Need polish recommendations. Full sun pictures!

P

pharmboyrx

New member
Hello all! I've been diligently saving to complete my polishing kit. I bought a UDM last week and am now shopping for a polish. I'll be purchasing 4" pads and a BP. I washed my car and applied a coat of KSG today, then took full sun pictures. It has light spiderwebbing/swirls. It's so light it barely showed in the pictures but I hope these help. I'm looking for easy to use polish as this is the first time I'm doing this so I'd like minimal headaches.



The paint is Mazda Black Mica. It's a black metallic paint with lots of flake.



Considering:

Optimum

1Z

Meg's

XMT



Any thoughts?



DSC00916.jpg




DSC00917.jpg




DSC00915.jpg




I want to do this right the first time. Help a newb out.
 
I have the same color, but a hatch! Nice car! :) I've had good luck with Meg's 83 and 80. Foolproof, economical, and look great!
 
OneQuickGT1 said:
I have the same color, but a hatch! Nice car! :) I've had good luck with Meg's 83 and 80. Foolproof, economical, and look great!
Click to expand...

so #80 for step 1 with an orange pad then finish up with #83 on white? Or have you had good luck with another combo?
 
I would go 83 with an orange, if needed. Start with 80 on a white pad. I bet it will take care of most of your issues.



Not well-regarded here, but NXT 2.0 looks great on this color.
 
The surface looks fine from here. And if that's the worst of it, there isn't real

need to do any "correction." A good wash and LSP should be fine.



Practice on Mom's car or something. :)
 
OneQuickGT1 said:
I have the same color, but a hatch! Nice car! :) I've had good luck with Meg's 83 and 80. Foolproof, economical, and look great!
Click to expand...



Agree. You could also try Optimum compound and polish, very good as well and easy to use.
 
I like #80 (white pad, orange is too aggressive a pad to be a good match with this product IME), but I'd use something that doesn't leave as much behind if applying KSG.



I've had too many flaws "come back" when I followed #80 with AIO (in preparation for the KSG).



I wonder if 1Z HG would be a good choice :think: I dunno...I use my old PI-III stuff on our Mazda :nixweiss
 
Use #83 with a white pad. Has enough cut and with the white pad will finish down very nicely. If need to be, step up to orange. Great color choice by the way.



DJ
 
Honestly, judging by the pics, your paint is in very decent condition. Not sure how long you've had your vehicle, but if you're going the Meguiar's route, use a white Lake Country pad, with Meguiar's #80 at most. No need to go with the more aggressive orange pad, and more aggressive #83 IMO.



Try to live with a few imperfections and polish a few times a year - if you chase every single defect all the time you might be polishing every week!



For calling yourself a "newb", looks like you're taking good care washing it so far.



Have fun!
 
MrRumble said:
Honestly, judging by the pics, your paint is in very decent condition. Not sure how long you've had your vehicle, but if you're going the Meguiar's route, use a white Lake Country pad, with Meguiar's #80 at most. No need to go with the more aggressive orange pad, and more aggressive #83 IMO.



Try to live with a few imperfections and polish a few times a year - if you chase every single defect all the time you might be polishing every week!



For calling yourself a "newb", looks like you're taking good care washing it so far.



Have fun!
Click to expand...



I watch you guys a lot so that helps with the car looking nice. I couldn't get the defects to come out in the pictures. They are very light, but you know how black PAINt is. I don't plan on keeping this car looking perfect as it is my DD. I'd like it to look as close to perfect as I can realistically get it when I'm done polishing. I kinda figured I'd be able to 1-step it. I've had the car for about a year and a half and have washed it properly for about the past year. I love the paint on this car as it has loads of flake in it and I really want to see how good I can get it.



I will be doing IPA wipe downs between passes. I'll be doing KAIO followed by DWG layered with KSG.



Thanks for all the help everyone!
 
Just a few ~random thoughts, not that I'm trying to change the plan so late in the game.



-Polishing more than once a year makes *me* think the wash regimen needs tweaking. If you're gonna polish that often you could use something that fills and apply a durable LSP (see below).



- I only use KSG (or other sealants) on vehicles I can get/keep basically perfect. For most people's drivers I'd recommend something like Collinite wax instead. Any protection/durability comparisons will work out about equal between the two (I use them on our two daily dog-haulers, neither is better/worse than the other).



-I don't always recommend doing the alcohol wipe unless there's a functional reason (i.e., you're applying a sealant after using something it might not bond to). Some concealing can be OK on a vehicle where relative perfection isn't feasible, and nothing hides *serious* marring anyhow. Some products that fill (e.g., Meguiar's #80, 1Z Paint Polish, Autoglym SRP) are great for use before LSPs like Collinite; they're very user-friendly, quite effective, and any concealing agents get locked in by the Collinite.



-For somebody doing a one-step, I'd be hard pressed to recommend anything better than one of the aforementioned polishes topped with 476S.
 
Accumulator said:
-I don't always recommend doing the alcohol wipe unless there's a functional reason (i.e., you're applying a sealant after using something it might not bond to). Some concealing can be OK on a vehicle where relative perfection isn't feasible, and nothing hides *serious* marring anyhow. Some products that fill (e.g., Meguiar's #80, 1Z Paint Polish, Autoglym SRP) are great for use before LSPs like Collinite; they're very user-friendly, quite effective, and any concealing agents get locked in by the Collinite.



-For somebody doing a one-step, I'd be hard pressed to recommend anything better than one of the aforementioned polishes topped with 476S.
Click to expand...



The reason I'm using KSG is because I already have it and I like the way it looks on the car. I've gotten pretty good at getting good results with it. I wanted to add the DWG since the cars I've seen it on looked absolutely dripping wet.



I don't plan on making polishing a frequent thing. Ideally once or twice a year. I've gotten my wash procedure down pretty good and don't cause any marring that I can see. What's there is scratches from 1 round with a swirl o' matic :wall and also from using poor quality cloths when I first got the car. Also there is the usual rainspots from the car sitting out when I'm at work.



Although this is a daily drive, when I polish it, I want it to look as good as possible when I'm done. I wanted to avoid any filling so that was the reason for using the IPA. I figured that if I didn't get a good surface, any fillers would be removed when I apply KAIO before the KSG. Any advice is appreciated though if you have anything further.
 
The new version of Optimum Polish (you may have to order it directly from Optimum) will work great via PC or rotary. Your paint looks pretty good so I wouldn't go too hard into it.
 
Flashtime said:
The surface looks fine from here. And if that's the worst of it, there isn't real

need to do any "correction." A good wash and LSP should be fine.



Practice on Mom's car or something. :)
Click to expand...



I'm with this guy.



The marring is super minimal and IMO not worth chasing. At most, a very light polish. Protect it for the winter and check back in the spring.
 
pharmboyrx- Ah, OK, thanks for the good explanation.



ScottWax- Is there some new version of OCP that's significantly different from what I've used (mine is v2.0)?
 
And just for clarification, since no one else mentioned it...you would NOT want to do #80 and then follow up with #83. #83 is more harsh than #80, and will not leave as nice a finish.



I think just #80 and a Meguiar's normal yellow polishing pad would be just what the doctor ordered to make that paint perfect in 1-2 passes. Then seal her up good and keep up whatever you are doing for washes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top