The PC is safe. First off what color is your ride? Also how bad are the swirls or scratches? I use menzerna polishes, you would use a SIP for heavy, 203 and 106FA for light to medium, or 85RD and 87MC for light fine swirls. As for pads, lake county makes great pads. Most aggressive to least are yellow, orange, white, blue and red. Blue and red are mostly for sealant and wax applications. Certain waxes are for certain paint colors, and some are for all. How much do you want to spend on wax?

 

Well, the main reason i bought the PC is for wax and didn't know there is so much more about polishing. I was planing to use some liquid wax NXT from retail store.

My car is white and doesn't have much scratches, my mom's car is black, which i have the most concern on.

 

I do it 2 times per year atleast (Spring and Fall). After that I generally just wash. Every now and then I might claybar (if needed) and throw on a coat or two of wax.

 

A wax is only as good as the paint prep underneath. White is a lot easier to maintain than black, as you know. Polishing will bring back the shine of the paint. The wax will enhance that, and give it that wet look. For your car all you would need is some Menzerna power finish 203 with a white polishing pad on your PC. Then wax after your done. Your mom's black car is another story. If it is bad I'd try the menzerna SIP(super intensive polish) followed by the 106FA nano finishing polish. If it is not the bad, you could try the power finish 203. Remember you want to try the least aggressive method first.

 

http://autopia.org

is your friend

 

www.autogeekonline.net is also your friend

 

If i use Meguier NXT wax w/ white pad on PC, will it mess up the paint? I thought it would do a better job than doing it by hand.

 

I would use the blue or red pads. The white has some cutting ability. It might mar your paint a little.

 

Ok let's set some things straight here.

1. A pc will not marr up your paint. Can paint be marred if you don't break down the polish all the way? Yes it can but it's not the fault of the pc, it's the fault of the operator. Don't be scared to polish with a pc. It's REALLY not that hard and you won't believe how much more glow you will be able to get out of your white paint.

2. If you do polish the car (which I HIGHLY recommend), you want to seal the paint next to seal in the shine and clarity you have achieved. Then you want to wax the car. Someone had mentioned they polish, glaze and then wax. Not good. Sealants won't adhere to the surface of your paint if you put a glaze down first. The one exception I know of however is if you use Danase Wet Glaze. DWG is an acrylic glaze which is something you can put a sealant on top of but this isn't the norm. I will guarentt you that your paint is pretty swirled up. With white it is a lot harder to see but if your car has never been polished and if you're not really up on total car care, it would be impossible for the car not to be swirled. Like loudog2 said, your cars paint will only look as good as the prep job you do before had. The best wax in the world won't make ANY car look good unless the paint has been properly prepped.

Here's an example of a white Z I detailed. You can see a pretty big difference on the hood alone.









Watch some vids on polishing and give it a shot. You won't be sorry.

 

+1^ The PC is safe. The only way to any marring would be by operator error(wrong pads, etc). You can see the big difference in never gone's pictures.

 

So...white pad for polish, red/blue pad for wax? Where is a good place to get these pad and polish?

So, it's polish>sealant>wax?

 

detailedimage.com or autogeek.net These are both great online shops.

 

Here's some pretty basic set ups.

If you're paint is pretty swirled up, you want to use an orange pad. If the swirling in minor, you can use a white pad and a less aggressive polish. Wolfgangs Total Swirl Remover is a great polish that isn't really aggressive. Monzerna Nano Polish (106ff) is also REALLY good. If your swirling in very minor, either of these polished on a white pad should work great. If the swirling is pretty heavy you might want to first start with a more aggressive polish like Monzerna Super Intensive Polish on the white pad. It's better to start with a less aggressive approach first and work your way up as needed. Once you get the hang of it you'll automatically know what to start with. If I'm detailing a really swirled up car, I'm starting with a lake county orange pad with the Monzerna SIP. Here's a vid showing how to use the PC with Monzerna products. I would recommend going slower then the guy in the video however. I know it can seem overwhelming but I promise, it's not that bad. Read read read and you'll be fine. I hope that helps some.

 

video?

 

I have TurtleWax Swirl/Scratch remover, can I use that for now?