[budman3]

Do you guys take paint readings during and after the details?? Or do you just get a baseline reading before and then dive into polishing? A lot of the pictures that I see of thickness readings are of the paint before but none after polishing. It'd be interesting to see the differences in thickness before and after polishing on a variety of vehicles.

[gmblack3]

You would be suprised on how little is removed, even with aggressive compounding.

There is a thread on pictopia with results showing that a PC will remove more clear trying to get out deep RIDS then a rotary will. Wetsanding even less.

	PC Porter-Cable Orbital Buffer 7424 or 7336. One of the most famous tool used by a variety of detailers, from weekend warriors to professional detailers.

[reefer_bob]

If I have trouble areas where I'm concentrating on getting something out such as a bird dropping, or heavy scratch, I use the PTG after every pass.

Other than that, I just use it to go across the car and get a good baseline reading before I start to polish.

[budman3]

Thanks for the info, interesting. I think I read that post on Autopia but it didn't include any pictures. Since that topic was brought up, what happened to the idea that a PC doesn't remove swirls, but it only rounds the edges to make them less visible?

	PC Porter-Cable Orbital Buffer 7424 or 7336. One of the most famous tool used by a variety of detailers, from weekend warriors to professional detailers.

[Nica]

I've started taking readings before polishing and after polishing budman3 becuase I want to know exactly how much clear coat I'm removing and like gmblack3 said I was shocked to find that I was hardly removing any clear coat...all depending on how bad I compound the vehicle ofcourse.

The only issue is that it's hard to remember the exact spots that you took the first paint gauge readings, I try to remember but 10 to 15hrs of polishing I kinda forget the exact spots. I normaly take about 50 to 100 paint gauge readings and what I've done is I take the exact same and at least 3 to 5 readings per panel...depending on how big the panel is. For example on the entire door I will take a total of 7 to 10 readings...so I've been trying to manipulate the same amount of readings as the before polishing readings and just taking the average.

Long story short, like I said I was shocked to see how much clear coat I was actually removing.

I should start posting the readings before and after though...like I said I was doing this for my self though but I'll post the afters...good tip budman3

[budman3]

Thanks for the info Nica. I remember 3-4 years ago someone from Meguiar's or who used Meg's products did a comparison on a junk hood and took readings before and after. But that was years ago and it seems PTGs are more popular now and I was just curious if hard clears = more clear removed or soft = more clear removed, things like that.

	AGO Auto Geek Online (forum)

[Asphalt Rocket]

Why dont you buy one and perform said test and let us know what your opinion is on it.

[Usjdmtuner]

its just too damn expensive... maybe one day i can afford one

[budman3]

Originally Posted by Asphalt Rocket

Why dont you buy one and perform said test and let us know what your opinion is on it.

Why don't you stay on topic with the post and keep everything else to yourself. If you don't have an answer, move on to the next post. Simple.

[Asphalt Rocket]

It is, if you bought one it would answer all these questions you have that is why others have purchased the equipment. Plus I figured at your level you would give us a few pointers on paint gauges that we already own.