Another rookie needing some guidance

[rdrunner]

Hey guys, I've been lurking in the shadows here for a while now, and finally decided to buy a GG polisher, join this forum, and see if I can't take better care of our vehicles. I surely could use a little advice from a guru.

Here's what I have to work with for now:

1 GG polisher
3 GG Orange Foam Polish Pads
1 GG 8 oz Paint Cleaning Clay
1 GG 16 oz One-Step Sealant
1 GG 35 oz Spray-on Wax
1 GG 35 oz Speed Shine
3 GG Micro Fiber Polish Removal Cloths

Vehicles:

2012 Toyota Corolla - Barcelona Red Metallic (shiny paint, never waxed, few deep oops scratches)
2002 Toyota 4-Runner - Thunder Cloud Gray (few light swirl marks from previous owner)
2000 Toyota Tundra - Natural White (neglected oxidized paint, black tree residue)

Questions:

1. Can I use the orange pads and the one-step sealant on the corolla, or should I get a red pad and some wax, and just wax it. The paint is in great shape and the few scratches are down to the primer, so I don't expect to make the scratches disappear. I just want to preserve the paint. I know that red vehicles that I've owned in the past faded badly. Do I need to use the clay? The paint feels smooth.

2. Can the one-step sealant take out light swirl marks on the 4-runner, or is there something I could buy locally that would work better?

3. I'm assuming that the corolla and the 4-runner are a base coat/clear coat. From reading here, I think my tundra is a single stage paint, thus the bad oxidation. I still have some black tree residue on it after washing. What's the best way to get rid of these black tree residue spots? What would you recommend for restoring and sealing the oxidized paint?

4. I would love to at least get her corolla done this weekend so I can justify buying the GG kit. I don't have any pad cleaning solution. Could I pull this off with the 3 orange pads that I have and use some kind of household cleaner to clean the pads.

I realize that I need to tweek what I bought with the 5" backing plate, 5.5 pads, better products, etc, but I have to utilize what came with the kit for now. Any advice to utilize what I have to accomplish my short term goals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

 

[theparmachine]

You need some cutting pads, microfibers are good and a good compound. Also a good compound, actually Meguiars Ultimate Compound would do if you want to keep costs low.

 

[HateSwirls]

You can get by with the pads you have but a sealant will not remove swirls.
If your cars need polishing due to swirls get you a bottle of Meg's Ultimate Compound.
A bottle of Ultimate polish by Meg's.

After using the UP then you can seal it then wax it.
The spray wax would only be to maintain your shine after your done polishing.

As for cleaning you pads, well if their foam I just throw them in the washing machine then air dry.

Pics would help if you could show us what your up against.
UC works very well to remove oxidation.

 

[rdrunner]

You can get by with the pads you have but a sealant will not remove swirls.
If your cars need polishing due to swirls get you a bottle of Meg's Ultimate Compound.
A bottle of Ultimate polish by Meg's.

After using the UP then you can seal it then wax it.
The spray wax would only be to maintain your shine after your done polishing.

As for cleaning you pads, well if their foam I just throw them in the washing machine then air dry.

Pics would help if you could show us what your up against.
UC works very well to remove oxidation.

Thanks for the reply.

Here's what GG says about the one-step sealant:
One-Step Sealant, 16 Ounces

One-Step Sealant is a polish and synthetic wax in one. When used with Griot's 6” Random Orbital and Orange Foam Polish Pads, it safely removes swirl marks and light scratches from your paint, and simultaneously lays down a coating that protects paint from the elements and enhances color and gloss.

It sounds like it is a little more than just a sealant and I was hoping that it might take out the light scratches on the 4 runner, but I was afraid that it might not be necessary for the corolla. Is the polishing part BS, or do you think it might take out light scratches?

You and "theparmachine" (thanks btw) both recommended Meg's Ultimate Compound. I guess that would be for the heavy oxidized paint on the tundra. I assume this process would need to be followed up with the Meg's Ultimate Polish, then wax? Would I just not worry about any remaining black tree residue on the paint since I am using the compound? Am I correct in the single stage paint assumption? Will these GG pads be aggressive enough for the oxidized paint? Can I use them to apply wax?

One day I will have the ideal setup/products, I'm just trying to get by for now.


Thanks for your help guys.

 

[custmsprty]

Buy Mike Phillips new IPad Detailing book it's awesome and will save you alot of time, money and headache in the long run and it's very affordable. I got it yesterday, it's great in the electronic format.

 

[mwoolfso]

Vehicles:

2012 Toyota Corolla - Barcelona Red Metallic (shiny paint, never waxed, few deep oops scratches)
2002 Toyota 4-Runner - Thunder Cloud Gray (few light swirl marks from previous owner)
2000 Toyota Tundra - Natural White (neglected oxidized paint, black tree residue)

Questions:

1. Can I use the orange pads and the one-step sealant on the corolla, or should I get a red pad and some wax, and just wax it. The paint is in great shape and the few scratches are down to the primer, so I don't expect to make the scratches disappear. I just want to preserve the paint. I know that red vehicles that I've owned in the past faded badly. Do I need to use the clay? The paint feels smooth. Best practices dictate you should clay before polishing to reduce/eliminate risk of instilling more swirls in the paint as you polish. If you have never detailed the vehicle before (i.e. - polished), then do indeed use the one-step sealant; which by the way is an AIO.

2. Can the one-step sealant take out light swirl marks on the 4-runner, or is there something I could buy locally that would work better? It may remove some swirls; most likely not all of them. The solution that will meet your needs will be a product & pad combination. You will find this out over time.

3. I'm assuming that the corolla and the 4-runner are a base coat/clear coat. From reading here, I think my tundra is a single stage paint, thus the bad oxidation. I still have some black tree residue on it after washing. What's the best way to get rid of these black tree residue spots? What would you recommend for restoring and sealing the oxidized paint? Stoners Tarminator will do wonders for you here for the residue. To start you off slow, get 2-3 flat cutting pads and the same amount of light cutting pads. In addition start off with Meguiars Ultimate Compound. Perform one or more test spots using product and pad combinations. With a compound you would be looking for correction ability, not looks or gloss. Your "polish" step could be with the one-step sealant and GG orange combo. Here are the steps, basically.

1- Wash & strip
2- Clay
3- Remove tar, tree sap, other residue, etc...
4- Compound (MUC/cutting)
5- Polish (GG 1-step Seal&Orange)
6- Wax

4. I would love to at least get her corolla done this weekend so I can justify buying the GG kit. I don't have any pad cleaning solution. Could I pull this off with the 3 orange pads that I have and use some kind of household cleaner to clean the pads. Dawn Ultra and some APC like Purple Power of Zep with some warm water and soaking time will be cost effective and work. You are going to find the paint on your vehicles are dirty when you see the pads after some panels are polished. If you maintain a regular regimen with the vehicles they probably will not get as dirty.

I realize that I need to tweek what I bought with the 5" backing plate, 5.5 pads, better products, etc, but I have to utilize what came with the kit for now. Any advice to utilize what I have to accomplish my short term goals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

....

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Questions:

1. Can I use the orange pads and the one-step sealant on the corolla, or should I get a red pad and some wax, and just wax it. The paint is in great shape and the few scratches are down to the primer, so I don't expect to make the scratches disappear. I just want to preserve the paint. I know that red vehicles that I've owned in the past faded badly. Do I need to use the clay? The paint feels smooth.

Do the baggie test and this will tell you if you need to clay. From a practical point of view, if these cars are daily drivers and you have not clayed them in the last 6 month then you need to clay them and the baggie test will show you this.

The Baggie Test - How to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants

Also, if you car's paint fails the baggie test then it also needs to be cleaned and/or polished. Any paint that is neglected enough to fail the baggies test is dirty enough to need cleaned and polished before waxing.

See this thread and remember, this car is "garage kept" and the paint still gets dirty over time.

Here's why you need to polish paint...

2. Can the one-step sealant take out light swirl marks on the 4-runner, or is there something I could buy locally that would work better?

Removing swirls means removing paint. The one-step sealant you're talking about is a cleaner/wax, this means it cleans/abrades, polishes and seals the paint in one step.

Last week I posted something most people don't understand about cleaner-waxes in post #6 of this thread,

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/70344-aio.html


Read it carefully and then my guess is the one-step product you bought would be in the VERY LIGHT CLEANING category. In order to do any real correction work it would have to be more like D151

That is a great question.

AIOs are available in different cleaning abilities, the range is from medium cleaning, to light cleaning to very light cleaning.

There used to be aggressive AIOs in the automotive world back when single stage paints were standard but they've all disappeared because they're so aggressive they leave the paint looking scoured.

I'd say the least aggressive would be a product like Klasse AIO as it's non-abrasive and I'd call this a very light AIO.

GPS by Optimum is very light also but does contain light abrasives.

Pinnacle XMT 360 is light and contains micro-abrasives.

Products like Meguiar's D151 and M66 are medium AIOs and really about as aggressive as you want to get if you want the ability to leave a nice looking finish on most paint systems.

I'd suggest picking up more than one so you can do some testing and use the least aggressive product to get the job done AND leave the nicest looking finish.

The issue I've seen with doing one-steps to black and dark colored clear coats is the AIOs, as good as they are tend to leave micro-marring or haze in the paint.

Lots of variables though, like paint hardness and paint softness, pad type, etc.

That's why it's a good idea to have a couple different types so you can test.

Hope that helps...

As for buying locally, see what kind of answers you get to your questions from the guy or girl behind the counter compared to the help you get on this forum but "yes", you can find Meguiar's Ultimate Compound locally and it's a very good compound. The red Mercedes-Benz on the label is a car from one of my Extreme Makeover classes.

What's the best way to get rid of these black tree residue spots?

What would you recommend for restoring and sealing the oxidized paint?

Compounding or using a good cleaner/was will remove the oxidation. I recommend compounding or using a cleaner/wax first and then clay the paint. "Yes" you will be surprised at the contaminants you can remove via claying AFTER you've compounded.

You don't clay oxidized single stage paint first as it wastes your clay by filling it full of oxidized paint needlessly.

See this thread,

KISS Detail - Extreme Makeover - Toyota Highlander


And see my comments in post #13, which is a paraphrase of something I wrote in a Private Message to AC in OC about working on oxidized single stage paint.

4 Steps to restore single paint paint - 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE

I realize that I need to tweek what I bought with the 5" backing plate, 5.5 pads, better products, etc, but I have to utilize what came with the kit for now. Any advice to utilize what I have to accomplish my short term goals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

1. Wash
2. Clay
3. Use the one-step on the 5-6 setting with the polishing pad

The paint should come out looking much better.