Hd polish

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flickshake

New member
I've seen some great results with HD Polish looking through older posts on cars that have paint in worse condition than mine.



I've never done a polish/corrective job on my car. I just bought a DA and am planning on using HD Polish. I just want some assurance that HD Polish is the correct product for me. My car is a VW and from what I hear, it's pretty hard paint. All I have is some swirling but it's nothing major.



I'm also thinking of using microfiber pads from Buff and Shine. They have a cutting pad and a finishing pad. How many of each would I need to complete my car? I have no access to an air gun and will be cleaning it with a brush. From what I can gather by looking at older posts, I would need maybe 2 of each? Buff and Shine also offers a 5 pack, should I get 3 cutting (and 2 finishing) or 3 finishing pads (and 2 cutting)?
 
I don't think Polish is going to do much for you. Give it a try and let us know how it works though.
 
My 07 Passat had never been polished, but I had always kept it protected with DG 105, used proper wash techniques and never took it through a commercial car wash--so it had light to medium wash induced swirling. Last year I finally got into machine polishing and for my first attempt wanted to use something mild so polished the entire car with HD Speed (which is less aggressive than HD Polish) using 5.5"orange Buff & Shine pads(used 4 pads for the whole car + some 4" for the tight spots). Had to use speed 6 on my Griots DA, very slow arm speed and do six passes--cleaning on the fly ofter and alternating pads often to allow them to cool. It took awhile, but turned out great and yes the clear is hard.



So without knowing the exact condition of your paint I would suspect you would be fine using HD Polish with the MF pads since it has more cut than Speed on foam pads--I've seen some great posts over the last few months demostrating how HD Polish can do some serious correction, but finish down great--might take you longer than using HD Cut, but there's less chance of getting into trouble if this is your first time machine polishing. Never used the MF pads so you'll have to wait for other replys regarding how many you will need-would think you'd need more than someone who can clean with compressed air. You might also consider using a foam pad for final finishing. Which DA did you purchase?
 
Which vw do you have? I was able to complete my GTI with two pads no problem. Could have probably finished w/ one pad, but I already had two and said what the heck.



Honestly, for my car, I had to use an aggressive compound to get correction: FG400. It finished down nicely too, so I only had to do one step.
 
If you feel you need a more aggressive product you could consider HD Cut or HD UNO--both are more aggressive than HD Polish, but finish down well and offer all the other advantages of HD polishes in that they have long working time, little to no dust and are easily removed. But, if this is your first time using a DA you might be better off sticking with something milder until you get the hang of it.
 
HD Polish can actually have quite a bite if you use a cutting pad. Probably not enough to fully correct your paint, however. I would use HD Cut or M105 first, then follow up with Polish.
 
Thanks for the replies, maybe I will go with HD UNO. I am doing the work on a 2011 GTI. I bought the DA from Harbor Freight. I think I will be doing correction this like once every 2-3 years or so, so I didn't want to overextend my budget.



I am still unclear about this "finishing" process after reading some of the older posts. I am not 100% sure what the finishing process consists of.



Do I need to use something like HD UNO with a cutting pad for first step and then HD POLISH with a finishing pad for the second step?
 
flickshake said:
Do I need to use something like HD UNO with a cutting pad for first step and then HD POLISH with a finishing pad for the second step?
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That's the right step BUT make sure you start out with a small test area. UNO is great stuff, but VW paint is hard as nails. Its going to take several passes with UNO to get the bigger swirls out. Even normal wash induced marring will take two solid passes.
 
flickshake said:
I bought the DA from Harbor Freight.
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IMO the HF DA is great to start out with and especially for those of us who are only interested in taking care of our own cars. I wish it had been available when I purchased my GG DA. However, the backing plate on every HF DA that I've seen has been less than stellar in quality and it's 6". The $15-18 you'll spend to get a quality 5" backing plate is well worth it and the machine will perform better with 5.5" pads than 6.5". Autoality.com has Buff & Shine 5" backing plates for $15 and if you spend $25 with an order under 5 lbs shipping is free. You can probably get the backing plate and all the pads you'll need and stay under 5 lbs.
 
Haha pretty funny, I actually read your post on an older thread for the HF DA and was going to order the backing plate and pads from autoality... my only question is how many of each...



Can I use the microfiber finishing pads to put on or remove LSP? I was thinking of getting the 5 pack of microfiber pads and getting 2 cutting pads and 3 finishing pads...
 
I'd get HD Cut. Skip the UNO because you can go straight from Cut on an MF pad to Polish on a foam pad. I still prefer finishing with Buff-N-Shine's green foam polishing pad over MF pads.



Also, you'll want more cutting pads than polishing. You'll often have to do multiple passes when cutting/compounding and just one good set when polishing out the haze left from compounding. I'd personally order 5 MF cutting discs and then a 5 pack assortment of foam pads - 3 polishing and 2 wax applicator pads.



Also, the MF discs get hot and it's great to have a couple you can quickly switch between to give them a chance to cool off so the velcro doesn't melt on the back, particularly with a high powered DA like that Harbor Freight unit.
 
Skip HD UNO and go right for HD CUT. Super easy to work with and leaves a very nice finish behind. HD Polish after is all that is need to perfect your paint and maintain it.
 
Okay I bought HD Cut and HD Polish...



Do I need to wash or IPA wipedown after using Cut and Polish?



As this is my first time doing correction, would these be the proper steps?



1) wash using dawn

2) clay

3) wash

4) HD Cut with cutting pads

5) HD Polish with finishing pads

6) wash?

7) IPA wipedown? is this necessary with HD products?

8) sealant (Do I need to wash again after IPA wipedown before applying sealant?)
 
flickshake said:
Okay I bought HD Cut and HD Polish...



Do I need to wash or IPA wipedown after using Cut and Polish?



As this is my first time doing correction, would these be the proper steps?



1) wash using dawn



Dawn is overkill unless you have a lot of leftover LSP on your car, a car wash soap should work fine.



2) clay





3) wash



Don't need to wash after clay



4) HD Cut with cutting pads

5) HD Polish with finishing pads

6) wash?



If the HD Cut dusted a lot on you, a wash would probably be helpful.



7) IPA wipedown? is this necessary with HD products?



If you wash, no wipe should be needed. Not entirely necessary even if you don't wash if you are just applying a sealant. The only time you need to be REALLY crazy about polishing oils being removed is before applying a coating. HD Polish cleans the paint rather nicely.



8) sealant (Do I need to wash again after IPA wipedown before applying sealant?)
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Nope. Just apply sealant and enjoy. :)



Put some comments between your numbers. :)
 
For me, the wash after all polishing steps would be with Dawn. In that case, I'd look at the water behavior after the wash and if all looked good I wouldn't do an IPA wipe-down. If I washed with a regular car wash soap or ONR, I would personally go with an IPA wipe-down. I know ScottWax doesn't do this if he uses ONR prior to a coating and I'd trust the man's workflow, but I'm overly cautious.



It's one reason I like SPEED so much. I'll do maintenance polishes (to get rid of water spots/light swirls) on the girlfriend's car or friend's/family's cars and lay a wax right over top of it without worrying about getting rid of polishing oils.



ONR, SPEED, wax, done. I like that.
 
flickshake- Getting back to one of your earlier Q's, I would apply/remove your LSP by hand, not via machine. At least for starters.
 
Accumulator said:
flickshake- Getting back to one of your earlier Q's, I would apply/remove your LSP by hand, not via machine. At least for starters.
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Any particular reason why? I have applied by hand before but I always seem to put on too much (for Klasse SG)... I was hoping maybe applying it by machine could help even it out a little.
 
flickshake said:
Any particular reason why? I have applied by hand before but I always seem to put on too much (for Klasse SG)... I was hoping maybe applying it by machine could help even it out a little.
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Huh, that's funny....I do my waxes (M16, Collinite) by machine, but I do sealants by hand, in part because *I* get a thinner application that way. With the waxes, I'm better able to "work" the product to the effect of being able to easily spread a tiny amount over a large area, while with the sealants, I *always* end up getting way too much on the (machine) pad and it flashes or soaks into the pad before I've covered a large enough area.



Note that when using KSG, I would do a whole minivan, including all the jambs/etc. with *FAR* less than one ounce. I still have a lot of KSG left from the original bottle I bought over a dozen years ago...and I would apply 6+ coats to large vehicles and to many sets of wheels (in other words, I used it a *LOT*, and I also knocked it over a few times, spilling quite a bit).



EDIT: Here's how I do KSG- I hold the applicator over the top of the bottle and shake it, depositing one drop of product on the pad. Repeat until the pad is just slightly moist with KSG. Apply to panel, so thinly that I can't see it; I go by feel and as soon as the pad starts to "grab" instead of "sliding", I again hold it over the bottle and apply maybe five or six more drops. If, at any time, I can see the KSG on the panel after its dried, I figure I used way too much. I do the whole vehicle before buffing off, with the exception of trim (which I WOWO). When buffing off, I fog the surface with my breath- the moisture makes it buff off easier and helps me see what's been done/hasn't. /EDIT



These days my primary sealants are FK1000P and the UPP I'm slowly using up. Same story with both of those, I do a whole vehicle with far less product than it would take to prime/keep wet a machine pad.



But hey, that's just me, maybe it'll work differently for you.



And while I advocated by-hand removal/buffing, I do often use MF bonnets on my Cyclo for that. Still gotta finish up by hand to get that last 1% most of the time though.
 
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