Going to polish, looking for recommendations

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djrk111

New member
Hi,



I have a black lexus from 99 with swirls (I'll post some pics later today). I have a couple of questions. First, is the UDM going to be good with the existing instructions written for PC, like the guides here? I read that it's more powerful, but is it the same approach, and can I use the guides?



Second, here's the routine I was thinking of:



Wash

Clay

Meguiars 83 with Orange or Yellow pad

Meguiars 80 with white pad

Some type of Caranauba



Will this work?



Thanks.



pics:



The first two pictures were taken with flourescent lights on, the last four had the lights off. All were taken in a garage, with the flash on (obviously). The car isn't all that dirty to the naked eye; I washed it a few days ago.



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In my experience with the UDM, i have found that everything written here about how to use the PC also applies to the UDM. As far as removing your defects, I would think the process you specified above should do the job, though you can't be certain until you try and see. Some polishes work better then others on certain paint.



Good Luck and post pics!!



-Frank
 
#80 does leave a little bit more of a wet look than OP does, however OP is better overall. Plus if you want you can just buy one polish and use it with different pads (if that polish is OP).



For instance, you can use OP with a yellow pad followed by white (on a pc or UDM) and be fine. However for rotary use, finishing with a white pad with zero buffer trails is not going to happen on a soft clear, for rotary I would say to finish with OP on a lake country blue or edge2000 white (with edge2000 the white is softer than the blue).



But overall your combo sounds good, for carnauba I would recommend collinite for durability or for looks, victoria wax or CG 5050. Collinite 915 is sort of a blend between durability and looks, whereas 476 is just durability (on dark colors still looks nicer than most sealants to me), and 845 is sort of its own thing.



Another reason I recommend OP as your polish is that you cannot work it for too long; it's virtually impossible. As you know its important to work a polish until its abrasives are broken down. Seeing as you are new at this I would say that you may not be able to tell when the abrasives are indeed broken down so if you ue OP rather than questioning if it is broken down, you can just keep polishing for a long enough time that you are absolutely sure it is broken down. Basically, although it takes longer to break down, you CANT go for too long (on pc or udm) so you have no worries.
 
Sorry, but I'm not sure what OP is. I couldn't find a 1-z polish that looked right, so could you point me in the right direction?
 
So you think it should be sufficient to remove all those swirls if used with an orange pad? My plan was to try orange and step up to yellow if that wasn't working. So, if I did that, I would go yellow to white with the Optimum polish, and then a wax?
 
if you wanna go fast, you can use optimum hyper compound (we call it OHC) with a yellow pad, then OP with white.



Those swirls look pretty bad, and unless you wanna use fillers (which is fine on your own car just not if you are doing it for a customer) you are gonna be there for a while.



A yellow pad, and an aggressive product will help speed it up. Remember to move the PC or UDM at only one inch per second. I know you will want to move faster, we all do, but one inch per second.
 
Is using a filler going to be something I'll have to deal with later? I think I'd rather fix the problem now even if it takes longer than simply postpone it. Is that what a filler would do?
 
djrk111 said:
Is using a filler going to be something I'll have to deal with later? I think I'd rather fix the problem now even if it takes longer than simply postpone it. Is that what a filler would do?
Click to expand...





Yes a filler will hide the imperfection, but sometimes on daily drivers (your own cars or family etc.. just not a paying cutomer) fillers can be the answer.
 
Do you have a product you'd recommend in conjunction with these discussed already? I'm used to searching for products and getting so many different recommendations!
 
Well you will find 1000s of opinions on what to use here, your original idea seems fine, if you wish use OP instead of #80, or perhaps not, your choice.



But as far as that carnauba goes, I suggest collinite, victoria wax, or CG 5050.



Just make sure you really break down the polish, and order yourself a gallon of ONR (to make cheap QD that cleans great and for washing in a pinch) and a gallon of FK425 (for a great looking QD that leaves behind significant protection and great slickness).



The autogeek videos on PC polishing are not half bad, if you do what they say you should be fine. Theyre not perfect, but a fine place to start.
 
Actually, based on your advice I was looking at something like this:



Hyper Optimum w/ Orange (or yellow, if the orange isn't strong enough) pad

Optimum with a white pad



Then one of the waxes. But I wasn't sure about which filler products to look at. I know some glazes have properties of hiding imperfections; is that what you were referring to?
 
I think I've finalized this, then:



Wash with Dawn to clear out any old stuff on the paint.

Clay

Optimum Hyper Compound with Yellow Pad

Optimum Polish with White Pad

Collinite 915 or 476 with Blue pad



I've read that correcting with a 6.5" pad is harder than with a 4" pad. So should I grab a 4" yellow pad and the rest 6.5"? Also, can I use backing plates designed for the Porter Cable with the UDM?



Thanks!
 
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