First PC detail today need help.... I'm a noob

Nuke33 · 01-05-07, 10:16

Well today I got to you the PC for the first time on my 2000 Civic (Silver). It was fun to do but I have a bunch of questions, I know another noob but if you find the time I would love the help. You all are a great source of knowledge and you are all very friendly. Well anyways on to the questions, sorry if there are a lot.

First off,

My pc seems to walk a lot, it seems ro go where it want when I have pressure on it. I mean it doesn’t move far but it just moves back and forth about an inch is this normal?

I used OP polish with a LC orange pad, this was the only polish I had but sadly it didn’t cut through my swirls, I didn’t really do anything for my car, so I only polished the hood and then just applied a coat of wax. Would that combination of pad and polish be equivalent to M80 Because I have to get something with more cut. What would you all suggest I was thinking M80 and M83 because I can get them locally. But I don’t see anyone on here using them is there something wrong with them? Should I get something different from autogeek?

Another thing I had a hard time with is seeing the swirls on my silver car, it was hard to get the light so I can see them what should I do to make it easier to see them. I know they are there and there pretty bad. I tried getting a picture but my camera sucks.. lol

I also had a problem seeing to polish break down granted I only had one work light and hard to get it set right it was the ground type. Do any of you have any suggestions to help me work on silver, I have 2 silver cars and one white I wish I had a dark color to learn how to use the PC with…. I am planning on getting a work light with 2 500W halogen bulbs with a stand from sears but they have not come in yet…. The guy said they would be there wed but they weren’t, oh well.

Thanks for all the help guys and gals, you all turned me on to detailing, now I’m ADDICTED haha….

-Ryan

Cooter · 01-05-07, 10:54

U might try some Optimum compound with the LC orange pad.

Eliot Ness · 01-05-07, 11:38

Yeah, OP is pretty mild and if it didn't do much for your swirls with an orange pad you'll have to step up to something more aggressive. Meg's #80 is about the same cut as OP so you might want to try some #83 or OC. You don't hear much about them because they've been around for a while and some think 83 is difficult to work with. I have always had good luck with it so I've never understood what the problem is, except that is does tend to dust a bit. Just make sure you work any polish long enough to break it down, but 83 doesn't work as long as the OPT polishes do before it will dry out. If you're comfortable using OP then you might just want to order OC to stay in the same polish family with similar working times.

I’ve never noticed my PC "walking", but it does a lot of rotating and jiggling so that might be what you're noticing. I also never use a handle with the PC, I just cup one hand over the end because that tends to give me more control. You might be using too much pressure, try not to use so much that the pad stops rotating.

Lighting is tough on silver paint so you have to try and catch the light at the right angle. Sometimes something as simple as an incandescent trouble light works well in a garage to see defects.

Nuke33 · 01-06-07, 12:00

I use the same way to hold the pc as you, Yea i cant see the polish break down i might order XMT 1 and 2 can i get away with just useing 2 and not steping down to 1? I dont know if i worked the polish in long enough, i think that was the toughest thing to do in my mind is to tell when it is broken down

Eliot Ness · 01-06-07, 12:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuke33

I use the same way to hold the pc as you, Yea i cant see the polish break down i might order XMT 1 and 2 can i get away with just useing 2 and not steping down to 1? I dont know if i worked the polish in long enough, i think that was the toughest thing to do in my mind is to tell when it is broken down

Can't help you with the XMT's, I've never used them, but you could always step down with the OP if needed. The OPT's can be worked for a very long time so you can almost be sure they have broken down w/o fear of drying them out. They're very user friendly, that's why you might want to try OC if you're going to order something.