Recent content by Manhattan

The HD Speed seemed to do the trick. This was the right amount of correction and polish. I feel like it cut just enough to clean up the paint while barely taking any paint. She's even a little shinier!

We've had this car for the past 5 years - bought it with 12,000 miles from the original owner. I'm 95% sure it's never seen a buffer. Would you still want to put a gauge on it before sanding? Thanks!

This is the hood of a 2017 Mazda CX5... that I'm selling. If I remember correctly (it's my daughter's car), this tennis ball size collection of pits/divots is from an egg that was thrown from a car. I painstakingly touched every (!) individual spot with a medium-tip acrylic paint pen. That alone...

Ha! Big Dave, I had the same silver FJ. I took your advice and went s l o w l y. It was kinda unnerving. Polish, look, polish, look, just hoping (!) I didn't see black plastic peaking through. I'd say the scratches are 90% gone. I'm sure, if I was a bit more aggressive, I could've made...

Okay, "new" is really inaccurate. My '84 Toyota Pickup was painted 2 yrs ago. But, it lives in the garage, has driven 1,200 miles, not seen rain, and been washed with mild carwash detergent. It's a single stage paint job. The goal was NOT to create a show truck. The cab, hood, doors, and...

I just bought a 2020 4Runner. It has a silver panel on the center console that is painted plastic. The previous owner added a few light scratches. They are very light - can't feel them with my fingernail, but pretty visible when the light hits them. My assumptions (based on basically nothing)...

It's never simple is it. I was thinking the "system" I was chasing had two variables - pads and polishes... and didn't factor in the machine. My three new pads are going back to Griot's Garage (keeping the three bottles of polish) and will order some LC force pads. Thanks! (again)

Damn guys... this is great. Thank you. I'm thinking I'll go all in on the Groit's system. Then, as I get a few more cars under my belt, I'll try other brands. Right now, I've really got no baseline - no way to compare how good the pads and compounds/polishes are - beyond the simplicity of that...

Thanks opie. Do you use the LC Force white pad (light cutting) and the 3D 520 as the final stage - and not followed by a black (no cutting) pad? Thanks!

Hey guys. I need some help picking pads and polishes. I've got a Flex XC 3401 VRG (DA orbital polisher) and used to have, what seemed like a good system... at least an easy-to-use system. A company that isn't around anymore sold polishes (four levels from cut to polish) and corresponding pads...

The dashboards in the old Toyota trucks are notorious for cracking... a lot. This is what the dash in my '84 looked like when I bought it... (uploads failing) ... I was able to find a unicorn - a near perfect brown dash out of an '84 "Dolphin." Remember those tiny Toyota trucks tucked under...

Sorta... not really... a little. The spare is bolted to a plate that has the "female" end of a tube that slides over the "male" end of the mount. There's a bolt through those two to secure things. Options: remove hubcap and unbolt... or remove the mount with the spare... So, less of hassle than...

There are a couple things about the spare tire on my Toyota Pickup that make it a bit of a hassle to apply tire dressing to. - The location - sunk into the bed and surrounded by sheet metal and glass - tricky to spray - The tread - the sorta chunky AT - makes it hard to wipe on This isn't that...

Tony - thanks for taking the time to write/explain all of that. The main take-away for me - given my (very) limited experience and skills - is that I need to hand this over to a pro. The rest of the truck is just too nice to have a half-assed, botched job on the hood. I sorta fell victim to the...

Getting started... First coat... I knew something wasn't right: Fourth and final coat: 24 hours later: Before I start over (sanding off the clear), I may see if an aggressive compound "Liquid Sand" will level the clear - then work my way up to polish. Not much to lose... well, other...