hello there.. (polishing question)

H

HEMMISSEY

New member
Im about to detail my car tommorow. I have purchased the clay bar, some polish (for dark colored cars :o ), and some liquid carnuba wax. What's applied first... the polish or wax? And what would you prefer for a weekend car show? A sealant or wax? Sorry for the noob questions.. :chuckle:
 
My suggestion is to use the clay bar 1st, then the polish, and then the wax. A good carnauba car wax should do the trick prior to a show.
 
ok, alot of people are telling me NOT to use a Orbital Buffer or any kind of tool to apply and take off wax. Is this true? Should it all be done by hand (wax applying and removal)?
 
If you are using a Porter Cable with a finishing pad, then it is alright to apply/remove your wax with it. However, you generally get your best coverage and use less product by apply/removing it by hand.
 
mblgjr said:
If you are using a Porter Cable with a finishing pad, then it is alright to apply/remove your wax with it. However, you generally get your best coverage and use less product by apply/removing it by hand.
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thought it was the other way around.
 
Seems like different people get different results and have different preferences when it comes to wax on/off by hand/machine. I do it all by machine except for applying Souveran, KSG, and UPP, which just go on better and thinner by hand.



HEMMISSEY- Think of it this way- the polish does some minor abrading of the paint (very minor in the case of the stuff you have ;) ), so you want to use it on *bare* paint. If you put the wax on first the polish would have to cut through the wax before it even started to do its job. The wax is a final-step product (around here we call it a Last Step Product, or "LSP") that seals in the polish and protects the paint with a sacrificial barrier; the wax takes the abuse from the elements/etc. so the paint doesn't have to.



Sealants are, IMO, best reserved for vehicles where you can basically get, and keep, a perfect finish. Waxes hide little flaws better than sealants, and give a different look too. I'd stick with waxes for now while you learn your way around this whole detailing thing.



There shouldn't be any problem using the buffer *BUT* you gotta be careful about the bonnets/pads that you use. Many of the cheaper buffers (the 8"/10" types of buffers liket the WaxMaster) come with pads/bonnets that aren't soft enough and will mar your paint. Working by hand is very safe (as long as you use nice soft stuff to apply/remove the products) but buffers are safe with the right pads/bonnets too. People who say that, categorically speaking, buffers are bad simply don't know what they're talking about. I've been using them to polish and wax since forever...it works fine.



Oh, and welcome to Autopia!
 
thanks for the warm welcome Accumulator! Another question (sorry;)) can you apply wax over a

sealant? And im still cofused on what types of pads to use, if I was to purchase a buffer. I mean like the color of pads, theres like a yellow one and a black one??
 
If you're looking for a buffer go the following site and read about the porter cable, the pads are described in terms of what work they are reserved for.



Link



If you decide to purchase you can enter the code "autopia" or "autopia-10%" in the box and it will take 10% off your order for being a member of this site.
 
HEMMISSEY said:
.. can you apply wax over a

sealant? And im still cofused on what types of pads to use, if I was to purchase a buffer. I mean like the color of pads, theres like a yellow one and a black one??
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Yeah, you can put wax over a sealant but not the other way around.



Different pad manufacturers use different colors for their pads. These days it pays to be specific about whose stuff you're asking about. But the "old standard" was yellow= aggressive cutting, white = general polishing, black = finishing/waxing.
 
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