Hello all

[JTT]

I have a 2003 Porsche Carrera Cabriolet in Orient Red Metallic that I purchased this summer. I have had little experience with detailing, although like my vehicles to look good and work well. I`ve tried my first run at polishing last year on my white Honda Ridgeline. White is pretty forgiving, the red on my "new to me" Porsche is very different and shows every swirl. I plan to buy a random action buffer (leaning towards Porter Cable at this point) and take on the task before the weather gets too bad hear and I have to store the car away for winter.

Paint is pretty good, smooth feeling, but swirl marks are showing (likely due to my ham handed washing). I clayed my Honda in the spring as it was showing some rough spots. Worked a treat! Finished with carnauba wax. Hindsight now tells me I should have sealed it first, but next time. The Porsche is smooth feeling so I don`t "think" I need to clay it, but I do have to deal with the swirls.

Looking forward to reading and learning lots around here. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Joe

[tropicsteve]

welcome to AF. if I am going to correct a painted surface, I always clay it first. it`s easy, doesn`t take long to do. and ensures a good surface to begin a correction. I am always surprised when I clay what feels like a smooth surface. a pc is a good choice and has been a workhorse polisher for years, but there are a host of better polishers out there and their prices reflect it. I like griot`s garage 6"da, very powerful and the company really stands behind it`s lifetime warranty. learn to use a two bucket method when washing to help reduce your chances of adding swirls in the process. use good microfiber drying towels and have a host of good microfiber towels for polish/wax removal. autopia car care has many excellent detailing packages to get you started or just give them a call for some good advise. remember to have fun.

[Ronkh]

hi

[Stokdgs]

Welcome, JTT !
Congrats on a just beautiful Carrera Cabriolet - I bet it is beautiful in the sun..

If you are going to get a machine someday, I would kindly suggest you get something that has a little more power and most importantly rotation than the Industry Standard, Porter Cable 7424, et. al..
There is a man out of the Pacific Northwest (Tacoma, WA), that has a really nice Random Orbital machine that is competitively priced and has the best warranty around I believe..
His name is Griot and his product/s can even be purchased here and probably close by to you from other suppliers of Detailing products...

The Porter Cable will work eventually with a smaller backing plate and pad to help it get more pad rotation and handle easier, there is no doubt..
But there are better alternatives out there as well..

Glad your Porsche is smooth, but for sure, it can be even smoother and possibly a little cleaner of embedded gunk if you take the time to carefully claybar it all down after a good wash, to help level the paintwork out and get that last little bit of gunk out of the paint..
Then, when you get the paint correction process working, it will just work out better, because you got that tiny little impossible to see, stuff out of the pores of the paintwork first...

I just think of this step as part of the process before correcting and/or polishing, to get the paintwork as pristine as possible so that whatever product you apply to protect the paint will have every good opportunity to adhere the best into the paintwork pores..

There are dozens of Sealants today and I still remember when the only 2 were that awful stuff the Dealerships installed at great expense, and Zaino, the father of all Sealants we know today...

I like Honda Ridgelines and really am torn between buying one or something else more economical for my trip to Sacramento which is now about 50 miles one way..

We are all here to help - we have every level imaginable of experiences, and we all get along learning and sharing as we go !
Dan F

[Mikek9965]

Welcome Joe! i unfortunately don`t have any advice that i trust myself giving out lol

[Pats300zx]

Welcome to Autopia Joe !!!!

[trashmanssd]

Welcome, you came to the right place you will learn a lot here. My 2 favorite things about this site is how helpful everyone is and that you are allowed to talk about/review/suggest using products they dont sell at Autotopia (most sites will erase mentions of or even warn or banned you for doing so). Search Clay towel you may be interested in trying them as a clay alternative, they can be a little more aggressive then a really good fine clay (leave a little micro marring) but I will trade that for not having to kneed clay for an hour also the towel cuts the time in half or even to a quarter. Also +1 with tropicsteve and Stokdgs on looking into the Groits 6" DA its a little more money but a lot more machine and looks at changing the backing plate to 5" and using 5"-5.5" pads they are way easier to learn on then a 6.5" pad.

[jtford95]

Welcome Joe. God luck with the car. You are in the right place