Questions about my first polishing attempt

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Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and have been trying to do my research. Sometimes my Google Fu isn't as strong as I'd like to find answers to my questions.

I'm working on building up my supplies to attempt my first full detail of my 2011 Subaru Forester. I recently bought a PC7424XP that came with a orange, white, and gray CCS pad as well as 12 oz. Pinnacle XMT Fine Swirl Remover #2 and 12 oz. Pinnacle XMT Carnauba Finishing Glaze. The paint is in good shape, just some minor swirls here and there. So my questions are:

Can I do the whole car with one pad? I've seen how to clean the pad on the fly, but I imagine after a while that has to give dimishing returns on how clean you can get the pad? Should I hold off and order more pads instead?

I was planning on polishing with the orange pad then applying my glaze with the gray pad. Is that what you would recommend?

How often should I reapply product to the pad?

Any tips for getting vertical and low surfaces? In my head it seems like polishing doors is going to be awkward.

Thanks!
-Will
 
I would pick up 3 more orange, and 3 more white pads. Then you can rotate them out, which will make them all last longer.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using AG Online
 
i usually do 1 pad for 2 panels. Yes order more pads before you work on it.
 
As soft as Subaru paint is, you may be able to do the whole car with only the white pads. Going with a more agressive pad could lead to more work than you really need to do since you'll need to get rid of the haze created by an agressive pad and polish.

If the paint truly has only minor swirls, than an orange cutting pad may not be needed at all. A test spot will reveal what needs to be done.

I found my daughter's 1999 Outback to be very easy to correct using only a polishing pad (white in your case). Based on the comments I've read here, It doesn't sound like Subaru's have changed up their paint much over time and it's still pretty soft/easy to correct.
 
Desertnate said:
As soft as Subaru paint is, you may be able to do the whole car with only the white pads. Going with a more agressive pad could lead to more work than you really need to do since you'll need to get rid of the haze created by an agressive pad and polish.

If the paint truly has only minor swirls, than an orange cutting pad may not be needed at all. A test spot will reveal what needs to be done.

I found my daughter's 1999 Outback to be very easy to correct using only a polishing pad (white in your case). Based on the comments I've read here, It doesn't sound like Subaru's have changed up their paint much over time and it's still pretty soft/easy to correct.
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Ok that's kinda what I thought. I've seen several threads that talk about how soft Subarus are. Thank you all for your responses so far!
 
Grabbing a few more pads is always helpful, especially on your first time since you will be learning everything on the fly so to speak. Also if it falls on the ground or somehow gets dirty it's nice to have some spares.
 
I hadn't thought about the possibility of dropping it. That's a good point.
 
I mean if you only have one pad on there, it's not very likely it'll touch the ground unless you place the polisher on the floor and knock it over. If you're really itching to get started you could just do a few panels one day to get the hang of it and the rest the next day(s), and just clean off the pad in between days.
 
You're right. I've done up to 2012 Subarus and they all have the softest paint ever, polishing bad usually all that's needed.

I have a 2014 STi coming up that'll be fun. Would be neat if Subaru finally changed it up a bit. Look at it and it scuffs kind of paint is annoying to keep clean.

Desertnate said:
Based on the comments I've read here, It doesn't sound like Subaru's have changed up their paint much over time and it's still pretty soft/easy to correct.
Click to expand...
 
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