Need help I am a noob!!!

J

Jibin

New member
Hi I am new to this site but I have been lurking around for a little bit. I wanted to detail my 2007 Honda Pilot, the car is in pretty bad condition and I wanted to do a 95-99% paint correction to the car. My only problem is I don't know which products to use.



Products I Have:

Griots 3 & 6inch Buffer

Griots Clay bar

Griots One Step Sealant

Griots Red Pads



I know I need different pads and good products to use buff out all of the swirls and little scratches but which pads will be good for me and which products should I use? Also I work at a dealership that sells griots products so I can get employee prices on those products.
 
Jibin said:
Hi I am new to this site but I have been lurking around for a little bit. I wanted to detail my 2007 Honda Pilot, the car is in pretty bad condition and I wanted to do a 95-99% paint correction to the car. My only problem is I don't know which products to use.



Products I Have:

Griots 3 & 6inch Buffer

Griots Clay bar

Griots One Step Sealant

Griots Red Pads



I know I need different pads and good products to use buff out all of the swirls and little scratches but which pads will be good for me and which products should I use? Also I work at a dealership that sells griots products so I can get employee prices on those products.
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Welcome to the forum. What color is your car? Wanting 95-99% correction on a 5 year old car in bad condition is asking a lot.
 
Jibin- Welcome to Autopia!



While I was never all that happy with them, the Griot's Machine Polishes supposedly work quite well with their 6" RO polisher (I had crappy results with them via PC, but did much better via Cyclo, so yeah...maybe it'd work). Since you can get them easily maybe that'd be worth trying.



That 3" polisher, if it's the electric model, might not do such great correction, have to wait and see.



The Griot's orange pad is nice for most stuff *other than* really serious correction. Something like a LC orange cutting pad might work well with the more aggressive Griot's Machine Polish (that's #1, right?).



OR...you could try M105 or Optimum Hyper Compound via the new MF cutting pads from Meguiar's or Optimum, use that for the really aggressive work and then step down the the Griot's stuff.



Here's the "But...." though- if you don't get good results in a reasonable period of time, I'd rethink using stuff just because it's affordable.
 
I didn't want to use the griots polishing pad for the pilot since they only have one and I was unsure if it could get all of them blemishes out. Could I use mf pads with the gg buffer? Don't I have to get a different back plate or something?
 
Jibin said:
I didn't want to use the griots polishing pad for the pilot since they only have one and I was unsure if it could get all of them blemishes out. Could I use mf pads with the gg buffer? Don't I have to get a different back plate or something?
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I *think* you do need to get a smaller backing plate, but anything made for a PC will fit and they're cheap enough.



If you go with the MF cutting pad (and I do think that's a good idea), don't try the Griot's Machine Polishes with it; they're diminishing-abrasive products and that's not what you want for those MF pads.
 
A buddy of mine pulled the trigger on purchasing the Griot's 6" DA polishing kit when it was on sale at Amazon. He was not enamored with the Griot's Machine Polish 3 product that came with the kit so he later purchased Meguiar's Microfiber kit (including the D300/D301 twins). He owns a black Honda Accord and we found that the paint was fairly soft - The MF cutting disc + D300 left some slight hazing that was easily cleaned up with the MF finishing disc + D301. It was his first foray into "real" corrective detailing and it went without any problems.



On that note, can you describe "pretty bad condition" or upload a picture of your Pilot's paint surface. Much has been said about Honda's abnormally high percentage of ~4-5 year old vehicles with peeling clear coat, crows feet, etc. I do not have *scientific* numbers or facts...it's just based on what I've read in several forums as well as what I see on the streets. With that said, the last thing you need to do is spend a lot of time polishing your vehicle when it is suffering from paint failure. I do hope that this in not the case.



Let us know what you see as everyone here will be more than willing to give you a hand



Welcome to Autopia by the way!
 
Jibin said:
Thanks the car is black I know its going to be a long process but I am willing to do it lol
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Since you can get a discount on Griot's products, you should ask your dealership what you will need to get your paint up to par.
 
I hope for your sake its not NHBP because most likely you are seeing Clear coat failure, but hopefully Not. Honda clear is fairly soft compared to others so it should correct just fine with aggressive polish and pads. Be sure and use good Lighting
 
Sounds like to me you need Griot's Machine polish kit polish 1, 2, 3, 4 ... You may be able to use Machine 1 , 3, 4...... Just look at autogeek.net and choose what you need.
 
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