# Never fully understood compound marring



## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

Hi all, not posted in a while, lol. I've been a detailing enthusiast for a long time now but have never fully understood compound marring - in particular recognising it. My polishing experience is largely limited to my own cars, family cars and friends cars and for a long time I only had Menzerna polishes in my arsenal (although I did get some 3M samples a while ago and recently got some Scholl). I exclusively use a rotary (so don't expect to see hazing or ticking) and my only compound was the Menzerna Power Gloss one (an old one before it all got recoded) and FCP. I understand the theory behind compound marring due to it's aggressiveness but how do you tell this apart from ordinary swirls? I also understand about buffer trails - am I missing the connection between compound marring and buffer trails being the same thing? Or is it possible to have compound marring without buffer trails? I recall doing a friends VW Golf convertible several years ago which was black and severely swirled and working up the polish scale until I got to FCP and still having defects in the paint - which I assumed must have been compound marring (although I wasn't really 'recognising' it). It was only when I followed the FCP with the 3M finishing polish that I got a pretty much defect free finish (thinking back I probably should have done the intermediate stage, but that's a different conversation!).

Thanks in advance. As my polishing experience is limited I've not had chance to really sus it out. And the odd time I have used the Power Gloss I have found it to finish quite well, which has furthered my confusion!


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## [email protected] (Apr 2, 2007)

The marring you get on paint after compounding will be more evident on darker paint you won't see it on light colours, silver, white etc. If you compound using a rotary and wipe down properly with a panel wipe you will be able to see it, it appears as a dullness/hazing in the paint.

Swirls are the spider Web light scratches that radiate out from a central point.

I use a finishing polish with a finishing pad on a DA to remove any hazing/buffer trails etc, just remember to wip down as polish contains oils etc that will mask your work and stop you seeing the paint properly.

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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

So I wouldn't see any compound induced scratches akin to the DA tick marks (other than buffer trails which are operator induced and not an unwanted side effect of the compound). Sorry if this sounds basic but I've not got much experience with compounding/heavy cutting and not too many products in my arsenal so I've not had the chance to work this out for myself! I've been a hobbyist for 10 years I reckon, but my polishing experience is limited to a bit of compounding with Menzerna and mainly single stage enhancements. Even when I have 2 staged my own car I've never gone as heavy as a compound, usually just medium cut.


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## [email protected] (Apr 2, 2007)

If you have polished properly then you will have removed the swirls and scratches from the paint.

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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

rsdan1984 said:


> So I wouldn't see any compound induced scratches akin to the DA tick marks (other than buffer trails which are operator induced and not an unwanted side effect of the compound). Sorry if this sounds basic but I've not got much experience with compounding/heavy cutting and not too many products in my arsenal so I've not had the chance to work this out for myself! I've been a hobbyist for 10 years I reckon, but my polishing experience is limited to a bit of compounding with Menzerna and mainly single stage enhancements. Even when I have 2 staged my own car I've never gone as heavy as a compound, usually just medium cut.


It doesn't matter if your left with compound hazing or buffer trails from a Rotary because it is normal :thumb: so these will be removed by the refining stage.

What's not normal is as your compounding/polishing you leave tiny scratches which would appear to look like pig tails, these are caused by tiny bits of dirt that have come in contact with the face of your pad, so ensure you clean your pads often :thumb:


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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

I have read about pig tails and weren't sure what these were either, so very informative there. This thread and some other digging I've been doing has given me more of an idea so I feel better prepared for future endeavours.


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## [email protected] (Apr 2, 2007)

rsdan1984 said:


> I have read about pig tails and weren't sure what these were either, so very informative there. This thread and some other digging I've been doing has given me more of an idea so I feel better prepared for future endeavours.


You will tend to see pig tails on cars like Aston that get "hand" sanded in the factory, they use an air sander for speed but can't tell when something gets trapped under the pad so you end up with these.

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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> You will tend to see pig tails on cars like Aston that get "hand" sanded in the factory, they use an air sander for speed but can't tell when something gets trapped under the pad so you end up with these.
> 
> Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk


You find that you will see them on a lot of cars that have been machine sanded not just Astons all the way up to Ferraris Lamborghini and so on:thumb:


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