Noob questions...

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Gokite

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Hi guys, new to the forum and new to detailing. Chicagoland resident here. I have some questions after browsing this site for a while...I appreciate any answers any of you can give:

1) what do the terms LSP and ISP mean? i gather the P is for polish...?
2) i see guys use electric buffer wheels. Would it be advisable to get an air powered disc sander (looks the same as the buffers used for cars as far as I can tell) for my air compressor and use that instead? I'd prefer to do that, or is the air tool too powerful?
3) as a noob, never doing this, i bought a new car last week and come spring i want to detail the outside. Would you guys recommend menzerna FG400 and SF4000 to polish up the clearcoat of the brand new vehicle? I plan to wash, clay bar, then do both the menzerna products then apply a wax. Or am i going to mess up my car woth those polishers having zero prior experience/practice?
4) i have used 303 before and plan to use that for plastic/rubber...but what about a good leather product? Any recommendations?
5) am i missing a step in question #3?

Thanks so much for your help...i certainly don't want to mess up my new car. For some background, i am an engineer by trade, i've built homes, designed and built/soldered my own custom tube guitar amps including all the CAD, schematic, metal fabrication and wood work, as well as other cabinetbuilding, etc. so i think i can detail the car ok myself, and want to do/learn it partly to have it done, but also the satisfaction to learn something new.
 
Welcome to autogeek, LSP means last step product(wax,sealant) , ISP means rubbing alcohol my suggestion for an polisher would be a harbor freight one or Groits Garage one those are electric, and easy to use, and for leather products I would use leather masters
 
Ok thx. I appreciate it. After some more time here this is my plan, I plan to:
1) wash
2) iron x
3) clay bar
4) then do menzerna FG400 and SF4000
5) wax

Is menzerna overkill for a new car, and instead use something like poorboy ssr1?

What are the different colors for polishing pads for? I dont understand.

What kind of soap do you guys wash with? I read about people using a soap, forgot the name, like new mango or something like that in a foamer

Can menzerna or other ploishers be applied by hand w/o a airpolisher or electric polisher? I think id rather have the air tool since i'd likely run the compressor to wash and fill tires anyway. I have a 26gal with another 26gal spare tank that I daisy-ed together to make 56gal total.
 
i would recommend going to youtube and watching junkman2000 video first as he goes slow and has the camera on all the time. he has 20 or so hours of video. however, He has no video of interior work. after you are done watching his video , you should have more specific question and start watching AGO videos and use the search function to type exactly what you are looking for or ask here. also, i highly recommend this book. Mike Phillips Detailing Book & DVD Combo, how to detail, how to use a polisher
hope this help

also instead of wax why not look into a sealant as it last longer 3-6 moth on average. and you can still apply a wax ever ymonth as it only last about a month.
 
Your plan of attack sounds pretty good if you had let the dealership detail your vehicle before you picked it up then the menzerna combo should be perfect, and get you the results you want but if have not gotten your car yet tell the dealership not to detail your car though as for polishing pads the colors are there to tell you the aggressiveness of the pad and I wash my vehicle with chemical guys citrus wash and gloss cause I can strip my wax, and do an maintenance wash all with one product and yes you can apply these products by hand


take a look at this picture View image: Lake Country Pad Chart
 
Gokite said:
Ok thx. I appreciate it. After some more time here this is my plan, I plan to:
1) wash
2) iron x
3) clay bar
4) then do menzerna FG400 and SF4000
5) wax

Is menzerna overkill for a new car, and instead use something like poorboy ssr1? Typically a finishing polish or pre-wax cleaner would be where I would be choosing from for a new car. If there are some swirls already on the vehicle after steps #1-#3 then SF4000 would be where I would begin. Just make sure you do a couple of test spots to be sure you are getting the results you are looking for.

What are the different colors for polishing pads for? I dont understand. I put them in 3 different categories..... cutting, polishing and finishing. Depending on the pad product manufacturer the colors may change. So with respect to the previous paragraph I provided above, SF4000 with a polishing pad is where you would probably start -or- with just a pre-wax cleaner you can used a polishing or a finishing pad.

What kind of soap do you guys wash with? I read about people using a soap, forgot the name, like new mango or something like that in a foamer I use a bunch - Megs Gold Class, Mothers California Gold, Dodo Juice Born to Be Mild, Pinnacle XMT, Optimum Car Wash. They all have good lubricity and a few of these do stretch your dollar.

Can menzerna or other ploishers be applied by hand w/o a airpolisher or electric polisher? I think id rather have the air tool since i'd likely run the compressor to wash and fill tires anyway. I have a 26gal with another 26gal spare tank that I daisy-ed together to make 56gal total.
Click to expand...

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Awesome answers guys, thx! Ok i thinki will just use the final polish SF4000. Makes sense and peoplemhere seem to like it.

Do i need that ironX stuff? Or is the car too new to require it?

Is a tornador foaming attach for the air compressor worth $130? I suppose i can use it to clean other stuff, like the house, garage floor, etc

The Flex that Junkman2000 uses seems to be a $300 unit. There is a porter cable 7424xp that chemical guys used that is $110 at HD. What do you guys think of that one instead of the flex?
 
I would go for the porter cable 7424xp as for the Iron x it's not needed but I would get it anyway cause the car is new, and to remove any containment's clay would not be able to get out
 
also instead of wax why not look into a sealant as it last longer 3-6 moth on average. and you can still apply a wax ever ymonth as it only last about a month.
Click to expand...

Nebojsa, i actually plan to use a nano-based product on the car. My friend has an exclusive on it and i get it at cost. I put it on my wife's car 9 months ago and it still sheds everything. Her car usually looks good from rain, dirty road water, as long as she drives fast enough to low it off. You can key the car, and the paint self-heals. Basically it is a permanat treatment that chemically bonds with the paint. So i just want to get the paint looking perfect before i apply this stuff. We pit it on her car when she got it new but just washed, claybar, then went straight to this stuff on the OEM paintjob. Looks great but could be better.
 
How many orange cutting pads and gray finishing pads are needed per car? I am filling out my order and am stuck on this. I'd like to get enough to do 2 cars, maybe three. 2 per car per color? i.e. 2 orange and 2 gray for one car? Or will one go the distance?
 
Never mind I think I will get a 3-pack of each: orange, gray, red

Looks like two pads per car usually for the weekend warrior.
 
As far as using an air polisher goes, you won't have near enough air supply to run an air polisher for any length of time. These things are major air hogs and will deplete an 80 gallon tank in just a few minutes. You'll need around a 20 or greater SCFM 100% duty cycle compressor pump to keep up with air sanders/polishers and with a small tank as you describe yours as having, the compressor pump would never supply enough air to run one.
 
Now if you look at the polisher specs listed for this polisher

Ingersoll Rand Air Angle Polisher — 7in. Dia. Pad, Model# 314 | Air Polishers| Northern Tool + Equipment

you'll see a listed air consumption of 8 CFM but just under that it shows that the CFM at load is 22CFM. This is the real world number when actually using the tool for polishing the car.

The gallons of reserve air storage (tank size) has very little to do with running an air tool for more than just a minute or so or with no load on the tool. It is the rate at which a compressor's pump can replenish the tank in the working pressure range that is important. So the compressor I linked to above lists a working pressure of between 145psi and 175psi, but it lists 22.6 CFM at 175psi and 23.8CFM at 100 psi.



The tool's demand in CFM at load (22CFM) and the compressor's working range CFM are pretty much a dead on match. Add in 80 gallons of compressed reserve air and you should have just enough energy in air storage, air flow and air pressure to operate that one air polisher in a continuous, trouble free fashion.

Get a helper running another air tool off the same compressor at the same time and you'll now both be waiting for the tank to replenish to enough pressure to be in the working range. If your helper is using a tool that requires more than 1CFM (pretty much any air tool) now you need a bigger compressor for both tools to operate at the same time.

Just a little insight on how air tools and air compressors work in real world situations. There's a lot to consider when choosing a compressor, or air tools that you wish to run off of your current air compressor.

The electric polishers are the way to go.
 
Tuscarora dave, thanks for the detailed answers. I got a Griot Garage 6in DA ROP ordered from AGO yesterday. I figured it was the best route to go. Looks like the air compressor won't work well for a foamer either. I'll need a power washer. Too bad. I don't want to buy more stuff!
 
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