Pad and polish recommendations for first timer

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brg6

New member
I'm looking to get into machine polishing and I believe I have narrowed down the actual buffer, but am having some difficulty selecting a pad/polish combination.



I will be detailing for personal use, nothing professional, and will most of the time be detailing a subaru (which from what I read has relatively easy paint correction). The car is 6 years old (2005), and has a decent amount of stage II etched water spots (mainly on the roof and hood), along with the typical swirling from washing. Overall though, I would say the paint is in relatively good condition.



For the actual machine, I believe I am going to purchase a Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital. However, I would greatly appreciate any advise for selecting the correct pads and polish to correct the above mentioned blemishes.
 
I suggest getting a quaart of Uno along with thier polishing pads and have at it. Uno is by far the easiest polish to use for someone new.
 
I have the Griot's machine. Meg's 205 and 105 are really the only polishes I have used and they work great for a hobbiest under most circumstances. There is a slight learning curve on the 105 so make sure to do lots of reading here.



Here's a good (long) thread on 105.



http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-detailing-product-discussion/116222-new-m105-kicking-but-w-kb-method-20.html



As far as pads, LC orange, white and black (5.5") should be all you need if you are just starting out. Make sure you have/get a 5" velcro backing plate for the pads. I think my Griot's came with a 6" backing plate which (obviously) won't work with 5.5" pads.
 
I have had great success using Meguiar's D300/mf cutting discs on Subaru paint. But for your etching you will most likely need something with more cut such as Meg's M105. My personal opinion would be to pick up a Meguiar's Micro Fiber starter kit that comes with 16oz. of compound and finishing wax, 2 cutting and 2 finishing pads, and the appropriate backing plate. Then pick up an 8oz bottle of Meguiar's M105 for the heavy stuff and M205 if you choose to skip the finishing wax (D301). A six pack of Lake Country 5.5" pads just in case - 2 orange, 2 white, 2 black/gray or the Hydro-Tech low profile series (my personal favorite) - 2 cyan, 2 tangerine, 2 crimson (I prefer gray/black over crimson). This of course is just my opinion based off of my experience with Subaru paint. :)
 
brg6- Welcome to Autopia!



If I were you I'd aim for "considerably better" instead of "nearly perfect", and part of that would be not sweating the etching too much.



If you can live with a little less cut, I'd go with Optimum's Hyper Compound instead of M105 because the former is *SO* much more user-friendly.



I'm kinda getting away from M205 too, both for my own use and recommending it, because the oils it leaves behind drive me nuts more often than not. If you don't go with the Uno, you might consider something from Menzerna or the 1Z High Gloss that I like so much (I don't think it'll be too aggressive for a finishing polish on a Subaru).



OR...yeah, just go with the Meguiar's MF system, both parts, and see how that goes.
 
Thank you everyone for your responses. All the choices and combinations out there can definitely make a n00b's head spin! This is what I have come up with so far:



1. Griot's Garage 6" random orbital

2. Meguiar's 5" backing plate - W67DA

3. Meguiar's DA MF correction compound - D300

4. Meguiar's DA MF cutting discs (2)

5. Lake Country 5.5" foam flat pads (3 white and 3 black)



The last part of this puzzle (in my mind) is picking the finishing polish. I already have klasse AIO and SG, so I would like to use those after the whole polishing process, in addition to pinnacle liquid soverign as a final wax topper. Thus, I would like to stay away from a AIO finishing polish such as the D301.



My original plan was to use the M205 as the finishing polish, but with the above information I might go with the Menzerna PO85RD. I was having trouble tracking down the 1Z High Gloss product however.



Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated.
 
brg6- My issue with the M205 is that the oils can be an incredible PIA to get off/out of the paint and no KAIO won't get 'em. The PC I'm currently on doesn't have any of my "favorites" archived, but see if PakShak has the 1Z stuff, its oils clean away pretty easily.



The Menzerna stuff would certainly be OK, but I don't know whether the PO85RD would have enough bite to follow the M300 :nixweiss
 
All I've really used are M105/M205, and I agree that the M205 is a PITA to remove. IMO, it's considerably harder to remove than M105 (even if it dusts), and so I try to remove it pretty soon after polishing a panel, to reduce its drying time, so to speak. I think it seems to make it easier.



I recently received some UNO with the recent sale here, and look forward to the day I get to try it out.



I have a PC and Flex, and have never used a Griot's. All I will say is that with some cars that are pretty abused, when using a PC, it would require the M105 (very aggressive) combined with a very aggressive pad, and quite a *lot* of pressure to remove some of the worst swirls I've personally come across in my very limited experiences (before I obtained the Flex).



I guess if the paint is in pretty good condition, you won't have to worry about it. However, I thought I read that Subaru paint was actually pretty tough. I'm probably misremembering, or maybe there is a large variation depending on the color/year.



I'd like to try Menzerna someday, however, the price increase is not insignificant IMO. The "system" is also not noob-friendly, IMO. It's like the antithesis to the UNO system, at least it seems to me.
 
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