Needed supply advice

[austin.burnette]

When I first bought a good majority of the detailing supplies that I have I fell victim to the marketing/labeling of Chemical Guys. With some products being ok I`ve noticed that I`m not to happy with the V-Line products. Not really sure what direction to go in. Is there any advice on products/tools that would be good buy? I currently have the PC buffer, but from what I`ve read I`m already looking to buy possibly the new Rupes Mark II. Any and all advice is welcome.

 

[Ronkh]

Please advise on credit limit before I can make a shopping list..........

 

[Ronkh]

Seriously though, you can do great things with the pc, just slower.

The rest really is what you want to accomplish. Take it from the guy who buys "the latest and greatest", find some stuff that does the job you want and then maybe try a few new things, but don`t go crazy.

 

[austin.burnette]

I`m thinking before I upgrade machines I definitely need to get new polish and compounds. I was looking at a couple of the HD cut and pair it with HD Polish. Seems lots of people have had good success with that. I`ll probably look to spend around 300 when I make my next buy. I`ve already found out that I need way more pads than I had to begin with (was using 1 pad per process). After that I`m just trying to get a well rounded assortment of products for different situations.

 

[Ronkh]

Pads are easy. Polishes relatively easy to chose.

Bigger questions are:

Wax or Sealant or coating.........

My suggestions to start easy:

1 lc flat pad orange
3 " " " White
3 " " " Black
2 or 3 blue or red if you want

Get a few had applicators as well


PB ssr 2.5 and 1.0, or the 3d stuff you said

THen the final shine/protection as said above

 

[Civicclutch]

as an owner of the pc i`ve come to love the thin pro pads by lc, also the bf duo set works really well. and if you need heavier cutting than the grey pads look into some mf cutting pads foee the pc

as for machine upgrade never used a rupes, but i just got the gg 6" and its way better than the pc

 

[austin.burnette]

I haven`t used coatings yet. That is the direction I would like to go to though. Once I have gotten better at the craft I would like to be able to offer multiple options for doing other peoples vehicles. In the meantime my car gets to have all the different testing done on it.

 

[Ronkh]

and in my previous post the " is ditto mark, not inches

 

[rlmccarty2000]

Microfiber pads will give you more cut without upgrading your machine. Try them with the V line before moving on. Yes, there are better polishes. Menzerma and HD come to mind quickly. Hang around here for awhile and we will help you spend all of your money. Lol

 

[austin.burnette]

Ok I`ll give those a try. I wasn`t very impressed with the orange hex-logic pad it seemed to break down really quickly. The more I`ve read of here it could have been user error as I was using 1 pad to get through the whole car (lexus IS)

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[RI_FF/Medic]

When I first bought a good majority of the detailing supplies that I have I fell victim to the marketing/labeling of Chemical Guys. With some products being ok I`ve noticed that I`m not to happy with the V-Line products. Not really sure what direction to go in. Is there any advice on products/tools that would be good buy? I currently have the PC buffer, but from what I`ve read I`m already looking to buy possibly the new Rupes Mark II. Any and all advice is welcome.

I was literally signing in to autopia to write this same thing. I recently corrected a work truck, that`s only a few years old but driven hard, using the griots garage 6" DA and CG V32 and V38. I was using two of each hex logic orange, white, and black pads. I didn`t think V32 had a lot of cutting power. I wasn`t sure if it was user error or because I wasn`t using a yellow heavy cutting pad. It really seemed to take along time to work all the defects out of the paint.

 

[JustJesus]

Ok I`ll give those a try. I wasn`t very impressed with the orange hex-logic pad it seemed to break down really quickly. The more I`ve read of here it could have been user error as I was using 1 pad to get through the whole car (lexus IS)

I`ve used mostly Hex-Logic pads. Orange was great for cutting in my experience. I`m hearing complaints recently, though. Mine are from late 2014, when I bought them. I`m slowly trying out other pads, though. Seems I`m liking the Lake Country stuff

...I was using two of each hex logic orange, white, and black pads. I didn`t think V32 had a lot of cutting power. I wasn`t sure if it was user error or because I wasn`t using a yellow heavy cutting pad. It really seemed to take along time to work all the defects out of the paint.

I recently used a sample of V32 on a sanded panel. It cut pretty good using a Megs MF Cutting Disc. Not sure about a hex logic pad. I`ll see if I can try it out on Saturday, when I resume additional testing

 

[austin.burnette]

Yea I put what felt like a lot of effort into my car. Granted it looked like the guy who owned it took it through a car wash at least once a week. It still has quite a few swirls in it. I`m going to get some LC orange pads and some Meg`s cutting pads and try the 3d cut and see how that goes. Then ill follow up with 3d polish. Then I think I`ll try PBL Coating.

 

[austin.burnette]

I`ve used mostly Hex-Logic pads. Orange was great for cutting in my experience. I`m hearing complaints recently, though. Mine are from late 2014, when I bought them. I`m slowly trying out other pads, though. Seems I`m liking the Lake Country stuff

Yea mine were bought December 2015. I`m going to try Lake Country next and see how those work.

 

[austin.burnette]

I`ve used mostly Hex-Logic pads. Orange was great for cutting in my experience. I`m hearing complaints recently, though. Mine are from late 2014, when I bought them. I`m slowly trying out other pads, though. Seems I`m liking the Lake Country stuff



I recently used a sample of V32 on a sanded panel. It cut pretty good using a Megs MF Cutting Disc. Not sure about a hex logic pad. I`ll see if I can try it out on Saturday, when I resume additional testing

Hmm with that said it might be more of a pad issue than a product issue. I`ll order some new pads and give V32 another shot. If that doesn`t yield the result I`m looking for I`ll try 3D cut and finish with 3D polish

 

[ShawnF350]

Like most of us here, I`ve got many polishes.
One pair that works well available mostly anywhere is
Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish.
I`ve read Meguiars uses that combo in their training it works so well. The price is decent too.
I polished out a few cars with that combo after failed attempts with Griots 1-4 polishes .
I will definitely replace it when I`m out.

 

[austin.burnette]

Thanks Shawn I`ll have to look into that as well. If you`ve got pictures you could send me of that work I`d like to check it out

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[TheMeanGreen]

OP, like you, about a year ago I became introduced to this higher level of detailing. This was my original arsenal:

Car Washing:

Optimum Car Wash
Home Depot Bucket x 4

Polisher/ing/Compounding:

Griots Garage 6"
Chemical Guys 5" backing plate
Lake Country 5.5" White, Blue, and Orange pads
Meguiar`s M101/M205 and UC/UP
3" DA backing plate
3" Lake Country foam pads- Blue, Orange, and Red

Last Step related Products:

Finish Kare Foam Pad Glaze
FK1000P
FK425 Final Shine Spray
Meg`s Ultimate Clay bar kit

Interior:

Paint brushes from HD
Meg`s Gold Class Interior QD

Trim and Tire Dressing:

Meg`s D163
Carrand Tire Brushes

Windows:

Spray Away Foaming Glass Cleaner

Microfibers:

All TheRagCompany products



IMHO and IME, you can detail just about every vehicle you see, and get excellent results.

However, I have added a few more tools....

 

[Migue]

I would suggest find a combo of products you like before moving up to a bigger machine IMHO , when i first started ~8yrs ago i had a PC and a few LC Pads ( The CCS ones which i don`t know if they sell anymore) which consisted of mostly orange and white, and one black. For products i started with the Pinnacle Series XMT Series and to me they worked well but after hearing all about Meguiars M105 and M205 i switched to those soon after and i still use them to this day on tougher jobs. Currently I have that, plus the HD Cut/Polish/Speed set and they are all very user friendly, so i`d suggest you try the HD Line of products if you`re looking for a good balance in quality,user friendliness and price.

LC Flat Pads are pretty nice as well and economical. I`m sure the flat ones are way better too.

This was done with a PC,XMT Products and Meguiars NXT Wax 7-8 years ago (as already mentioned, you can get great results with it) :

 

[donbeezy]

V line sucks compared to whats available in the market now. v38 was the only one close to usable for me. everything else works but just ended up being very dusty for my liking.

I use HD Polish+ and 3d AAT 501 compound now.

Orange Hex Logic pad seems to be comparable to Buff and Shine flat pad and better pricing. You can get a whole 6 pack of buff and shine (you choose pads) for $35 bucks.

The PC is a great starting machine but the Rupes will save you time and your hands in the long run if you plan on doing a lot of compounding/polishing.