ready for detail - need opinions

Well, i am going to give this detailing by machine thing a shot as by hand in the past hasn't produced as good results as i want. I now have the PC 7424 with orange, white and black pads.

Situation:

The car of most concern has a red acrylic enamel finish. There are some swirls that have accumulated over the 4ish years, more plentiful (although more of a dull hazy look) on the hood from using Meguiars fine cut cleaner by hand last year (see other thread).

This is what i was thinking:

1. claybar....is it really necessary or can this be skipped? I read something about usually only horizontal surfaces as well?
2. Meguiars M80 spped glaze (for cleaning and polishing). From how good it worked on the Mike Phillips video doing that black vette i figure i shouldn't need the fine cut cleaner first to really minimize or eliminate the swirls.
3. Either my trusty Meguiars Polymer Sealant for the long lasting protection or maybe try Liquid Glass or Finish First this time.

What do you guys think?

Now what about pad choice? For removing swirls with the M80 would i use an orange pad or a white polsihing pad? And then the polymer sealant would be with a black pad? What about liquid glass, can i use the machine to apply that stuff?

thanks for any input.

Thanks for the tips guys. Here is to hoping things will go ok and i won't create other problems like on the hood!

zaxjax said:

I'll throw my opinion in, clay and use the fine cut cleaner again with the orange pad. The fine cut will remove oxidation, light scratches and other problem areas. Go with a swirl free polish on a white pad. Follow that up with your glaze. Finally, wax away!

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I am still a little confused, what do you mean by swirl free polish? With my limited knowledge i only know of 2 kinds....pure polish (no abrasives) and cleaner/polish (with diminishing abrasives and then ending with polishing). The M80 is a polish, is it not? Or are you referring to the fine cut cleaner?

What if i tried the M80 first to see how much it removed, could you then go back to the fine cut after the M80 (if required) or do you have to somehow strip all the M80 off first? My only concern here is (again...novice) taking off too much paint (also because i now a little polishing/paint removal has happened before with scratches on the hood and overspray around the car).

thanks!