Need help for evaluating reasonable steps for daily driver

[Benzdriver95]

Hello from Germany (and sorry if my language isn’t perfect),
I have recently purchased my 2010 Mercedes E-Class Sedan from my local dealership. Since it was sitting there, it has already been “detailed”. :awman: It had some problems here and there but since I have discovered car detailing as my new hobby, I figured that I should take the great deal and the additional options that this car had and make it look good by myself. I already have some experience with machine buffing my parents cars (BMW 8 Series and a BMW E30 Convertible) and have read through tons of threads on Autogeek.

After thoroughly washing the car many defects that were not visible when I bought it could be discovered. The car has cobweb swirl marks from improper washing all over it, but nothing all that heavy (in my opinion). I also discovered some buffer swirls that can only be seen in direct sunlight from a certain angle and also Type II water spots. The buffer swirls look worse on the picture than they actually are. I will try and upload some pictures, however I have not been able to get a proper picture of the Type II water spots. But they look exactly like in the thread where defects are explained.

What I want to do now is I want to make the car look as good as possible with reasonable effort, since it is my daily driver and it sits outside 24/7. I plan on preparing the car for a one-step or two-step polishing process and afterwards I want to apply a sealant. So I would start by washing and decontaminating with a clay bar and then taping it off.

For my correction process I have the following tools and products at hand:


- The Porter Cable 7424XP DA Polisher with backing plates at different sizes
- Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound
- Meguiar’s Ultimate Polish
- Meguiar’s SwirlX
- Lake Country CCS Pads at 5.5 and 4 inch (Orange and White) (4 Pads of each size and color)
- Meguiar’s NXT Tech Wax 2.0 (Paste) and the Gold Class Carnauba Spray Wax for boosting it every 2 weeks or so


Do you think that at this point a compound process is necessary (especially to remove the buffer swirls)? I need to emphasize that this is my daily driver and I do not strive for a show car finish. My goal is to remove the water spots and the buffer swirls and if possible, most of the cobweb swirls. I also want to make the black color “pop”.
I have thought about different approaches for this project and I would like to have just one polishing step and apply a wax if the results can be expected to be reasonable. Which process would you choose considering it is a daily driver and I want to maintain the precious clear coat?



- Ultimate Compound with orange light-cutting pad followed by Ultimate Polish with white polishing pad and the NXT Tech Wax 2.0
- SwirlX on a white polishing pad followed by the sealant
- Ultimate Polish on a white polishing pad followed by sealant


Also I was wondering if Ultimate Polish or SwirlX on an orange pad would finish LSP ready? So you can see that I am looking for the most reasonable way to tackle this.
I think I also need to mention that my car has the Ceramiclear paint. I have read conflicting information about this paint system and I am confused whether the paint is considered hard or not and if a polishing process alone would bring any noticeable improvement. I found it funny when I washed the car and people would tell me it
"looked like new" when I was just about to evaluate my further steps and thought that it needs major improvement :buffing: :laughing:




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[LEDetailing]

First off welcome to Autogeek, second your English seems perfect.

I don’t have experience with Ceramiclear, but on heavier defects I would guess you might want to try a microfiber cutting pad. My understanding is MB Ceramiclear is hard. I like Griots Boss MF cutting, Lake Country MF, Buff and Shine Uro-fiber MF cutting pads, all are top quality.

Make sure to try a test spot as well.

Can I make one recommendation, use Carpro Essence as your final polish. That will give your black paint an amazing gloss and “pop”. Essence is well worth the price.

As far as CCS orange being LSP ready. Not sure but I would guess there might be a slight haze. On black if you have the time and resources I would always finish with a finishing or light cutting polish, with a polishing pad. Sonax Perfect Finish or 04-06 is another awesome polish. And Sonax is German:)


If you stick with your products you already have your car will still turn out amazing. Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[Benzdriver95]

First off welcome to Autogeek, second your English seems perfect.

I don’t have experience with Ceramiclear, but on heavier defects I would guess you might want to try a microfiber cutting pad. My understanding is MB Ceramiclear is hard. I like Griots Boss MF cutting, Lake Country MF, Buff and Shine Uro-fiber MF cutting pads, all are top quality.

Make sure to try a test spot as well.

Can I make one recommendation, use Carpro Essence as your final polish. That will give your black paint an amazing gloss and “pop”. Essence is well worth the price.

As far as CCS orange being LSP ready. Not sure but I would guess there might be a slight haze. On black if you have the time and resources I would always finish with a finishing or light cutting polish, with a polishing pad. Sonax Perfect Finish or 04-06 is another awesome polish. And Sonax is German:)


If you stick with your products you already have your car will still turn out amazing. Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Thank you for your advice, greatly appreciated! :goodpost: I have also read that this paint system is considered hard to correct, however on another occasion I believe Mike Phillips said that he considers it neither very hard or soft to correct. Correct me if I am wrong? However, can I expect moderate paint correction using the orange CCS Pads? :confused:

I will try several test spots but I want to have a better understanding of what I can expect. Thank you for your product recommendations, I will take them into consideration. Can Carpro Essence be followed by my NXT Tech Wax without a wipe-down?

Also, for future detailing work: Can I expect a polish like Meguair's Ultimate Polish to remove Type II water spots using a white polishing pad? I know I will probably need to figure this out with a test spot, but a general rule of thumb would be helpful

[UncleDavy]

Wilkommen. Ihr Englisch ist perfekt, besser als mein Deutsch. I have recently used Meguiars Ultimate Polish with an orange light cutting pad on my wife's Buick and it removed scratches and made it ready for a coat of Collinite 845. I am not sure that a white polishing pad will remove water spots. I have noticed that the Meguiars Ultimate Polish can be difficult to remove. There is a lot of residue left after removal and I have to use detail spray to finish it off. I have since switched over to HD Polish+ and it is a much better and easier product.

[PaulMys]

UD busting out the German! Nice!

HD Polish is light years ahead of UP.

To be fair, the UP is a consumer line product, but the fact remains.

[Benzdriver95]

Thanks for the advice so far!

I believe that I'm ready to try out some new products since those I have at hand are consumer products.
I try to avoid a two-step paint correction process because I doubt that I could get it finished in one day since I am slow and dont't have that much experience. Do you think that this can lead to reasonable results? I usually only have one day per week to do this because I need to drive this car six days a week. It's my daily driver and it's not really clean most of the time anyway (I wash it once a week but 80-100 miles each day take their toll). So with this in mind I would rather get this done in a reasonable amount of time and focus on the other cars in the garage to achieve the best results possible.

Ideally, I would use one product that has some cut to remove swirls, water spots and the buffer swirls but finishes out somewhat LSP-ready. After this, I would hand apply my sealant and maintain the results by properly washing it every week. So what I am looking for is a one-step correction product but without any sealant in it since that would be hand applied.

How do you call this process since it is not a true one-step (as in a cleaner/wax or AIO) but a one-step paint correction followed by a sealant? Can you recommend any products for this process?

Has anyone tried Sonax Cut & Finish, preferrably on an orange LC Pad? It seems like this product is what I am looking for.

[The Guz]

Hello from Germany (and sorry if my language isn’t perfect),
I have recently purchased my 2010 Mercedes E-Class Sedan from my local dealership. Since it was sitting there, it has already been “detailed”. :awman: It had some problems here and there but since I have discovered car detailing as my new hobby, I figured that I should take the great deal and the additional options that this car had and make it look good by myself. I already have some experience with machine buffing my parents cars (BMW 8 Series and a BMW E30 Convertible) and have read through tons of threads on Autogeek.

After thoroughly washing the car many defects that were not visible when I bought it could be discovered. The car has cobweb swirl marks from improper washing all over it, but nothing all that heavy (in my opinion). I also discovered some buffer swirls that can only be seen in direct sunlight from a certain angle and also Type II water spots. The buffer swirls look worse on the picture than they actually are. I will try and upload some pictures, however I have not been able to get a proper picture of the Type II water spots. But they look exactly like in the thread where defects are explained.

What I want to do now is I want to make the car look as good as possible with reasonable effort, since it is my daily driver and it sits outside 24/7. I plan on preparing the car for a one-step or two-step polishing process and afterwards I want to apply a sealant. So I would start by washing and decontaminating with a clay bar and then taping it off.

For my correction process I have the following tools and products at hand:


- The Porter Cable 7424XP DA Polisher with backing plates at different sizes
- Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound
- Meguiar’s Ultimate Polish
- Meguiar’s SwirlX
- Lake Country CCS Pads at 5.5 and 4 inch (Orange and White) (4 Pads of each size and color)
- Meguiar’s NXT Tech Wax 2.0 (Paste) and the Gold Class Carnauba Spray Wax for boosting it every 2 weeks or so


Do you think that at this point a compound process is necessary (especially to remove the buffer swirls)? I need to emphasize that this is my daily driver and I do not strive for a show car finish. My goal is to remove the water spots and the buffer swirls and if possible, most of the cobweb swirls. I also want to make the black color “pop”.
I have thought about different approaches for this project and I would like to have just one polishing step and apply a wax if the results can be expected to be reasonable. Which process would you choose considering it is a daily driver and I want to maintain the precious clear coat?



- Ultimate Compound with orange light-cutting pad followed by Ultimate Polish with white polishing pad and the NXT Tech Wax 2.0
- SwirlX on a white polishing pad followed by the sealant
- Ultimate Polish on a white polishing pad followed by sealant


Also I was wondering if Ultimate Polish or SwirlX on an orange pad would finish LSP ready? So you can see that I am looking for the most reasonable way to tackle this.
I think I also need to mention that my car has the Ceramiclear paint. I have read conflicting information about this paint system and I am confused whether the paint is considered hard or not and if a polishing process alone would bring any noticeable improvement. I found it funny when I washed the car and people would tell me it
"looked like new" when I was just about to evaluate my further steps and thought that it needs major improvement :buffing: :laughing:




643296433064331

With what you have ultimate compound and ultimate polish would be the products to go with. Then you can follow up with NXT.

You will have to perform a test spot to see what is going to work. That is the best way to find out if what you have will work or you need something else. UC and UP can produce nice results.


UD busting out the German! Nice!

HD Polish is light years ahead of UP.

To be fair, the UP is a consumer line product, but the fact remains.

I was not a fan of HD Polish. Dusted way too much that I was not even interested in the HD Polish+ version. That is one thing Ultimate Polish and even M205 didn't do. I haven't used UP in a long time since I have found better products then both of these.


Thanks for the advice so far!

I believe that I'm ready to try out some new products since those I have at hand are consumer products.
I try to avoid a two-step paint correction process because I doubt that I could get it finished in one day since I am slow and dont't have that much experience. Do you think that this can lead to reasonable results? I usually only have one day per week to do this because I need to drive this car six days a week. It's my daily driver and it's not really clean most of the time anyway (I wash it once a week but 80-100 miles each day take their toll). So with this in mind I would rather get this done in a reasonable amount of time and focus on the other cars in the garage to achieve the best results possible.

Ideally, I would use one product that has some cut to remove swirls, water spots and the buffer swirls but finishes out somewhat LSP-ready. After this, I would hand apply my sealant and maintain the results by properly washing it every week. So what I am looking for is a one-step correction product but without any sealant in it since that would be hand applied.

How do you call this process since it is not a true one-step (as in a cleaner/wax or AIO) but a one-step paint correction followed by a sealant? Can you recommend any products for this process?

Has anyone tried Sonax Cut & Finish, preferrably on an orange LC Pad? It seems like this product is what I am looking for.

Don't let the fact that they are consumer branded products fool you. They actually perform quite well and produce good results. Do they work on all paint systems? No but that can be said about any product.

Since you don't have time to do it all in one day then you can break it up into sections. Nothing wrong with that. You won't know until you do a test spot to determine how much work you have in front of you.

Sonax Cut & Finish is a good one step compounding polish. It can finish LSP ready with leaving a nice finish. Again a test spot will determine what pad to go with.

[Finick]

I was not a fan of HD Polish. Dusted way too much that I was not even interested in the HD Polish+ version. That is one thing Ultimate Polish and even M205 didn't do. I haven't used UP in a long time since I have found better products then both of these.

Idk about the old version, but HD Polish+ is pretty amazing.

I consider it comparable to Perfecting Cream, which is also really nice.

m205 and UP absolutely destroy my paint with hazing. I really would like to know what about them does it.. but I guess it doesn’t really matter, lol. My poor quart of m205 just sits on my shelf, and I have about 8oz of UP left to use up.

Megs compounds (at least UC and D300) also haze my paint pretty badly whether it’s on a microfiber pad (to be expected) or even a foam cutting pad. Where products like Fast Correcting Cream finishes down LSP ready almost all the time.

I wish there was more info available from manufacturers on what specifically they use for abrasives, because such different results between smat products, I’d love to feel like I can make a truly informed decision when buying things.


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[The Guz]

Idk about the old version, but HD Polish+ is pretty amazing.

I consider it comparable to Perfecting Cream, which is also really nice.

m205 and UP absolutely destroy my paint with hazing. I really would like to know what about them does it.. but I guess it doesn’t really matter, lol. My poor quart of m205 just sits on my shelf, and I have about 8oz of UP left to use up.

Megs compounds (at least UC and D300) also haze my paint pretty badly whether it’s on a microfiber pad (to be expected) or even a foam cutting pad. Where products like Fast Correcting Cream finishes down LSP ready almost all the time.

I wish there was more info available from manufacturers on what specifically they use for abrasives, because such different results between smat products, I’d love to feel like I can make a truly informed decision when buying things.


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Sometimes having too much product on/in the pad can haze paints with the SMAT abrasives in the polishes. Not too mention the hardness of the paint plays a factor. I've experienced M205 hazing soft paint.

[Finick]

Sometimes having too much product on/in the pad can haze paints with the SMAT abrasives in the polishes. Not too mention the hardness of the paint plays a factor. I've experienced M205 hazing soft paint.

Yeah. I went down the rabbit hole of trying to get m205 to finish down on my paint, and it just never wanted to play nice.

Different pads, pressures, # of passes, amount of product, and it was just a no go.

I imagine my paint just leans towards the soft side (Nissan.)

I just find it interesting equivalent (more or less) products of the same type have wildly different results.


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[Eldorado2k]

Idk about the old version, but HD Polish+ is pretty amazing.

I consider it comparable to Perfecting Cream, which is also really nice.

m205 and UP absolutely destroy my paint with hazing. I really would like to know what about them does it.. but I guess it doesn’t really matter, lol. My poor quart of m205 just sits on my shelf, and I have about 8oz of UP left to use up.

Megs compounds (at least UC and D300) also haze my paint pretty badly whether it’s on a microfiber pad (to be expected) or even a foam cutting pad. Where products like Fast Correcting Cream finishes down LSP ready almost all the time.

I wish there was more info available from manufacturers on what specifically they use for abrasives, because such different results between smat products, I’d love to feel like I can make a truly informed decision when buying things.


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So Perfecting Cream finishes down fine on your soft paint whereas M205 can’t? If so I’ll keep that in mind if I ever run into some super soft paint. Otherwise I haven’t been a big fan of the Perfecting Cream. IMO it doesn’t finish down as good as M205 nor does it wipe off as easily.

[Finick]

So Perfecting Cream finishes down fine on your soft paint whereas M205 can’t? If so I’ll keep that in mind if I ever run into some super soft paint. Otherwise I haven’t been a big fan of the Perfecting Cream. IMO it doesn’t finish down as good as M205 nor does it wipe off as easily.

Yep. I’ll bring my car into the garage at some point in the near future and do some test spots and get some pictures of the differences for you.

My last encounter with m205 and UP, I tried different pads (from the megs line up so only 3), pressures, # of passes, amount of product used, and I even tried diluting m205 at one point (real dumb thing to do imo lol.)

It did what I can only describe as scour my paint. It’s very weird to me that Polish+ and PC both finish down absolutely beautifully, and they’re the same type of product. I can even run FCC over spots on an orange LC thin pro pad and it’ll finish down just as well.

I do find PC to have a more heavy or wet wipe off, if that makes sense. Polish+ is probably the easiest polish to wipe off I’ve used so far. Feels very dry when I’m wiping it off, which I like a lot.


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[PaulMys]

While I really enjoy GG Creams, I have never tried the Perfecting Cream.

Not really willing to move off of my Polish+/Speed. If there are better/easier to remove polishes/AIO's out there, I'd be surprised. (My opinion for my vehicles).

[Finick]

If I had to pick between Polish+ and PC it would be a really hard choice.

They both seem to finish just as nicely as one another for me. So the choice would really come down to things like smell, and pad staining.

I think PC smells good (better than Polish+), although not as good as UP, which just smells out of this world. FCC smells good enough that I want to just down a spoonful.


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[PaulMys]

If I had to pick between Polish+ and PC it would be a really hard choice.

They both seem to finish just as nicely as one another for me. So the choice would really come down to things like smell, and pad staining.

I think PC smells good (better than Polish+), although not as good as UP, which just smells out of this world. FCC smells good enough that I want to just down a spoonful.


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Speed & FCC........... Grape soda and Cherry pie filling. Lol