help end the confusion

hey Scottwax, you are making me itchy to come see you in january. that is what i am looking for in a shine. does a picture like that come with the detail??
 
Since you are on a tight budget, I think the cheapest way to do an excellent job would be to order all from one source so you don't have to pay multiple shipping charges. I'd also recommend Meguiar's Professional Products as they seem to be the cheapest yet work as efficiently as the most expensive products. Here's what I would recommend:



DACP $19

Speed Glaze (#80) $16

Hand Polish (#81) $15

NXT

#16 Paste Wax $13



With those products, you're looking at about $75 shipped, and you cover everything from moderate swirl removal to an extremely wet finish and long lasting protection. Also, the polishes all come in larger containers than most of the other brands you hear around here so they will last you a long time. Spend the rest on microfibers, applicators and a quality car wash. Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
While I'm not wild about Meg's products (#16 excepted), the "consider the shipping charges" advice is very good :xyxthumbs



Oh, if $ is an issue, I wouldn't bother the #81, especially on b/c paint and under NXT. But that's just me...I'd rather have more MFs :D



ScottWax- not to threadjack, but an observation about the Cyclo green/#80 combo: I used that on Accumulatorette's A8 and it absolutely did *not* remove sorta-minor marring from the hard Audi clear. Not even with several applications and a fair amount of pressure. The oils/polymers did do a little hiding of what the abrasives didn't remove though. Cleaning that stuff off revealed just how ineffective the #80 really was on that one :( One of these days you gotta do an Audi just so we can compare notes :D
 
I threw 81 in there because although it's not essential when completing all the steps, if you just wanted to polish and wax the car (say months after you remove the swirls) you wouldn't have a non-abrasive polish to use. You can find alternatives for 81 though at a Pepboys or Aid Auto.
 
my plan for right now is to go with #80, NXT, and #16. I'm still looking around for something to go on before #80, but havent quite decided on what yet. As far as the point about a non-abrasive polish for months down the road, I'm not worried about that yet. When that time comes around I'll have another chunk of cash set aside for any other additions to my lineup.



and yes...very good point on the shipping charges. At this point right now I think I may be able to find everything I need locally, with the exception of MF's.
 
cwcad said:
hey Scottwax, you are making me itchy to come see you in january. that is what i am looking for in a shine. does a picture like that come with the detail??



Sure, if you want a picture like that.



George-I only have one semi regular with an Audi and it is a pearl 1991 CS100. I haven't noticed it having particularly hard paint but then it is garaged and well taken car of.
 
#80, NXT and #16 are good to start off with, especially if you're doing this all by hand. i highly highly suggest saving up for a PC as it is more effective in getting rid of swirls. you can get rid of some swirls by hand but it is a lot of work.



but also be sure to buy a good wash mitt, a waffle weave MF towel, and a bunch of good MF towels as these items can help in keeping your car look good and cut down on the chances of marring.



then again, maybe you can see if there is a fellow Autopian in your area that would be willing to show you the ropes.



good luck. :wavey
 
Yeah, what Hirosh said. I always consider washing/drying to be the single most important skill to master, and a *lot* of it is using the right stuff.



xhaust50 said:
I threw 81 in there because...



I didn't mean to slam the suggestion or anything, just wasn't a product on my radar for this application :cool



ScottWax- The '91 Audi won't be as hard as today's are. My dad had a pearl white one of that vintage and it was much more like "normal" paint. I recently did a pearl white loaner from that era just because I felt sorry for it; it wasn't too tough. Heh heh, get yourself a customer with maybe a '99 or newer one. The paint gradually got harder over the years; my '94, '95 and '96 ones weren't all that bad either, nothing like the stuff on our A/S8s.
 
hirosh said:
#80, NXT and #16 are good to start off with, especially if you're doing this all by hand. i highly highly suggest saving up for a PC as it is more effective in getting rid of swirls. you can get rid of some swirls by hand but it is a lot of work.



but also be sure to buy a good wash mitt, a waffle weave MF towel, and a bunch of good MF towels as these items can help in keeping your car look good and cut down on the chances of marring.



then again, maybe you can see if there is a fellow Autopian in your area that would be willing to show you the ropes.



good luck. :wavey



The PC has already arrived...i just dont get to use it until christmas. I'll see if I can sweet talk my wife into letting me have it before then though :D



I've been looking into all the MF towels and washmitts and have pretty much got everything set on that too. I just dont know whether to get the MF Chenille or the Australian Sheepskin. Any opinions???
 
blkwidow02 said:
The PC has already arrived...i just dont get to use it until christmas. I'll see if I can sweet talk my wife into letting me have it before then though :D



I've been looking into all the MF towels and washmitts and have pretty much got everything set on that too. I just dont know whether to get the MF Chenille or the Australian Sheepskin. Any opinions???



I'd recommend the Aussie Sheepskin, can't go wrong and very popular with a lot of people--I love 'em. I'm not sure which MF chenille mitt you're referring to but I know some people haven't been completely satisfied with various MF mitts.



For MF towels, I recently bought a few from Patrick (Excel) and they are among the best i've tried, better than I expected and my expectations were pretty high with what others have said about his MF's!:xyxthumbs
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, what Hirosh said. I always consider washing/drying to be the single most important skill to master, and a *lot* of it is using the right stuff.







I didn't mean to slam the suggestion or anything, just wasn't a product on my radar for this application :cool



ScottWax- The '91 Audi won't be as hard as today's are. My dad had a pearl white one of that vintage and it was much more like "normal" paint. I recently did a pearl white loaner from that era just because I felt sorry for it; it wasn't too tough. Heh heh, get yourself a customer with maybe a '99 or newer one. The paint gradually got harder over the years; my '94, '95 and '96 ones weren't all that bad either, nothing like the stuff on our A/S8s.



Not to jack this thread but how hard is Audi paint? :confused: I have an '03 A4 and it wasn't hard enough to withstand my son's plastic bionicle toy tapping it without scratching badly enough so that Megs ScratchX used by hand couldn't remove them.:scared
 
Patricks site is also where I saw the MF Chenille mit at. I'll probably end up getting one of each to try since I'll be placing a large order with him soon.
 
heres what IP/FP and NXT look like.



14478black_z_nxt.jpg
 
Nice Z. I've already got Megs 83, 80, 16, NXT, and VM. If i dont like the look that those give me on my black accord then I may order the IP and FP before I do my WS6.
 
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