Question regarding my car detailing

[chewyqc]

Hey guys,

I'm a big noob here and I want to detail my car.

Just wanted to be sure I'm doing it alright here.

First off all, my car is a Lexus RX 350 2010. The paint is granite metallic and the CC is soft. It have a lot of small scratches everywhere in the cc.

I wanted to do this ;

1. Wash the car with Meguiar's gold class car wash and meg wash mit.
2. Clay the car w. Griots Garage clay and GG Speed Shine
3. A complete compound w. m105/m205 with Griots Garage dual action polisher w. Lake county CCS orange foam pad or Buff and shine microfiber cutting pad??
4. Do I need a polish or m205 will do, if not, I got GG polish 3 or Meguiar's ultimate polish with GG polish pad.
5. Wax the car w. red waxing pad w. GG best of show wax or Meguiar's ultimate paint sealant.

So, do you think it seems alright ?

Thanks for your replies.

Dave

[Setec Astronomy]

That sounds fine, 105/205 is a good combo. You'll want to use the 205 with your polishing pad, not with the orange or microfiber pad.

[chewyqc]

Thanks Setec,

And for the m105 ?

Do I use the orange or microphiber pad ?

Thank you !

[Setec Astronomy]

Whichever you want.

[rmagnus]

If you have soft clear coat and getting scratches doesn't mean it's soft then M105 will most likely be too aggressive. Start with M205 on an LC white polishing pad and see what result you get. If not enough cut try the orange or yellow pads. If that;s not enough then go to M105.

Do a test area roughly 18"X18" to see what process you'll need.

MF pads will be more aggressive than the foam pads. Start with the foam. If you need the mf realize that system uses a different backing plate, one that is ventalated.

I've had lexus cars in my family for 20 years and all the clears have in fact been hard. One way to tell is how difficult it is to remove the scratches from your clear coat.

[chewyqc]

Well.. I tried to removed them before with Meg Ultimate compound, which is less agressive than m105 and it did not remove them.

I were simply wet-sanding the scratches with 3000 grit then I used meg's UC. But the fact is that I don't want to get to much involved with wetsanding if possible

[Setec Astronomy]

There is some technique to polishing. You need to make sure you are using the right amount of product, the right pad, the right pressure, the right machine speed, and the right arm speed, before you resort to sanding.

Have you watched any of Mike Phillips instructional videos here?

[chewyqc]

I've watched some videos from Mike, from Megiuar's and the guy from AMMONYdotcom. So basicly I think of using a polishing pad, prime the pad, put the DA on the car, start it, use about 4 to 6 passes (horizontal and vertical) with low movement speed, medium pressure (and to be sure the pad is still rotating) and about 4 speed on the DA . I've only got my DA today only, I was using a backplate adapter for a drill (from 3m) and the Meg DA adapter before.

[Setec Astronomy]

I think you'll get better results from your GG polisher.