First Full Detail! Need Advices!

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lonye

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Hi all!

During the last months i've been asking and reading a lot in order to decide what I'm going to do with my car.
Since I live in Argentina it took me a while to get all necesary items.

I'm polishing my own car, it's a grey metallic ford fiesta which is 3 years old. The paint is in good shape, but it has some swirls.

I'm using a GG 6 with 5,5' pads (4 orange pads, 4 white, 2 gray, 2 blue) and some 3' pads.

The steps I'm planning are:

1) Wash with CG Citrus Wahs N Gloss or any non PH shampoo for stripping previus treatment (Q1: is it necessary a citrus wash even i'll be polishing then?)
2) Iron X on paint (Q2: should I apply it and rinse after some minuts or di I need to scrube with any sponge or something?)
3) Clay with mothers clay bar kit.
4) Masking plastics with 3M masking (Q3: Should I protect windows, plastics and the unions in order to avoid polish to steam)
5) 1st Polishing Step: SIP1500 + Orange
6) 2nd Polishing Step: SIP1500 + White pad (Q4: is this necessary for a better finish?)
7) 3rd Polishing Step: SF4500 + grey/Blue pads
8) Wolfang or Klasse or Opti seal
9) 2 coats or DP Max Wax.

Is there any thing missing? The others polishes I've are Wolfgang Uber (Just 8 oz), M105, M205 and Car Pro Fixer.
Is it necesseray to clean with eraser or IPA between polishing steps?

I'll be doing it tomorrow or the day after, son any help will be welcome!

Regards and thanks for your time!!

Feed back please
 
lonye said:
Hi all!

During the last months i've been asking and reading a lot in order to decide what I'm going to do with my car.
Since I live in Argentina it took me a while to get all necessary items.

I'm polishing my own car, it's a grey metallic ford fiesta which is 3 years old. The paint is in good shape, but it has some swirls.

I'm using a GG 6 with 5,5' pads (4 orange pads, 4 white, 2 gray, 2 blue) and some 3' pads.

The steps I'm planning are:

1) Wash with CG Citrus Wahs N Gloss or any non PH shampoo for stripping previous treatment (Q1: is it necessary a citrus wash even i'll be polishing then?)
Click to expand...

Since you're going to polish the paint it doesn't matter if you use a wash to strip the paint of previously applied product or not, the polishing step will do this for you.


lonye said:
2) Iron X on paint (Q2: should I apply it and rinse after some minutes or di I need to scrube with any sponge or something?)
Click to expand...

Apply and allow to dwell so the magic ingredients can dissolve iron particles then rinse off. I would wash the car with a mitt again too.


lonye said:
3) Clay with mothers clay bar kit.
Click to expand...

Good.


lonye said:
4) Masking plastics with 3M masking (Q3: Should I protect windows, plastics and the unions in order to avoid polish to steam)
Click to expand...

Just mask off any rubber, plastic or vinyl trim that you would hate to see stained later down the road.

lonye said:
5) 1st Polishing Step: SIP1500 + Orange
Click to expand...

Good

lonye said:
6) 2nd Polishing Step: SIP1500 + White pad (Q4: is this necessary for a better finish?)
Click to expand...

Probably. You should do a Test Spot to dial in your process for your car's specific paint.

lonye said:
7) 3rd Polishing Step: SF4500 + grey/Blue pads
Click to expand...

I'd use the grey pad.


lonye said:
8) Wolfgang or Klasse or Opti seal


9) 2 coats or DP Max Wax.
Click to expand...

I always like to let people use what they like, I'm sure others will chime in and give you their opinion...


lonye said:
Is there any thing missing? The others polishes I've are Wolfgang Uber (Just 8 oz), M105, M205 and Car Pro Fixer.
Click to expand...

The Menzerna product you're using should get the job done. If it were me, I'd try to only do two steps. You're doing three because you're using an aggressive orange pad with the SI 1500 followed by the same product with a less aggressive pad.

See if you can get the results you want only using the white pad and cut out a step, especially if this is daily driver.

lonye said:
Is it necessary to clean with eraser or IPA between polishing steps?
Click to expand...

No. Just wipe off residues and move forward in the process.



:)
 
Mike, thanks a lot for your time and help!

I'll take in consideration a two polishing step!

I'll be posting photos of the result!

Regarding to detailing class in Argentina, I'm really interestead.
How do I get more info?

Thanks!
 
FivePoint.0 said:
I doubt you'll need 3 polishing steps.
Click to expand...

Yes, maybe you are right. As mike said, I'll do a test spot with white + SIP 1500.

One little question. When you do a test spot, do you try both 1st and second steps? do you have to clean your pads inmediatly, so you can use then in the real polishing steps (I mean de whole car').
I ask because I only have 4 white pads and 2 gray (in fact a Ive two 5,5 flat gray and 2 6,5 ccs gray, I dont' know if results are the same if a Mixed them).

Can pads be wash in a bucket with APC?
 
lonye said:
Yes, maybe you are right. As mike said, I'll do a test spot with white + SIP 1500.

One little question. When you do a test spot, do you try both 1st and second steps? do you have to clean your pads inmediatly, so you can use then in the real polishing steps (I mean de whole car').
I ask because I only have 4 white pads and 2 gray (in fact a Ive two 5,5 flat gray and 2 6,5 ccs gray, I dont' know if results are the same if a Mixed them).

Can pads be wash in a bucket with APC?
Click to expand...
You can do 1 test spot with 3 steps, and another with 2 steps and see which outcome you like better. I blow out my pad with an air compressor after each section I've polished. A section being when I start the polisher in one section until I tun it off. I doubt you have an air compressor, so take a terry cloth towel and run it over your pad while the polisher is on. You want to make sure the pad is spinning while running the towel over the pad, so adjust your speed accordingly. You're not going to notice any different results when using flat vs. CCS. I'd switch to a new pad when your pad becomes saturated(every few panels).
 
Ok, I'll do that. two test spots.
I dont't have air compressor so I'll clean them on the fly after each pass.
after a few sections, I'll change my pad.
Thanks for your help!
 
lonye said:
Ok, I'll do that. two test spots.
I dont't have air compressor so I'll clean them on the fly after each pass.
after a few sections, I'll change my pad.
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Sounds good! :dblthumb2:
 
Hi lonye, I am from Argentina too and as you say is usually quite hard to get some good quality products. I really hate that.....I do have CG citrus wash and gloss and will be happy to provide you a sample if you are only going to use it for this detail. Just let me know and we can arrange the way.
You should probably consider using reload too as a final touch spray sealant. I am really loving that product

Saludos!
 
OK, so 6 months after writting this post, I finally had some time to spent on my car.
So
1) I wash the car with Sonax Non PH neutral shampoo to remove everything.
2) Clay with mothers clay kit and Nanoskin handy towek, using ONR as clay lube
3) POlish with SIP 1500 on Lake Country white flat pads on my GG 6 on spid 4-5. I planned to use Sf4500 but after removing 90% of swirls, i thoguht it was good enough for my first time. It looked really nice. Much deeper and shiny. Really happy with my results.

I've some questions.
1) SIP 1500 dusted a lot. And I mean a LOT. Is this normal, or is something related with my inexperience polishng? I primmed the pads and use 3 or 4 drops of products...
2) I sealed the car with wolfgang deep gloss. Really very very glossy and really smoth. I used a sample sent by autogeek. I really shaked it well but it was still a bit liquid. Is it normal or was a bad sample?
I only use less than an ounce for the entire car (a few drops per panel).
3) Would a second pas with black pads and SF4500 add more gloss? or is it possible to achieve the best results with SIP and a white pad?

I'll try to post some pictures!

Thanks all!
 
lonye said:
OK, so 6 months after writing this post, I finally had some time to spent on my car.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the follow-up...


lonye said:
I've some questions.
1) SIP 1500 dusted a lot. And I mean a LOT. Is this normal, or is something related with my inexperience polishing? I primmed the pads and use 3 or 4 drops of products...
Click to expand...

Well if you buff till all the lubrication is gone it will get dusty.

How big of an area did you buff at one time? Should be about 18" to 20" squarish or so. 2" x 2" is TOO BIG although that's what just about everyone always recommends. (not me)

Did you buff to a dry buff? Never buff to a dry buff. You should always have a wet film of product behind your path of travel. IF that doesn't make sense then read my article and look at the picture.

Wet Buffing Technique




lonye said:
2) I sealed the car with wolfgang deep gloss. Really very very glossy and really smoth. I used a sample sent by autogeek. I really shaked it well but it was still a bit liquid. Is it normal or was a bad sample?

I only use less than an ounce for the entire car (a few drops per panel).
Click to expand...

Should have a uniform consistency. Kind of hard to shake those tiny bottles really well.


lonye said:
3) Would a second pas with black pads and SF4500 add more gloss? or is it possible to achieve the best results with SIP and a white pad?
Click to expand...

SI 1500 finishes out really well but most people, if trying to maximize gloss and clarity would finish out using a fine cut polish not a medium cut polish which is what you did.


:)
 
Mike, thank you ver much for your feedback. I really appreciate it as well as others comments!

I tried to work on small areas like 2x2, but I think that my inexperience splitting areas of my car made me work on bigger areas. It was not my intention, but I'm sure I worked on some areas that were larger!
Sorry for this newby question baut, How can I know if a worked the polished even when it was dry? I really read a lot, but its a bit difficult to remember when polishing, or at least at my first time polishing...
I'hope with practice I can get a better techinque...
I'll try to do a second past with Sf4500 on a black pad to see if i can improve the finish. I didn't have time to test it.

Again, thanks for your help and feedback!!
 
lonye said:
Mike, thank you ver much for your feedback. I really appreciate it as well as others comments!

I tried to work on small areas like 2x2, but I think that my inexperience splitting areas of my car made me work on bigger areas. It was not my intention, but I'm sure I worked on some areas that were larger!
Click to expand...

Everyone does it... and there's also a phenomena called,


Buffer Creep

That's when you start out working a small section but with each set of new section passes you tend to increase the size of the area you're working till you're up to a 2' x 2' area without even trying.





lonye said:
Sorry for this newby question baut, How can I know if a worked the polished even when it was dry? I really read a lot, but its a bit difficult to remember when polishing, or at least at my first time polishing...
Click to expand...


It's not as big a deal as some make it out to be. Take my word for it and this is especially true when using high quality compounds and polishes, not the low quality stuff.

Keep it simple...

Spread your product out over the area you're going to work using a slow to medium speed.

Turn the speed up the the 5-6 speed setting and then start making SLOW overlapping passes using a crosshatch pattern with medium downward pressure on the pad.

Use firm downward pressure but the pad should always be rotating. If it's not rotating it's not doing anything.
​



If you make 5-6 passes using the above technique whatever is going to break down will have broken down and thus there's no reason to be concerned about whether or not the abrasive have broken down. Especially with the polishes you're using, they are for the most part "Bubba-Proof".



Click the links below...

Show Car Garage Video: How-To do a "Section Pass" when Machine Polishing with a DA Polisher

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



:dblthumb2:
 
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