nooB alert: Couple questions to make sure I understand before diving in...

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hardisj

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Hello, fellas. I'm new to the forum; found it via suggestion from a buddy of mine recently while discussing the dire need for some car care.

I drive a black (nighthawk black, IIRC, with blue metal flake) 2006 Honda Civic sedan. I've taken OK care of it but have never buffed, waxed, clayed, etc the car. Overall, I'd rate the paint about 6/10. There are no major defects. There are some scratches here and there. But mostly, the car just suffers from heavy swirl marks and faded paint. I want it to shine again so had considered taking it to a pro but after calling around, it looks like the best price I can find is about $250 and that's with no referalls. That's just way out of any budget I can afford. So, I've decided to take a leap in to the DIY detailing realm and try my hand at at least making it acceptable. I'm not expecting a miracle, however. ;)

After a couple days of perusing the site, I think I have a good feel for what is needed but I would like some feedback just to make sure I've got this right.

I just purchased the HF 6" DA for $45. At this price, I figure it's a good way for me to get my feet wet as a bi-weekend warrior without breaking the bank. The posts here all indicated using a different backing plate for this DA to cut down on vibration so I had planned to purchase the LC 5" plate or Astro Pneumatic 5" plate (I have Amazon Prime so that may make more sense for me, financially).

I understand the steps needed are essentially: Wash, clay, buff, wax.
Where I'm really stuck ... errrr ... in brain overload is what to purchase in regards to materials. The LC pads get a lot of nods here. As do CG hex pads. The FAQ's indicate thinner is better (to obtain the most motor efficiency from shaft to car panel) so these look like a good option for me:
Lake Country 5 1/2 x 7/8 inch Beveled Edge Pads 6 Pack, foam pad kit, build a kit, buffing pads, curved edge pads
So, which pads should I purchase?
Also, I'm stuck on trying to pick out the cleaning material.

Is there a kit that would work better for me to cut costs and confusion?



Final question: is it OK to do this process in steps? My wife works nights and every other weekend and we have a 2 year old so I won't have the time to wash, clay, buff, wax all in one weekend. Therefore, what about wash/clay and then following up with buff/wax a week or two later? Is this acceptable or is it imperative to hammer this out in a weekend?


Thanks in advance for any help. I understand the forum mantra (that all forums have) of "search and read" but I think at some point this backfires because you reach critical mass. And my head has dang near exploded. So any input would truly be appreciated here.

- Erin
 
Well Erin Welcome to AGO first and foremost!

It seems as if you have a good understanding on what to do.

As for the pads if budget is an issue then go with the the flat pads if not then I would suggest with the CCS pads or the hydrotech pads. The more pads you have the better and easier polishing is. you want to avoid the pad getting loaded with product. This can cause lots of heat to generate which can cause the pad to fail prematurely. Also this will keep the pad from spinning and a lose of you cutting power so keep that in mind.

As far as products go there are many "Duo" Twins out there that we recommend.
Meguiars
Menzerna
BlackFire
Wolfgang
Optimum
Pinnacle

I think that either the Megs twin or the Blackfire duo would be great for you. The Blackfire duo will be easier to work with than the Megs twins as the M105 can be a bit tricky for people new to polishing.
BLACKFIRE compound and finishing polish


All this will be determined on the condition of your paint.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/38689-what-condition-paint-your-vehicles.html

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/43192-let-there-light.html

If you are able to post of come pictures that would be great.

If you are not able to do everything at once then break it down panel by panel and do each panel start to finish. You would want to leave a freshly polished panel unprotected and lose all the work you did.

You will want to look at paint sealant for you protection so something like Blackfire Wet Diamond or Collinite 845 will definitely do the job for you.

As for the forum Mantra its a little different here you won't see any bashing or people making fun of you. This is the best forum on the web with the most helpful people.
 
Mike's hopefully home with his wife, so I'll take a stab at this in the meantime.

That pad kit is fine, I'd get 3 orange, 2 white, 1 black. You just missed the Wolfgang sale, but since your paint is on the soft side, you will probably be fine with this: Wolfgang 8 oz. Swirl Remover Combo, Wolfgang polishes, total swirl remover, finishing glaze, machine glaze

There's a lot of other ways to go, but that will get the job done. Use the TSR on the orange, and follow with the FG on the white. Optionally you can "jewel" with the FG on the black pad.

And yes, you can break up the process. Just make sure the car is clean when you go back to pick up where you left off. The other way is to do the complete process on a section of the car (say, do the hood and front fenders one weekend, and the rest of the car the next, etc.)
 
Thanks for the feedback! I can try to snap a couple pictures tomorrow but it will have to be via cellphone until I'm able to get some time at home to make it happen. I've been working OT lately to save for an upcoming vacation so that may have to wait, though. I did read the condition grading and I'd put mine around the "mildly neglected" ballpark.

In the meantime,

I'm trying to nail down this list, and this is pretty much where I've arrived:
a) wash car
b) Clay bar (w/spray)
c) duo swirl remover and finishing compound of my choice applied with the LC pads & LC 5" backing plate
d) wax*
e) sealant

*Do I need to throw wax in to the mix above, or is it not needed? I'm not sure if this is a necessary step.

I definitely like the notion of doing things in sections. It makes a lot of sense and actually allows me to do this in steps over a couple days.

Final question (for this post): is it worth popping for some microfiber pads?

Thanks again for your help, guys. It's much appreciated.
 
Sending you a PM (private message) so I don't break forum rules.
 
Welcome to AGO Erin!

OK, so yes.... wash good then clay. Be VERY CAREFUL when claying and knead you clay often. Use enough to get the job done, but not all of it. If any of it ever touches any grit or you drop it, THROW IT AWAY! You cannot risk damaging your paint with a single grain of sand in a piece of clay.

I know it sounds terribly expensive, but you might want to check out the Nanoskin pad. It works like a clay bar, but it much MUCH easier to do and lasts 10 times as long as any clay out there. Yet it only cost twice as much as you're average clay bar.

I agree with the earlier pad suggestion as well. The reason you need (at least) 3 orange is it's literally impossible to do an entire car with only 3 pads. Not if you're doing it non stop. I'd like to tell everyone to get a dozen pads going in. Say 4 orange, 3 white, 2 black, 2 blue, 1 red. (That's if they are flat(s), as CCS pads also have a green pad that is excellent to have around.)

The pads get "loaded up" with spent product and dirt, plus paint that's being removed and they heat up. It's CRITICAL to "clean on the fly" and change pads often. Pulling the pad from the backing plate and feeling the back of the pad for built up heat within the pad will tell you when it is getting too hot to work with. (Warm to the touch is about as far as I go with them.) You'll be surprised how quickly they'll heat up.

If you clean on the fly, and rotate pads, (letting them cool before you go back to them) you may be able to get the car done in a day if it's a hot day. (Compounding stage that is.) If you take the pads off and wash them then you cannot use them again till they are completely dry, so keep that in mind.

Without knowing how bad your car is, and how much correction you want to do it's hard to say what compound and polish will do. For that matter, you might not even want to compound then polish. Maybe an all in one, (AIO) would do and you could do it with the orange pads, then switch to white to get it to finish down a bit better.

If you want to consider over the counter (OTC) products, then the Megs Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish (UC & UP) would be a good choice. Follow those with either Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax (ULW) or even better would be M21 2.0 Synthetic Sealant. Both look and feel very nice, (although M21 would be much preferred).

Bottom line is do remember to do your test spot. Once you have that part figured out you'll know what you need/want to do for the rest of the car. From that point it's just a matter of duplicating the process over and over till the entire car is done. Also, remember to work within your arms. Don't over reach and try to cover a large area. Keep your area literally within (or fairly close to) your shoulders. You'll be able to keep your process going much easier, keep yourself from wearing out much quicker, and do a much better job.

Good luck! ;)
 
All good advice, I second the Nanoskin Autoscrub and right now Nanoskin has a killer sale on Amazon. Probably the fine pad will do as you can reuse that later when you get the paint corrected. Make sure to get a good lube for it, Glide works great and goes a long way at a 7 to 1 ratio. This one step will cut an hour off your detailing time.


The Meguars works good and are cheap. Although they do leave a bit of polishing oils behind which is not a problem if you're applying a sealant then a wax (not good if you're applying a coating). Or you could go with the Klasse twins, in that the KAIO is chemical surface cleaner that leaves behind minimal protection and it is best applied by the DA. Then at a later time you can start adding layers of Klasse high gloss sealant (by hand) for real protection. I would recommend the small bottle of KAIO and the large bottle of KSG. A very nice thing about KSG you can use it on just about any part of the car with out worry like the trim.
 
After rereading, I want to be clear. You'd use KIAO as a surface cleaner to clean off the polishing oils and not as a replacement for polishing.
 
thanks for the heads up, guys.

I took your advice on the Nanoskin and decided to go ahead and purchase the 6" pad and also the astro pneumatic backplate since I know it's something I'll need for sure and the price on Amazon was too good to pass up. I'll add the glide concentrate to my list; the price on Amazon wasn't any better than this site's.

Shane provided me with a great link to another site detailing (no pun intended) work on an Acura in the same color as my car which looks like a great guide for me to follow as well.

I'll try to snap some pics in a bit with my phone and upload them via Tapatalk if I can so I can get some feedback on what materials make the most sense to purchase; I'm still a bit hazy (full of puns!) on number of pads and types needed at this point. Also, I found that many recommend using a 4" pad for the trim areas (lower panels, pillars, rear bumper horizontal, etc). Good thing is, for signing up to this site, I received a new member discount to the forum which will help save me some nice coin here so I'm trying to get together a list of what I need.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

- Erin
 
Just to go ahead and toss this out there, here's a generic list of what I think is going to be needed, upon doing further reading:

  • Pads: 5-6" for large panels and 4" pads for small trim panels
    • Purple foamed wool for deep sratches
    • Orange pad to remove haze/initial polish
    • White pad for finishing work
    • Blue pad for applying sealant
  • Nanoskin pad & glide 7:1
  • DUO – (polish/finish)
    • Deep scratches – Appropriate polish applied via purple foam wool pad followed with light polish to remove haze
    • Swirls and light scratches - Appropriate polish applied via orange pad
    • Finishing - Appropriate finish applied via orange or white pad
  • Sealant - Applied via blue pad
  • Pad cleaner


Does the above seem like I've got the right idea about all of this?
Again, I've already purchased the Nanoskin pad. Just need to purchase the glide as well.
 
Welcome Erin

Looks like the guys got ya covered with some sound advice.

If you would post your location and maybe some of the members close to you will reach out and start you in the right direction.
 
Post some pictures, include up close pictures. Do you have deep scratches? If it is just mildly neglected then you might not need wool pads. Then if cost is an issue, orange and green could get you to where you want to be. What did you decide on sealant?

One final thought, if the Glide costs the same please purchase it from this site as the product purchases do support the running of this forum. There are coupon codes out there on the web for discounts just do a Google search. Since your in AL you should get the product within two days by ground shipping.
 
Will do. I won't be home before sundown so I can't use anything but my iPhone but that should suffice. I can take pictures at home under fluorescent light in my garage.

I haven't decided on a sealant yet but I'm thinking the black ice suggestion earlier would fit the bill.
 
Here's a few pictures taken via my iPhone this morning; I had to work 16 hours yesterday (12 of which were sitting in a meeting) so I didn't get a chance to take any yesterday. I know they're not great photos so I can try to take better ones this afternoon when I get home if needed.

You can see bad swirling on the hood. There's swirls pretty much all over, though, the hood is the worst. The entire front bumper has all sorts of pits/bumps/etc. It's just really, really bad. And it's been bad. The dead bugs have made a layer in and of themselves, lol.

View attachment 21296


The trunk lid has nasty and deep swirls and a few scratches. You can see where I used touch up paint to try to cover it up but it doesn't match well at all.

View attachment 21297


Rear passenger door area has a few scratches.

View attachment 21298


Side of the car:

View attachment 21299
 
just wanted to bump this up for some feedback. I'm leaning towards the blackfire duo combo as I do have some nasty spots that need attention. I'll probably go ahead and pick up a 4" pad for the trim areas in addition to a wool foam pad for the deep scratch areas. then the megs m21 sealant as that has a lot of recommendations here and elsewhere.

thoughts?
 
I think you are going to need the whool pad for the bad parts but start off with the organge and see your results. That deep scratch I don't think you're going to fully get out but you can make it less visible.
 
I don't think you well need the wool pad but if you want to pick it up just in case then thats fine.

The blackfire duo is a great combo.

Just remember your test spot and start with the least aggressive method to get the job done.
 
ClayR said:
I think you are going to need the whool pad for the bad parts but start off with the organge and see your results. That deep scratch I don't think you're going to fully get out but you can make it less visible.
Click to expand...


Good advice.

Remember to find balance.


This car is already 7+ years old. It's been neglected.

Clear coat paint is thin, removing clear paint removes defects but also removes UV protection that's inside the clear layer.

I teach and practice to remove the shallow stuff and live with the deeper stuff especially if the car in question is simply a DAILY DRIVER and not a Show Car Circuit Beauty Queen.

Find balance.


:)
 
good points, guys.

With all that feedback, I'm looking at the following:
Blackfire Duo. Compound applied using orange pads. Finish applied via white pads.
Megs m21 sealant via a blue pad.

I'm thinking 3 orange pads, 2 white pads, and 1 blue pad will be OK? I'll probably throw in a 4" orange pad for smaller areas so essentially 4 orange pads. Sound right?

any specific suggestions on pad cleaners?



FWIW, I ordered and received the nanoskin pad already. That thing just looks cool. And all the reviews I've read on it since ordering tell me I made the right choice. Thanks for that suggestion, guys. I'll have to order up some nanoskin glide for the pad.
Really looking forwrad to using this. Wish I could get started this weekend on a test area with the nanoskin pad since it's going to be beautiful but I'll have to wait until I can get the glide in; unless spraying soapy water will suffice.

- Erin
 
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