Newbie with a cyclo, need help with choosing pads and polish

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Originally Posted by simplybao

By the way, how long do I work the polish? Until it's dry or until it hazes?

Until it's almost dry, which is a little longer than the "hazing" point. I think you'll quickly get a feel for this. With the Pasta Intensiv, try *not* to let it dry completely. With the Paint Polish it doesn't really matter as that product basically breaks down into cleaner wax.

So this is what I was planning:

I'll have a water bottle that I'll spritz the pads with. I'll do this first to get the pads a little moist.

I don't do that. I use the pads dry and merely prime them with the polish. It's not that hard to distribute a little polish pretty evenly on the pads. I'd worry that the water might a) render the Pasta Intensiv more aggressive and hinder breakdown and/or b) generally mess with the Paint Polish, perhaps creating a tenacious residue.

If you really want to prime the pads, I'd use a *little* spritz of a "clean" QD like Meg's #34.

I'll apply the polish to the pads (just a little bit, I've watched a bunch of videos on this) and then work it around in a 2' x 2' area, then turn the cyclo on.

I don't really spread the product around much before turning it on. Be careful doing that with the Pasta Intensiv. I wouldn't spread it over that large an area either, but that's just me. I will often expand the area I'm working out until it's that large, but I usually start with a smaller area and see if I have the right amount of product for that size.

I'll work it around in an up and down and around motion until I see hazing and then turn off the cyclo, then remove polish. That's it right? Am I right in assuming that I don't go until it's dry?

Yeah, that's basically it. But again, I wouldn't worry about buffing dry with the Paint Polish, only with the Pasta Intensiv. Be sure you work the Pasta Intensiv enough to break it down though, and I do think that'll be a little longer than you're expecting. There's a fair bit of wiggle room between the point of seeing a polish haze and the point where the polish actually starts to dry.

I'm used to using very little product. I have KAIO and I've used it and I know that very very very little goes a long long way. I gather 1Z is the same way?

You'll use a bit more with these polishes as you need enough to abrade the surface down. You'll see what I mean...if you work an area and it dries/flashes sorta fast, and you wipe it off and find the marring is still there, then that means that: a) you need more product so you can work the area longer and/or b) you need to go over it more times.

But if you work the area for a long time and still have wet polish, that means you used too much. If the pads get loaded with product to where you have to clean them after just a panel or two, that means you used too much too.

But you will have to stop now and then and wash out the pads. Blot them dry as best you can and then spin them with the Cyclo (the won't fly off like they often do with the PC, at least mine don't). Be careful where you do this so you don't spray a water/polish mix all over everything

[simplybao]

Thank you so much for your help. I'm so excited. I just washed the jeep today and well, I think I'm going to need a wool pad. I'm thinking the orange pads may not be aggressive enough for the hood. There's all sorts of stains in the paint.

I just looked at the caddy with a halogen on it and it only needs very minor correction. It's mostly on the hood, I'm not sure how I did that, but it was pre autopia days. I'm hoping the pp with green does the job.

I'll report back in a few weeks to let you know how it turns out.

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Originally Posted by simplybao

..I just washed the jeep today and well, I think I'm going to need a wool pad. I'm thinking the orange pads may not be aggressive enough for the hood...

Check out the wool pads at CycloToolmakers and keep them in mind. I do think you'll find that the Cyclo isn't as aggressive as you might first expect, and might not be as aggressive as you'd sometimes *like*. But better safe than sorry when starting off with machine polishing.

I just looked at the caddy with a halogen on it and it only needs very minor correction. .. I'm hoping the pp with green does the job.

If not, the Pasta Intensiv/green pad combo is sorta mild, considering how aggressive the Pasta Intensiv is (in its own right). One pass with that, followed by the PP wouldn't be that big a deal if necessary.

I'll report back in a few weeks to let you know how it turns out.

Hope it goes well, and I expect that it will. If something does *not* work right, stop and ask for advice. And I strongly encourage you to do *one* panel and then inspect-inspect-inspect to make sure everthing is going the way you think it is. What you *don't* want is to do the whole vehicle and *then* realize that things weren't going right.

Heh heh, don't let the above caveat make you nervous..I just kinda when somebody says they "messed up the whole car" and now they need help. Mess up just one panel and it's no big deal, you can figure out what went wrong, correct it, and not have the same problem again.

[simplybao]

LOL...yeah, I planned on trying out the Jeep first. I'm going to do the hood and check it as I go. It's going to be hard to get the halogen on it because the Jeep is so tall. There really isn't much to polish on the jeep.

Do you have any advice on doing the areas that the machine can't get to? i.e. the panel above the rear fender and the top.

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Originally Posted by simplybao

..Do you have any advice on doing the areas that the machine can't get to? i.e. the panel above the rear fender and the top.

One of the good things about the 1Z stuff is that it works OK by hand (it's the only line I recommend for by-hand use). Try to be gentle with the Pasta Intensiv if you use *that* by hand; the initial bite of the abrasives can leave some *really* nasty scratches that you won't be able to correct very easily.

I don't mean to say that you *can't* use that stuff by hand, but -man-oh-man you really do need to be careful. Maybe the Paint Polish will do the job...that stuff is great by hand, but it's so mild that you might have to do a given area numerous times.

[simplybao]

You've got me scared of Pasta Intensive now...LOL. I'll try both and see how it goes....I can hardly wait!

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Originally Posted by simplybao

You've got me scared of Pasta Intensive now...LOL. I'll try both and see how it goes....I can hardly wait!

Well, be "scared" of it in the same sense that a woodworker is "scared" of his radial-arm saw (In other words, those scare-quotes were intentional Just have some respect for what you're working with.)