Cyclo & Meguiar's

[efnfast]

1st time cyclo user here ; my plan (for some light swirl removing) will be to try to use the green pads with Meguiar's 80, then jump to green/83 if green/80 doesn't seem to be working. Any reason for light duty stuff I wouldn't want to use either green/80 or green/83?

[Accumulator]

efnfast- Welcome to Autopia!

The green pads usually work fine, but on some soft paints you'd be better off with a sofer pad; FWIW the white Cyclo pad is IMO more of a VERY mild polishing pad than a true finishing pad.

I never really liked Meg's stuff via Cyclo, but that's just me and I can't recall any real problems.

[efnfast]

So one could use the white pad for both a light polish and then a wax?

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by efnfast

So one could use the white pad for both a light polish and then a wax?

Yeah (well, not the same set of pads ). It'll be mighty gentle, but I do like giving things a final burnish with the Cyclo/white/light finishing polish; even on hard clear I see a bit of a difference, and I bet it'd be even more noticeable on softer paint.

[efnfast]

Interesting - I always thought white was too soft for anything but waxing. Hmm, thanks for the tip

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by efnfast

Interesting - I always thought white was too soft for anything but waxing...

In fact, that's kinda the *point*...the pad is so mild that the product is the only thing doing any work.

[percynjpn]

If you don't get the cut you want with the green, you can also try the orange pads and follow up with the white. Even though they have more bite than the green, the orange pads finish out quite well.

[efnfast]

Spent a few hours today w/ my Cyclo and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it

Quick question - I tried green/83 then green/80 on some areas......I didn't really see anything happen with the green/80, so I'm wondering can I just go green/83, white/83, waxing, or is there some reason I want to use 80 after 83?

Green/83 took out the major swirls, white/83 took out the remaining swirls, but I'm just curious, as I said, if I"m missing 'anything' by not following 83 with 80?

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by efnfast

......I didn't really see anything happen with the green/80, so I'm wondering can I just go green/83, white/83, waxing, or is there some reason I want to use 80 after 83?

In my very limited experience with #83, it doesn't always finish out 100%, though it might *look* like it did from all the trade secret oils (a PrepSol wipe can uncover residual marring that may/may not stay hidden if you just LSP). Generally when #83 finishes out 100% it was via rotary.

But if you don't see any benefit from the #80, then I'm not gonna say you gotta use it

I *will* say that I always see some slight improvement when I "finish polish", even after I've used much finer-finishing polishes than #83, but that's just my experience.

[efnfast]

Interesting, I will keep playing with. One more stupid question (hehe, always trying to learn )

If I go green/83, green/80, white/83, can I then wax or should I also do white/80 as well?

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by efnfast

..If I go green/83, green/80, white/83, can I then wax or should I also do white/80 as well?

In that case I'd do the white/#80...BUT...I wouldn't do it that way. IMO the way #83 might not break down to a ready-to-wax finish is much more of a factor than the green pads. On *many* paints the green pads are fine for final polishing.

I'd go orange/#83 until all marring is almost gone, then I'd use green/#83 until all marring *is* gone (or just this step if you don't have any orange pads), *then* I'd switch to white/#80 for a final polish...then wax.

No point using white pads until you have things almost perfect, ditto IMO for switching to something milder than #83.

(Note that in the above "perfect" and "all marring gone" are relative terms..they really mean "until things are as good as you want to get them".)