What are you guys using to followup the FG400 before LSP? SF4000 or SF4500 in general, not vehicle manufacturer specific.
Depends on the color, FG400 is considered a great "1-step" but if its a certain tone (ex: Black / Red / ect) you might need to do a follow up with something. SF4000 or SF4500 will work great. I prefer SF4500 myself (po85rd)
Ok, so on pewters, whites, silvers and such...it could be used by itself. On say red, black dark blues, will need 2nd step. I'm polishing a Toyota Matrix in dark blue; therefore I will use a 2nd polish to finish.
I've had great success with FG400 on all colours. It will finish out well enough for 99% of your clients, even on dark colours. The only reason you would follow it up would be to add a bit more gloss or to clean up micro-marring if the paint you were working on was soft.
On VAG paint with a megs MF pad it is a great one step....... I used it on both my VWs and it needed only one step
If really a second step is needed, I will go to SF4000. Cuts more than SF4500 but dust abit more. Also, it is more versatile imo. You can use SF4000 in 1 step or 2 step to remove quite abit of swirls if you are on the caution side. SF4500 doesn't cut significantly enough and doesn't finish well with really finicky soft paint at least for me.
I've used FF3000, or PF2500 after FG400, but I tend to agree that you can get a hell of a finish with just FG400.
+1 FG400 finishes up great on my corsa blue Kia Optima (hard paint/clear): I followed up with M205 simply to add gloss. If this were a "regular" (i.e. non-detailer/non-picky) friend's car, I would not have bothered with the M205.
The photo above your post was done with a 5.5" Buff & Shine MF cutting disc, speed 5 on a PC. I was getting moderate swirls out created by the body shop.
I would recommend getting Nano Polish over Perfect Finish. It finishes just as nice and can be had for much cheaper. Perfect Finish I would use as a one step by itself.
I have used Sonax Perfect Finish on a couple vehicles and it gave me stunning gloss, 2 passes, Lake Country Hydro-Shred Tangerine, Makita9227C, 1991 BMW 850, Single Stage Jet Black. The gloss level is 6 out of 6. I love this stuff.. Dan F