Another noobie... BIG post and no cliffnotes.

N

nooboob

New member
Hi all. New guy who realized who filthy his car is. Here's some shots:







This here is a picture of the headlights:





Closer look on the hood:





This website has ALOT of good information and I've been disseminating it for the past few days now. I knew NOTHING about washing cars (I still have very limited knowledge, as you will soon see), but I have got the basic of the basic steps down.



I bought a Porter Cable 7424 recently... but I am at a lost to buy what next.



It would seem that the next logical step would be to buy a backing plate. I was thinking about the "3.5" Dual Action Flexible Backing Plate". How does this one sound? I wanted a small one that would be able to handle 4'' pads. (After reading how alot of users preferred 4'' rather than 5''-6'' pads)



So now, I need to buy everything else. And by everything else, I mean EVERYTHING else. All I have are my garden hose... and 2 buckets.



I will now show you the steps of my stupidity... Bear in mind that I am on a budget, and I might be missing an important step or item, so please let me know:



First step: Washing

1- Sheepskin Wash Mitt

1- ULTI-MIT Wash Mitt by Lake Country

1- Grit Guard

1- The Supreme Guzzler Waffle Weave By Cobra 20 x 40

1 32oz Optimum Car Wash New Formula

2- Cobra Teal Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloth (for polish/wax removal) <--- Per "dionnfr" suggestion, I threw in 2 of these. Will that be enough?



Yes, I only have one towel on there. I don't mind taking the time to wring it every so often... Do you guys think it's necessary to have another one? Overall, how does that look? Total of this comes out to about $72 w/out shipping.



Now, onto: Polishing

I already have my PC, and my 3.5'' backing plate is about to be ordered. Now what? I know each color of the pad means different roughness... So which pads do you guys think I'll need... and how many judging by those pictures? I plan on using these pads in the future (not just for this job).



I've been seeing kits with 8 pads: 4 different types of pads x2, and I don't think I would be using all of those... Maybe 2-3 at most. (But then again, wth do I know?)



As for the specific polish, theres a million threads that I'll look through and see which one I can use. But if you guys have some quick recommendations based on the pictures, fire away!



Then we have: Waxing

Again, I have no idea what pads and how many I'm going to need. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I won't be able to use the same pads that I used for the polish on the waxing part.



Same thing with the polish... If you guys have any quick recommendations of which wax to use, that'll be great.



I think that about sums it up. FYI again, I am on a budget, so please bear that in mind. I look forward to your comments! Thanks~
 
Wax by hand, it'll turn out just as good. Use a pure wax I like collinite for it's durability and low cost. Heck I know I apply it too thick, but it's pretty inexpensive. And I get complete coverage and let it bake on in the sun so it really sets. A pain in the but to remove but the durability I think is enhanced. I get about 6-7 months even in blazing California summers and runs through the touchless carwash.
 
Per "dionnfr" suggestion, I threw in 2 Cobra Teal Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloth's. I hope thats going to be enough.
 
I like the idea for more mf towels



Personally, I'm not a fan of letting wax bake in the sun on one's car. I've had wax residue that has darn near given my a shoulder injury to get off.



I would also suggest claying prior to polish, but after washing. ONR or any decent QD spray would be fine for lube.
 
^ when you guys say "MF towels", do you guys mean the MF towel for DRYING or the MF smaller polishing cloths for removing the wax/polish?
 
I usually use 2-3 mf towels for drying and 2 for waxing. Being cheap, I use OTC vroom towels from target - the large orange ones and the small white/grey ones. For drying I only use the large ones.



for wax application and removal, I use either or. (I use mf towels for wax application because I often use spray waxes)
 
nooboob said:
sooo... any recommendations on pads and/or anything else I'm missing?
Click to expand...



When it comes to actual paint correction, you are correct, 4 inch pads will be your friend so I would recommend two 4 inch orange Lake Country pads or two 3.5 inch Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool pads. Do a little research on the site to help you decide which. When it comes to polishing, I would go with two white Lake Country pads. 4 in or 5.5 inch are fine. You may want to go with 4 inch so you can use your 3.5 inch backing plate again. If you want, you can get one or two black Lake Country pads also (4 or 5.5 inch). Depends if you want to apply paint cleaners, glazes, All-In-Ones, sealants and/or waxes by hand or by machine. You can also use the black pads to follow you white pads with to give the paint more gloss. That is more important for rotary users but I it will help with PC users also.
 
nooboob said:
I've been seeing kits with 8 pads: 4 different types of pads x2, and I don't think I would be using all of those... Maybe 2-3 at most. (But then again, wth do I know?)
Click to expand...



The reason you see two of each pad is after polishing for a while, a pad can get caked with polish and will need to be cleaned or swapped out with another pad. If you only have one cutting pad, having to stop polishing and clean your pad will slow you down than if you had a back up you could just switch to. If you want to save some money, you can get only one of each pad and down the road buy more, your choice.
 
nooboob said:
As for the specific polish, theres a million threads that I'll look through and see which one I can use. But if you guys have some quick recommendations based on the pictures, fire away!.
Click to expand...



The two polishes I have experience with are Optimum's and Menzerna's. If you go the Optimum route, use Optimum Compound on your orange cutting pad and then clean up with Optimum Polish on your white polishing pad. If you go with Menzerna, go with Super Intensive Polish on your orange pad and Nano Polish on your white pad.



Both are fine polishes. In my opinion, the Optimum polishes are a little less finicky but take forever to break down with a Porter Cable. Menzerna polishes can be more of a pain to work with but break down much faster. Either is fine to use though.



nooboob said:
Then we have: Waxing

Again, I have no idea what pads and how many I'm going to need. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I won't be able to use the same pads that I used for the polish on the waxing part.



Same thing with the polish... If you guys have any quick recommendations of which wax to use, that'll be great.
Click to expand...



You can use a wax or a sealant. Generally sealants will last longer but there is an exception (Collinite).



If you want a good sealant and want to save some money, the Duragloss line receives quite a bit of praise on here and you will probably be able to buy it locally at a Carquest or Napa near you.



Another good sealant line is Jeff's Werkstat. I use JW Prime Strong as a base before applying JW Acrylic Jett. Looking back I should have gotten Acrylic Jett Trigger since it is so much easier to apply. Another fine Sealant is the Ultima line.



You mentioned wax in your thread. The main disadvantage of wax compared to sealants is that they don't last as long as the sealants I mentioned above. Most sealants should give you 4-6 months of durability. Most waxes on the other hand start dying away after the second month. The exception would be Collinite. Collinite 476 has the similar durability to sealants and can sometimes be purchased locally.



I hope that helps.
 
Thanks for your response bert31.



It looks like I'll be applying everything by machine. So I was thinking:



2- Orange LC pads (from Lake Country)

2- White pads

2- Blue pads (for finishes)



I just discovered the "All-in-one" line-up's from different companies. They all claim that they "polish and seal" at the same time.



If thats the case, why does it seem like everyone uses compounds, then follows it up with AIO, and finally applies sealant/wax? Is it simply just too weak to use AIO just as the polish?



I was thinking of going Optimum Poli-Seal, then applying Optimum Opti-Seal. Is that just too feeble?
 
nooboob said:
Thanks for your response bert31.



It looks like I'll be applying everything by machine. So I was thinking:



2- Orange LC pads (from Lake Country)

2- White pads

2- Blue pads (for finishes)



I just discovered the "All-in-one" line-up's from different companies. They all claim that they "polish and seal" at the same time.



If thats the case, why does it seem like everyone uses compounds, then follows it up with AIO, and finally applies sealant/wax? Is it simply just too weak to use AIO just as the polish?
Click to expand...



An AIO generally does not have abrasives or have extremely fine abrasive that are not enough to correct swirling or other paint marring. To correct paint marring you will need a compound polish like Menzerna's SIP or Optimum Compound on the cutting pad (Orange Foam or Purple Foamed Wool). That paint correction wit the compound will leave a haze on the paint that will require a finishing polish like Menzerna Nano Polish or Optimum Polish or Optimum Poli Seal on a polishing pad. At that point, the paint should be leveled and you can use an AIO to do a good paint cleaning and set a base for the sealant to bond to. If the paint does not need any compounding or finish polishing, you can go straight from claying to using the AIO then sealant.



nooboob said:
I was thinking of going Optimum Poli-Seal, then applying Optimum Opti-Seal. Is that just too feeble?
Click to expand...
Poli-Seal sets down a fine base for Opti-Seal. Poli-Seal is a polish that combines the characteristics of a finish polish and an AIO so if you could use it as your finish polish and go straight to sealing.
 
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