Need Polish Compound and Pad Recommendations for Honda Paint

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legcramp

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I need some recommendations on what polish compound and pads to use for my 2024 Honda CRV in dark blue (Canyon River Blue). This is my daily driver that sits outside most of the time that gets handwashed every week with rinseless or a full soap bucket wash if it's really dirty. The swirls are not really that bad, mainly from two years of handwashing, can't really even tell unless I really look for them for the most part.

I am looking for just a gloss enhancement and correction for the unavoidable maintenance washing swirls and regular driving wear and tear.

I was thinking about getting Rupes Yellow DA Fine Polishing pads and Carpro Reflect for this job. Can you guys give me some advice if these products would give me what I am looking for or if there is another alternative? Ease of use products would be a big plus.

I have a Porter Cable 7424xp with 6"/3.5" backing plate and an aliexpress cordless DA with 5" backing plate.
I also plan to put Turtle wax Seal n Shine after the polishing but if there's anything that's better and easy to use I am all ears.
 
TW One and Done is really hard to beat for ease of use. Its as easy to work with as an AIO but cuts well and finishes well too. It's too good to be true but that's probably why it has been discontinued, though you can still find it easily.
 
yakky said:
TW One and Done is really hard to beat for ease of use. Its as easy to work with as an AIO but cuts well and finishes well too. It's too good to be true but that's probably why it has been discontinued, though you can still find it easily.
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I actually placed an order today before I saw your post for a bottle of TW One and Done and the Pro to the Max Wax, can't beat $12 a bottle. I was planning to use this to correct my beater car a 2014 Mazda 3 in black that has never been corrected and paint absolutely swirled up heavy from automatic carwashes by the previous owner.

Do you think One and Done will have that glossy pop I want on the newer Honda? What pad do you recommend I purchase? I have these on hand but definitely don't mind investing in more appropriate pads if needed.

Lake Country Orange, White, and Black CCS
URO Fiber 50/50
 
legcramp said:
I need some recommendations on what polish compound and pads to use for my 2024 Honda CRV in dark blue (Canyon River Blue). This is my daily driver that sits outside most of the time that gets handwashed every week with rinseless or a full soap bucket wash if it's really dirty. The swirls are not really that bad, mainly from two years of handwashing, can't really even tell unless I really look for them for the most part.

I am looking for just a gloss enhancement and correction for the unavoidable maintenance washing swirls and regular driving wear and tear.

I was thinking about getting Rupes Yellow DA Fine Polishing pads and Carpro Reflect for this job. Can you guys give me some advice if these products would give me what I am looking for or if there is another alternative? Ease of use products would be a big plus.

I have a Porter Cable 7424xp with 6"/3.5" backing plate and an aliexpress cordless DA with 5" backing plate.
I also plan to put Turtle wax Seal n Shine after the polishing but if there's anything that's better and easy to use I am all ears.
Click to expand...

Rupes DA Fine can do some decent correction if needed, especially teamed with a yellow wool pad. It's a non-diminishing polish, so you can ramp up the correction with more passes. I'd team it with a Rupes yellow foam.

If you only have light wash swirls, I think you would be well served with Carpro Reflect. While DA Fine is pretty forgiving, Reflect is on another level with absolutely no dusting and a butter smooth wipe off. I'm assuming the paint is on the softer side, so a Rupes yellow foam be fine, or perhaps the new Rupes turquoise intermediate foam pad if you need more cut.



The other option you could look at would be Carpro Essence. This uses the same abrasives as Reflect but contains an Si02 sealant that can also help fill minor imperfections. That means you could polish and protect in one step without needing to use a topper. Carpro suggest the sealant within Essence can last 12-months, but considering the car lives outside, you'd probably halve that. Team it with a Rupes yellow, or the turquoise to up the correction factor.





If it were me, I'd polish with Essence, then apply a spray sealant such as Reload every two months. Reload has gotten a bad rap in the past, but 2.0 is brilliant. You could also try Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Detailer, which is stupid-easy to use, glossy and slick. You would need to apply it more often though, say once a month.



 
@DFB thanks for the detailed information. I went ahead and bit on carpro reflect and the yellow foam pads. Would the turqoise have similar cutting ability to my LC Orange CCS pads?
 
legcramp said:
@DFB thanks for the detailed information. I went ahead and bit on carpro reflect and the yellow foam pads. Would the turqoise have similar cutting ability to my LC Orange CCS pads?
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LC Orange and the Rupes DA Azure (turquoise) are both considering intermediate polishing pads.
 
legcramp said:
I actually placed an order today before I saw your post for a bottle of TW One and Done and the Pro to the Max Wax, can't beat $12 a bottle. I was planning to use this to correct my beater car a 2014 Mazda 3 in black that has never been corrected and paint absolutely swirled up heavy from automatic carwashes by the previous owner.

Do you think One and Done will have that glossy pop I want on the newer Honda? What pad do you recommend I purchase? I have these on hand but definitely don't mind investing in more appropriate pads if needed.

Lake Country Orange, White, and Black CCS
URO Fiber 50/50
Click to expand...
You will have plenty of glossy pop. Pads are a hard question as they vary so much now. But you'll definitely need a polishing pad, maybe a finishing pad. Key is a test area then execute your plan.
 
The yellow Rupes pads Both wool and Foam worked really well on my Black Acura MDX. I used Sonax perfect finish. I did have to use a compound for the deeper defects, but it was a 5 year old car that saw many touch tunnel washes.

I also recommend Koch Chemie microcut with the rupes yellow. finishes excellently. I do suggest having 2 extra pads in terms of cut 1 heavy cut, like a rupes blue foam, and one final touch pad like a white. That way if you need more cut, or if you have hazing, you have somewhere to go.
 
On my daughter's Honda Fit I found Optimum Hyper Polish or Sonax 04/06 worked really well. Both are great on soft paint. As for pads, I'd use Lake Country white (medium) Flat or ThinPro pads, which should work really nicely on your PC polisher.
 
DFB said:
LC Orange and the Rupes DA Azure (turquoise) are both considering intermediate polishing pads.
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I thought the turquoise Rupes pad would be closer to the Lake Country Blue SDO/HDO.

I don't fine much different in rupes yellow foam and LC orange SDO/HDO.
 
Desertnate said:
I use them interchangeably. They both seem to be a good middle of the road pad.
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Me too.

I have 4 yellow edgeguard pads now from buff and shine. Very nice pads. I think its the same foam as Rupes yellow but the pads skip less with poor technique. More give. Rupes pads are rigid.

They both source the base foam material from the same place(not all pads). In Germany somewhere i read.
 
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legcramp said:
@DFB thanks for the detailed information. I went ahead and bit on carpro reflect and the yellow foam pads. Would the turqoise have similar cutting ability to my LC Orange CCS pads?
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You bought Rupes DA fine pads for a Porter Cable? Too big man IMO - they are designed for large throw machines with more power. Just stick with the CCS pads. Or if you want to try something different the Lake Country SDO flat or CCS pads.
 
Hobbit said:
You bought Rupes DA fine pads for a Porter Cable? Too big man IMO - they are designed for large throw machines with more power. Just stick with the CCS pads. Or if you want to try something different the Lake Country SDO flat or CCS pads.
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Good to know! I am planning to use the Rupes pads with my AliExpress knockoff cordless DA which has a 15mm throw.
 
Hobbit said:
You bought Rupes DA fine pads for a Porter Cable? Too big man IMO - they are designed for large throw machines with more power. Just stick with the CCS pads. Or if you want to try something different the Lake Country SDO flat or CCS pads.
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That's a great point, and I probably should have been more clear. I use the Rupes and the LC HDO pads on a Griots G15 polisher. When I was using my HF polisher, which is similar to the PC, I used LC's Flat and ThinPro pads. I found the ThinPro's worked better and held up longer than the Flat's, though either will be just fine.
 
Desertnate said:
When I was using my HF polisher, which is similar to the PC, I used LC's Flat and ThinPro pads. I found the ThinPro's worked better and held up longer than the Flat's, though either will be just fine.
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As far as I can tell, they don't make the ThinPro pads anymore.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
As far as I can tell, they don't make the ThinPro pads anymore.
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I think you're right. I don't see anything like them on the site. Even the "Flats" go by a different name now. The Smooth DA pads are probably the closest and even those have a totally different color scheme, but the white might still be relevant for use on soft paint.

Guess my advice is a little outdated. Hopefully it didn't cause any confusion. Shows how long it's been since I used that polisher or bought pads for it.
 
Desertnate said:
Guess my advice is a little outdated. Hopefully it didn't cause any confusion. Shows how long it's been since I used that polisher or bought pads for it.
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You never hear about anyone buying a PC in today's environment. I kind of wish I had some of those thin foam pads, but I usually only use my PC with 4" pads for headlights and certain tight spaces, and I do have a bunch of larger microfiber pads, which always worked decently on a PC.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
You never hear about anyone buying a PC in today's environment. I kind of wish I had some of those thin foam pads, but I usually only use my PC with 4" pads for headlights and certain tight spaces, and I do have a bunch of larger microfiber pads, which always worked decently on a PC.
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A couple years ago a customer offered to give me their PC polisher that they had in their garage but never used. I said thanks but no thanks as I really had no use for it.

Speaking of polishers, I read in another thread that you don’t own a long throw DA? I’m pretty surprised to hear that.
 
I'm still using one of the older griots DAs. While not as fast as my rotary, with the right polish, it cuts fast enough. The TW One and Done even works surprisingly well by hand, it's great for areas that a DA won't fit.

And really with paint as thin as it is now, is everyone just ripping through clear at speeds faster than in the rotary days?
 
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