Several questions from a first timer

[Chicagoareanew]

Ok - several months ago, I clayed, polished, and used sealant on my car for the first time. Since there's a million threads, you probably wouldn't remember the pictures I posted of my champagne Nissan Altima.

The polish I used was Ultima's, which is non-abrasive. Obviously, that only increases glossiness and doesn't do a thing for swirl marks. That goes double for me, since I did it by hand.

With the color of my car, it's pretty much impossible to see the swirl marks on it unless the lighting is just perfect. The only ways to see them is in a lighted parking lot at night, so it's dark enough to eliminate harsh lighting, but still enough light to see it. I was surprised to see just how many swirl marks there were, since the car looks fine in the light.



I might be able to get my hands on a DA polisher, so I've come up with some questions if things come through:



1. I don't know if my swirl marks would be considered light or medium, and with how hard it is to see them without the light being perfect, I can't take any pictures. I'd like to err on the side of being careful since I don't know what I'm doing with a machine anyways. So, I need a polish that is fool-proof. I know that the different pads there are would have a different effect on how the polish works, so does anybody have any feedback on a good polish that is pretty adaptable? I've seen the abrasive charts, but for different polishes in the light to medium categories, which one should I get? Four star has a buy one get one free sale on their ultimate scratch and swirl remover. Is that any good?



2. From what I understand, people use a non abrasive polish after they're done correcting. So, should I start with the light to medium corrective swirl mark polish and then use ultima after that? Any IPA between the two polishes or after the glossing polish?

 

[Accumulator]

..

With the color of my car, it's pretty much impossible to see the swirl marks on it unless the lighting is just perfect. The only ways to see them is in a lighted parking lot at night, so it's dark enough to eliminate harsh lighting, but still enough light to see it. I was surprised to see just how many swirl marks there were, since the car looks fine in the light...

Sometimes the marring that's hard to see on certain paints is still fairly severe, it can be surprising. I'd get an incandescent trouble light (~$25 at Lowe's) and use it in an otherwise dark garage. That's how I inspect such paints.

I might be able to get my hands on a DA polisher, so I've come up with some questions if things come through:



1. I don't know if my swirl marks would be considered light or medium, and with how hard it is to see them without the light being perfect, I can't take any pictures. I'd like to err on the side of being careful since I don't know what I'm doing with a machine anyways. So, I need a polish that is fool-proof. I know that the different pads there are would have a different effect on how the polish works, so does anybody have any feedback on a good polish that is pretty adaptable? I've seen the abrasive charts, but for different polishes in the light to medium categories, which one should I get? Four star has a buy one get one free sale on their ultimate scratch and swirl remover. Is that any good?

I haven't used the Four Star, so I can't comment. M205 is very poplular and works well. I think it'd be a good choice. Maybe even the OTC Meguiar's Scratch-X v2.0.

2. From what I understand, people use a non abrasive polish after they're done correcting. So, should I start with the light to medium corrective swirl mark polish and then use ultima after that? Any IPA between the two polishes or after the glossing polish?

I don't think you'd need any nonabrasive polish follow up. Use a polish that finishes out ready-to-wax and then apply your Ultima. Or consider an AIO for this extra touch as it will help further clean the paint of polishing oils.



I wouldn't bother with nearly-nonabrasive burnishing/jeweling at this point either.



I'd do the IPA wipedown (more than one) after the polishing and then *maybe* use an AIO product for a final pre-Ultima step.

 

[Chicagoareanew]

Good to know. I had no idea that trouble lights exsisted. I don't have any Lowe's by me, but I'm sure home depot or walmart would have it if I just look. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Accumulator]

Good to know. I had no idea that trouble lights exsisted. I don't have any Lowe's by me, but I'm sure home depot or walmart would have it if I just look. Thanks for the advice!

Even just a bare incandescent lightbulb can work. The idea is to have "point source illumination". It's not even about the light being very bright.



The bare lightbulbs that a lot of people have ceiling mounted in their garages can work great. There are often bulbs like this in gargedoor openers, just gotta take off the plastic cover/lens (so the light isn't diffused).

 

[Chicagoareanew]

I haven't had any luck with the lightbulb in my garage, or a flashlight I've used. But the flashlight is over 10 years old, so I'm hoping it just lost most of it's power or something. I bought a cheap, 8 dollar maglight from walmart tonight (along with some invisable glass and turtle wax ice towels) so we'll see how that goes.

Now, I found out that the polisher my neighbor said that I could borrow is in fact not a DA that spins, but something that just vibrates back and forth (and resembles a rotary polisher).:soscared:

I'm going to buy a porter cable for sure, and probably an oarnge pad, white pad, black pad, and a glass polishing pad. After seeing the videos that demonstrate the Pinnacle polishes on autogeek's website, I'm leaning towards that now. Those diminish as opposed to the popular but intimidating Meguiar's ones that do not.

 

[scary bill]

I haven't had any luck with the lightbulb in my garage, or a flashlight I've used. But the flashlight is over 10 years old, so I'm hoping it just lost most of it's power or something. I bought a cheap, 8 dollar maglight from walmart tonight (along with some invisable glass and turtle wax ice towels) so we'll see how that goes.

Now, I found out that the polisher my neighbor said that I could borrow is in fact not a DA that spins, but something that just vibrates back and forth (and resembles a rotary polisher).:soscared:

I'm going to buy a porter cable for sure, and probably an oarnge pad, white pad, black pad, and a glass polishing pad. After seeing the videos that demonstrate the Pinnacle polishes on autogeek's website, I'm leaning towards that now. Those diminish as opposed to the popular but intimidating Meguiar's ones that do not.

A good light that I use is a 500W halogen. It will help shoe marring most of the time. If that doesn't work I use a cheap incandescent light bulb in a trouble light setup.



Might as well look into the PC (XP?) as it is a good machine.



I would get 2-3 5" (5.5" ok) orange and white pads, they will be the workhorse pads. Some black pads would be OK also, again at least 2. 6.5" pads are a little to big and heavy for the PC to deal with them well. I have had good luck with 5.5" low profile orange and white Lake Country pads with the PC.



I have gone through 4-6 pads for polishing out a truck, so that is why more is better. I like to be able to just throw on a new pad and keep going. If you only have 1 pad and it gets loaded up with polish ( witch *will* happen) yuo would have to stop and clean it,



Some 4" pads ( and appropriate backing plate) would also be good to have. The smaller pads enable the PC to do some very aggressive work.



As far as polishes go, most of them will give great results. On this site there are many opinions as to which polishes are best, but most of that is dealing with 5% better (at most). The new Megs polishes shouldn't scare you. They work fine by PC and do great polishing. I have used the Megs polishes by PC and gotten what I was after, I was using M83/M80/M82 though. Those are still polishes I wouldn't kick out of bed today.



The main thing is to get the paint as level and smooth as possible.





As far as the glass pad, its your money, I have never needed it. What are you trying to accomplish with it?

 

[Accumulator]

Chicagoareanew- If you choose to go with diminishing-abrasive products, be *CERTAIN* to break them down completely. IMO it's *much* easier to mess up with these as opposed to abrasives that don't break down, especially for a newbie.



There are some good threads about lighting..might be worth the dreaded SEARCH.

 

[Chicagoareanew]

Thanks for the advice, guys.



I was definitely leaning towards smaller pads, not just out of practicality, but cost. Everyone recommends the orange and white, and a few people talk about using the black, so that's where I got that idea from.



I wouldn't have thought that it's easier to clean up the meguiars ones than diminishing ones. I'll have to give that more thought.



And for the glass polishing pad, I have some light scratches on my head lights and tail lights, and my windshield has some scratches that aren't so light. My windshield wiper broke while I was in a huge storm and it completely scratched up the windshield. When it's dirty, you can't see any scratches. But when it's really clean, then you can see them.

 

[Chicagoareanew]

In order to tell that it's broken down, all you have to do is make sure it's translucent, right? And if you aren't sure, you could just wipe it down with microfiber, or maybe IPA?

 

[Accumulator]

In order to tell that it's broken down, all you have to do is make sure it's translucent, right? And if you aren't sure, you could just wipe it down with microfiber, or maybe IPA?...I wouldn't have thought that it's easier to clean up the meguiars ones than diminishing ones.

It's not about the clean up/wipe off as that's not really a big deal anyhow. You just wipe off the not-quite-dry polish residue. As long as you don't use too much it just wipes off.



Judging the breakdown is not always as simple as the appearance changing. And if you stop too soon you could be left with not-so-micro marring that just might be a real PIA to fix (gee, guess how I know).



With non-diminishing you just work them until the marring is gone or the polish is almost dried up, repeat as needed.



Diminishing-abrasive/not products are simply *different. The abrasives are shaped differently, they have differing "sharpness" and they work differently.



But for all this yakking I wouldn't get too caught up in the choice between them. Choose something that people agree is user-friendly and get the hang of doing this stuff.



Easy-to-use polishes: diminishing = Meguiar's #80, 1Z Paint Polish; non-diminishing = Meg's M205.



BUT this whole topic, eh....I'd *really* be concentrating on the wash so you don't just mar it up again after you polish. Not marring the paint is the #1 thing, with correcting the paint a *very* distant second IMO.



Oh, and I wouldn't expect much when it comes to correcting marring on glass, it's almost always forever. Tail lights are easy, usually, just polishing them like paint (with a regular foam pad) works in most cases. Headlights can be harder but still aren't all that big a challenge.

 

[Chicagoareanew]

That's good to know, now I won't have to waste money on yet another pad. The only hang up I have with Meguairs is that the polishes come in 32 oz bottles and are expensive. Per ounce it's not bad, but if it's 4x more than you need, it's not such a great deal.

 

[Accumulator]

The only hang up I have with Meguairs is that the polishes come in 32 oz bottles and are expensive. Per ounce it's not bad, but if it's 4x more than you need, it's not such a great deal.

Some vendor sells smaller samples, I can't remember which one it is, but somebody here will know. Maybe Advanced Detailing Solutions? Eh...I dunno :nixweiss