What would you do?

RMarkJr

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So I am now finally doing my daughters black 4 door honda civic I got her not long ago. Its in pretty rough shape .. swirls and some good scratches on it. I started it today using the menzerna medium cut polish with an orange griots pad on the Boss 21. It is doing a good job at taking out the defects. I did go over a section with menzerna 3500 on a griots black pad and it shined up pretty well.

However if I do this I am gonna have to end up applying a sealant on it as well making this a three step process.


I do have meguiars d151 paint reconditioning cream. So would you stick with finishing out with the Menzerna 3500 after the Menzerna 2500 or use the D151 which includes some protection in it eliminating a need for the third step of applying protection?

The reason why I ask is I am wondering what would typically give someone the beter finish overall. I know there are a lot of variables I am not sure where the cut of the d151 falls into compared to the 3500, or the hdspeed +. The D151 didnt seem to have enough cut to get the swirls or scratches out, so its less than the Menzerna 2500.

also I do have HDSpeed + .. think this fits in anywhere here?


ONE more thing.... I have never used DAT before. I cant really seem to tell when the Menzerna "flashes" or is broken down. If someone is using a 6inch pad on a 21mm throw Boss 21 at a speed of 6 about how many passes would you say would be needed to break it down? orrr a good way to tell that its broken down?
 
Did you try just the D151 without doing anything else? The abrasives are pretty stout and it's a non diminishing abrasive. I would give that a go and see how you like the results.

The other part of this equation is how is she going to maintain this car? If she isn't going to wash it properly then doing a three step process as you describe is a massive waste of your time.

If it's a daily driven car, then an AIO product really fits the bill.
 
Did you try just the D151 without doing anything else? The abrasives are pretty stout and it's a non diminishing abrasive. I would give that a go and see how you like the results.

The other part of this equation is how is she going to maintain this car? If she isn't going to wash it properly then doing a three step process as you describe is a massive waste of your time.

If it's a daily driven car, then an AIO product really fits the bill.


Ya I tried the D151 with an orange cutting pad and it didnt even get all the swirls out. I was disappointed by it really. Which is odd because I hear good things about it ... and I have a gallon of it.

What I ended up doing was finishing up the cutting with an orange pad and 2500 and then went over it with 4 passes per section with the menzerna 3500. Topped it off with liquid glass polish. It came out really good compared to how it started.

It did take awhile but I was doing to see how good I could get it and I needed pictures of a black car for my site anyhow.


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Dude, speed 6?
Are you using an extension cord to connect your polisher? If so, what gauge is it?
Speed 6 seems unnecessary, I usually don't need to go past speed 4.5 for anything I do with that polisher, but I have found out that the connection to the power source can greatly affect the performance of the polisher.
 
Dude, speed 6?
Are you using an extension cord to connect your polisher? If so, what gauge is it?
Speed 6 seems unnecessary, I usually don't need to go past speed 4.5 for anything I do with that polisher, but I have found out that the connection to the power source can greatly affect the performance of the polisher.

Nah I used 5 for the cutting and then 4.5 for the polish.. 6 passes for cut with the 2500 and then 4 passes with the 3500

The gauge of the extension cord is the same gauge as the power cord on the polisher . so whatever that is


oh I see where i put speed 6 now .. damn it .. that was supposed to be 5
 
If someone is using a 6inch pad on a 21mm throw Boss 21 at a speed of 6 about how many passes would you say would be needed to break it down? orrr a good way to tell that its broken down?

I thought you said you were working on speed 6..

As far as the gauge, sounds like you're using 16 gauge. I went out and bought a 14 gauge extension cord the same day I bought my 1st polisher. I've never tried connecting my polisher through a 16 gauge cord, but I have connected to a generator at the same time a fellow detailer was running his Flex polisher and there were huge fluctuations in power.. Speed 5 felt like speed 4, and most of the time everything between 4.5 and 6 saw no difference in power.

Just something to think about.
 
I thought you said you were working on speed 6..

As far as the gauge, sounds like you're using 16 gauge. I went out and bought a 14 gauge extension cord the same day I bought my 1st polisher, I've never tried connecting my polisher through a 16 gauge cord, but I have connected to a generator at the same time a fellow detailer was running his Flex polisher and there were huge fluctuations in power.. Speed 5 felt like speed 4, and most of the time everything between 4.5 and 6 saw no difference in power.

Just something to think about.

ya thats interesting .... I will have to see about getting another cord and trying it out and see if it makes a difference.
 
ya thats interesting .... I will have to see about getting another cord and trying it out and see if it makes a difference.

Ideally I'd like to be using a 12 or even 10 gauge extension cord.. But the price for a 50' extension cord goes up quite dramatically between 14 and 12 gauge, so my cheapo got the best of me and I settled for 14..

The best way to find out if it affects your power is to plug your polisher directly into an outlet and get a feel for how it performs at each speed [4,5,6] Then connect it through your extension cord and see if it performs the same way without any drop off in speed.
The instruction manual to my HF DA has a chart showing recommended gauge per length and they warn you when you may see a drop off in power. [hence why I chose to buy a proper cord to go with my polisher]
 
Ideally I'd like to be using a 12 or even 10 gauge extension cord.. But the price for a 50' extension cord goes up quite dramatically between 14 and 12 gauge, so my cheapo got the best of me and I settled for 14..

The best way to find out if it affects your power is to plug your polisher directly into an outlet and get a feel for how it performs at each speed [4,5,6] Then connect it through your extension cord and see if it performs the same way without any drop off in speed.
The instruction manual to my HF DA has a chart showing recommended gauge per length and they warn you when you may see a drop off in power. [hence why I chose to buy a proper cord to go with my polisher]

hmm I wonder if griots has a guide for extension cords .. I may have to call them or something tomorrow and see if they have anything based on length.
 
That polisher lists 7.5 amp draw. As long as the extension cord is 50ft or less you should be good with 16ga. If your extension cord is 18ga., you may be headed for problems. In any case, periodically check the cords and connections for heat. A badly worn cord with weak connections will act like a smaller wire for current capacity. Me personally, I use 14ga for polishers and similar current draws.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
That polisher lists 7.5 amp draw. As long as the extension cord is 50ft or less you should be good with 16ga. If your extension cord is 18ga., you may be headed for problems. In any case, periodically check the cords and connections for heat. A badly worn cord with weak connections will act like a smaller wire for current capacity. Me personally, I use 14ga for polishers and similar current draws.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Autogeekonline mobile app


Thanks for the reply. I am not sure what gauge it is ... but it does look like the same size as what is on the polisher ... and I think its a 50 foot cord. El was thinking it was about a 16 gauge.
 
looking up extension cords now .. it looks like the 100ft 16 gauges are rated at 10amps and the 100ft 14 gauges are rated at 13 amp. So if mine is 16 gauge at 50ft I think it should be ok.
 
1 day I'll get myself a 100' extension cord. I'll be sweet to be prepared and able to polish someone's vehicle at there place even if they've got a huge front yard and the outlet is very far away. Ideally I'd want it to a 10 gauge, 12 gauge minimum @100' which won't be cheap...
 
looking up extension cords now .. it looks like the 100ft 16 gauges are rated at 10amps and the 100ft 14 gauges are rated at 13 amp. So if mine is 16 gauge at 50ft I think it should be ok.

Really? That's interesting. I guess it comes down to who's ratings are actually the real deal and how prepared you prefer to be.
 
Really? That's interesting. I guess it comes down to who's ratings are actually the real deal and how prepared you prefer to be.

Ya I was basing that off of the description of the extension cords at lowes under the 100ft cords... dont think I am going to go by that now
 
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