Minor Correction for the Newb

yourgrandma · 04-05-09, 08:22

I've always been rather obsessive about my vehicles' appearance, but up until recently it was in the walmart detailing aisle sense. I've always had dark blue metallic cars where swirls weren't obvious and I was unaware that better results were available to mere mortals.

So, now that I have a black car, the most minor swirls are driving me nuts. Surely it doesn't help that my self-developed method is sophomoric at best.

I'm looking to do more serious work to work out the swirling in my above average 02 Bonneville SSEi without removing too much clear and without risking a disasterous mishap.

I've more or less settled on a DA like the PorterCable. But what I'm having trouble with is how one goes about selecting pads and compounds. More than likelyI'll be doing my own and a few freinds and family members cars, so a huge outlay in a large selection of pads and compounds would be nice to avoid.

I'm also interested in the care of the pads. Is it advised to use a pad for only one compound, or can you confidently clean all the abrasive from the pad so it can be used with a different compound?

Considering I'd expect this correction to be a once a year (tops) thing, would it be better to seek out a good detailer in my area to do the work? What does one typically pay for a job of that level?

Thanks for any tips and advice here. I know theres a lot there.

jDizzle · 04-05-09, 08:52

this is the kind of post i would have put up a little bit ago. i got my porter cable about 3 weeks ago now i think.. autogeek sells a really nice kit for 199.99 that includes a bunch of different pads from ccs... i think its 2 orange, two white, two grey, and a blue or two. theres a kindof "key" that shows the relation between pad color, and agressiveness for the ccs pads on there. but with the kit, orange is agressive, white is polishing, grey is finnishing, and blue in finessing. ive removed some fairly bad swirls from my dads 1997 mazda Bseries pickup.. dark red.. and got washed from bottom to top in some cases.. makes me cringe every time... but anyway.. ive had good luck with meguiars #2 fine cut cleaner, followed by meguiars #9 swirl remover (which is more of a polish to bring out some more gloss) my dads truck came out really nice, i posted some before and after pictures on here in my wax test thread.
i also did my moms 2003 (baby poop green) trailblazer which came with the factory installed swirl option, and since we have such hard water, if you dont dry your car after washing it, you get water spots.. my dad doesnt dry cars when hes done, so this thing was covered.. i heard GM clearcoat was very hard, and its deffinatley true.. #2 wouldnt touch the waterspots, so i stepped up to swirl X, which ive been told is about a 6 on the meguiars agressiveness scale (not sure 100% on that ) and after 2 applications by PC on a speed of 3-4, the spots were gone, and it finnished down prefectly.. live ive said.. i got my PC about a month ago, if that, and ive only done 3 cars (those 2 and a subaru that turned out great with some color X) so thats just from one noob to another, so if anyone else comes along and corrects me, take their word.. i got very good results, and the meguiars #2 and #9 are fairly gentle products. BTW, megs # 9 is a very gentle product with a lot of fillers, its supposed to give you good results over time, or so ive read somewhere on here when i was trying to figure out what you are trying to figure out right now... sorry my post is so long and wordy, but i hope it helps.

yourgrandma · 04-05-09, 08:59

I like long and wordy. I'm lookingto absorb as much as I can before I start dropping money on equipment and go to work on anything shiny.

Am I correct that the idea of having many grades of compounds and pads is mainly a time saving method? Or is it literally impossible to get correction using too fine of product?

SuperBee364 · 04-05-09, 09:09

Here's a couple links that should help a lot....

IMO, what new guys should get nowadays...

Helpful Threads For Newbies

yourgrandma · 04-05-09, 11:09

After reading much about some of the products available, I have a couple questions regarding Meguires #105 and #205.

It sounds like 105 has properties that make its apparent abrasiveness much higher, is it still practical to get near-perfection by using 205 afterwards or should there be an intermediate step? Also, is 205 going t come out with optimal shine or is there one step beyond that prior to LSP?

SuperBee364 · 04-05-09, 12:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by yourgrandma

After reading much about some of the products available, I have a couple questions regarding Meguires #105 and #205.

It sounds like 105 has properties that make its apparent abrasiveness much higher, is it still practical to get near-perfection by using 205 afterwards or should there be an intermediate step? Also, is 205 going t come out with optimal shine or is there one step beyond that prior to LSP?

The results that any polish gives is dependent upon:

The type of machine used

The pad used

Speed used

Hardness/softness of clear coat

User technique such as pressure, number of passes, etc.

With so many variables involved, it's hard to give a definite answer of "yes, you can two-step it with just 105 and 205". A lot of the time, you can. However, you can usually always improve upon the finish left by M205 with a "Jeweling" polish like Menzerna Final Polish II, or PO106FF, FA, or PO85RD.

If you have the time to do a third step, using one of the above finishing polishes will really give your car a nice glow.

yourgrandma · 04-05-09, 02:36

I've always got time for my car. It's not like I've got a quota. If it ever gets warm out I'll give it a shot.