Favorite products to use with a PC?

[Por2geezSupra]

Hey guys, im looking for some tips from the veterans on here about what products to use with my porter cable. For a full detail such as a clay, compound, polish, wax, sealent, interior, etc, what are your favorite products to use? I would like to see what your full details look like, and what pads do you use with each product?

[gtpaul]

Optimum Poli-seal with a Blue CCS pad.

[VTechFan02]

I was happy with how Four Star Body Shop MCC and Polish did with LC pads on my UDM (similar machine). Also, Danase's Swirl Abolishers were specifically formulated for orbital polishers and from what I have seen they work quite well.

-Frank

[TTWAGN]

Meguiars #66 quick detailer.

It replaces it effectively replaces the polishing, glaze and wax steps.

Of course it doesn't do the same quality job as using three seperate products for those steps but its does 80-90% of the job in 33% of the time.

I lost my detailing mojo pretty quickly and couldn't justify spending 10 hours on the paint every 6 months. As long as i still get complements for having nice paint then i dont mind spending 2 hours and getting it 90% perfect opposed to 99% perfect.

Also when it comes to detailings other peoples cars for money, they want the most results for the least amount of money. With meguiars #66 at least it covers all the bases and does a good job. Its improved my profit margin considerably and allow me to produce better work for the same price. By saving 30 minutes in the polishing and wax step its allow me to give the paint a bit of cut on any trouble areas so the customer gets more for the money.

Optimum poliseal is good too however its cut isn't as strong but has longer durability. I find that all the cars i get require more cut than what poliseal can deliver. So instead of increasing to two steps i use #66 for its stronger cut and just loose a bit of durability!

Its my favourite product to apply by PC or RO buffer. I use a cutting pad all the time

[tommyj]

I usaully use UDM & IP with 6.5' CCS orange pad to cut the swirl mark and then follow by FP with 6.5' CCS white pad then i clean the paint with 6.5' CCS gray to remove the dust & oil before i seal or wax the paint.

Then i apply the wax by hand with applicator. For perfect finish, I like to buff of with UDM on speed 4-5 with 6.5' CCS red pad.

I just had a Sonus SFX1 & 2. I did tested on just a half of panel to see how it work. I did it with CCS 5.5 orange pad. I found the SFX cutting very well and the cutting time is short and dry very fast if compared to IP or SIP. But overall is very good polish good quality product to me.

[Accumulator]

Now that my preferred 3M PI-III products are getting hard to find, I guess my vote would go to 1Z . But IMO using the right size pad with the PC is at least as important as choosing the product (what with all the great stuff on the market these days); 4" pads for correction are always my choice when working by PC. With the 4" pads the PC can even use High-Temp Extreme Cut for sorta serious correction.

[Por2geezSupra]

With the #66 from meguiars, what pad is best? Would a white LC pad be best? What pads and sizes do you guys prefer?

[TTWAGN]

Originally Posted by Por2geezSupra

With the #66 from meguiars, what pad is best? Would a white LC pad be best? What pads and sizes do you guys prefer?

It depends on what steps you want to replace.

If you apply #66 with a finishing pad the abrasives will not remove any imperfections but the wax and oils will hide minor swirls and add gloss and protection. This is good if you've already corrected the paint and want to use #66 as a glaze/wax.

If you apply with a cutting foam pad and work it well the abrasives will cut and remove imperfections in the paint. The wax and oils will then help hide any marring produced and add protection. This is good if you want to use #66 as a finishing polish after using a heavy compound.

If you go with a really strong pad or use a rotary then you run the risk of marring/holograming the surface. The oils and wax temporarily hide these so when the oils and wash wash away you may see some marring.

I've found that a light cut foam pad is best as it doesn't marr the surface so it looks good. On paints that i know are hard or faded i'll use a cutting foam pad.

I'd only use a white foam polishing pad on soft black paint. You should use the strongest pad you can get away with as it helps give the highest amount of correction in a single step.

If you are using a cutting compound to remove swirls first up then you dont need the cutting power of #66 anymore so you'd use a white pad to remove any marring from the first step.

For example on bad paints i use Menzerna powergloss with a heavy cut wool pad on a rotary buffer. I can then go straight to #66 on a random orbital with a yellow edge cutting foam pad. The random orbital helps remove the holograms created from the rotary step.

On softer paints or with less imperfections i use Menzerna SIP with a light cut wool pad on the rotary i then go straight to #66 with an edge blue polishing pad on the random orbital.