I got a used car with ok paint I would like to fix

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Oats

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My previous cars were new or had pretty good paint so my standard routine was to clay the car and then use Meguiars Deep Crystal 3 step system once a year and a wax between.

When I got my 2009 RX-8 the paint wasn't great, it has many light scratches on the hood and roof. Pretty sure the previous owner was one of those people who set stuff on their roof all the time. I attached a few pics of the roof (the worst part). The car is also slightly dirty in these pics.
View attachment 64102View attachment 64103

At some point previously I got the 3M paint restoration system because it was on clearance for $15. I clayed the car and borrowed a black and decker polisher to try the 3M system.. It did almost nothing other than use a lot of product and waste a lot of time because I had done zero research. The machine was obviously too weak.

I am looking into buying a proper polisher. I'm torn between the PC 7424XP and the Harbor Freight DA polisher. I see it as a tool I will use once a year to polish. I'm not looking to get into doing other people's cars or anything. Since most of the 3M product is gone I need something new. I've done a little research and Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish seem like they would be good for me. Then using Meguiars NXT and Carnuba (which I already have both of). Any comments or suggestions on this?

The last thing is the foam pads from the 3M system are still in great shape. Any reason not to use them? I probably won't bother with the wax pad and just do that by hand.
 
For using the machine once per year I'd buy the Harbor Freight DA and some polishing pads. But if your 3M pads are in good shape (and clean), give them a shot. Tape off a small area and do a test spot. I've had good luck with Meg's Ultimate Compound on polishing pads on multiple vehicles. Most of them even finished LSP ready, not needing a polish. NXT would be a nice topper.
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I've never used the Harbor Freight D/A Machine, but I seen and held one about 6 weeks ago when I was in the local store here. Didn't look too bad. But I know little about it.

If, the machine has the same size, and thread Spindle, then no problemo equipping the machine with the various Backing Plates you might want to have on hand.

The money you save with the HF Machine versus buying the Porter Cable, you could buy yourself a Lake Country 3" and 5" Yellow Urethane Backing Plates, and some basic assortment of good Polishing Pads such as the Lake Country Thin, or ThinPro Pads in both 4" and 5.5" Sizes.

With either type Pad or size I mention above, the most versatile and generally good Pad to have on hand would probably be the White Pads. They will work equally well with either the Meg's Compound, or Polish you mention above. And should you ever upgrade to the PC7424XP, or Griots GG6", the LC Pads and Plates will fit these as well.

A good washing and Claying should be done prior to polishing, that's always wise, to first remove the bonded above surface contaminates off the paint. Usually most big box auto parts stores carry the Mothers or Meguairs Clay Bar Kits, with Detailer Spray/Clay Lube included.

Generally the "Baggie Test", placing your hand inside a thin Plastic Sandwich Bag will tell you the degree of Bonded Contaminants on both your Paint, and Glass. Then let the Baggie Test be your guide as you go from panel to panel Claying them. With the Baggie Test, you'll likely be shocked at how rough the paint will feel.

You've come to one of the very best forums on the web, bar none, this one, and AutoGeek's sister site, Autopia is as well another great forum which many others and myself belong to.

All here are helpful members with mucho experience, there's many instructional-tutorial videos one can view to see how to use the machines, and products. I myself detailed for decades prior to coming to this forum, but have learned quite a bit more, and as you can see from my member info to the left of this post, I've been here as a member about 6 years.

Love this place, can't say enough good.

Again welcome to the forum, and hope I've helped you some.
 
Thanks for the replies and advice. I forgot to mention clay, I did clay the car before using the 3M system and usually would clay before the Meguiars 3 step system on my previous cars. I'll update the original post.
 
Hi, Unfortunately, you'll find you only have about 15 minutes max to edit a post here. But that's OK, we understand.

I've used the Meg's Deep Crystal 3-step stuff a long time ago. It works as far as cleaning the paint, is inexpensive products, I remember buying it for like $5 a bottle was all.

I know some people like the Meg's NXT Sealant, some aren't bad, work easy enough, but usually have found throughout the years that many of Meg's protectants really didn't last very long. Never much cared for their tire gels, nor any of the off the shelf tire products, preferring now to use water based tire dressings that I buy here.

Lots of really great products here, and they often have fantastic sales, 20% and sometimes even 25% off all detailing products with free shipping, no minimum order.

It's times like this when one can stock up on the products they like or want to try and also a great time to buy bulk containers of goods such as gallons of products. If you're a Meguiars Fan, they pretty much carry it all here!
 
Oats said:
My previous cars were new or had pretty good paint so my standard routine was to clay the car and then use Meguiars Deep Crystal 3 step system once a year and a wax between.

When I got my 2009 RX-8 the paint wasn't great, it has many light scratches on the hood and roof. Pretty sure the previous owner was one of those people who set stuff on their roof all the time. I attached a few pics of the roof (the worst part). The car is also slightly dirty in these pics.
View attachment 64102View attachment 64103

At some point previously I got the 3M paint restoration system because it was on clearance for $15. I clayed the car and borrowed a black and decker polisher to try the 3M system.. It did almost nothing other than use a lot of product and waste a lot of time because I had done zero research. The machine was obviously too weak.

I am looking into buying a proper polisher. I'm torn between the PC 7424XP and the Harbor Freight DA polisher. I see it as a tool I will use once a year to polish. I'm not looking to get into doing other people's cars or anything. Since most of the 3M product is gone I need something new. I've done a little research and Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish seem like they would be good for me. Then using Meguiars NXT and Carnuba (which I already have both of). Any comments or suggestions on this?

The last thing is the foam pads from the 3M system are still in great shape. Any reason not to use them? I probably won't bother with the wax pad and just do that by hand.
Click to expand...

Long story short, you may need to update some products and gear but it can easily be saved. Here's a before and after of a BMW M5 I just did and it's hood was completely trashed and nearly gone due to abuse in Florida's sun. To top it off it was a re-paint. I took at with 2000 grit wet sanding then moved to 3000 grit, followed it up with CarPro Clear Cut Compound and some wool pads, then polished it back with Gyeon Primer and a white pad.

You likely won't need to sand yours as it's no where near as bad. Get in touch with someone who has one or pick up a paint thickness gauge. I personally wouldn't touch a used car like that without one as you just don't know what's been done to it and how much paint you have to work with.

original.jpg


original.jpg
 
My first D/A Polisher was a PC7424XP bought here shortly after I joined this forum, and researched what I thought would be the best bang for dollar, and best all around without hurting the bank account too much.

The one minor downside with the PC Machine is that it comes with a permanently bonded 6.5" thick Foam Pad on a cheap plastic Backing Plate.
About all this is usable for is to maybe buy Microfiber Bonnets that will slip over the Pad, and use for waxing is about it.

The Griots Garage GG-6" Polisher comes with a better Backing Plate, but it is on the largish size, permitting the use of only 6.5" Pads. Such a size sort of kills efficiency of the Polisher, and as well is sort of large in diameter for the average Auto IMO.

The Griots Garage D/A Polishers come with a Lifetime Warrantee, nobody in the business has such. Let's just for say 6 years down the road, the Griots Machine breaks, you can't find the receipt-bill, and now Griots no longer makes this particular machine you bought, but now has an upgraded latest-greatest model, let's hypothetically call it the GG-6SP.

No problem, Contact Griots Garage, send them back the broken Machine, they'll send you a brand new current model.

While I've been very happy with my Porter Cable D/A, the Griots Garage models such as the GG-6 are pretty tough to beat as well for the money they cost, and it is a nice feeling knowing that in the event of a failure, you're not tossing money to the wind, or then stuck with an expensive repair to the unit down the road.
(I also recently bought the Griots Garage Boss-15 D/A, very nice machine, but much more money than the Griots GG-6")

In any case with any D/A Polisher, one has to have an assortment and a quantity of Polishing Pads. That even with a small compact car, 1 or 2 Pads on hand just isn't going to cut it. To put a single Pad under that much work at once will burn up and destroy a Polishing Pad quite quickly. And as well, 1 pad loads up quickly with too much polishes and crud, it then hampers rotation of the polisher, and one then finds they're not working as "clean as they should be.

I'd say minimum, have at least a 1/2 dozen 5.5" Pads, and as I mentioned earlier, White Lake Country Flat Pads would be a good initial and versatile choice, and if you do plan on getting a smaller backing plate for the Polisher, let's say a 3.5" Backing Plate, then it would be nice to have another 1/2 dozen of 4" Pads of the same make and type as well.

You can then somewhat adjust the degree of aggressiveness and degree of paint correction by the type of Compounds or Polishes you select.

The proverbial "Test Spot" is one of the rudimentary methods of then finding which combination of Pads and Products work best together to get the job done with proper end results.

Again, hope this helps.
 
So I finally installed some lighting in my garage so I could work without opening the door and letting all the heat and rain in. I don't know how builders get away with a single light bulb for a 2 car garage but onto the detailing.

I picked up the Harbor Freight DA and Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. I decided to do the roof as a test with the 6" 3M pads that I already have. I did a small section, about 1/6th of the roof. I tried speed 4 for one pass, then speed 5 for one pass. Speed 5 the pad was slightly warm. I decided I had too much compound on the pad at that point and used a toothbrush on the pad and then held it against a microfiber in my hand. Put on less compound this time and made three passes at speed 4. I can still see some scratches but the reflections in the paint are much clearer.

Is it ok for the pad to get slightly warm or is that something I should avoid?
I read you want around 15lbs of pressure and using a scale to see what that would feel like, but my scale had a dead battery. After the test area I remembered I had another scale and I'm guessing I was using around 7-8lbs.

Here are a couple pics. It is hard to get the difference to show up in pictures.
Unpolished area
View attachment 64677
Polished area
View attachment 64678
 
You'll be ok with the HF. I have several polishers and the HF. It's a little louder and not quite as smooth, but has good power. Later, if you upgrade you can use it with 3 inch bp or a brush.
 
I finished up the roof and am fairly happy with the results and I'm going to order several pads and a 5" backing plate before I tackle the rest of the car. The single pad was getting pretty caked by the time I finished the roof even with brushing and running it on a towel a few times to try and clean it.

I also want to try Dr Colorchip. The front of the car is covered with 100s of tiny tiny chips. They suggest you do it after any machine polishing so that will have to wait.
 
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