Help with PC'ing my 2002 Camaro

M

molleh

New member
Hey everyone, this is my first post here but I have been lurking on and off for a while.



Here's where I'm at right now. I have a 2002 Chevy Camaro with the factory paint, which is called Monterey Maroon Metallic (a dark reddish color). The car has 32k miles and has always been garaged as far as I know, but the previous owners didn't take care of the paint so it's got some heavy swirls, but I feel it should be very possible to get it looking like new again.



I have a Porter Cable 7424 with a Lake Country with (I believe) a 6" velcro-style backing plate designed for 6.5" pads. I do have some pads but they need to be cleaned so I'd rather just pick up some new ones for this car rather than take any chances and wondering if my pads are working 100% or not.



Other products I have:

-Clay Magic clay bar kit

-Menzerna SIP

-Tropicare (now Showroom FX) Dark Crystal liquid carnauba wax for dark colors



What pads should I be working with here? I have tried using the 7424 once before on a 95 Camaro but I did not have much luck. I was using Lake Country CCS foam pads - yellow followed by orange. That car's paint was very similar in condition to this car's, albeit obviously several years older, and while I reduced the swirls I was nowhere near getting rid of them.



I'm thinking wash, clay, wash, Menzerna + ??? pad, and looking for help on how to finish the rest of the correction up!



THANKS ALOT in advance for any help/advice!!
 
molleh said:
Hey everyone, this is my first post here but I have been lurking on and off for a while.



Here's where I'm at right now. I have a 2002 Chevy Camaro with the factory paint, which is called Monterey Maroon Metallic (a dark reddish color). The car has 32k miles and has always been garaged as far as I know, but the previous owners didn't take care of the paint so it's got some heavy swirls, but I feel it should be very possible to get it looking like new again.



I have a Porter Cable 7424 with a Lake Country with (I believe) a 6" velcro-style backing plate designed for 6.5" pads. I do have some pads but they need to be cleaned so I'd rather just pick up some new ones for this car rather than take any chances and wondering if my pads are working 100% or not.



Other products I have:

-Clay Magic clay bar kit

-Menzerna SIP

-Tropicare (now Showroom FX) Dark Crystal liquid carnauba wax for dark colors



What pads should I be working with here? I have tried using the 7424 once before on a 95 Camaro but I did not have much luck. I was using Lake Country CCS foam pads - yellow followed by orange. That car's paint was very similar in condition to this car's, albeit obviously several years older, and while I reduced the swirls I was nowhere near getting rid of them.



I'm thinking wash, clay, wash, Menzerna + ??? pad, and looking for help on how to finish the rest of the correction up!



THANKS ALOT in advance for any help/advice!!
Click to expand...
Always start with the least aggressive and alway's do a test spot first. Your not going to have much sucess with a pc using 6.5" pads. The pads are too big for the pc to spin without rotating. Get some 5.5" and even 4" pads for tighter areas. You will need 2 backing plates. Good Luck!
 
Depending on your budget allowances, my experience would say to use either 5.5" X 1.25" or 4" X 1.25" Lake Country HydroTechs. I say 5.5" but Accumulator say 4" and he's probably right-er. :chuckle:



The Cyan is for removing swirls and the Tangerine is for finish polishing. I would also reccommend getting some Meguiars 205 and 105.



Start with 3 passes of Cyan/105 and check your results. IME, 3 passes with medium pressure is plenty unaggressive unless your paint REALLY soft. Also, I was told to not plan on correcting the whole vehicle in one day on my first shot and that was absolutely great advice. Pick a fender or a door and work a 15" X 15" spot, then repeat till you're tired of it for the day. Split it into a few weekends.



Wash/Clay/105 Cyan/205 Tang/Wash/Dry/Apply multiple thin coats of the wax/polish of your choice. I love Zaino products, others, not so much.



And make sure you order the new backing plate related to the size of pads you use. The 6.5" are just too big to be effective act correcting IME.
 
molleh- Welcome to Autopia!



What they said- get some smaller pads.



I'd either go with the Meguiar's M105/M205 twins (which I've used successfully on GM clear of that vintage) or the new Optimum spray compound and polish, which I've yet to try. Nothing against Menzeran (maybe...their 203 followed by one of their finishing polishes) but I'd probably try one of the aforementioned combos instead.
 
Thanks everyone!



I honestly had no idea that there was a difference between pad sizes (apart from surface area covered, obviously). I will pick up some smaller ones then and probably some Meguiar's 105/205 because I've heard nothing but good things about them. Is there a place I can buy them without paying a ton for a large quantity of each? I only plan on doing my car and maybe one or two others eventually so I don't need the big pro detailer's jugs...



Also, after 205 do I apply my wax or is there anything else I need to do first?



THANKS!!
 
molleh- There's some place that sells sample-sizes of those products but I can't remember who it is.



After M205 you should be ready-to-wax, but if the M205 leaves too many residual oils (it'll look like light holograms in the sun), you'll want to clean them off with IPA or PrepWash or maybe a Dawn wash.



Note that when it comes to pads, you really do need to buy quite a few. With M105 they load up rather fast and won't work well if you just clean them (they'll be OK again after they dry completely, but who wants to stop and wait for that). M205 isn't that bad in this regard because it isn't doing so much work,but I'd still buy more than you think you need.
 
Thank you once again everyone!



Right now I am looking at:



-a Lake Country 5" backing plate

-5.5" Lake Country Hydrotech Cyan pads for use with Meguiars 105

-5.5" Lake Country Hydrotech Tangerine pads for use with Meguiars 205

-and of course, Megs 105/205 in 8oz size



I would get the 4" backing plate and associated pads too but that's a little out of my budget right now.



So here's the total process I'm thinking about, and once again I turn to very friendly autopians to confirm that I'm on the right track:



-start off with a regular wash

-complete wipe down with IPA

-claybar

-another quick wash

-Megs 105 with Cyan hydrotech pads

-Megs 205 with Tangerine hydrotech pads

-apply my carnauba creme wax by hand



How does that look guys? My finger is on the order button, lol!
 
I would replace the regular wash and IPA wipe down with a strongly concentrated Dawn wash.



I use the Dawn Ultra Concentrate, about 1/4 cup in a bucket, suds-ed well. Then I use a MF mitt and "foam" the car the good ol white trash way of wringing it out all over the car.



Let it dwell for a few minutes, and then do a normal wash with the mitt. I can normally get full wax removal with one wash this way, or at least absolutely no beading.



And instead of the 2nd wash being after claybar, I would move it to after the 205, before wax.



Repeat the same Dawn process to remove an of the carrier oils left over from the 205 and make a nice clean base for wax.



Other than that, the list looks good.
 
molleh said:
So here's the total process I'm thinking about, and once again I turn to very friendly autopians to confirm that I'm on the right track:



-start off with a regular wash

-complete wipe down with IPA

-claybar

-another quick wash

-Megs 105 with Cyan hydrotech pads

-Megs 205 with Tangerine hydrotech pads

-apply my carnauba creme wax by hand



How does that look guys? My finger is on the order button, lol!
Click to expand...



I'd do the regular wash, then a Dawn wash, skip the IPA.



Clay and see how much residue you leave on there. IF there's much, wash again (regular at strong dilution or Dawn).



Then do the correction.



IF you get pseudo-holograms from the oils in the M205, use IPA/Dawn/something to clean them off before applying your LSP.
 
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