First time poster, want HD Polisher and a couple questions.

B

blnewt

New member
Really a noob at the whole machine polishing game. Wanting a basic polisher that is user friendly and won't get too expensive for just a basic 2 step detail. Was initially going to get a PC or GG DA polisher but found this site and the links to the HD package. This seems to be what I was looking for since I really just want something that I can use 2-3x a year for polishing & wax, and maybe another 3x for just wax jobs. From the most recent reviews it seems the HD is a pretty able machine for removing swirls, applying wax and minor surface correction.

If I do order the HD kit what extras should I get since I don't want to need more parts right in the middle of the job. I currently have Maguiars Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish and the Gold Carnauba Wax and really only want to do a polish followed by a wax, will these products (minus the compound) be fine? I really want to get all the supplies at once for at least 3-4 polish/wax jobs so any help would be appreciated.

I'm sure once I get started I'll want bigger & better, but I blew my budget on car mods so in order to get to the detailing stage I've got to really stay lean :)

BTW, awesome site!
 
The "kit" on sale from 3D right now has all you need to get started.

I would assume you have some microfiber towels? If not get a dozen or so.
 
banzaitoyota- If I read it correctly, he was considering the PC (and the GG) but is now leaning towards the HD package instead.



Oh, and I'm @$$uming that by "HD" he means "High Definition" as opposed to Harbor Freight :think:



blnewt- Welcome to Autopia!



I'd get some additional pads. They can load up quicker than you'd expect (especially while you're getting the hang of this stuff) and stopping in mid-job to (thoroughly) clean pads is a hassle.
 
I already have a 7424, is there any advantage to have the HD polisher. Just as a point of reference for my metal working endeavors I have 6 4 1/2" grinders with diff abrasives and wheels loaded on them
 
I have several 4 1/2 grinders as well, plus a Porter Cable DA, which I have had for over a decade. The HD or the Harbor Frieght DA's have more power than the Porter. That's about all I can add.

The Porter is now used only for wood working, as it is a bit more gentle.
 
Accumulator said:
banzaitoyota- If I read it correctly, he was considering the PC (and the GG) but is now leaning towards the HD package instead.



Oh, and I'm @$$uming that by "HD" he means "High Definition" as opposed to Harbor Freight :think:



blnewt- Welcome to Autopia!



I'd get some additional pads. They can load up quicker than you'd expect (especially while you're getting the hang of this stuff) and stopping in mid-job to (thoroughly) clean pads is a hassle.
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Yep, you read it correctly, I was considering the higher priced PC and GG DAs but I think the HD model from 3D will meet my needs.

I guess just the polishing and finishing pads will suffice? I'm not planning on using compound at the moment, and are those maquiars products good for the job?

Thanks for the welcome too guys, seems like an awesome place to learn about all this detailing stuff :)
 
blnewt said:
Yep, you read it correctly, I was considering the higher priced PC and GG DAs but I think the HD model from 3D will meet my needs.

I guess just the polishing and finishing pads will suffice? I'm not planning on using compound at the moment, and are those maquiars products good for the job?

Thanks for the welcome too guys, seems like an awesome place to learn about all this detailing stuff :)
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Welcome to Autopia!! The HD PC is more than capable of meeting your needs. However, you'd be better off with more pads than are in the kit as mentioned before. In reality you need at least four pads for each step (even when cleaning on the fly) so that you can finish the entire step without having to stop to wash and dry pads. I would suggest 4 orange, 4 green, 2 or 3 black and one red for each wax or sealant you plan to use then dedicate that pad to that wax or sealant. You can use a denture brush from the Dollar Store and MF towel to clean on the fly. Then after you're done for the day Dawn or Dawn Power Dissolver (from Walmart) to wash your pads. Them put them between a folded thick terry towel and stand on each for a few seconds to get most of the water out and then air dry over night with Velcro up or in the dryer set on "AIR" only.



Megs Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish are consumer versions of their 105/205 that are much easier to work with than 105/205 and should be fine for your purposes. However, keep in mind they do have allot of oils that can mask swirls if you don't remove them fully with an IPA wipe down. You can also use Carpro Eraser or other products to do the same thing.



Since you are getting HD Speed in the kit you might want to take a look at HD UNO or HD Polish which are both very easy to work with--long working time, no dust, easy to remove. Not knowing what car you have and the condition of the paint makes it difficult to know exactly what pads and product you'll need to remove the marring. UNO is a medium cut polish that finishes down well. HD Polish is ofcourse a polish that can have some cut depending on the pad. Depending on your test section you could use either the green or orange pad to remove the swirls then do a few passes with the black pad using HD Speed for final polishing to amp up the shine. Speed is an All In One--some mild polish and a sealant for some protection. Best to top it then with something more durable.



The Gold Carnuba will impart a great look to your finish, but won't last too long as it is just a wax. There are better LSPs out there like HD Poxy (a hybrid sealant/wax) or Collinite 845. Both look great and offer better durability.



You'll need quite a few MF towels to wipe off polish etc.



Hope thisn helps!!!
 
Thanks a lot for the added info, looks like pads are going to make up the bulk of the purchase, but much better to have plenty than not enough.

BTW, main car is a 09 Black Infiniti G37, my beater ride is a 93 Toyota T100 truck, also in black, 09 paint is in decent shape since it's always garaged and not taken to work sitting in the sun. Just light swirls from MF towel drying and only 3 hand wax applications a year. A few rock chips but other than that not much correction should be needed. I'm sure to you seasoned detailers there's plenty of work to be done, but hopefully w/ the new polisher and the info from the forum I can get a finish that will exceed my expectations.

Thanks again, and I'll let you know what I end up with (a lot of pads for sure!)
 
blnewt said:
main car is a 09 Black Infiniti G37,
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See if you can find someone to measure the paint thickness before you start trying to get too aggressive. Infinity paint can be quite thin sometimes.



Sometimes for beginners it's easiest to work the car a panel or two at a time. Tackling the whole car at once can be frustrating until you get the hang of it, particularly with black. Boredom and fatigue set in very quickly for many people. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
Nth Degree said:
See if you can find someone to measure the paint thickness before you start trying to get too aggressive. Infinity paint can be quite thin sometimes.



Sometimes for beginners it's easiest to work the car a panel or two at a time. Tackling the whole car at once can be frustrating until you get the hang of it, particularly with black. Boredom and fatigue set in very quickly for many people. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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I've had a lot of cars over the years and this G37 along w/ our 07 G35 have had the most fragile paint I've ever seen.

I'm going to leave the compound on the shelf and just go w/ a polish followed by a wax. Would that be okay without measuring the paint or is the Infiniti paint so thin that I really need to do that?



I'm going to start w/ my 93 Toyota Truck, not much I can do to damage that beast and if I screw anything up no biggie :)



I've got a bunch of questions but I'm going to try to read through as much as I can before bugging you guys w/ stuff you've already heard a hundred times.
 
Really a noob at the whole machine polishing game
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blnewt said:
If I do order the HD kit what extras should I get since I don't want to need more parts right in the middle of the job.
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The HD Polisher Kit is an all inclusive package loaded with everything you'll need to effeciently maintain your car. Speed with perform moderate swirl correction, produce an incredible level of gloss while leaving behind a nice amount protection. Technically, if your vehicle's paint is in good condition and is maintained (washed) correctly, you really won't need any other product. If you require a bit more concentration to defect removal, pick up a bottle of HD CUT.



Concentrate on choosing the correct pad for the application doing so by marking off a few "test spots" and comparing the results. Make sure to clean your pad after each panel and also make sure to leave the polishing reminants on the surface until the end.
 
David Fermani said:
The HD Polisher Kit is an all inclusive package loaded with everything you'll need to effeciently maintain your car. Speed with perform moderate swirl correction, produce an incredible level of gloss while leaving behind a nice amount protection. Technically, if your vehicle's paint is in good condition and is maintained (washed) correctly, you really won't need any other product. If you require a bit more concentration to defect removal, pick up a bottle of HD CUT.



Concentrate on choosing the correct pad for the application doing so by marking off a few "test spots" and comparing the results. Make sure to clean your pad after each panel and also make sure to leave the polishing reminants on the surface until the end.
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Thanks for your reply David, I think I'll get a few polish & finish pads when I get the DA just so I can keep going once I get started, plus I'll probably tear up teh first ones pretty quick trying to get me feet wet :)

That Speed product sounds perfect for what I'm looking for.



Looks like the Black & Red Pads are what I'll need for polish then wax right, or should I get some green ones too?
 
blnewt said:
Looks like the Black & Red Pads are what I'll need for polish then wax right, or should I get some green ones too?
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Keep in mind that this kit is pretty conservative with aggressiveness. Green (depending on your finish) tends to perform excellent as an all around cutting/polishing pad. Red is very soft and works great for wax application. It won't remove much marring so keep that in mind as well. You might also want to consider picking up either a 3D microfiber cutting pad or an orange foam pad for the heavy lift that could be needed. Just throwing it out there.....
 
Do not be surprised, if you spend a few days trying to correct that paint.



blnewt said:
Thanks a lot for the added info, looks like pads are going to make up the bulk of the purchase, but much better to have plenty than not enough.

BTW, main car is a 09 Black Infiniti G37, my beater ride is a 93 Toyota T100 truck, also in black, 09 paint is in decent shape since it's always garaged and not taken to work sitting in the sun. Just light swirls from MF towel drying and only 3 hand wax applications a year. A few rock chips but other than that not much correction should be needed. I'm sure to you seasoned detailers there's plenty of work to be done, but hopefully w/ the new polisher and the info from the forum I can get a finish that will exceed my expectations.

Thanks again, and I'll let you know what I end up with (a lot of pads for sure!)
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Thomas Dekany said:
Do not be surprised, if you spend a few days trying to correct that paint.
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Right :xyxthumbs



And along the same lines, I'd sure want some more-aggressive-than-black pads no matter *what*. IMO "finishing" pads are for use *after* the paint is basically perfect in the sense of how normal people would see it.
 
Thanks for all the help, looks like I'll be getting extra green pads for sure. As far as the paint chips, not much I can do w/ them for the short term. I just want to keep the initial DA use as simple as possible, just get rid of the swirls and get a nice shine and hopefully better paint protection along the way. I know when the swirls get eliminated the rock chips will really be glaring but for now it's probably all I can do. Once I get some time behind the DA and the whole paint correction process I'd be more inclined to tackle more severe paint correction.



So what 5 pads would you recommend for just a polish then a wax? Green & Red? Any more help is appreciated, and thanks for answering my probably "lame" questions :)
 
blnewt- Your Qs aren't lame in the least, but my *answers* probably will be if I try to recommend (specific) pads from a line I haven't used! But I'd consider doing the waxing by hand and spending your "pad money" on ones for the polishing.
 
Accumulator said:
blnewt- Your Qs aren't lame in the least, but my *answers* probably will be if I try to recommend (specific) pads from a line I haven't used! But I'd consider doing the waxing by hand and spending your "pad money" on ones for the polishing.
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Exactly the thread I was looking for.



In the same line as the OP, I am expecting to purchase the HD kit this weekend of next week. My car is a 2012 subaru rally blue car bought in April 2011 and that has lived through VT/ME geographical area... I am not looking for perfection (at least not now) but just some mild correction of swirls/marring and nice finish.



The kit includes the HD Speed. And I also some Meg's Ultimate Compound as well as Meg's 3-stage bottles. I will likely wax by hand but want to spend enough extra $$ on pads. It seems that:

green=cut

red=polish

black=finish.



It seems that maximizing green's and red's would be the best choice. So maybe

3x green

3x red

2x black



Someone mentioned 3d or Meg's Mf's pads... would that replace teh HD green pads or be overkill? thoughts?

As much as I would like to stick with HD products, I don't mind suggestions of other brands :)

Like the OP, I'd like to start with a simple/fun/effective combo and then work my way to more refined/in-depth paint correction tools/nuances ;)



Thanks for any input.
 
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