New car + a bunch of AG product and need some advice

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rkelmy

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Okay so I loaded up on AG products - Pinnacle Bodywork Shampoo, Ultra Poly Clay & Lubricant, Paintwork Cleansing lotion, Vinyl Rubber Protectant, Onyx Tire Gel and Crystal Mist and Pinnacle Wax. Red, White and Orange pads, lots of MF cloths, MF gloves, Chinchilla cloths, Guzzlers and Guzzlers HDs, Porter Cable 7424 XP

Heres my dilemma - the more articles I read AG the more confused I get on how to begin detailing my new car.

I have a 3 month old Pitch Black Dodge Charger. My neighbor owns a detailing business so I had him detail the paint right after I bought it. I live in Fl and it gets hot! I want to establish a good foundation for going forward of detailing myself.

I wash my car once a week and dry with a MF cloth. The paint looks very shiny and glossy however after washing I do the plastic baggie test and feel lots of little bumps. Close examination I can also see light swirl/spider webbing.

what should the steps be to get rid of those little bumps and swirl? How do you see this plan of attack?

wash and dry
Iron X
rinse and dry
clay bar
Pinnacle advance finishing polish - orange pad
Paintwork cleansing lotion - white pad
Pinnacle wax - red pad

I'm looking for that car show finish. Thanks in advance
 
I also have a black car and it's hot here too. I have a theory; heat kills wax. For that reason, I use a sealant rather than a wax for my base coat on the black one. I top it off with Pinnicle or Souveran, but the base is Wolfgang sealant.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd just put in the work and go with Opticoat right off the bat. I have done 3 other cars with it and it is awesome. Wash, dry, relax. I say this because it is a BMW with soft paint and no matter how careful I am, I get towel marks. Being black, it gets washed 2X more that the lighter colors in the stable so I guess the marks are inevitable.

My 2 cents...I could be wrong. :dblthumb2:
 
Rayaz said:
Welcome by the way!
Click to expand...


Thank you! I'm looking forward to spending time here and learning the art of auto detailing. I thought I had a good understanding of the process before but I can see there is so very much to learn. BTW that baggie test is the coolest thing ive learned so far.
 
You were close, if you use either or both the Advanced Swirl Remover and/or the Advanced Finishing Polish you don't need to use the Paintwork Cleansing Lotion as this is redundant. It's an either/or situation.

For removing swirls you want to try the Pinnacle AFP since that's what you have, this is a fine cut polish so use it with a white pad and see if it's removing the swirls, if not then try with the orange pad but the orange pad might be too aggressive and the foam itself can impart a swirl or technically micro-marring. If that's the case then you can re-polish with the same polish but use the softer pad.

Here's what you want to do...


  1. wash and dry
  2. Iron X
  3. rinse and dry
  4. clay bar
  5. Pinnacle advance finishing polish - orange pad
  6. Pinnacle wax - red pad

Read through this too...

How to wash your car KISS style!



And the below is a re-write of my first article on this topic when I came to AGO from MOL it's very in-depth and just as accurate today as the day I wrote it.



The long and in-depth guide for using a DA Polisher
The Definitive How-To Article for using DA Polishers - Includes Videos

Includes: Removing Swirls, Scratches and Water Spots Using a Porter Cable 7424XP, Meguiar's G110v2 or Griot's Garage Polisher


AND BE SURE TO DO A TEST SPOT BEFORE BUFFING OUT THE ENTIRE CAR


How To Do a Test Spot
(and why it's so important)

And of course, mark your backing plate...

Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation



And get a few clean, terry cloth towels to clean your pad on the fly, the below has a video too...

How to clean your foam pad on the fly



:)
 
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