Which products for paint cleaning/preparing for wax?

T

trhoppe

New member
I have a 2.5 year old WRX with about 50K on it. I have been using zaino on the car for the last 2 years, but I have some spidering and persistent water spots that I have been unable to get rid of.



I've run out of the zaino and before I go out and buy more, I wanted to give meguiars products, especially the new NXT wax, a try.



My question is, which product should I use to "clean" the paint and get rid of the spidering and water spots before I apply the NXT? Right now I have a bottle of the deep crystal paint cleaner and a bottle of swirl mark remover 2.0 at home. I also heard that the scratch X would work for this step. Which one of those 3 would be recommended, and what is the order of agressiveness between those?



Also, I don't currently own a buffer, but was thinking about purchasing one of those $40 10in craftsman ones. I don't have the budget right now to spend $150 on the pc dual action and was wondering if the crafstman one is even worth it, or whether I should just continue to apply by hand using the foam applicator until I free up $150 in the "car detailing budget" :)



-Tom
 
I just sold this weekend a Craftsman Oribital this weekend for $15. Great condition. The PC is well worth the money. Find a way to budget for it as soon as possible.



If you have access to it, I'd try the DACP #83. Used that on my car and it cleaned up the spiderwebbing right away and then followed it up with TechWax. You can see the results from the Autopia Detail Day . Mine is the Red Accord about halfway down the post. Both are absolutely great products.
 
The man, the myth, the legend that is trhoppe! ;)



NXT isn't what you want to actually get rid of the spider webbing. In the megs line, I would recommend trying #82 (Swirl Free Polish: aka SFP) first as it is quite mild. A typical foam pad is the less aggressive approach, so you might want to try a 100% cotton terrycloth towell to get a little more bite. If #82 doesn't cut it, go with #83 (Dual Action Compounding Polish: aka DACP). Both products contain diminishing abrasives, so be sure to fully work in the product.



FWIW, I have a PC ($109 from Lowes). It is WORTH EVERY PENNY. It is possible to get the same results by hand, but the PC removes a lot of the skill required to do so.



VV
 
The man, the myth, the legend that is trhoppe!
Click to expand...



:eek: :)



I was going to try the NXT after I remove the swirls / water marks / spider webbing. I was recommended the exact same thing by meguiars, except they said my swirl mark remover 2.0 #9 is the exact same thing as the #82.



I went ahead and tried the #9 on the car by hand with a foam pad and I punted after about 5 minutes. Went to Home Depot and picked up a $29 Ryobi orbital polisher. Its "4800RPMs" but thats with no weight on it. It surprisingly helped a LOT and the paint is starting to look awesome (only done a few panels). I would love to try the #83 on the paint first as it would probably make this job a lot easier, as the #9 takes quite a bit of "working in" to remove the swirls. I'll try to find some place in town that has it.



I didn't know Lowes carried the PC though and for $109!! I think I will return that ryobi and pick this thing up at lunchtime. It would take a lot of effort to finish the whole car with the #9 and the ryobi, so the $$ spent to save the time and energy now and then down the road later would definetly be worth it.



So the current plan of action is to

1) Go over the whole car with #83

2) Again with #9

3) 2 coats of NXT



Should be pretty when I'm done. Just need to get my butt in gear to have all that done before the photo shoot thursday.



-Tom
 
I'll try the wink, see if it works :lol:

"Yea, youre eyes are amazing, can I get the employee discount??"



What do I do about the pad though? The one in the link doesn't come with the polishing pad.



I have no idea who the heck in town would carry that stuff.....



-Tom
 
Mine is the 7336SP or something like that...identical except that it comes with a polishing pad instead of the sanding disks. But the pad it comes with isn't what you want to use. I use these:



http://properautocare.com/adfoampadfor.html



These also get high remarks on here:



http://properautocare.com/orangepowerpad.html



Either way, you need one of these:



http://properautocare.com/velbacplatfo.html



There are other sources of these pads/backers online, but I've yet to see any locacally :(



Pads considerably increase the cost of the PC, but with the velcro backing plate, make it much more versatile. For instance, you could do #83 with one pad, rip it off, do #82 with another polishing pad, and finally use a finishing pad with NXT.



All you really need is a backing plate and a pad to get you started. The backing plate is nothing special (like the online vendors seem to make it sound)...it is just a 6" velcro backing plate. They might have them in the sanding section.
 
Just got back from Lowes with the 7336SP and two white foam polishing pads. They gave me an extra for free :)



I struck out at two other stores (carquest and an auto paint store) for the 6" velcro ones and meguiars #83.



I've read on the board that the white foam pads that come with the PC are the same as the white "polishing pads" on here http://properautocare.com/adfoampadfor.html



Can I use that same white foam pad to apply the NXT instead of using a finishing pad or are they too coarse for that? That would save me some $$ right there. If not, I'll just PC on the #9 a couple of times and then do the NXT by hand, and order a finishing pad later.



Last but not least, are those white foam pads washable and reusable? Can I use it with #9 now, then wash/dry and use it next time with #83? I know youre not supposed to use it with different compounds, but I was assuming that was back to back.



Thanks

-Tom
 
good deal. You probably could apply the NXT with your white pad, but I would just apply that by hand. The PC really shines in applying cleaners/polishes/glazes...IMO of course.



VV
 
VetteVert said:
The major metropolitan area known as Boone LOL. You?



VV
Click to expand...



I live in Gastonia.



I sometimes wished that I had relatives in your part of the state (Would make for a good vacation!)...I think that the northwestern part of NC is the most beautiful part of the mountains.



I passed through Boone last October while I was looking for the old Mast General store...I got a big kick out of seeing that old landmark :up
 
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