Hologramss after second coat, already applied Gliss

[nem3]

Hello all, first post here, also first time user of ceramic coatings. Did the full decon, prep and polishing. First coat of CQuartz UK 3.0 went on perfect. Coating time ended up taking me just shy of two hours so waited until the next day to apply the second coating. Ended up being cloudy today, so was able to pull the car out and check for issues, no dark/high spots. Everything looked very good (first coating, not so much). So pulled back in and waited the four hours to apply Gliss. Was later in the day, so I got about half the car done before I had to break out extra lighting. That's when I noticed the glaring problem, holograms EVERYWHERE. From what I can tell, due to temp/humidity today, I likely did not properly level out the second coat of CQuartz UK. My issue now is next steps.... Is my best course of action to remove Gliss and attempt to polish out CQuartz UK? If so, how do I go about doing that? Or perhaps any other suggestions?

Door
1296

Trunk
1297

[fdresq4]

When you were done with “polishing,” did you inspect the finish? I ask just because you didn’t mention it.

Also, what “polishing” product did you use? Did you do a IPA/Eraser wipedown?

[nem3]

When you were done with “polishing,” did you inspect the finish? I ask just because you didn’t mention it.

Also, what “polishing” product did you use? Did you do a IPA/Eraser wipedown?

No worries, my apologies. Yes, in fact inspected quite a bit. I went into this vehicle expecting to find "soft" paint, and it was the exact opposite. Compound was M105, and ending up doing between 4-6 passes of 4 criss-cross passes per section just to get minor swirls/scratches out. The really interesting part was post M105, there was no marring or swirls. I did do a full vehicle pass with M205 for peace of mind, but countless tests showed no difference. Also tried some Menzerna SFP3800, didn't matter if check was done under inspection light or full sunlight - no discernible difference.

Anyways, yes, post compound and polish vehicle was completely wiped with Eraser. First CQuartz UK coating went on quite well and was checked with inspection lights, at this point there was NO sign of the now prevalent holograms. Coating was glossy and clear of swirls, haze and holograms. I did miss a number of high spots as I was not aware of the ambient light trick. These were all polished down with M105 prior to second coating.

I'm reasonably sure the issue is with the second coating. The following day was close to 90 degress with roughly 50% humidity, and I was waiting to wipe off. Reading up last night it seems this might have been my mistake. Should have applied and removed promptly. Had the car out in the sun today, and besides the intense gloss, it just look horrible. There's a couple sections you can see that I did managed to get a good wipe off and level. But the majority of the car has a problem.

My current thinking is to take one section at a time, wipe down with Eraser, use M205 or M210 to polish down till issue is gone and then reapply CQuartz UK followed by Gliss.

[nem3]

In addition to my previous, just had a complete ahah moment. The suede towel that is sent with the 50ml kit, I had it folded in 4's and only used two sides. Figuring I would use the inside opposite section for my second coat. However, what if in the process of my first coat the cloth became so soaked with solution that it adhered to the cloth I used for the second coat. So the whole time I was an Si02 contaminated cloth to remove and level. Would explain the extra fineness to the swirl/holograms. Just a thought, still need to find out the best way to remove Gliss.

EDIT: Nevermind, there it is

[nem3]

Update, went ahead with my plan. Unfortunately, seems M105 did completely remove Gliss and the CQuartz. Was expecting that, but hopeful a coat of CQuartz would remain. Good news is it's relatively quick to do. 2-3 passes on a medium to low speed with an orange hex logic pad. I am having to blow the pad out after each section, but expected that was well.

Compounded with M105
1298

Uncompounded area directly adjacent
1299

I did try again to go back over with M210, but this again showed no difference.

[The Guz]

Update, went ahead with my plan. Unfortunately, seems M105 did completely remove Gliss and the CQuartz. Was expecting that, but hopeful a coat of CQuartz would remain. Good news is it's relatively quick to do. 2-3 passes on a medium to low speed with an orange hex logic pad. I am having to blow the pad out after each section, but expected that was well.

Compounded with M105
1298

Uncompounded area directly adjacent
1299

I did try again to go back over with M210, but this again showed no difference.

It does not take much to remove a coating as you have found out. Most consumer coatings can be removed with a medium cut polish and a polishing pad (ie M205). I have never needed to compound a coating. A medium cut polish as I mentioned gets the job done. I have even removed CQUK 3.0 and TiO2 with M210.

Simply re-coat and expect better results from lessons learned. I would also recommend using better towels to level a coating. A low nap microfiber towel in the 300 gsm range is a good towel. I don't use the suede towel other than cutting it up into suede applicators. The CarPro 2face towels are great and I also find the edgeless 300 from the rag company to be great. I also recommend using two towels.

[nem3]

Yep, almost exclusively use the rag company edgeless towels. I went ahead and ordered the 2face towels mentioned as I had seen them used for leveling elsewhere on the forum. Bummer to lose $100 or so in coating. But lesson learned for the next big project. I won’t have new product for a couple of days. So I figure I’ll go back over the car with M210 once I am ready to apply the coating.

One funny thing I found, masking tape does not stick to Gliss at all :p

[nem3]

Update: Received new product yesterday so went ahead with round 2. Polished whole car with M210, wiped down with Eraser and applied first coat. Finished around 1AM, luckily it was a much cooler 72 degrees. Went to apply second coat today and am getting the exact same hologram results unless I basically polish it all back off. I’m having to go over it so many times that it doesn’t even seem like anything could be left behind. So at this point I’m going to forgo the second coat and just top it with Gliss.

[The Guz]

What was the temp and humidity for the second coat?

[nem3]

Mid 70's maybe 40% humidity

[fdresq4]

What’s the car you are trying to coat? Just curious...

[nem3]

Tesla Model S, which is why I was prepared for soft paint. Although I think the 2016 part probably has more to do with what I found to be reality. As far as machines and pads, I have a pretty old Porter Cable rotary, Torq10FX and LHR15. For this I only used the DA's though. Pads are all Chemical Guys hex logic, I started with M105 on a White, went to Orange and finally to Yellow. For M205 pass first time around I went to White. This second time I used Orange. Paint was near perfect after compounding stage, as well as post first CQuartz UK coat. See pics in post #5 for reference. Was exactly the same.

[The Guz]

Mid 70's maybe 40% humidity

Should have been fine at this temp and humidity.


Tesla Model S, which is why I was prepared for soft paint. Although I think the 2016 part probably has more to do with what I found to be reality. As far as machines and pads, I have a pretty old Porter Cable rotary, Torq10FX and LHR15. For this I only used the DA's though. Pads are all Chemical Guys hex logic, I started with M105 on a White, went to Orange and finally to Yellow. For M205 pass first time around I went to White. This second time I used Orange. Paint was near perfect after compounding stage, as well as post first CQuartz UK coat. See pics in post #5 for reference. Was exactly the same.

So there could be a few more things. I am certain you are using new towels for leveling the second coat. But it sounds like it is not having enough time to flash and the wiping of the towel is just pushing the product around leaving the residuals behind. It could also be the first coat trying to reject the second coat.

[nem3]

Correct, brand new bag from the rag company, all/most of them went from bag to car to garbage. Was thinking the same thing. I did four different areas on the hood trying a couple different things. Changing wipe off time and application amount. The only thing I couldn't change was the first coat, and I'm wondering if it was too soon after.