Does this look about right to you guys

[Richs66]

Thought I would start a new thread seeing my old one didn"t get any action..........Reread Mikes book, seeing I made some mistakes, thought I had them fixed, still steems like I'm doing way too much time on this..............took me 4 hrs just to do the hood today, started out with the red pad and polish, then red pad with ultimate compound, then red pad with swirl remover, the red pad with final cut...............then on to the blue pad, same story, then on to the orange pad, same story.

I'm getting better at this stuff, BUT, when I do the sample seems to work ok, but its different every few feet, so not sure where I'm at with this.

All I have for pad are the foam, red, blue, white, orange............seems like I'm getting there.

Sending a few pics of what I have so far...............any help on the pads & compound I should maybe trying would be a big help.

This is with a porter cable 7424xp.

Thanks

Rich

[PaulMys]

If you're using the red pad from the PC kit Rich, that is meant only for wax application. No cut there at all.

If I'm reading your post correctly, I think you are using the LC pads in reverse order.

[cleanmycorolla]

Four hours for the hood is indeed wrong. May I ask which red pad? Lake country? That has zero cut. You should be using orange or white LC pads. Also you should have multiple of the same pad for each polish stage. Having just four total one of each color is not ideal. May I ask what you did prior to polishing also. Oh and you shouldn't need four different polishes. Its your pad choice. You're making this very difficult on yourself with just a couple pads :-) if I were you I'd stop. I'd buy 6 white 6 orange 6 black the most used full pads and work again. You'll probably find white pads and ultimate compound will get the job done perfect. Also I read your other thread. You got great advice there.

[idriveblackcars]

If you get confused on colors you should almost be able to tell what's what just from touch. The harder the foam the more aggressive. The softer the least aggressive. This is true for most pads, again if you are in a pinch and just don't know. Squeeze one with two fingers all the pads feel very different

[Richs66]

Four hours for the hood is indeed wrong. May I ask which red pad? Lake country? That has zero cut. You should be using orange or white LC pads. Also you should have multiple of the same pad for each polish stage. Having just four total one of each color is not ideal. May I ask what you did prior to polishing also. Oh and you shouldn't need four different polishes. Its your pad choice. You're making this very difficult on yourself with just a couple pads :-) if I were you I'd stop. I'd buy 6 white 6 orange 6 black the most used full pads and work again. You'll probably find white pads and ultimate compound will get the job done perfect. Also I read your other thread. You got great advice there.

I hear ya brother. LOL....I think where I got all confused was after reading Mikes book saying start with the least aggressive stuff and go from there, seemed liked nothing was working, then I got a test spot to look good, then started on car, after fooling around I noticed that it wasn't looking as good in other areas, then I was all over the place.....

I see I gotta get more pads , that's for sure.

Just wanted to say thanks for the kind replys...........the girls at work would have really torn into me for stupid questions. LOL

Gotta admit, that PC is nice, should have gotten one years ago

Rich

[Richs66]

Been sitting on the forum and reading stuff..........I can see I need more pads than what came with the PC kit, even though I clean the white pad on the fly after every section, I still have that thing gummed up, I assume all the dust I'm getting is the foam braking down.

Not gonna mess with the car again until I get some more pads.

Rich

[fightnews]

Thought I would start a new thread seeing my old one didn"t get any action..........Reread Mikes book, seeing I made some mistakes, thought I had them fixed, still steems like I'm doing way too much time on this..............took me 4 hrs just to do the hood today, started out with the red pad and polish, then red pad with ultimate compound, then red pad with swirl remover, the red pad with final cut...............then on to the blue pad, same story, then on to the orange pad, same story.

I'm getting better at this stuff, BUT, when I do the sample seems to work ok, but its different every few feet, so not sure where I'm at with this.

All I have for pad are the foam, red, blue, white, orange............seems like I'm getting there.

Sending a few pics of what I have so far...............any help on the pads & compound I should maybe trying would be a big help.

This is with a porter cable 7424xp.

Thanks

Rich

way to many steps. It sounds like you used 6 different products for one spot with one pad? Then you repeated the whole process with the next pad? Am I understanding that right? There's nothing in mikes book that says to do anything like that. It sounds like maybe you aren't understanding the fundamentals?

[fightnews]

Thought I would start a new thread seeing my old one didn"t get any action..........Reread Mikes book, seeing I made some mistakes, thought I had them fixed, still steems like I'm doing way too much time on this..............took me 4 hrs just to do the hood today, started out with the red pad and polish, then red pad with ultimate compound, then red pad with swirl remover, the red pad with final cut...............then on to the blue pad, same story, then on to the orange pad, same story.

I'm getting better at this stuff, BUT, when I do the sample seems to work ok, but its different every few feet, so not sure where I'm at with this.

All I have for pad are the foam, red, blue, white, orange............seems like I'm getting there.

Sending a few pics of what I have so far...............any help on the pads & compound I should maybe trying would be a big help.

This is with a porter cable 7424xp.

Thanks

Rich

Thats crazy bro, let me see if I can break it down for you,

1- Start with the ultimate compound on a cutting pad, Use that until you get rid of the defects

2- Move on to a polishing pad and a polish and use it to bring back the gloss to your liking.

Thats it bro, Thats all you have to do, then you wax

[TMQ]

I agree. All over the map. I believe the concepts are getting crossed or misinterpreted.

Need to spell out the fundamentals.

Tom

[fightnews]

You would want to do 1 section block with 5 or 6 passes, wipe of compound and inspect, Then repeat if you feel like you need more correction. Once you do 1 or 2 section blocks with your 5-6 passes you should be all set. then you repeat with the polish.

You should do at least the entire hood with the ultimate compound before moving on. I would do the whole as long as you know your test spot worked.

[fightnews]

Been sitting on the forum and reading stuff..........I can see I need more pads than what came with the PC kit, even though I clean the white pad on the fly after every section, I still have that thing gummed up, I assume all the dust I'm getting is the foam braking down.

Not gonna mess with the car again until I get some more pads.

Rich

Don't mix 2 different products on 1 pad if thats what you are doing? There's no stupid questions.

Definitely get a pad conditioning brush when you get more pads. the difference is night and day compared to cleaning on the fly. It makes an unbelievable difference. More then you think it would by looking at it.

[fightnews]

Been sitting on the forum and reading stuff..........I can see I need more pads than what came with the PC kit, even though I clean the white pad on the fly after every section, I still have that thing gummed up, I assume all the dust I'm getting is the foam braking down.

Not gonna mess with the car again until I get some more pads.

Rich

You should see if you can get a video preferably from Mike Phillips that goes over the basics. I'm sure he has one if you search. Maybe someone else knows which video?

[TMQ]

Did simple google search, "detailing Mike Phillips" and got page full of links. Lets start with this one. Lots of info!
https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/54451-how-detail-your-brand-new-car-mike-phillips.html

Tom

[TMQ]

Went forum video library---Bingo!
https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-videos/107003-best-video-ever-how-machine-buff-car-start-finish.html

54 minutes long! Sit back have a cup coffee and enjoy.

Tom

[Richs66]

I agree. All over the map. I believe the concepts are getting crossed or misinterpreted.

Need to spell out the fundamentals.

Tom

Hey Tom, that's the way I roll. LOL....I got goofed up when in Mikes book says start with the least aggressive pad and compound to see if you get the results you wanted, did a test spot with just a red pad and some polish, looked good,..........so I went to town, while I was doing this I noticed I had some other issues in the paint, so then I tried to fix them with tougher stuff............you can see I was in no mans land.

Washed my pads last nite, had a little sun out today, pulled the car out, and it looked pretty good for all the messing around I was doing...........so I washed it again, and just used the white pad with polish, looking pretty good now, then threw on some cleaner wax with the red pad. Looking good.

Still have a couple little scratches............once I get some more pads and that cleaner brush, I should be good to go.

Last question for the day, does it pay to get one of those swirl light deals..........was using a halogen light in the garage, really couldn"t see much with that.

Thanks again for the help

Rich