Ideally, you'll always want to clay prior to polishing your paint. This will ensure there is no embedded contamination remaining that the abrasives have to break down. You'll get slightly better correction out of it and your sealant and / or wax will last longer because of it.

I don't think it'll be that much higher than the current model PC, but I know it is higher. The major benefit is your getting a slightly bigger motor with slightly more OPMs. This means you'll be able to apply a little more pressure than the current PC, but it certainly is still going to have it's limitations. If you're looking for a big upgrade from the PC, the Flex XC3401VRG is the way to go.

Lexol doesn't have any protective characteristics, it's only a cleaner or a conditioner unfortunately. Be sure to follow up with something with UV protection.

George

 

ok wat otc product can u i use that has uv protection

 

Hey George, when I first bought my detailing products from you I bought the SSR line up (3,2.5, and 1) Shortly there after I bought Menzerna PO106F to replace the SSR 1. But now that ive done a handfull of details im beginning to run low on SSR 3 and SSR 2.5

Would you recommend stocking back up with SSR 3 & 2.5 or switching to Menzerna SIP or just IP for a good all round cutting polish?
I have a Flex 3401 VRG to polish with.

Thanks
Sean

 

got the purple haze on the car and it looks great!!! I still haven't seen it clean and completely waxed in the day light because i didn't finish till dark last night and then i woke up to pollen all over the car

 

Hi George - Got a question to which I'm afraid there is no good answer. I've got an OB '05 sedan that has a couple "scars" on the roof from where I'm guessing the prior owner let sap or bird droppings sit for a pretty long time.

I am considering doing a big detail job on the car at some point over the next several months and was wondering whether using some heavy cutting polish or perhaps even a little compound would help with those or whether it would be better to just treat them like I would a deep scratch and maybe use one of those touch-up kits that have you do a little wet-sanding of the damaged area followed by touch up.

 

Not 100% sure, I believe Lexol Vinylex offers UV protection, but it was a little greasy for my liking. Just check the bottles and make sure it says the product offers UV protection.

Sean, good questions. If you like the way PO106F worked for you, then I'd advise going with Menzerna Super Intensive Polish. Both of those polishes were designed to work on newer ceramic clear coats and have similar properties in terms of work times, dusting, etc. IP is a little more finicky to work with than SIP, and since you have a Flex, SIP will really shine. For a deeper cutting compound, if you liked the grit feeling of SSR 3, you can stick with it, it cuts through clear coat pretty quick. Power Gloss from Menzerna isn't as user friendly. My recent go-to polish that's more aggressive than SIP is Optimum Hyper Compound. It's pretty easy to work with and you get 32 oz of product for under $20.

Since you're using the Flex, it's easier to break down those grittier polishes like the SSRs, but I think you'll enjoy working with any of the polishes I just mentioned.

Pollen is never fun, it's that time of year. Luckily your paint is protected from it. Let us know what you think once you get to see the true finish

Good question Avatar. Personally, I'd keep attacking the imperfections with polishes and avoid any type of touch up work. From my experience, if you're not just doing a tiny chip, it's not worth using touch up paint. I'm assuming that you can only really see the marks in certain lighting since it doesn't sound like the paint is actually removed.

What buffer are you using? What polish and pad combo do you plan on using? If you're using a PC, I'd highly recommend going with some 4" pads to give you the maximum cut possible. For imperfections that you're describing, I'll usually start with Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on an orange pad to assess the situation. If it doesn't put a dent in it, then I'd move up to something like Optimum Hyper Compound on a yellow pad. If you are making progress with any step, I'd recommend just keep working it again and again until it's gone.

If you exhaust polishing, then you can resort to wet sanding the paint. I'd recommend starting with something like 2000 grit and see how that goes, and go more aggressive only if needed. If you do try wet sanding, I'd recommend soaking the paper in water over night.

Hope this helps, be sure to keep us posted on how things turn out and what you end up using.

George

 

A couple pics i snapped today on lunch. My car got covered in pollen as soon as i waxed it as i mentioned in my previous post so I took about 10 minutes on lunch today and just sprayed it down with my new Foamaster II gun loaded with Poorboy's Super Slick n Suds, rinsed it off, wiped it down and bam! As you can see there is no need to even break out the wash mit.

For those who missed my previous post, this is a few days after applying Dodo Juice Purple Haze Soft Wax (1 coat).











Edit: as you can see it didn't take long for more crap to blow out of the trees and onto my paint. the amount thats on there is what came down in between me finishing the car and then going into my house, getting the digicam and going back out to take the pics

 

i have major questions-

What can i do to remove swirl marks/spider webs without a rotary buffer?
What is the process you use, can you recommend me a tutorial ?
What products do you use ?
and i think my paint has oxidized, its a little white, how to fix ?

and last

What components do i need to cover in the engine so i can was clean it ?

thanks !!!!!!

 

you need to polish! Read through this thread george went over it a bunch of times and i think there are probably even links to videos. You can use a flex PC or something like that (not sure of the exact product name).

 

Thanks for sharing the pics. Pollen can be a PITA especially in the Spring time. Luckily, with Dodo as your protection a quick wash doesn't take too long. Paint looks amazing, tons of depth and gloss and your metallic flakes are jumping right out. Keep up the great work!

Your best bet is to invest in a random orbital buffer, such as a Porter Cable 7424 or better yet a Flex XC 3401 VRG. Here's a link to our how-to for polishing which explains the entire polishing process and what is happening to your clear coat.

As far as products are concerned, I'd highly recommend using the Menzerna line of products. Most paint can benefit from at least a 2 step polish consisting of a medium cut polish and a finishing polish. Menzerna Super Intensive Polish followed by Menzerna PO106FA. Another great combo bang for the buck is Menzerna Intensive Polish followed by Menzerna Final Polish II.

Properly polishing the paint would help remove the oxidation.

As far as the engine bay is concerned, there's really not much you have to cover. I've done plenty of engine bays where I didn't cover anything and (knock on wood) never had a problem. You want to avoid spraying directly into air intakes, exposed electrical stuff, or anything delicate that may loosen or disconnect from the pressure. If in doubt, cover it up.

Thanks Daniel.

George

 

THANKYOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^, ill reread your post like its a scripture from the bible

 

Hey ryder.

I use Zaino 'leather in a bottle'. Not only does it have UV protectant, but it leaves the leather super soft, and has leather oil in it so it leaves your car with that new car smell when you use it. Go to zainostore.com. Their products rock!!! Look through the pictures on the site to see some sick cars that use their products.

 

1. My headlight covers are hazy as hell and I need a good product that will take that away. I've searched through many threads and everyone says different things. What's the best product to use to get rid of the haziness and bring the look back to life?

2. I've got some pretty bad gouges in the pass side interior rear panel. What can I do to get rid of these? I've looked online and "welding" the plastic would somewhat fix it but it's going to cost arounf $150 for a plastic welder that i'm probably going to never use again. Is there any other way to fix these nasty gouges?

Thanks.

 

Not sure if I should have started a new thread, but I figured I would start here for suggestions.

I would like to do a good polish/was on my g35 this weekend using the meguiars line. I do have access to a pc, but may start by hand (never used a power polisher) and want to be careful. Anyways, here are the products I would like to use:

Meg clay bar/detail
clean with rubbing alc& water
Meg Polish (not sure which to use, or do I even have to after clay bar'ing and just go straight to the wax?)
Meg Gold class wax

I realize there are other (better) products available, but at this point I would like to stick with the meg line (I have easy access at the stores here in Calgary).

What I would like opinions on is if I have to still polish after using the clay bar, and if so which one should I use. The car has not been done in some time (no water beading at all) but still does have relatively decent shine.

Anyways, any suggestions or comments from you experienced fold would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Jason

 

George can offer you better advice but here is what I have found in my experience. First, hand polishing will not get you anywhere near the results of using a PC or similar. I tried it myself. It is worth it to get the random orbital and do it right the first time. It sucks to spend the effort doing it by hand and not seeing very much benefit. If you use the PC though make sure you use it correctly or you will still not get your desired results, the polish needs to correctly break down to work on the scratches. Here are some instructions from Detailed Image. http://www.detailedimage.com/auto-de...g-compound.php. Depending on how bad your scratches are you might need to do a two-stage polish. Start with a medium cutting polish and then move to a final polish. A random orbital is not difficult to use and it is almost impossible to burn your paint with one, unlike a true orbital. Using a clay bar is to remove surface contaminants from the paint, it will not do anything for scratches/swirls like a polish will. You definitely want to do that though before you polish. Your shine and reflectivity will come from correctly prepping the paint/clearcoat, not just from the wax itself. Sorry I can't offer and specific advice on which Meg products to use but hopefully some of this has helped a little bit.