Newbie Needs Advice

H

hamsteria

New member
Great forum!



I have four vehicles to take care of and have always used OTC products. After finding this forum, I'll now be buying a Porter Cable and will use the products that I am seeing here. Which brings me to my questions (and I know you are probably asked these types of questions constantly): I need to know which products you recommend for me to use.



I am willing to take as many steps as needed to make them look like some of the photos I see here. Let's start with two vehicles. The first is my 2005 Lincoln Zephyr. It's black with chrome wheels, and, is darn nice!



The second is my 1968 Plymouth Fury III that I keep in the garage. It only has 19K on it. It's gold with a black vinyl top.



Can anyone offer me suggestions as to which polishes and waxes to use and on which vehicles, if the products should differ for each vehicle? I would like to try p21s because I keep reading good things about it. How should I use the Porter Cable? To polish, wax, or both?



There are so many to choose from that my head spins when I browse through them! Any help is appreciated.



Thanks,



Brian
 
Join the group. But it does take a while to absorb all the info. It funny because I thought I was doing a decent job on my car and when I found about this website damn I was wrong. My best advice is to go to the Click & Brag forum and see what has worked for people and their photos. The Porter Cable (PC) will be used for everything from swirl removing, polishing, wax (sealant), etc.
 
hamsteria- Welcome to Autopia! I'm with rydawg, that '68 C-body is a really special car :xyxthumbs I've always been a big fan of those and I sure wish I'd kept one of mine.



If the Fury has original paint I'd concentrate on preservation rather than improvement (don't kill the paint trying to make it like new). If it's been repainted in basecoat/clearcoat then I'd treat it the same as the Lincoln.



Most people would use the P21s wax by hand. Their GEPC product can be used by PC but be warned that it's awfully mild and might not give the results you're after. I've just never been a big fan of it, there's always some product I reach for instead.



For the Loncoln: I (almost) always recommend that people use 1Z polishes when first getting into this stuff, they're very user-friendly and give great results. You can apply the P21S wax on top of them. If the Lincoln is in great shape I'd get their MetallicPolishWax (gotta love those weirdly-translated foreign names). If it has any severe marring (scratches/swirls/etc.) then their stronger Paint Polish would be a better idea but you might need to follow up with the Metallic for a perfect finish. I get my 1z stuff from Aloha & Welcome to Our Oasis for All Your Auto Detailing Supplies & Accessories .



If the Fury has original paint, then you could either use the P21s GEPC or (my preferred course of action) Meguiar's #80 (stronger) or #9 (milder than #80, slightly stronger than GEPC) followed by the P21s. The Meguiar's "pure polishes", i.e. their nonabrasive polishes (#3/#5/#7/#81/Deep Crystal step #2 Polish), might be a good idea between the #80/#9 and the wax. The 1Z Metallic would work OK but single stage (especially old single stage) really responds well to the Meguiar's stuff.



There are innumerable other approaches, and the above could be made far more involved (with commensurately better results), but those are what I'd recommend if you were in my shop doing the work for the first time (and I have a lot of other products you could choose from but I wouldn't recommend them in your case).
 
Thanks folks!



The Plymouth is a nice driving car. I love the gold with black vinyl! I'll post pictures of it at some point. The only issues with it are a couple of tears in the seams on the vinyl seats and the fuel gauge and clock are no longer working. The car is sharp though!



Mr. Accumulator, you've supplied me with enough information to get me started. I was actually researching the 1z stuff last night. I'll get it for the Lincoln. Megs has a lot to choose from. I'll use some of their stuff for the Plymouth.



I haven't even gotten to my other vehicles yet! I also have a 1974 Ford F 250 that's in need of help. I'll ask you about that later. Thanks for the advice!
 
rydawg said:
WOW...Pakshak ...even [has] the Presta polishes and compounds...
Click to expand...



Ah, I hadn't noticed those. Presta gets some rave reviews from people who've used it.



hamsteria- I bet I'll be recommending 1Z for the F-250 too ;) I used 1z, topped with Collinite wax, on my Blazer, which was...uhm...bought in *VERY* used condition (to put it politely). I'll enjoy seeing the pictures when you get a chance to post them.
 
If your looking to restore the paint (this is before waxing and will REQUIRE waxing to seal the paint, otherwise things will stick easily to the paint) take a look at megs ultimate compound. It will take some elbow grease by hand but is much safer on the softer single-step paint. Follow that with the ultimate polish and either the black or white wax (no color pigment in either wax) to make the paint look great again.
 
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