and yes some compounds can be used as 1-step products which cuts and finishes well but depending the paint you are working on (soft, hard, dark, light), your pad choice (hard cutting or soft polishing) and speed at certain situations you are just going to get compound hazing!

Test a bit...try the compound with a hard pad for 2 section passes on one area then switch to a polishing pad for 2 section passes on another area and compare which combo removed more swirls and which combo gives you better finish/ reflection / shine.

[Sjbiss]

Thanks A&J!