Menzerna Polishing Advice

[jimmers]

Feed back please

I plan on detailing my 2010 Black Forest Pearl Toyota RAV4 tomorrow. Because I have only had it about a month the paint is in great shape. I have only seen a few faint swirls on it.

I will be using a Flex 3401 and have the following LC CSS pads: Orange, White, Green-polishing, Blue and Red. (I wish I had some gray pads but unfortunately I don't )

I have both Menzerna Power Finish (PO203) and Menzerna Polish (PO85RD). I had planned to use both but now I'm wondering if that would be overkill. Should I skip the PO203 and just go with the PO85RD? Or still use both? I want the best gloss possible.

My original plan was to do a test spot with PO203 on the white or green pad and PO85 with the green or blue pad. Is this reasonable?

Menzerna recommends speeds of 4-5 for the PO203 and 5-6 for the PO85RD. I plan on using these recommendations.

Menzerna says to work the polish until a gloss appears. Does that mean I'm going to basically work it until the polish is pretty much buffed off?

I plan to follow up with WGDGPS and then after a 24 hr cure time a coat of MaxWax to make the flake pop.

I'm open to suggestions from anyone as I'm really new at this.

Thanks in advance!! :help:

 

[Rsurfer]

Your test spot is right on, but I would use the 85rd with a white pad first. If that doesn't work, move up to the 203. Finish down with 85rd and a blue pad since you don't have a gray pad.

 

[Wendell Jarvis]

Your test spot is right on, but I would use the 85rd with a white pad first. If that doesn't work, move up to the 203. Finish down with 85rd and a blue pad since you don't have a gray pad.

:iagree:Since the vehicle is so new, no need to go to aggressive, I would not use the orange pad, white for 203 then for jeweling 85rd use blue....other than that you have a great game plan.....the results should be a knockout..... I love that Menz !!!!

 

[Fly bye]

a few faint swirls

If the 85rd removes the faint swirls, then absolutely no need for the 203.

 

[jimmers]

Thanks for the responses so far.

I think I will test with the 85rd on a white pad. Assuming that does the trick should I follow that up with 85rd again on a blue pad for jeweling? Or would that be pointless?

The Black Forest Pearl paint is a very metallic dark green paint. Sometimes it even looks black, sometimes teal, sometimes gray and sometimes green. It all depends how the light hits the paint
:buffing:

 

[CEE DOG]

I would use the 85rd with a white pad first. If that doesn't work, move up to the 203. Finish down with 85rd and a blue pad since you don't have a gray pad.

:iagree::iagree:Exactly my thoughts

Assuming that does the trick should I follow that up with 85rd again on a blue pad for jeweling? Or would that be pointless?
:buffing:

It certainly isn't pointless but depending on who you are and what you want to achieve it is possible that it wouldn't be worth it to you. You should certainly check it out.

 

[jimmers]

It certainly isn't pointless but depending on who you are and what you want to achieve it is possible that it wouldn't be worth it to you. You should certainly check it out.

I will definitely give it a try. I want it to be the best that it can be. I'm a perfectionist--sometimes that is good and sometimes not.

 

[the_invisible]

The paint on newer cars may appear to be scratch and swirl free, but regular washing from either the factory or the retailer will instill some extremely fine hazes on the paint work. These hazes are not visible to the naked eyes, but will affect the clarity of the paint work. You can either fill those fine hazes with some waxes or polish them out with a polish of choice.

PO203S is pretty much designed for scratch removal. It may be overkill if used on a newer car. I'd start with something that is least aggressive. A light polish such as PO85RD is easy to work with and requires less energy to utilize. It should sharpen the new paint that has no scratches or swirls.

What kind of car are you working on? Some of the poor quality paint found on cars such as the Cobalt and Corolla are naturally dull from the factory. Even if you fine polish the paint using a rotary with a red finishing pad and M205 still yields no desirable result.

 

[jimmers]

What kind of car are you working on?

2010 Toyota RAV4

I think I'm going to start with the PO85rd on a Blue LC pad - being the least aggressive. I can always bump up to a white pad if I need to after doing the test spot.

 

[CEE DOG]

2010 Toyota RAV4

I think I'm going to start with the PO85rd on a Blue LC pad - being the least aggressive. I can always bump up to a white pad if I need to after doing the test spot.

You can do a test spot with that blue but I think you're going to go to the white pad after you see the test.

 

[jimmers]

You can do a test spot with that blue but I think you're going to go to the white pad after you see the test.

You were 100% correct! :xyxthumbs:

Blue looked OK but like I said, I'm picky and the white just made enough of a difference to make me go with it instead.

 

[kronos]

You were 100% correct! :xyxthumbs:

Blue looked OK but like I said, I'm picky and the white just made enough of a difference to make me go with it instead.

Many people like to finish with a Blue Pad and 85rd after removing all the swirls to achieve maximum gloss. You mentioned you had minor swirls so using the White Pad was a good idea, but if you're as much of a perfectionist as you say you are, then finishing with a Blue Pad and 85rd will net you the tiniest bit more gloss. Can you live with not having the tiniest bit more gloss?

 

[CEE DOG]

Many people like to finish with a Blue Pad and 85rd after removing all the swirls to achieve maximum gloss. You mentioned you had minor swirls so using the White Pad was a good idea, but if you're as much of a perfectionist as you say you are, then finishing with a Blue Pad and 85rd will net you the tiniest bit more gloss. Can you live with not having the tiniest bit more gloss?

I think he was going to go back to the blue pad and was trying to dial in the pad he needed to start with first.