TBH ........ok but it was a little weird
From the get go I was sweating on the fact it had Mazda paint. I have seen online photos showing that the paint is typically about 65 - 70 microns thick .....more mainstream cars are 120+. And on a few detailing forums Mazda paint is known to be super soft and even sticky when polishing. It has a very poor reputation.
On Sunday I did the full strip wash (to get rid of all the residual wax, coatings and possible dealer installed fillers) followed by clayying. After the wash I thought 'Geez, the car looks good'. The clay was coming up clean as !! Even to the extent I swapped to another clay bar, just to be sure. Other than a bit of material picked up on the lower doors the clay had little to do.
Gave the car another wash, dried it, stood back and......she looked sensational !! Carefully felt the paint (remember that it had not coating what so ever) and it felt like glass Carefully inspected the paint and could not locate any defects - scratches or marring. Result !! The upside was that polishing need not be aggressive.
Next day, out came the RO polishing kit, including the much raved about Scholl S20 Black polish and the companion Spider pads (gettit !). I was a little nervous at this stage - given the reputation of Mazda paint. I did a small test patch on the bonnet (hood). I kept the speeds low(ish) - 4 on the first lot of passes and 2 on the final set of passes. BTW the Scholl polish is a one stepper with no need for a different polish to finish.
Crunch time........and bugger the polish residue was a PITA to clean off. So much so I was worried I may mar the just polished paint if I wiped too hard. So ended up sprayed the test patch with my carwash then wiping. Finally the result was...'Meh, hard to tell', but in a good way. As the paint was in very condition to start with it was difficult to ascertain how effective the polishing was. Looking at it from a number different angles in bright light there was not much improvement in the gloss, but the was a slight improvement in the clarity as the reflections looked flatter. I was not emboldened to go harder with the polishing.
And after 4 1/2 hours ........finished. But man, I was hurting all over, still recovering
Unfortunately it was twilight when I finished so no photos.
!! I am exhausted just reading your post
