Mckees 360 and what pad ?

01AUDI

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I have a Nissan I am going to be detailing soon. I have a harbor freight d/a and this is going to be my first use of a d/a. I know that Nissan has very soft paint and my paint has a lot of swirls and a little hazing in some places. Nothing crazy, but with soft paint and never been buffed out it just shows. Oh and its black paint !
I will be using the 360 AIO and wanted opinion based on my soft paint and my choice of 360..

1. should I use a white pad or an orange pad? I know i can buy one of each and try the white first but will yalls experience would you say that an orange is too much if I just bought an orange pad ? I am not trying to show this car, its a DD with many miles on it but I want to get out 80-90%. I am worried if I use the orange pad that I wont get enough "finish" from the AIO and that i may have to then use another product for my LSP, defeating the purpose of an AIO. ( I hope i said that right, ive been trying to read up on here before i tackle this )

2. what speed should i use with my harbor freight d/a ( by the way I did also get a new CG flax backing plate from reading others posts )
 
I have a Nissan I am going to be detailing soon. I have a harbor freight d/a and this is going to be my first use of a d/a. I know that Nissan has very soft paint and my paint has a lot of swirls and a little hazing in some places. Nothing crazy, but with soft paint and never been buffed out it just shows. Oh and its black paint !
I will be using the 360 AIO and wanted opinion based on my soft paint and my choice of 360..

1. should I use a white pad or an orange pad? I know i can buy one of each and try the white first but will yalls experience would you say that an orange is too much if I just bought an orange pad ? I am not trying to show this car, its a DD with many miles on it but I want to get out 80-90%. I am worried if I use the orange pad that I wont get enough "finish" from the AIO and that i may have to then use another product for my LSP, defeating the purpose of an AIO. ( I hope i said that right, ive been trying to read up on here before i tackle this )

2. what speed should i use with my harbor freight d/a ( by the way I did also get a new CG flax backing plate from reading others posts )

1. I would stick with the white (polishing) pad. On black paint, you'll notice a much higher level of gloss using a white polishing pad, unless of course the paint is on the harder side. If that were the case, an orange pad would be the ideal choice.

2. Harbor Freight DA is surprisingly powerful! I would try speed 4-5. Mark the backing plate with a marker to ensure the pad is rotating (the marker will provide a visual indicator that the pad is rotating).

Be sure to post a couple before and after photos. Happy Holidays! :dblthumb2:
 
thanks Nick !
This is more general, but if I set my d/a to 4 and it does not take out as much as I wanted.. should i go up to 5 or 6 or is it better to switch to an orange pad first ?
 
If it were me, I'd do a test spot with both and check your results. For the record, you're going to love 360...decent cut with long-lasting protection
 
I would suggest getting both the orange and white, and here's why. You can always start with the white pad, but if you don't get the correction you want (remember this is an AIO, not a compound) then you can switch to the orange pads. The orange pads will offer more correction, and if the gloss level isn't quite what you expected (as Nick mentioned), you can always go over the vehicle again with the white pads. That second pass with the white pads will also go much quicker and easier.

Also, do yourself a favor, order more than one pad (e.g. get 2 orange and 2 white). You should rotate them as you work. Use the first pad for the horizontal surfaces, one for the vertical surfaces. Then when you go into "maintenance mode", that is correction completed and a semi-annual buffing, you can use the white pads predominately.

BTW: I use a lot of 360 and get excellent results with Lake Country Thin Pro pads (Orange and White pads).

Good luck!
ScottH





ScottH
 
I would suggest getting both the orange and white, and here's why. You can always start with the white pad, but if you don't get the correction you want (remember this is an AIO, not a compound) then you can switch to the orange pads. The orange pads will offer more correction, and if the gloss level isn't quite what you expected (as Nick mentioned), you can always go over the vehicle again with the white pads. That second pass with the white pads will also go much quicker and easier.

Also, do yourself a favor, order more than one pad (e.g. get 2 orange and 2 white). You should rotate them as you work. Use the first pad for the horizontal surfaces, one for the vertical surfaces. Then when you go into "maintenance mode", that is correction completed and a semi-annual buffing, you can use the white pads predominately.

BTW: I use a lot of 360 and get excellent results with Lake Country Thin Pro pads (Orange and White pads).

Good luck!
ScottH





ScottH

Good to hear...since I just bought some 360 for the first time as well as a supply of orange/white/black Thin pro pads...my thought is to cover it afterwards with hi def sealant which |I also bought during the cyber monday deals.
 
Sounds like a good plan. See my review on Hi Def Sealant here in the AG forums.

ScottH
 
OK yea I will order one of each color and test the white first. On an SUV I will only need one pad to do the entire car right?
 
Wow! I need to do some more reading.. thanks for that article. I never guessed I'd need that many
 
Can any of you guys that use Mckee's 360 tell much of a difference between it and XMT 360?
 
Recently did my sons 2013 Honda Civic (silver)with McKee’s 360, I wasn’t looking to do any paint correction just bring out the shine ,so I washed , clayed (Mother’s speed clay 2.0), then used 360 with CG hexlogic(green)AIO pad it worked great really brought out the shine . I let the car set overnight then topped it with CG instawax IMO it was a great combo


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline
 
I'd suggest a 6 pack of LC Thin Pro's, 3 orange and 3 white.
 
Can any of you guys that use Mckee's 360 tell much of a difference between it and XMT 360?

Hi. I still have some XMT360 and of course tons of McKees 360. The main differences between the two are: (1) The newer 360 is thicker in consistency (2) newer 360 provides more correction (3) new version is EXTREMELY durable - I've used it on a friend's car that gets washed once a year and it continued to bead water for almost all of those 12 months. The older version won't reach that mark. (4) the older XMT 360 has a fruity cherry smell whereas the newer version still has a cherry smell but also has a 'polymer' smell mixed in - presumably this part of the extended durability it offers over the older version.

I still use the XMT 360 for cars that are in maintenance-mode and don't need months of protection. Example. My grandmothers car. She 93 and never drives in rain or snow. The car is never exposed to the elements so I use the older 360 in this case.

Both versions excellent at bringing out the underlying color. They seem to deepen and brighten up the color especially on first time use on a car that may not get much love.....


Hope this helps,
ScottH
 
So I read up on pads and how many to use, but would you consider 360 to be a "correction" or "polish" ? In the article I read by Mike Phillips it said 6 pads for correction or 4 for polishing.
1. I am doing a Nissan suv
2. I am not doing the roof
3. Should 4 be enough?
 
360 is more inline with a polish, although technically also contains protection. 4 pads are fine for why you describe.
ScottH
 
ok I have a couple basic questions I may have missed in my research but need help on.. AG Store has buff n shine white pads buy one get on free, so i had to snatch those up. With that being said..

1. I will have brand new pads and need to "prime" them.. the videos i have seen show to put a few drops on the pad and wipe them in with your fingers completely covering the entire pad. I just want to make sure this is a good technique for mckees 360 too or is there another way for this specific product? Should I just use a X pattern or a circle around the pad, or do i need to first coat the entire pad ?

2. Once primed, do i need to re-apply more product before doing my first section ?

3. How many section passes do i need to do per section, using an white pad and mckees 360 ?

4. After i complete one section, do i need to re-apply product? If so, how much do i re-apply and how many sections can I get out of each re-application ?

5. How large of area should i work with. Since 360 is an AIO, should i keep it to around 18" or so, or can i go larger with white pad?
 
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