Too many options and opinions

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run2jeepn

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I got a HF Polisher for Fathers Day, I have been reading this forum for a long while.

I've detailed a few Cars for friends and such, but never did Paint correction. Every Since I bought my current Car I have been wanting a Polisher and I just now got one.

I have a 2010 Dodge Charger Black pearl. It's garage kept, but is a Daily Driver. After 6 years of weather and driving. The paint is looking rough. No deep scratches, just fine spider webbing and daily wear issues.

I'm on a Budget so I was looking at the McKee's 37 360. I'm not sure it will be strong enough, But I want this to come out perfect as I can get it. I have thrown 30 different products in my shopping cart, but can't pull the trigger on what I really need.

I just need a Correction, Polish and a Wax.

This is my ride
20150326_153747.jpg
 
There are many great product lines out there.

I really like Meguiar's, Menzerna, and Rupes.

To those new to the game, I usually recommend Meguiar's Ultimate line, with an optional bottle of ColorX for a cleaner wax.

The Ultimate line is user friendly, and capable of delivering great reaults. It is also reasonably priced, and widely available.
 
Toss in some Meguiars Ultimate Compound for areas that made need some extra oomph to remove marring. Have not used 360 myself but many here are using it as an alternative to HDSpeed which is my go-to for initial AIO attempts.

I think the best thing to do is insure you have some Orange and white pads, try out a small handful of the products and work from there. You'll need 5-6 pads for all that surface area. Change them out often. Also, be sure to decontaminate the paint with some Iron X and Clay Bar. Doing so will insure a much easier clean up, will extend the use of your pads and result in a much nicer overall outcome. Good luck and enjoy the process. My main insight since your alone working on a DD'er is to take it slow. You don't have o reach 100% correction in one day.
 
dlc95 said:
There are many great product lines out there.

I really like Meguiar's, Menzerna, and Rupes.

To those new to the game, I usually recommend Meguiar's Ultimate line, with an optional bottle of ColorX for a cleaner wax.

The Ultimate line is user friendly, and capable of delivering great reaults. It is also reasonably priced, and widely available.
Click to expand...

pdqgp said:
Toss in some Meguiars Ultimate Compound for areas that made need some extra oomph to remove marring. Have not used 360 myself but many here are using it as an alternative to HDSpeed which is my go-to for initial AIO attempts.

I think the best thing to do is insure you have some Orange and white pads, try out a small handful of the products and work from there. You'll need 5-6 pads for all that surface area. Change them out often. Also, be sure to decontaminate the paint with some Iron X and Clay Bar. Doing so will insure a much easier clean up, will extend the use of your pads and result in a much nicer overall outcome. Good luck and enjoy the process. My main insight since your alone working on a DD'er is to take it slow. You don't have o reach 100% correction in one day.
Click to expand...

Thanks, the Meguiars was the last products I had in my Cart. But I had M105 and M205.

Can I get buy for a bit on the HF Backing Pad and HF Pads? Then in a few weeks order LC or CG Pads and backing pad?
 
run2jeepn said:
Can I get buy for a bit on the HF Backing Pad and HF Pads? Then in a few weeks order LC or CG Pads and backing pad?
Click to expand...

Not at all familiar with the Backing plate/pads that come with the HF unit. Sorry.
 
run2jeepn said:
Can I get buy for a bit on the HF Backing Pad
and HF Pads? Then in a few weeks order LC or
CG Pads and backing pad?
Click to expand...
Probably.

I've used their pads...and compared
to LC: they held up fairly well.

As far as results:
I can't see the difference...my DIY
"Swirl Finder Light" as my witness.


Bob
 
run2jeepn said:
Thanks, the Meguiars was the last products I had in my Cart. But I had M105 and M205.

Can I get buy for a bit on the HF Backing Pad and HF Pads? Then in a few weeks order LC or CG Pads and backing pad?
Click to expand...

I would not recommend M105 for someone wanting to start off. It has a learning curve which could cause frustration. Ultimate Compound which was recommended would be a good choice. It's a good starting point for someone wanting to get the hang of compounding. M205 is great.

If you were looking at McKee's 360, you could invest in their compound and polish as well. There are some write ups discussing the compound and polish on the forum.
 
I have a different opinion than some( though, maybe not those who have posted here). I would stay away from AIO's until you have enough experience with polishes to not get them all over the place.The mix of polish and sealant can be a mess to deal with if you get it in the wrong places. So many sealants that are easy to apply now. AIO's don't save you as much time over a two step as you might think.
 
run2jeepn said:
Thanks, the Meguiars was the last products I had in my Cart. But I had M105 and M205.

Can I get buy for a bit on the HF Backing Pad and HF Pads? Then in a few weeks order LC or CG Pads and backing pad?
Click to expand...

What specific HF buffer do have?
- Rotary or DA?
- Chicago Electric or Drill Master?

In regards to the HF Pads.
The pads are perfectly fine as polishing pads go.
The problem with them relates to the hook&loop attachment not covering the entire base of the pad.
This will cause the edges to get chewed up by the backing plate.
Thus a domino effect ensues, and it is not long before the pad gets chewed up to the point of being unusable.

OP:
There are a lot of things involved in buffing a vehicle.
Not to over-think it, but there is a lot of thought involved with it.
- Prep work.
- Pad choices.
- Pad sizes.
- Buffer speeds.
- Degree of pressure on the buffer.
- Pad cleaning.
- Dusting and polish slinging.
- Masking off area.

It is not as simple as some make it out to be, but you certainly can do it.
 
It can be very confusing when you ask a question and get such a variety of responses, along with a dizzying array of products that do the (relative) same thing. What I suggest, is to go with the suggestion of someone you trust (post counts alone do not validate that-look at their work).
 
Most products will work really well, so it's hard to actually make a bad choice. So don't worry, no matter what you end up picking, you should be able to get good results with.

That being said, I would not go with an AIO if I were you. AIO are great for detailers because it allows us to cut down the amount of time it takes to detail a car, allowing us to have better prices and do more cars. As the owner the the vehicle, your focus should be be on saving 3 hours on the detail, it should be to get the paint in great shape and then protect it well.

So here are my advices, you can take them with a grain of salt, I am sure any advice you get here will be just as good:

Cleaning: That is an important step, just make sure you use a good quality car soap, I am not even gonna recommend a brand, to me they all work decently and the differences are minimal. Make sure you use one that doesn't contain a wax though, all you want is the cleaning power.

Paint correction: This is where you will need to decide how aggressive you want to be. Are you gonna hand wash the car yourself and insure proper maintenance or do you plan on using the car wash on a regular basis? If you are committed to do all the work yourself and learn the proper techniques and use the proper tools, then by all mean go for a paint correction. The easiest product I can recommend is Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. Then as a polishing step, Meguiar's Ultimate Polish. If you are not gonna do the maintenance yourself, don't waste your time doing a paint correction, your paint will be in as bad a shape as it is now in only 2 or 3 visits to the car wash. So I would suggest you simply do a polishing to restore the shine and remove most of the swirls. Again Ultimate Polish is a great product to do that.

Pads: There are several good options available, the HF DA should not be too picky on what you use. For ease of use I would recommend Buff and Shine flat pads. You will need a few: Orange ones to do the compounding, White ones to do the polishing and Red Ones to do the Last Step Product (wax/sealant).

Compound/polish cleanup product: When you polish you need something to remove the residue and oils from the paint. You can buy a pre-made product like CarPro eracer or you can make your own. I suggest you go that route: 1 bottle of 70% Isopropyl alcohol, 3 bottles of Distilled water, a little bit of Optimum No-Rinse & shine (this helps lubricity and protects the paint from marring from the microfiber towel while you wipe the residue away).

Then you have to choose the protection you want to apply. I would recommend a coating. McKee's 37 coating is inexpensive and easy to use. Should give you about 2 years of protection. You can also use a spray sealant to top it everytime you wash the car: 3 options: Meguiar's Detailer's Quick Spray wax (cheapest on the list and amazing product), CarPro Reload (Shine on that sealant is pretty awesome and the protection is much better than Meg's product but it's a lot more expensive), CarPro Hydro2 (this one is sprayed on, then rinsed away. Amazing to protect every nook and cranny including mags, wiper arms with no effort. Protection is similar to Meg's QSW and price similar to Reload).

I don't think I forgot anything. Happy shopping ;)
 
Whatever you do, always follow the golden rule. Use the least aggressive products and techniques that will get the job done. That's really where the science of this hobby gets left behind and the art (and fun) comes into play. You may not need something like a compound on paint that's only 6 years old and instead might do well with an AIO. The only way you'll know is doing a test spot on the car. Good luck!
 
Totally correct, BUT to the OP.. also its very hard to do any real damage with a DA, so don't be afraid to get stuck in and learn through doing (after checking out all the tutorials..).
And don't over compliacate things..
 
I would skip the M105 and just use the M205 for starters. The M205 is easy to use and will give you a nice finish. You won't get rid of the deeper swirls, but most of the "shine" comes from eliminating microswirls which the M205 will take care of. Personally, I worry less and less about the deeper swirls the more I detail. Getting rid of them doesn't do that much for the appearance of the car. We just like to get rid of them mostly because many of us are perfectionists and they bother us.

Edit: And yes, there are too many products, there's always a new flavor of the month, and it's stressful to choose. On the other hand, I suspect all the products mentioned in this thread are quite good, so you probably can't go wrong.
 
HD Speed and Buff n Shine Orange pads will make you happy :)
Then, seal the job with HD Poxy or WGDGPS!
 
ducksfan said:
I have a different opinion than some( though, maybe not those who have posted here). I would stay away from AIO's until you have enough experience with polishes to not get them all over the place.The mix of polish and sealant can be a mess to deal with if you get it in the wrong places. So many sealants that are easy to apply now. AIO's don't save you as much time over a two step as you might think.
Click to expand...

I agree with this being true in alot of cases.👆🏽

vanev said:
In regards to the HF Pads.
The pads are perfectly fine as polishing pads go.
The problem with them relates to the hook&loop attachment not covering the entire base of the pad.
This will cause the edges to get chewed up by the backing plate.
Thus a domino effect ensues, and it is not long before the pad gets chewed up to the point of being unusable.
Click to expand...

This.👆🏽
Personally, I have a HF DA but I would never use that backing plate with any pads except Megs 6" DAMF pads [which are the only pads I've found that backing plate to have a perfect fit on] Any other pads, especially those HF pads can result in disaster. Research it, there's even a few vids on youtube showing the disintegrated pads. [Ghostses shows it in good detail. Watch his vids]
 
I like Guz's comment and agree that M105 has a distinct learning curve. Plus the dust...oh, the dust! M205, to me, is a different story. I have gotten away with 205 and an orange LC pad to dial up just a tad more cut and still have it finish out really well on certain paints. I don't know what you've decided on but you are heading in the right direction by asking here for some opinions and then trying something. Once you start "feeling the machine and technique" a lot of this stuff comes together. Just buy a smaller quantity in case you want to change it up later.
 
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