New guy looking to get started.

**LowflyingC30** · 08-29-2016, 04:04 PM

Hey guys, new to here and new to detailing. Looking for some help to get pointed in the right direction. I have a black 2008 Volvo C30. It has scratches all over it, something that looks like paint splatter from the factory, and home Interior paint specks from when the wife used my Wagner power painter on our dinner table in the back yard on a windy day. Also have a durango and expedition that will be cleaned and detailed as well but the volvo is my baby. I plan on buying the harbor freight DA polisher to get started, but not sure where to go from there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

**Civicclutch** · 08-29-2016, 04:25 PM

Don`t go with the hf da spend the little extra and get the groits garage 6" da you wont be disappointed and your hands and arms will love you. Get some clay like blackfire, pinnacle, or some other brand from here to be sure its good and I`ld say a medium grade not fine or ultra fine to start with. For compounding afterwards ild say go with the blackfire src duo as it is pretty easy to use and does great job for beginners imo. And then use their sealant so you dont have to use a paint prep wipe before appling sealant. Also use the 2 bucket weash system with grit gaurds to prefent more scrathes. I know it sounds like a lot of money but in the end it will be worth it. I feel like i`m missing stuff and i also know others will have their own opinion and other things to add as well.

but first and formost welcome their are lots of highly knowledgeable folks here more than willing to answer any question you may have

**ShawnF350** · 08-29-2016, 04:45 PM

Welcome....
Where you from?

**LowflyingC30** · 08-30-2016, 04:55 AM

Originally Posted by ShawnF350

Welcome....
Where you from?

Thanks for the welcome. I`m from Ohio.

**parttimer** · 08-30-2016, 06:12 AM

Hey another Ohio person, welcome! What color are the other two vehicles? I agree with going with a griott over the HF unit especially with the amount of work you have ahead of yourself, that expedition is miles of paint! I`d probably go with a paint prep towel instead of clay since you have so much to clay, your hands will thank you from not having to knead so much. There are millions of combinations that will work. Even the Wolfgang twins would be a good start. Make sure you get enough pads for the big suv, if you do that, you`ll be set for the other vehicles!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

**Civicclutch** · 08-30-2016, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by parttimer

Hey another Ohio person, welcome! What color are the other two vehicles? I agree with going with a griott over the HF unit especially with the amount of work you have ahead of yourself, that expedition is miles of paint! I`d probably go with a paint prep towel instead of clay since you have so much to clay, your hands will thank you from not having to knead so much. There are millions of combinations that will work. Even the Wolfgang twins would be a good start. Make sure you get enough pads for the big suv, if you do that, you`ll be set for the other vehicles!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Yes get bout 6 pads of each that way you can finish with out having to wash 75% of the time also get a pad cleaner like Wolfgang`s pad cleaner

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**LowflyingC30** · 08-30-2016, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by parttimer

Hey another Ohio person, welcome! What color are the other two vehicles? I agree with going with a griott over the HF unit especially with the amount of work you have ahead of yourself, that expedition is miles of paint! I`d probably go with a paint prep towel instead of clay since you have so much to clay, your hands will thank you from not having to knead so much. There are millions of combinations that will work. Even the Wolfgang twins would be a good start. Make sure you get enough pads for the big suv, if you do that, you`ll be set for the other vehicles!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Thanks for the welcome. The Durango is dark blue. The expedition is a color called white chocolate that`s a heavy metal flake white paint. And it`s an EL so it`s about a foot and a half longer than a normal expidition haha.

**LowflyingC30** · 08-30-2016, 10:39 AM

These are really crappy pictures so I apologize in advance, I just thought I would try to show what I had going on with my car. The top picture is what looks like over spray or splatter from the factory but I`m not exactly sure and it`s hard to get the phone to focus on it. The bottom pic is the light scratching and interior paint from the wife. There`s scratching on almost every curve of this car. It was dirty when I bought it and kind of hide the issues plus I was to excited to actually find one that had the options I wanted after looking for so long.