NOOB few ?s

peterzinyou

peterzinyou

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Hello, new guy just bought the Porter Cable XP combo kit. Love hand detailing my cars, thought this was the next logical step. Gonna "learn" on my DD, an 01 Sable, silver in color. Then work my way up to my F 150, 04 Mustang GT and the wifes 2011 Taurus.
QUESTION 1: What products should I buy (polish, wax, etc.)
QUESTION 2: Should I invest in smaller pads than the ones it comes with?
QUESTION 3: Will I need to buy new backing pads as well, if so are they all interchangeable?
Thanks for all help in advance.
The pics are a before and after of my car. Hopin to make it even shinier!
 
Most of us learn on the Porter Cable, it's a great tool. I'm assuming your kit came with 6.5" pads? Generally a 5.5" pad is easier to control and maintain rotation with on the PC, so getting some of them with a 5" backing plate is recommended. Make sure to mark the backing plate so you can see it spinning.

I started off using the XMT line of polishes, the #3, #1 and caranuba finishing glaze. I got great results on a black car my first time using this stuff, so I would say it's foolproof. Now that I've been doing it awhile I use a greater variety of polishes, but everything Autogeek sells is top notch quality and I don't think you can go wrong.

Sweet Mustang btw, love the rollbar.
 
Thanks guys. I do appreciate the time you took to answer me. Ty ekennett.
 
Welcome from another detailing newbie with a Mustang, too. :)

This all started with a Google search on removing swirl marks from my Lexus GS350 (a dealership body shop 'applied' them to my whole car after a quarter panel accident repair) and watching a bunch of Mike Phillips videos!

We even have a similar plan. I practiced on my 1990 Mustang first, then a 2007=ish Corolla I'm storing for a relative, my wife's 2007 Honda Odyssey, with the ultimate goal being the GS350!

I have since learned that my GS350 has holograms, and not swirl marks....

As for products, I used Meguiars M105/M205 (orange/white CCS pads) on the Mustang, but switched to Meguiars Ultimate Compound/Ultimate Polish with the same pad combo for the Odyssey. They both came out great....the Odyssey, being 17 years younger, obviously came out better.

Good luck with your plan.

Nelson
1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0
2007 Honda Odyssey LX
2011 Lexus GS350
 
Welcome I'm relatively new as well but have a couple cars under my belt I went with Menzerna FG400 and sonax perfect finish and have had fantastic results. And I never even used the 6 1/2 inch pads only 5 1/2 I also have GG polisher but I don't think it makes a difference. As far LSP that's a choice you have to make if it's garaged anything should work well. If it's a dd and you can't care for it constantly you'll probably want a coating (cquartz, opticoat, or pbl) or a sealant (sonax PNS, WGDGPS, BF AFPP). And I hope you have a clay bar and/or iron decon product (ironX, DD FDIR, AF Iron Out).
 
EVOlved said:
Welcome I'm relatively new as well but have a couple cars under my belt I went with Menzerna FG400 and sonax perfect finish and have had fantastic results. And I never even used the 6 1/2 inch pads only 5 1/2 I also have GG polisher but I don't think it makes a difference. As far LSP that's a choice you have to make if it's garaged anything should work well. If it's a dd and you can't care for it constantly you'll probably want a coating (cquartz, opticoat, or pbl) or a sealant (sonax PNS, WGDGPS, BF AFPP). And I hope you have a clay bar and/or iron decon product (ironX, DD FDIR, AF Iron Out).
Click to expand...


Sounds like good advice here :xyxthumbs:
 
Thanks everyone. Can't wait til the weather breaks here in Chicago and I can try it out.
 
I say until you get the hang of it and want to try other products I'd go for these first

Lake country flat pad
Flexible backing plate
Wolfgang total swirl remover
Colinite 845
A glaze of your choosing. I like chemical guys blacklight if you wanna call it a glaze... I really don't know what it is. All I can say is I use it as a glaze mainly because it smells like a Flintstones push-pop ice cream and I want to eat it lol.

Wolfgang total swirl remover is a great polish. If you only need a little cut it's mild enough to do so and if you need a heavy cut it's aggressive enough. It just depends on how you use it. You can try tons of different waxes that claim all sorts of things, god knows I did, but colinite is one hell of a wax and one bottle will last forever. I have about 6 different waxes on my shelf but since I got colinite they all have gone unused.

Oh btw your technique is everything. Set the speed to 6 and go slow with about 10lbs of pressure. Put a mark on the backing plate so you can see that it's spinning. If it stops spinning then lift off some pressure until it spins.


Sent from my HTC6435LVW using AG Online
 
Welcome to the forum. I second the use of 5.5" pads on the porter cable. It works really well with that size pads. As far as what products to buy, I started off using meguiar's ultimate compound, ultimate polish and ultimate wax. All three work well together and are very user friendly. UC is derived from M105 and UP is derived from M205.

I would consider M205 over UP as it is more versatile and offers more cut that UP.
 
Thanks fellas. Gonna get a few 5.5 pads and some product. Can't wait, thanks.
 
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