Polishing/Detailing...Hard Paint??

[V70Matt]

My 1999 V70 (Red) appears to clean up very well but look closely and there are plenty of light scratches and swirl marks etc. I am quite experienced in making cars look like new again as a former valeter and amature detailer but the paint on my V70 seems impossible to penetrate and regardless of what I do I cannot remove the light marks in the paint.

So far I have tried G3 cutting compound, Auto Finesse 3 stage cutting and even good old T-Cut and nothing seems to cut through the paint. Back in the good old days you used to see the red paint come off on your cloth when you attacked red paint with cutting compound but very little seems to come off the V70.

Has anyone got a tried and tested method of achieving a good finish on their Volvo bodywork that I can try? I have tried using my DA and by hand and still no luck...

[Lancee]

Does the paint have a clear lacquer coat ?

[V70Matt]

I suspect it must have but have never come across it before so am a bit stumped.

[Jas16]

Hi, I've used 3m green cutting compound with 3m green pad which has worked on my S70. Also used Meguirs Ultimate compound with 3m green pad, also very good, though found the Meguirs to be more aggressive of the two. that's all the experience I have though

If you are feeling adventurous, I could say use wet sanding? I would say if you have a test piece, better to try that first

[Powerforge]

2000 grit wet D/A followed by a g3 cut ?

[Hoochienoballs]

Unless it's a one stage paint you don't want to see colour on the pad.
The products you have used are aggressive so you may be putting light swirls in the clear coat trying to remove the heavier defects.

Use the DA with least aggressive polish/pad combination and increase if needed.

I used green hexlogic pad and Meguiars 105 followed by 205 and black pad on my V50

[Ninja59]

Sounds like you have gone too aggressive volvo paint tends to be mid level hardness and you effectively reintroduce defects by going overly aggressive. I have proven for myself how mid level polishes can butcher soft paint, a polishing pad and 203s ruined soft paint introducing numerous defects. At mid level hardness ideally you should do a two stage one polishing and one finishing no compounding, polishing then finishing as you simply remove more valuable paint.

When I had my volvo I found menzerna 203s followed by 85RD perfect for dealing with it. Pad wise 3m yellow polishing and 3m blue for finishing.

It will have clearcoat if nothing is coming off on the pad.

[Toplights]

Wet sanded when my V90 was keyed,this lad does loads of vidios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UmzrrNi2Yk