New Audi A3 - Black of Course

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IbisA4

New member
OK - so I am going to make the switch to 3D products. The paint is new, and of course we opted for the dealer installed swirls. I have a Porter Cable 7424 but I am going to buy new pads.

Here is what I am thinking -

HD Adapt with a Green/Blue Pad - will try blue first and switch to green if needed
HD Poxy - with a Black Pad

I am hoping to be an eye popping - clear finish.

So, is this going to be possible with this combination.

Second question, all about cleaning pads. I am relatively a newbie when it comes to machine polishing. What is the proper way to clean a pad. I plan on buying two of each - is that going to be enough to finish the car?

Any information would be appreciated.
 
You will have to do a test spot to be for sure. I have heard that the clear on black Audis tend to be very hard. If that is the case, you may have to move up to something more aggressive such an orange or yellow B&S pad or a Lake Country Cyan Pad or even possibly a Microfiber Pad. As always; start with the least aggressive combination on your test spot and continue to move up in aggressiveness to get the desired finish.

As far as the number of pads you need - I would want at least a minimum of 4 each.
 
IbisA4 said:
OK - so I am going to make the switch to 3D products. The paint is new, and of course we opted for the dealer installed swirls. I have a Porter Cable 7424 but I am going to buy new pads.

Here is what I am thinking -

HD Adapt with a Green/Blue Pad - will try blue first and switch to green if needed
HD Poxy - with a Black Pad

I am hoping to be an eye popping - clear finish.

So, is this going to be possible with this combination.

Second question, all about cleaning pads. I am relatively a newbie when it comes to machine polishing. What is the proper way to clean a pad. I plan on buying two of each - is that going to be enough to finish the car?

Any information would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the 3D side. You will find the HD adapt rather "adaptive". You can get amazing cut with more aggressive pads while finishing nicely with a finishing pad. (Some people will cut sanding scratching down with Adapt and a wool pad, but it is slower than using HD Cut for that.)

If the paint is hard, yellow or orange pads may be the way to go. Green or Blue pads are good for average or softer paints.

The fastest and easiest way to clean the pads is to get a dedicating pad cleaner. Grit Guard makes excellent ones. If doing it by hand, you can blow the pads out with compressed air, brush with a soft bristle/toothbrush, wash by hand, and/or clean with towels and the polisher running at low speed.

For the towel/polisher cleaning method, I will refer to Mike Philips:

 
OK - so I am going to pick up a few of the more aggressive pads also. With Adapt and it's adaptive nature, will I have to step down from the more aggressive one to a softer one. So, If I start with Adapt and a yellow pad - do I have then re-apply adapt with a green or blue pad before finishing of with Poxy?
 
It depends. On some hard paints I have been able to finish with the Orange Pad and be LSP ready. On some softer paints the orange pad left some hazing that needed to be cleaned up with something like the green or blue pad. So the answer is - I don't know for sure. Each paint is different so you will just have to give it a try and check the results
 
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