I really found Junkman's video series helpful in understanding the entire concept of paint correction and maintenance, dealing with dust, bugs, scratches, swirls, and water spots. There are three different categories of paint problems, magnified on a black or dark car....dust/pollen, bugs/waterspots, and paint swirls. All three categories are going to happen, and in the cases of the latter two, a machine will often be required to correct.
Dust and pollen responds well to a California Duster, but when a bug corpse etches the clear coat, scrubbing with soap will often not only not solve the clear coat problem but it will add the problems of paint scratching, micro-marring, and swirling from the scrubbing done to try to clean it up. I don't even try to do it by hand anymore, I wash it and then go right to the Porter Cable. I was put in mind of this yesterday as I was trying to address some really horrible bug staining on the front exposure of my Black Cherry Z. It took me about 45 minutes, addressed the bug staining AND the inevitable micro-marring and swirling that occurs on a car that hasn't been polished in 6 months and is especially visable on a dark-colored car.
|