Haha no more swirls :-)

Gunzero

Ask Dylan here.. He's a pro

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AdamsPolishes

AJ makes an excellent point... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of pain (or paint in this case)

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Forrest

I was watching the adams videos and they used a drill with a pad.

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Junkman2008

Simple, cheap and easy does NOT include the Porter-Cable. That's what OTC products are for. I can still get you easy, but cheap is relative to how much money you make a year. To me, the cost involved in making my car bling is minimal for the return I get. The fact that I sometimes walk around my car in the garage looking at it all times of the day and night means that it is very appealing to my eyes. A lot of that has to do with the shine.



Now if you want to know how simple the initial correction process is, watch these videos. The tiny micro-scratches that you will pick up here and there AFTER the initial paint correction can be resolved with the Fine Machine Polish that you'll see me talking about in the videos. That polish is very light and you can use it with the Porter-Cable until the cows come home.

That pad kit also comes with the necessary attachments to attch those pads to the PC. That is the way I use my 4" pads.

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"Marines - Making the other guy die for his country for over 200 years."

AdamsPolishes

Hard to say specifically b/c everyones definition of very minor defects is going to vary. What might be minor to you, might be major to someone else.

Assuming all things are relative and you want to have all the right products to do a number of levels of correction the complete DA kit would be the way to go:

Adam's Complete Dual-Action Car Polisher Kit

Another option would be to simply pick up the White Pad, Fine machine polish, some towels and detail spray then just look for the PC elsewhere by itself... again though thats not going to give you a whole lot of correcting ability as its mainly a finishing/final polishing step.

Either route you're gonna want to start with clay obviously.

The focus pads on the drill are really only intended for spot correction and headlight restoration. Because it functions like a rotary YOU WILL HAVE HOLORGRAMS after using that setup so its not the route to go for correcting swirls over the entire surface of your car.

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Jeffblue

I washed my dads car for him today and pointed out all the swirl marks etc to him and was explaining how they were all caused by going to car washes etc. and then i said 'if you are ever driving my car somewhere, don't try and do me a favor by taking it to a car wash for me.

Junkman2008

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"Marines - Making the other guy die for his country for over 200 years."

Forrest

$125 dollars for Ultimate Detailing Machine XP by Porter Cable Car Polisher
Porter Cable 7424 XP Dual Action Car Polisher Auto Buffer
Seems pretty affordable to me.

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Forrest

Thanks.
I also watched your videos with the technique too.

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Junkman2008

That's what I thought. Believe me, I searched HIGH AND LOW for a cheaper price. Man, I about passed out when I initially saw how much they cost!

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"Marines - Making the other guy die for his country for over 200 years."

gaveup

If you're using a PC and just working on your car, a paint gauge is not needed.

When polishing your car using a PC you are taking VERY VERY VERY little of the clearcoat off (talking microns here). You really only NEED a paint gauge if you are attempting to wetsand or using a rotary with a decently aggressive pad/polish combo.

Junkman2008

You and I are at two different levels of paint correction. If OTC products satisfy you, then great. I on the other hand choose to use a professional grade product and my results reflect that.

Again, you are looking at this from an amateur standpoint. Using a PC on a setting of 5 with 9-14 pounds of pressure in combination with a normal to light cutting polish and pad will not require a paint thickness gauge. Using a PC on a setting of 6 with massive pressure and a yellow pad containing 3M super duty cutting compound is another animal. It totally depends on your setup with the PC as to how dangerous or lenient it will be. Also, it is smart to know exactly how much clear AND paint is on the car before you get wicked aggressive with it. I more than cover these topics in my many video series. You should take a look at them.

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"Marines - Making the other guy die for his country for over 200 years."

gaveup

Please don't try and talk to me like I'm one of the novices browsing this forum that know nothing about the subject. I've been detailing for many years on a personal and professional level.

When it comes to polishes, I stick with the ones I like that provide the best results. Megs 105 and 205 handle mostly everything I encounter when doing a professional detail. I'll switch it up with poorboys SSR if need be, or resort to Menz SIP followed by IP and then their final polish. You see, I can use whatever professional polish you can (except for the testers that certain manufacturers send me to test for them). I have plenty of friends that work at autogeek (which is by far my favorite place to buy products, and is close to an hour drive..which I make often) and have taken several classes with Mike Phillips and can honestly say I know what I am doing and I am talking about.

In most cases, and in the case of a 1-2 year old 370Z, you're not going to need a yellow pad with the mentioned 3M products to remove swirls. Not to mention, if you need that much of a cut, you shouldn't be wasting your time with a PC in the first place and should move on to a rotary and a wool pad (You know, what an ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL WHO KNOWS HIS TRADE WELL would do..). For most details I encounter, and even with hard paint such as a corvette or BMW's, I find the most I need to go for correction is a yellow (which is rare) or orange pad with 105 using my flex. That will get the majority of scratches/swirls out and leaves just a *slight* marring which 105 on a white pad will clear right up. Hell, using the KBM with a white pad, 105 and my PC can provide proper paint correction and basically leave the paint ready for my LSP (and yes, I verify with a sun gun and halogen lights. Every step. Every time). Never, not once, on any of the many cars that I have done have I gone through a clearcoat.

Heck, even after wetsanding orange peel or wetsanding a touched up deep scratch (1500-2000-3000 grit) I have never needed to resort to a yellow pad with that aggressive of a compound (even though I have it sitting around just in case).


The Meguiars ultimate compound is decent for over the counter. Much more cut than 205 and not as much as 105. It shares the same micro-abrasive technology as the 2 mentioned products and is more abrasive than their scratch X product. So for the average consumer that doesn't know any better, it is a good choice when dealing with swirl marks.

Being you have established yourself as a professional detailer, you should know how incredibly hard BMWs paint (especially the leguna seca blue found on e46 m3's) is correct? Just given a couple of photos, I want to know what method you would normal take to correct this:

2001 Leguna Seca M3:





Would this even require a yellow pad with the 3m compound mentioned before?

camuman

i registered just to laugh at this part. you sir have no idea what you are talking about. the part in bold is a glaring representation of your ignorance.

PC, and all DA polishers have a built in failsafe, push to hard and it stops spinning. but you wouldnt know that. PROFESSIONALS know that. PROTIP, take a sharpie and put a mark on the backingplate so that you can see that the head is spinning. once you push to hard it stops spinning, and you see the line you made sitting still. this means the failsafe kicked in and the pad is no longer doing its job.

AdamsPolishes

Whoa whoa whoa... no need to jump on Junkman, I can promise you the guy has MORE than enough experience and know how. I suggest maybe going back thru some of his MANY posts on this forum including his videos where he shows the proper use of a PC, demonstrates proper use, etc.

And TECHNICALLY speaking thats not really a fail safe, thats simply a function of the design of the machine. The rotation is simply caused by the centrifugal force of the oscillation and nothing more... the relation to pressure stopping the rotation has nothing to do with a "fail safe" theres not a mechanism in the machine sensing pressure and telling the pad to stop spinning, its simply the fact that with sufficient pressure the force of downward pressure is matching or exceeding the force of the centrifugal 'throw' of the pad. This is why at 3k opm or lower it won't cause more than just light pressure to stop the rotation entirely, but it requires much more pressure to stop it at 5-6000+ opm.

In any event, not cool just to join a forum to stir the pot and throw rocks.

If you think you can't completely cut thru a finish with a PC and an aggressive pad/compound/approach you may want to do a little more research. Used irresponsibly a PC can do damage, its not easy, but it can happen. I recently came across an instance where a gentlemen buffed right thru the paint on the fender of a Nissan Rogue. High speed, too much pressure, an aggressive pad, and improper technique - its rare but it does happen.

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