First timer method critique

[M.Apesland]

Hey guys finally got some time to use my brand spankin new PC and some of the goodies i have been buying over the last month or so. i only had the afternoon to work so i chose to work on my girlfriends car and do just an AIO and wax just to work on technique with the pc(and correcting the car would be a total wast of time she is going back to school on monday=big gravel parking lot and lost of cars nobody cares about)



my method

-washed with a APC/dawn in a foam cannon and dawn in a bucket

-dried

-clay barred with riccardo blue clay(i used ONR for the lube for the first half of the car but felt it made the clay kinda "grabby"

so i ended up using the dawn in the bucket for lube and seemed to work well)

-re-rinsed the car and dried

-used my PC w/ LC white pad speed just past 5 with Poli-seal and worked in 2`x2` areas



started with three pea sized dots on the pad for the first two panels then it seemed it had spread well over the pad so i only used 2 pea sized drops for the rest of the panels. i worked it east and west over the area then north and south, then i would get any small goofy areas like base of the A pillars, and wipe off with a micro. i didn`t notice any real correction at all, it made the car more "glossy" or bright looking (it is a light metallic silver mazda 3)but that was it. like the water spots weren`t really disappearing or anything but i didn`t expect a lot from it that way so I`m not disappointed. i even went over the glass and black plastic trim and that made the biggest change in appearance. the trim looked like garbage before, and after it was a nice semigloss black just like it should be, thats also when my nice white pad turned black ha ha, guess the trim and glass was dirty.



i cleaned the pad after every panel with a CG pad cleaning brush and also would run the pad against a micro towel that seamed to clean it as well. then once i was done i topped it all with Optimum spray wax i just misted it on the panel then spread it around with a megs micro applicator until i didn`t see any wax trail being left behind(i tried to keep from applying to much).



the car looks much better but i am wondering if i i could have gotten more correction from working the AIO more and if there are any flaws in what and how i did this as it is my first time.

[IHA Mark]

Sounds like you have a decent process for a first timer. Several things that helped me when I first learned DA polishing are:



1. You are probably going too fast if you are looking for correction. I don`t know how fast you are going, but it is probably too fast. :)



2. Often times your pad makes as big of difference as the polish or compound you are using. Have you considered the microfiber system? It makes things super simple. Want to correct? Use the cutting pad. Want to polish? Use the polish pad.



Also, when using ONR for clay lube, make sure you are using at least 2 oz. per spray bottle, and don`t go "cheap" on it, make sure the panel is evenly misted.



Hope that helps.