Help & Advice Needed

[rmmagow]

I am a long time user of dishwashing liquid, a boar's hair brush, scrub it, dry it, wax it with the turtle. Yes, I should probably have a cell next to Madoff.

I need to amend my ways since I have a very screwed up 1958 Mercedes 220S sedan, all original including the paint.
No I never abused that car but it did get rained on and sun-baked due to needing it out of the garage for a couple of days. I never knew wax had to be done regularly even on a garage queen. I have nasty spotting, real nasty. I used some kind of plastic polish, the kind for plastic convert windows and yes, it did remove the spots from the section I worked on. I need to do the entire car, the paint is fragile. I am thinking to start by hand using Groit's hand polish kit and see what happens.
Can I risk doing this job with a DA machine like the Porter device? I know I can't use spinner, I'm not skilled enough. I want to get the spots off, get the car sealed and waxed and pretty. This is a single stage paint, enamel I would guess. I need adice on how to proceed so I do as little additional damage as possible. This car's my baby, 50+ years old and still only 66K miles. It's breaking me up seeing this awful spotting.
Any advice, machine, pad colors, brands, machine or by hand etc greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[gewb]

Welcome!

Sure would like to see a picture of that 220S.

Where in the world are you located (state or country)?

I would think the Porter Cable with orange, white and gray Lake Country pads along with Menzerna polishes should work but I'm not a professional - hopefully the experts will respond.

Regards,
GEWB

[rmmagow]

I'm in Rhode Island. I'll upload some pics after I get home. I don't even know what the different color pads mean, but over the past few days I've started to learn a lot. I'm going to buy one of the Porter things regardless. I'll learn on my 20 year old Mazda and on my wife's little Suby. My kid's coming for a visit and he's got a severely neglected Honda Civic, black, that would be the one to learn on! I've had the 220S for about 8 years but never had a spotting problem until now. I was hoping a cleaner/wax wold do it but it's not gonna happen. After finding this site and other detailing forums I'm glad it didn't, now I know I can really do a great job once I know how. I expect to have fun as long as my arms don't fall off.

[A4 1.8tqm]

Welcome!

Sure would like to see a picture of that 220S.

Where in the world are you located (state or country)?

I would think the Porter Cable with orange, white and gray Lake Country pads along with Menzerna polishes should work but I'm not a professional - hopefully the experts will respond.

Regards,
GEWB

:iagree: Throw in some Klasse or WG DGPS 3.0 and a good wax to keep your new shine. :Picture:

[Fred114]

Well not being an expert myself, I can say, you have come to the right place. You will find lots a good help and advice here. Little I know, using one of the DA polishers is relatively low risk. I think the consensus here is the Flex is a better machine, but also more expensive. I have the Porter and and old version of the Griots. Love them both. Think the people here will definitely want to see the pics to be able to help you more.

I imagine having a 50 year old Mercedes is really nice, but dude, you have a 20 year old Mazda...thats fantastic!! :)

[ScottB]

please move the dishwashing liquid back to its rightful place in the kitchen .... its the first step in proper paint care.

[rmmagow]

Actually, I've got 2 20 year old Mazdas, both are 89 929's. One has badly faded paint and 160,000 miles, the other looks great still with only 65000 miles. Need two so I can take one apart and have the other to help me put 'em back together. I'm going to have the faded one paited at Macco or some other cheap place. I'm going to remove trim, sand a bit and fix some little dents then have them squirt. It'll be a good car to develop some detailing skills with. I'll never do this professionally, but I'll have fun making old clunkers look new. The Mercedes though, is going to be a serious undertaking as I want to sell it for a lot of bucks.

[2old2change]

You are in good hands here on the forum. Read,read, and read some more. Got questions , don't be afraid to ask. The PC orbital is a good machine for beginners .Depending on how serious you are about detailing will determine wether to move up to a flex or rotary machine.The PC is pretty goof proof .Choice of products for paint correction are as plentiful as one could desire. Rest assured that if its what you need , AG has it and at the right price ! Welcome to the forum and good luck.
Paul S

[rmmagow]

Ok, here's what I've tried so far. Megs clay bar, no real change although the paint is super smooth. After that Megs Swirl X. First by hand, second by a rather large (10 inch) DA polisher I've had for a long time. The water spotting got a very little bit lighter but did not go away. I'm ready to spend money on the PC DA machine. What is my next step for attempting to remedy the spotting problem. I noticed that the swirl x cleared up a slight whiteish hazing I had on the car and didn't notice. Please recommend the pads and polish I might try. I'm trying to be careful withthe paint as I do not know how much is left. It's a single stage enamel.
Thanks folks.

[rmmagow]

Help. If I buy the PC XP what pads would be recommended? What polishing compounds? Should I defer to a professional for this?

[nrengle]

If you're going to spend the cash for this stuff then definitely start at the PC or Flex. You should check out one of the kits they offer here with all the goods in it to get you started. This will be a bit on the pricey side as once you see the results it becomes quite addictive and you'll need/want more toys as I call them.

I'd recommend one of the following kits:
This kit would be my go to. Extra pads, which you'll need and two of the best polishes on the market. But a bit pricey.
Menzerna kit, 5.5 lake country pads, porter cable menzerna kit, ceramic clear polishing kit, Mercedes polishing kit (http://www.autogeek.net/pc7424-menzerna-ceramic-kit.html)

or

This is a bit cheaper, and has some great products in it but I'd recommend getting extra pads.
Poorboy’s Porter Cable 7424XP Polish & wax Kit (http://www.autogeek.net/popoprkit.html)

The pad colors help you tell the aggressiveness of the cutting they'll do. Orange is used for most correction, then you step it down to white to refine what the orange pad left behind, then black for jeweling, blue/red/gold for wax/sealant. Purple foamed wool is used for those extreme circumstances when you need to do some major defect removal.

I would also pick up a quality car wash soap while getting one of these kits, some microfiber towels, and a couple of sheepskin wash mits.

If you get the first polishing kit (The Menzerna one), you will need a quality wax or sealant to go with it. Depending on the price you want to spend there's quite a few options here. I'd recommend either Natty's Blue or Red, or DP Maxwax, those offer the best bang for your buck.

Hope this helps, any other questions just shout.