Bronco-Stang said:
My car has a single stage red paint, and it was repainted for over ten years ago.
First and foremost, be very careful to avoid buffing on top of any raised body lines, edges and corners as most single stage paints are much softer than clear coat paints and it's very easy to burn through the paint and expose either the primer or shiny metal. So when machine polishing, focus on the task at hand and maybe consider using some painter's tape to tape off any raised body lines, you can get painter's tap that is 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 inch in diameter.
Bronco-Stang said:
In my collection I have:
NXT Tech Wax 2.0
Gold Class
Deep Crystal Polish
Deep Crystal Cleaner
SwirlX
ScratchX
Ultimate Compound
My pads are:
White
Blue
Green
Orange
Yellow
Yellow Scrubbing (I don't know if I will be using these)
Bronco-Stang said:
I know that the white pad is for the waxes, and probably the blue one for the polish, but how about the rest?
You didn't really say what the condition of the paint was in but since it's a single stage I'll assume it's oxidized, this being true then what you want to do is to carefully remove the dead oxidized paint to reveal a fresh base of good paint and then polish the paint to a high gloss and then seal it with wax.
Since it's a good idea follow the philosophy of using the least aggressive product to get the job done, but at the same time balance the right product for the job, I would suggest trying the SwirlX with either a Green Polishing Pad or a White Polishing Pad.
You could even try the Orange Light cutting pad but do some testing first as this pad is quite a bit more aggressive than the green and white polishing pad. Most people would probably recommend you to start with an aggressive pad but when it comes to old single stage paint you're better off to at least start out testing some less aggressive products as you can always get more aggressive if your first choices are not aggressive enough.
In order of least aggressive to most aggressive,
White Finishing Pad
Blue Polishing Pad
Green Polishing Pad
Orange Compounding & Polishing Pad
Yellow Cutting Pad
Yellow Scrubbing Pad
In order of aggressiveness of the product you say you already own from least to most aggressive,
Deep Crystal Polish - Non-abrasive, rich in polishing oils
Deep Crystal Cleaner
SwirlX
ScratchX (SMAT version, not DAT version)
Ultimate Compound
So if this car were mine, and this is just a guess from your description, a few high quality close-up pictures and/or a better description of the paint would help, here's what I would do...
Start out testing the SwirlX with the Green Polishing pad. Do a Test Spot about 20: squarish or so like I show in the below video link.
After making about 5-6 Section passes, stop the machine and inspect the results. If the condition of the paint looks good and meets your expectations, then duplicate this over the rest of the car, if not then repeat the Test Spot only try the Ultimate Compound with the Green Pad, (clean the green pad as best as you can), or with the Orange Compounding Pad, and again, inspect your results.
The UC with the Orange Compounding pad will be a fairly aggressive approach and probably the fastest, most effective and safest approach but test out the SwirlX/Green Pad combo first just to make sure this won't get your car's paint to where you want it to be.
Here's some videos to watch that address the above procedures, even the the Section Pass Video shows using a Porter Cable 7424XP polisher, you can use the same technique or guide for working with the Cyclo, the important point is to use slow, overlapping motions to cover an area one time and this would be One Section Pass. Be sure not to buff to a dry buff.
How to use the Cyclo Polisher to Remove Swirls, Scratches and Oxidation
Section Pass on YouTube
[video=youtube_share;Q70g83mnTn4]- Removing Swirls with a PC7424XP How to do a Section Pass - Porter Cable[/video]
AFTER you remove the defects and any oxidation the next thing you want to do is polish the paint to a high gloss and also gorge the paint with the polishing oils found in the Deep Crystal Polish to really bring out the full richness of color of the red paint.
If you are able to restore the paint to your expectations using the SwirlX then you can go right to the Deep Crystal Polish using the blue polishing pad.
If you end up using the Ultimate Compound with the Orange Compounding pad, the follow this with the SwirlX with the Green Polishing Pad and then follow this with the Deep Crystal Polish using the blue Polishing Pad
After you get through the above process where you've finished off the paint using the Deep Crystal Polish, now use the White Finishing Pads to apply the NXT Tech Wax.
After the above process you should have a flawless finish with a deep, wet shine.
For your knowledge, for these product you apply them, work them and then wipe them off, none of them should be left to dry as allowing them to dry will add no benefit and just make wipe-off difficult.
The NXT Tech Wax should able allowed to dry for 15 minutes to 20 and even 30 minutes, the goal being to let it fully dry before wiping off the dried residue.
Please take some great before and after pictures and if you have any problems throughout the process please come back and share them and our forum members will do their best to help to see you through to success.
