Compound or just polish?

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vman

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About 2 months ago I bought a new white car and im wondering if I should correct the paint with a compound and polish or just polish only. I didnt know about autogeek back then and the dealer has washed the car about two times but from my inspections the paint is in good shape. When I shine a light over the paint I can only see faint hair line scratches here and there.

This car gets driven daily for about 70 miles on long highway roads that have tons of semi trucks throwing all kinds of debris. Since its so hard to see imperfections on white compared to darker cars, should I just focus on polishing the paint to squeeze as much gloss out of it as I can? Will there be any significant gloss improvement if i compound the paint as well?
 
I can't imagine a 2 month old car needing compound, but I haven't seen the car so anything is possible. I think it's pretty safe to advise you not to compound such a new car. I good polish or 1 step product would probably be just fine.

You want to remove as little clear coat as possible. Always use the least aggressive method.
 
statusdetailing said:
I can't imagine a 2 month old car needing compound, but I haven't seen the car so anything is possible. I think it's pretty safe to advise you not to compound such a new car. I good polish or 1 step product would probably be just fine.

You want to remove as little clear coat as possible. Always use the least aggressive method.
Click to expand...

Thanks I asked about compounding since there are scratches here and there that I don't think polishing will take out like on the deck lid of the trunk where my hand always touches.
 
I'm in the same boat. Bought a lightly used car, but it did look like the first owner took it through the drive through car wash or had the dealer wash it as there was light swirls and scratches and a few deeper ones. I got the deep ones out and missed a few of the light ones which I'll get to later. But as the owner it bugs you because its not perfect. Try something like cg black light. Polish only if its that bad or you can't sleep at night thinking about it and have to do something about it. Watch a lot of videos and read what others have to say about their own cars. That helped me the most.
 
I bought a brand new Mercedes ML350 in Diamond White at the end of May. The paint was excellent, however, I clayed with a very mild clay just to play it safe and then used Duragloss 601/105 topped with their AquaWax. The paint was now better than excellent! In September, I clayed again and used Duragloss 601/111. It looks even better this time.

Duragloss has several products for just about every situation and that is one reason I go to them nearly every time I touch my car (which is often!). A car needing mild correction could go first with an AIO type polish such as their 501. Sounds like this would be right up your alley. A car that is "perfect" can always use some cleaning so 105 is a polish not quite as aggressive as 501. The 111 has virtually no correction properties and is pure sealant and looks super on white cars.

I am sure there are other products out there that do just as well but Duragloss makes it pretty easy for you. With all these products you will get better performance by using the 601 bonding agent. There is a ton of information here on these products if you are interested and want to do a search.
 
Shortspark said:
I bought a brand new Mercedes ML350 in Diamond White at the end of May. The paint was excellent, however, I clayed with a very mild clay just to play it safe and then used Duragloss 601/105 topped with their AquaWax. The paint was now better than excellent! In September, I clayed again and used Duragloss 601/111. It looks even better this time.

Duragloss has several products for just about every situation and that is one reason I go to them nearly every time I touch my car (which is often!). A car needing mild correction could go first with an AIO type polish such as their 501. Sounds like this would be right up your alley. A car that is "perfect" can always use some cleaning so 105 is a polish not quite as aggressive as 501. The 111 has virtually no correction properties and is pure sealant and looks super on white cars.

I am sure there are other products out there that do just as well but Duragloss makes it pretty easy for you. With all these products you will get better performance by using the 601 bonding agent. There is a ton of information here on these products if you are interested and want to do a search.
Click to expand...

Are duragloss products good? I have never considered them because I see their stuff in the auto parts stores and I tend to think the hard to find stuff online is better than stuff you will find in the regular auto parts stores.
 
vegas911gts said:
Are duragloss products good?

Yes.
(I'd bet that even Sal would say so!)

I tend to think the hard to find stuff online is better than stuff you will find in the regular auto parts stores.
Click to expand...
There's got to be some reasons why you tend to think this way.

In order for me to posslbly understand your way of thinking that this is true...
Could you please...

-List some of the: hard to find stuff online...that's better than: OTC.
-List some of the: OTC stuff that's not as good as: hard to find stuff online

That should give me an opportunity to compare my thoughts/opinions, on such items...
To what you tend to believe about them.

Thanks.

Gotta go for right now...
I'm off to Pep Boys to pick-up some more M105/205 while it's on sale.
(Even though I don't like doing so...it's Wally World if PB's is sold out)
If out of luck at WW...There's the jobber's truck, come Monday.

:)

Bob
 
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