Newbie with new swirled black Denali

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Pungo

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Hello. First post from a guy who overnight went from letting the rain wash his old car to being hyper about keeping his new black GMC Yukon nice. I've been reading this site all week and the amount of information here is amazing. Staff and members alike should be proud of this community.

I've got about a thousand questions but I've found that most of are already answered here somewhere. I'm preparing a shopping list and 1st time exterior detailing plan and I need some advice to finish my list and place an order. First some background:

I bought the 2009 Yukon this past Saturday. The owner of the dealership had been driving it since last Feb. and put 6,000 miles on it. I turned down all of their undercoating & paint sealant offers and also their offer to detail the car before I drove it home, not because I was smart but because it was snowing that day. After finding this site I thought that I was lucky because I didn't give them a chance to swirl the paint. Yesterday morning the sun finally came out and I was disappointed to see the swirls, this from a guy who didn't know what a swirl was until I read it here. I guess the dealership owner had his guys wash the car for him this past year.

My goal in the next 30 days (will have to work around the weather) is to get the best protection that I can on the paint. As you well know there are plenty of products and processes involved but to keep this as short as possible the main ingredient (goop) that I will be using is the Wolfgang Fuzion Estate Wax and I will be getting a Porter Cable 7424XP.

Sooo, 1st question: Should this newbie attempt to use the Wolfgang Swirl Remover with the XP to try to remove the swirls or should I stick to something safer for now like Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion or Wolfgang Pre-Wax Polish Enhancer to just try to cover them up? I don't think that the swirls are too severe, but on a black vehicle they really stand out in the sun, especially on the hood.

2nd question: I live on a small horse farm in Virginia Beach, lots of rain and usually in the 40's this time of year. My garage is full of heavy equipment and horse grain so the car stays outside. What kind of temperatures are required to use all of these different kinds of waxes and goops? This is another reason that I'm wondering if I should just pick the best day possible and use the quicker cover up method for the swirls right now and worry about removing them in the summer. I've read most of the instructionals but haven't seen anything definitive about temperature yet.

3rd question: I'm confused about all of the pad choices for the 7424XP. Since I have a large vehicle would it make sense to use the 6 inch backing plate so that I can cover more surface with a 7.5 inch pad? If I do try to remove the swirls what pad should I use considering the newness of the paint and the likelyhood that the swirls are not too deep? What pads should I use for Pre-wax polishing and then for wax/sealant application?

Finally, I considered finding a professional detailer to at least do the initial detailing job but wasn't impressed with what I could find locally on the internet. If I decided to go this route because of the weather and the swirls this first time how would I find someone who actually knows what they are doing and is used to working with high end products near zip code 23456?

Thanks in advance.
 
I am in bit of a rush right now, but I will try to answer your general questions. You will need a 5.5 inch pad to go with the PCXP. Also, WSR will not hurt the paint! Go ahead and use it, but I would rec. the Megs 105 and 205 to really take out those swirls! Since you are using the XP, don't worry about taking some clear away! They are very user friendly and will not strip away a lot of paint like a rotary would normally do if someone is trying to get rid of all the random isolated deep scratches. Good thing you did not fall for their sealant.... bc they don't carry anything better than what AG has to offer such as the Wolfgang 3.0 Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. Generally, you will need a couple to three orange pads for m105, couple to three white pads for m205, and couple to three blue pads for Menz. 85rd if you really want to amplify your shine. You will want to detail in the 55ish-80ish F range when detailing outside! Hope some of this helps! Good luck and beautiful vehicle... I love GM!
 
I put swirls in my new Camaro a couple of days after I bought it. As you can figure I was quite distressed. I used white 5.5" Lake Country foam pads with Megs SwirlX, M205, and finished it off with Menzerna 85rd with great results. I'm a newbie too and I was scared to death of buffing it with a DA, but it turned out to be really easy and my paint looks phenomenal! Start least aggressive first, like I said I was able to remove most of the imperfections by simply using the PCXP, SwirlX, and the white Lake Country pad.
 
I am new to the forum also, but have learned alot from here.

I can't answer all of your questions but give you some insight on some.

Why not go ahead and take the swirls out? It's not as bad as you might think. Everyone has their brand, but I would suggest Swirlx with a light cutting pad or polishing pad depending on how bad the swirls are. Then maybe go over with M205 to complete the finish.
 
Thanks for the encouragement, you all have convinced me. I'm going to do a little reading about the Megs and Menzerna products while I wait for the temperature to rise. Either that or I'm going to have to clean out my garage. :eek:

MC, that must have felt awful. Lucky for us that there are fixes and folks willing to share advice. This is my first new vehicle in over 30 years, so that should keep me motivated.

The next issue will be the well water. Our well collapsed last summer and filled all of our pipes with sand. We are still get some sand even now. We also have some iron in the water although we have to add water hardener to the swimming pool each year, so I've got more threads to read regarding water quality. My outside faucets don't run through the household treatment systems. I'll have a degree in geek chemistry soon if I just keep reading this site. I see that it's snowing outside this morning so I have the time to sort it all out before we get back to temps in the 50's.
 
Pungo said:
Thanks for the encouragement, you all have convinced me. I'm going to do a little reading about the Megs and Menzerna products while I wait for the temperature to rise. Either that or I'm going to have to clean out my garage. :eek:

MC, that must have felt awful. Lucky for us that there are fixes and folks willing to share advice. This is my first new vehicle in over 30 years, so that should keep me motivated.

The next issue will be the well water. Our well collapsed last summer and filled all of our pipes with sand. We are still get some sand even now. We also have some iron in the water although we have to add water hardener to the swimming pool each year, so I've got more threads to read regarding water quality. My outside faucets don't run through the household treatment systems. I'll have a degree in geek chemistry soon if I just keep reading this site. I see that it's snowing outside this morning so I have the time to sort it all out before we get back to temps in the 50's.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was horrible and it still sucks, but thanks the great products and advice from this site and the AG employees that advised it's all good now. Good luck to you man! If you follow this advice you receive on this site it'll be all good for you too.
 
Hey Pungo, welcome to Autogeek from one Virginian to another. I've spent some time in Pungo over the years. Used to live near the Honey Bee Golf course.

Anyway, a suggestion for you reguarding the water. You can try using Optimum No Rinse (ONR) to wash. Since you'll only be using 3 or 4 gallons of water for your monster Yukon you can easily use the water from inside the house, which you said is filtered.

To another of your points, we regularly detail in a barely heated garage that can be in the upper 40's to 60 degrees. The temperature will vary your results, no question. Add in outside weather humidity, wind and stuff and your talking about a possible puzzling situation. If you've got room in the garage, clean it out. Oh, and you'll need a set of halogen lights for indoor work.

Best of luck with that beast!
 
Thanks VR8. I've ordered the deluxe in-line filtration system and I've also ordered the Wolfgang Auto Bath and the DP Rinseless Wash & Gloss. Someone in a tips thread suggested adding the DP to your normal wash solution to get an enriched lubrication which may or may not require as much rinse water. So I'm covered either way. For now I'm just looking to get the bad weather washed off of the paint until I can remove the swirls in the Spring. I also got the Pinnacle Cyrstal Mist Detail Spray to add a little protection and shine until the weather warms up.

I'm still avoiding the garage.:bolt:
 
Pugo,

What did you decide to do? I'm also a newbie in the same situation only my Denali is white, and my scratches are extremely faint and only visable in the direct sunlight.

After a good bath and clay bar I'm wanting to use the PC7424xp and trying to pick either the Wolfgang kit (Swirl remover 3.0, Finish glaze, and Deep gloss) but instead of the suggested orange pad with swirl remover I was thinking go with the less aggressive white. I'm also looking at the Menzerna kit with the intensive polish and final polish. I was curious about using the Menzerna Power finish with a white pad, then maybe the 85rd with a blue pad since is doens't have much cut. I really like the Menzerna chart that shows the amount of cut and gloss. I don't know about you but I'm nervous about using something too aggressive and causing more harm than good.

I'm curious how you'd rate your paint on a scale of 1-10. I feel my paint is somewhere in the 8-9 range, but needs some tlc.

The Denali's are such comfortable and nice looking cars I want the paint to look it's best!

Good luck and keep me posted, I'm still trying and willing to learn.
 
A few weeks ago I washed the Denali after installing the in-line water filtration system (easy) and finished it up with some Pinnacle Crystal Mist. This was just to get some dirt off it and put a little wax on it until the weather warmed up. Now that it is consistently getting into the 50's I'm about to place another order.

I'm ordering the following:

XP 7424
WG Total Swirl Remover
WG Finishing Glaze
WG Fuzion
Lake Country Orange, White, Gray and Red pads.
Cobra Micro fiber bonnets.

One thing that I have learned is that this vehicle is huge in terms of the sheer amount of metal, so I'm ordering bunches of pads, etc.

The one thing that I'm wondering is that I've chosen the WG Swirl Remover instead of the Megs 150/250 combo. It sounded more like a one step solution. Any thoughts or additional items I should be getting?
 
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