Affordable polishes for a brown car?

C

cjv998

New member
Hi everyone, I'm a college student (on a budget, of course :D ) who owns a 1992 Accord with Rosewood Brown metallic paint. I will be buying a 7424 soon, and I just bought Meguiar's Deep Crystal system today. I was wondering if the deep crystal system is a good choice. I want something to remove the swirls my car has accumulated over the years, but I noticed there isn't any abrasive in the paint cleaner or polish of the DCS, so I'm having second thoughts. Maybe there's another product in a similar price range that will do a better job? If anyone's curious, here's a picture of the car after claybar-ing and waxing when I first got it. Actually, this brings up one more question. Is the scuffed-up area on the front bumper too large of an area to use touch-up paint on? (By the way, I learned not to wax a car in the sun after I took these pictures :chuckle: )



Edit: Took some pictures of the swirls tonight, one of which came out far better than the other. Not sure if that will help determine what product I should use, but I figure it's worth a shot.
 

Attachments

  • PICT0006_small.JPG
    PICT0006_small.JPG
    206.1 KB · Views: 109
  • Swirls01.jpg
    Swirls01.jpg
    50.1 KB · Views: 37
  • Swirls02.jpg
    Swirls02.jpg
    220.5 KB · Views: 39
If you're doing it by hand and through a local vendor I would pick up either Scratch X or Mothers Power Polish. Both are decent at removing swirls, but don't expect it to be perfect. They are cheap too.



After you get a PC/Pads you should look into the Hi-Temp Polishes for paint correction. They are very cheap, and work really well. You can find them at Top of the Line Auto Detailing Supplies, or you can buy samples of them on here in the trading post.



As for the bumper, I would wait until you have a little more experience before trying to touch it up because it will require wetsanding and compounding afterwards.
 
Alright, so I've looked into stuff a bit more, and I think I'll be adding an abrasive polish after step 1 (paint cleaner) of the Deep Crystal system. At this point I'm thinking something along the lines of Meg's #2 or Poorboy's SSR2 (I'll be using a PC for this, by the way). Any thoughts or alternatives here?
 
Yeah, you don't need to use the DC1 if you are going to use a polishing compound because the compound will clean the paint as well. For a medium type abbrassive there's Hi-Temp MC, DACP, Menzerna Intensive Polish, Optimum Compound, Poorboys SSR 2.5, etc.
 
So do you guys think a medium-cut polish would be a good place to start with those swirls (the car was claybar-ed and waxed with Meg's Cleaner wax 3 or 4 weeks prior to the last 2 pics), or should I go with something a bit less aggressive? And also, it sounds like I don't need step 1 of the DCS if I use a more abrasive polish. Should I just return all 3 products in the DC system at this point and get other stuff if I'm going to be using an abrasive polish with a PC?
 
If they are unopened I would return them. Not that they are bad, but you can do better OTC for the same price.



Good for nearly every vehicle:

Clay

Medium Cut Polish

Light Cut Polish / Cleaner Polish

Sealant



Also, the HTEC does work by PC, but I wouldn't start with it. I've found the Medium Cut to be more than enough for the majority of the vehicles I work on, and have only used the Heavy Cut on spots of vehicles. Haven't needed the HTEC yet.

Wax
 
Okay, so I think I'm going to return the Deep Crystal stuff, and get some Hi-Temp stuff. It seems Hondas have soft clear coats, and I know you should try the least aggressive method first, so should I bother with getting the Medium Cut leveler/polish, or just get the fine-cut and see how that does? (Alternatively, I'm considering getting Optimum polish instead, but it seems about $10 more expensive. Any thoughts?) Either way, I'll probably want a glaze, and definitely an LSP to replace my cleaner wax. I'm still open for affordable suggestions there as well.
 
Honda's do have soft paint. I would get the Medium and Light cuts. The light cut finishes down very nicely, and even the medium does, so you would not need a glaze for it to look good (this isn't saying you can't use one though). As far as the Optimum Polishes, I purchased the OP but haven't used it yet, and probably won't. The Hi-temp compounds are great. I definitely like them better than my old DACP, #80 combo. They do dust a little, which is why some people add a little Optimum Polish in with their Hi-Temp compounds, but it definitely isn't necessary.



As far as LSP, I'm not sure if you are looking for a sealant or a wax. For a wax, TOL has S100 and Optimum Car Wax, both very good.



As far as sealants I'm currently testing the durability of the Hi-temp terminator paint sealant, but it looks very good. They also have Optimum's Poli-seal, which is getting good reviews.



You could also pick up good LSP's locally. The NXT is a good sealant, although I'm not sure how durable it is. Mother's Carnauba Wax looks good as well, but I know nothing on its durability either.
 
How does this sound?



wash

claybar

Hi-Temp Medium w/ white CCS polishing pad

Mother's sealer and glaze w/ black CCS glazing/finessing pad

LSP??? (Still up in the air on this...read below) w/ red CCS finishing pad



The Mother's sealer and glaze claims to have a light abrasive in it, so I'm hoping it will help clean up and fill anything the HT medium leaves behind. Also, I still need an LSP. Here's my criteria, from most to least important:



price (under $15 would be nice, but I'm flexible still)

appearance

durability (if it lasts a month or so on a daily driver that's parked outside, I'm happy)



Edit: If I get a sealant, it looks like it'll be NXT. If I get this though, I'm concerned if using Mother's glaze will keep it from bonding (maybe I'll skip the glaze if I go this route?) If I go with a wax over the sealant, it'd probably be Meg's Gold Class.
 
Try the Medium Cut on the polishing pad, and if you need more step up to a cutting pad. If you use a cutting pad, you may have to follow with a lighter abrasive, or the medium cut on a polishing pad to take out any minor marring (but you may not, it breaks down very well). Mothers S&G is a very good glaze, but it is not abrasive at all. It does fill swirls very well though, and is excellent to use. The only problem is that as a glaze many sealants will not bond to it, forcing you to choose a wax.



As far as waxes, S100 lasts 3-4 weeks for me, Mothers is probably a bit more durable. Hi-temp has a cheap liquid wax (bahama mama), and most of their products are very good but I haven't tried it yet (will do so this weekend). OCW may be a good followup to HTMC because it has some light polishing abilities, but at the same time it will remove the Mothers SG.



Too many choices!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top