Waiting for my 7424XP to arrive...

[dbobke]

I took advantage of AG's 15% off and free shipping promotion and bought the 7424XP and a foam pad kit (yellow, orange, white, and black) plus a lambswool pad, microfiber bonnets, and a 5-inch backing plate. I think that is everything I need to get started.

My car is fairly new (about 6 months old) and I wash it pretty much weekly unless it is raining. However, there are some spots where swirls have appeared and I want to get that glassy surface look that I see in all your posts! I have been studying up on Mike's videos and posts on the details of using the DA polisher - good stuff.

I have Meguiar's Ultimate Compound that I used to get some small surface scratches out by hand. I also have a new bottle of Blackfire Total Polish & Seal. Would it be an OK combination to use the Ultimate Compound as the first step (after claying) with the orange pad and then the Blackfire product as the last step? Should there be a wax involved here or is the Blackfire product adequate? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[RLucky82]

that should work fine for you, since the blackfire is an all in one and it contains a sealant you wont need to wax. unless you want to. some people like to to get extra gloss. im not an expert but to be on the safe side try doing a panel section first with just the blakcfire and see how that looks. to me the megs ultimate sounds a little harsh. but I may be wrong.


I read this today and found a lot of good info

How To Detail Your Brand New Car by Mike Phillips...
a lot of "Serious Car Enthusiasts" will as an option apply a synthetic paint sealant first for long lasting, durable protection and top this sealant with a coat of wax for aesthetics reasons, that is to make the paint look beautiful.

See this article,
Topping - Definition - How to Top also called Topping

from here
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-detail-your-brand-new-car-mike-phillips.html

over the weekend I used DP poli-seal on my 2005 Subaru Baja and I must say it now has that "wet" look to it. it even feels soft to the touch. Have fun experimenting

 

[mwoolfso]

Try the polishing in this order (least aggressive approach is best)...

1- BFTPS first with a white pad
2- UC with white
3- UC with orange

If you need #3 to remove the swirls then follow-up with #1 after an IPA step.

If you wash weekly then I would opt for Collinite 845, 476 or Optimum Car Wax as your LSP --or-- insert an OTC spray wax in your weekly cycle to help maintain the durability of BFTPS.

Your weekly washing is going to affect the durability of the LSP no matter what. The three I recommended will stand-up easily to weekly washing cycles, and help keep the pain swirl free for awhile.

 

[dbobke]

Thanks for the great responses so far. I did Meguiar's UC with the orange pad and it seemed to get most of the swirls. I followed with the BlackFire Total Polish and Seal and the car looks hot.

I did run into a few issues while using the polisher. First, the pads get hot and I actually had one separate from the velcro backing. I am concerned that I am using the wrong backing plate, but it is the one that came with the Lake Country pad kit I bought. The pads I have are 6.5 in and the backing plate is a 5 in plate. It left a fair amount of gap from the edge of the plate to the edge of the pad and I thought it may be the wrong size. Is it OK to use a 5 in plate with 6.5 in pads?

The other issue may be that I am not cleaning the pad often enough during the process. Should I actually wash out the pad and let it dry after just a couple of section passes? I would need a bunch of pads then to actually complete my car in one sitting.

One other question. There are a lot of gaps in the body of my car - between the hood and the side panels, seams where the bumper comes together with the rear side panels, etc. A lot of product gets into these gaps and is hard to get out with a microfiber towel. Any tricks for keeping the product from getting in there or getting it out once it does?

 

[RLucky82]

Use Masking tape to keep the product out of cracks. It sounds like you may be using too much

Look around for the "clean your pad on the fly" video.

Since you have the 5" back plate you might as well use 5" or 5.5" pads since they work better on your pc anyway. Of course i learned this after I bought about a dozen 6.5" pads. The nice thing is the 5"pads should run cooler and are cheaper too.

 

[dbobke]

Being new to using the DA polisher, I may have put too much on the pad at times and not cleaned it often enough. I will back off on the product next time and clean the pad (on the fly) after a maximum of two panels.

I did try masking tape on a couple of areas, but you have to move the tape around as you move around the car because the tape will mask out parts that you have to polish as well. It is probably best to mask out the gaps for one particular area and then move the tape when you move to the adjacent parts of the car.

I may get some 5.5 in pads in the future, but since I have a whole box of 6.5 in pads, I am going to get a 6 in backing plate and try that out. Thanks again...I love this forum!

 

[highroller]

Being new to using the DA polisher, I may have put too much on the pad at times and not cleaned it often enough. I will back off on the product next time and clean the pad (on the fly) after a maximum of two panels.

I did try masking tape on a couple of areas, but you have to move the tape around as you move around the car because the tape will mask out parts that you have to polish as well. It is probably best to mask out the gaps for one particular area and then move the tape when you move to the adjacent parts of the car.

I may get some 5.5 in pads in the future, but since I have a whole box of 6.5 in pads, I am going to get a 6 in backing plate and try that out. Thanks again...I love this forum!

Ya 6 inch backing plate would be best to use 6.5 pads. I wonder WHY AG give out 5 inch backing plate with 6.5 pads in combos and kits.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dbobke]

I completely agree that the 5 in backing plate with a set of 6.5 in pads is a mistake - I am not sure why the kit is sold that way. Good question for customer service!