1st Post, Hello, and M105/205, pads question

[kramerica]

Hi, long time lurker and diligent researcher/fan saying hello from Charlotte, NC.



I have a 2007 Black Yukon that so far in the past have used clay,old M80/NXT 2.0/5" white,orange, black LC CCS's and PC7424 for water spots/light swirls, etc with only concealing/temporary results. I understand this is likely due to a combination of factors, but mainly I'm trying to determine if the above products are inadequate to produce the results I want. By following detailed guides here, using the above, should I be seeing better/corrective/permanent results, or should I move on and call them a research investment? Obviously I'm toiling over replacing the M80 with M205 as you'll see below.



From reading many threads on products, I've basically come to the conclusion that M105/M205/Blackfire Wet Diamond would be a productive route (especially after seeing gmblack3a's incredible work on the '08 same vehicle). But, is this considered an aggressive" attack? Is it possible that M205/BWD could do some correction without 105?



From what I've read here, I probably also should change pads. LC flat or hydrotech, 4" for polish or 4" all round?

(If)M105 - cyan? orange?

M205 - LC orange classic flat?

possibly round 2 M205 - LC black classic flat?

Blackfire Wet Diamond - LC black classic flat, red, something else?



Thanks

 

[Accumulator]

Hi, long time lurker and diligent researcher/fan saying hello from Charlotte, NC...

Welcome to Autopia! Hey, I got my carbon metallic '04 Yukon XLD from Hendrick Lexus in Charlotte

I have a 2007 Black Yukon that so far in the past have used clay,old M80/NXT 2.0/5" white,orange, black LC CCS's and PC7424 for water spots/light swirls, etc with only concealing/temporary results....I've basically come to the conclusion that M105/M205/Blackfire Wet Diamond would be a productive route (especially after seeing gmblack3a's incredible work on the '08 same vehicle). But, is this considered an aggressive" attack? Is it possible that M205/BWD could do some correction without 105?

Assuming the clear on yours is similar to that on mine (and on most other GMs I've worked on), then yeah.. the #80 is simply too gentle to affect real correction. IME, even M205 is a bit too gentle.



Before deciding to just get out the Flex, I played around a bit on mine with my PC and M105/M205. Unlike some others who work miracles with that machine, I had to use (at least) 4" orange pads and M105 to get anything accomplished.



Once the M105 got the obvious marring out, I switched to M205 to remove the micromarring that the M105 left behind. Via PC, I still needed to use 4" pads for this.



(Yeah yeah...I've discussed this with everyone from Mike Phillips to Kevin Brown and no, I'm not doing anything wrong..it just works out that way for me.)



So *my* experiences are that using anything short of a Flex (or rotary), you need to get mighty aggressive. This is also in keeping with our experiences when ebpcivicsi worked on the same vehicle; using a larger pad on the PC didn't work as well as one might expect.

From what I've read here, I probably also should change pads. LC flat or hydrotech, 4" for polish or 4" all round?

So *I* would say 4". Others will say 5.5" will work fine :nixweiss

(If)M105 - cyan? orange?

I'd say either/or. BUT I hear the hydrotechs need to be perfectly dry to work properly, and when you work with M105 you'll be cleaning them out quite often.

M205 - LC orange classic flat?

That's worked well for me as a follow up to aggressive M105 work when the latter left sorta-severe micromarring. It's not always necessary by a long shot, but if things don't go 100% right with M105 (any you'll just be starting up the M105 learning curve, so that might happen) then the orange pads speed things along nicely.

possibly round 2 M205 - LC black classic flat?

On that paint I'd go with something that has a little more cut. I was happier using something like the LC tangerine (I actually used the Griot's orange on the Flex on my GMC; I used 4" Cyclo green on a hard-clear BMW with my PC).



The really gentle finishing pads might be a great choice for a final burnishing, but I didn't feel I needed that on my Yukon; the Griot's left a nice finish so I'd expect the tangerine pads to do the same for you.

Blackfire Wet Diamond - LC black classic flat, red, something else?

I'd consider the LC gold LSP-application pad.





EDIT: Oh, one other thing- I found the paint on my Yukon *really* soaked up the M205's polishing oils, leaving a pseudo-hologram effect that drove me nuts. It took many IPA wipes to solve this and I finally started using TOL's PrepWash. Until I figured out it was merely an oils-related issue I was pretty concerned to say the least!