First polishing experience - Black swirled car

Hi!

My 4 years old black paint is getting pretty swirled after all these years without a complete polish. I wax it 2-3 times per summer, but now I think it really needs some serious care.

Here's the paint under 2x 250w bulbs:



Here's what I plan on buying:
- PC 7424
- 5" Backing Plate
- Lake Country 6.5" CCS pads: 1x orange, 1x white, 1x blue. 1st question: should I buy more than one? Especially for the white one?
- Tornado Buffing Towel. 2nd question: how many?
- 1x 100% Sheepskin Mitt
- 1x cheap mitt for the dirty areas
- 2x buckets (1 for soap, 1 to rinse)

Products and steps:
- Poorboy's Super Slick & Suds Wash. 3rd question: does it need to be clayed or if I can go directly to SSR2.5?
- Poorboy's SSR2.5 with white pad first. With orange pad if white isn't mild enough.
- Poorboy's SSR1 with white pad. 4th question: or should I replace SSR1 by Poorboy's Professional Polish?
- Poorboy's EX-P with white pad
- Poorboy's Natty's Paste Wax with blue pad

5th question: do I forget anything (tool, material, product)? Do you suggest replacing products or adding ones?

Thank you.

 

I would suggest calling Phil at Detailers Domain and I bet he could make a kit for you with better products at a great price.

 

I'm from Canada and I'd like to buy the products locally. That's why I came up with this list.

 

Then call Chris at E-shine, he is in Canada. I prefer Menzerna and the low profile pads for the pc or rotary. You will find Menzerna is the prefered polish on this forum and most others.

 

Yeah, that's exactly where I wanted to buy my stuff (@E-shine). I didn't want to call Chris just in case he tries to sell products on which he makes more profit or marketing arrangements.

 

If he was like that I doubt he would be a forum sponsor. All the forum sponsors are very good people and will help you in anyway. Also to answer one of your other questions, yes you do want to clay after washing. I would get Menzerna SIP and 106FF, 3 or 4 of the orange, white and blue pads. I would also get about a dozen micro-fiber towels, you will never have enough towels. What type of wax or sealant or you going to use. If you were going Poorboys Nattys Blue gives black a very nice look for its price.

 

Nice! That's good to know about Chris. Thank you, I'll contact him.

 

I don't think that Chris is that kind of guy. He seems pretty "chill", and I think the guy just gets you to buy what YOU want. Everyone will tell you to buy what they think is best, so I would reccomend trying the products before you buy them. Where abouts in Canada are you? Maybe a fellow member could let you play with a few products.

I think that you should get more than one pad. The Sonus pads that Chris have are really really nice as well. I have used quite a few of them, and I plan to order more in the next few months.

To answer some of your questions, I would say that you will need 5+ M/F towels. I usually go with quite a few because I tend to misplace them.

Claying is not necessary, but claying will make you car feel really smooth, such that you will want to touch it all the time. The Riccardo clay that Eshine has is some of my favorite. Moreover, Chris is pretty much my go to guy, he can get you almost anything that you can think of. Just shoot the guy a PM or Email. He is usually pretty fast, but I think he is really busy lately.

hahahaha as you can see I love buying things from E-shine! Great service at a great price. Now I just have to wait for my order to come in on TUESDAY :giterdone: :headbang:

 

Mmmm, yes, it could do with some TLC to bring it back to life.

Machine polishing is definitely the way to go however, and you have a comprehensive list of products there.

To answer your questions specifically:

Yes - buy more than one pad, two of each of each if you can as its sometimes nice to be able to swap to a clean pad mid detail if one picks up a little dirt or starts to become clogged. Spares are always handy in any case incase of pad failure.

Buffing towels for removing product residues - fill your boots!! The more the better as they can become clogged with product quite quickly so the more you have to put your hands on mid detail the better. I will typically use about 20 microfibre towels over the course of a detail - you dont need that many, but that is just to give you an idea of the fact you do need quite a few!

Definitely clay your car - this will remove bonded contaminants that can ingrain in pads and then scour the finish as you polish, and also prevent the polishes from spreading as easily and working as effectively.

IIRC, Pro Polish contains fillers - so I would stick with SSR1 so you know that the finish you have is unfilled and a result of cutting... Unless yuo find you need fillers for deeper swirls where the paint is thinner.

Personally, and this is just personally, I would replace SSR2.5 with Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish and SSR1 with Menzerna PO106FA Final Finish. It looks to me that you have solid black there, and this is a very unforgiving colour to detail. But also the most rewarding. I personally find the SSR polishes a little dry with too short a work time to break down really thoroughly and deliver the best possible finish, where as the Menzerna polishes are much better lubed and break down to burnish the finish to a higher gloss - the abrasives just seem a little better in the Menzerna....

... and this brings me to a crucial point when machine polishing. Ensure you thoroughly work the polishes to get the best finish: small areas (1' square) at a time, and work on speeds 5 and 6 until the residue goes clear, which can typically take three or so minutes. Machine polishing is a long process, it will easily take a whole day, probably two to fully machine a car but dont rush it. The more time you take and the more thoroughly you work the polishes, the better your finish will be at the end of the day

 

Thanks for all this precious info!

1) I can't find PO85 Intensive Polish on e-shine. Can I replace it with PO91E or PO83Q?
2) Same thing for PO106FA, they only have PO106FF.
3) Riccardo Clay: do I need the Clay Lubricant?

Thank you guys. :worship2:

 

Chris does have Intensive Polish but yes the numbers are different. I use that from Chris. Lots like the SIP perhaps even more.Just email Chris about it. Same for the other Menzerna products and he will clear that up for you.
You need some kind of lubricant for the Ricardo or any clay but your choice of which kind. Any good QD will work if you happen to have some already or Chris' Ricardo will be fine.

Chris is a good guy and won't sell you stuff you don't need or high margine stuff IMO.

Lots of Microfibres are good to have. Also, might as well think hard about all the stuff you're going to want once you're hooked on detailing and order it now instead of going back numerous times as you probably will.

You might want to consider the UDM vs the PC too. Its a little stronger but that's up to you.

Good luck and have fun. Dang black cars. I have a new one and I know its going to be lots of work.
G

 

I don't want the UDM because the R&D doesn't seem very good with this machine. Lots of reliability (motor) and design issues (power button, etc). I prefer a bit less power and a better design (PC), unless everything is resolved with the UDM?

 

Xcessiv, PM me your phoine number and we can get you what you need. I am so swamped lately I am having a hard time getting to any forums at all!

 

There does seem to be several reliability woes with UDMs arriving in the UK also, brushes a big culprit and they wear very very quickly and this seems to be due to damage on the motor commutator from what people are saying.. In any case, the problems are consistent but hopefully they are being resolved. A few Meguiars G220s in the UK are showing similar faults, a reason for me sticking to my PC which in real world terms will deliver just as much correction as the other two despite having a slightly less powerful motor.

The PO106FF is pretty much exactly the same as the PO106FA so is absolutely fine to go with, indeed I still use 106Ff as i have a stock of it and its a fantastic light cutting and finishing polish.

 

That is a very nice list you got there, I agree go with Menzerna you'll love the product it lives up to the big hype it has.

I agree with what Dave is saying, listen to Dave he know's what he's talking about.

As for Chris (eShine) really good guy, he's my go to guy what ever you need or want he will get for you..trust me I've sent him rediculous lists of products and he always comes through...well maybe nto so rediculous lol.

 

Some people told me that the PC couldn't handle that kind of bad swirls and that 6.5" pads were too big for such heavy correction. Is it true? :shakehead:

 

It will certainly take a long time to get that corrected with a PC. It can be done though.
You might consider adding a Glaze to your order.

 

I definitely am not an experienced detailer by any means but I just don't like the 6.5" pads with my PC,they are too heavy/too big in my opinion,but the 5.5" are fine and don't forget the 4" pads,you can do small jobs with them very efficiently.

 

hmmm..:shead:...no I would have to desagree with you on this one. PC will get the job done and will turn around just about any swirled vehicle around, there are some wicked detailers here that will confirm this but like Blackwater said it will just take longer and may be a painfull process...not painfull becuase it would be slow but literally the vibration from the PC will make your arms tingle/numb....but it will get the job done.

 

You can use the 6.5 pads on the pc, I feel the 5 inch pads correct quicker and the pc doesnt feel like it bogs down as much with the smaller pads.