I did some brief searching through the forums and found bits a pieces concerning pad and polish combinations, so I hope this hasn't been asked and answered.

In the next few weeks I will be attempting my first "real" detail of my "G". Thanks to a great Father's Day deal at Detailed Image, I purchased several items including:

Lake Country Blue Fine Finishing Pad - 6.5"
Lake Country Orange Light Cutting Pad - 6.5"
Lake Country White Polishing Pad - 6.5"
Menzerna Final Polish II (FPII)
Menzerna Intensive Polish (IP)

I'll be using a PC7424. My questions are these:

I'll be going after mainly swirl marks and etchings in the finish, but there are some deeper scratchs I would like to get out as well. I've read and seen that the proper technique is to do a test panel to gage proper pad & polish combinations and always start w/ the less aggressive polish. How should I approach that? A White Pad w/ the Final Polish, or an Orange Pad with Final Polish, or a White Pad w/ Intensive Polish etc.. Or, is it pretty much standard procedure to start w/ the Orange Pad and Intensive Polish knowing that I'll be removing swirls, etchings, and some minor scratches, and then move to the Final Polish with the White Pad? Maybe I'm just making a bigger deal out of something that's pretty insignificant. Thanks in advance for the feedback and guidance guys.

 

Make sure you properly wash and clay your paint surface before you polish.

With those products, I would use this combination:
[ 1 ] Wash
[ 2 ] Clay-bar
[ 3 ] Orange Pad + IP
[ 4 ] White Pad + FPII
[ 4 ] Blue Pad + Your Favorite Wax/Sealant

Hope you get your swirls out!

 

So you guys think I shouldn't even mess around with starting with a less aggressive combination. Just with the standard procedure of orange pad w/ IP, and white pad with FPII?

Thanks for the feedback FISHRFun. I was definately going to follow that sequence for detailing the car. I was concerned with the best practice for identifying proper polish & pad combinations. Thanks again guys!

 

Make sure you have at least 2 or more pads of each........good luck.Just remember to take it slow as the pc takes a long time for proper correction.

 

Simple answer yes as these are not aggresive polishes at all.

 

Foam and Polish Combinations

All abrasive polishes are ‘foam pad dependant’ as far as their paint correction abilities are concerned. If we consider the LC White foam (50 PPI) pad as the baseline; any polish used will derive help from the abrasive abilities of the foam. Then consider the LC Blue (70 PPI) these pads have no abrasive abilities and will contribute nothing to the cutting ability of a polish.

What is derived from this is that a polishes abrasive ability can be ‘fine tuned’ by using different combinations (abrasiveness) of polish and foam (the same thing is true of wool pads) and of course differing the amount of downward pressure applied will also have an effect on the cutting abilities.

If that combination doesn't remove the imperfections, using the same machine polish and change to a more aggressive pad, if the surface imperfections remain, then step-up the abrasive polish and use the least next level (abrasive)

The use of a duel level foam pad / polish system (by changing the way each polish works in accordance to which pad and polish you use) will really heighten the paint finish shine. Remember; always use the least abrasive first before ‘stepping-up’ to the next abrasive level.

An extract from one of a series of in-depth detailing articles © TOGWT ™ Ltd Copyright 2002-2008, all rights reserved.