Selecting right pads for my products

[Bronco-Stang]

Hi!
I am sort of a newbie when it comes to detail my cars with a top-end polisher. I have now a Cyclo polisher with all the pads offered for this one. I have been polishing and waxing my Mustang both at hand, and with a budget-polisher, but now it's time to do this, in addition to a little paint correction.

My car has a single stage red paint, and it was repainted for over ten years ago. I live in Norway and the products I have been using are the Meguiar's Consumer line, since these are easily available.

So to my questions. Which pads do I use for each product?

In my collection I have:

NXT Tech Wax 2.0
Gold Class
Deep Crystal Polish
Deep Crystal Cleaner
SwirlX
ScratchX
Ultimate Compond

My pads are:
White
Blue
Green
Orange
Yellow
Yellow Scrubbing (I don't know if I will be using these)

I know that the white pad is for the waxes, and probably the blue one for the polish, but how about the rest?

[Mike Phillips]

My car has a single stage red paint, and it was repainted for over ten years ago. I live in Norway and the products I have been using are the Meguiar's Consumer line, since these are




Oh my gosh!

You own a classic Mustang in NORWAY with RED SINGLE STAGE PAINT?

What are the odds!


Hang on let me see if I can put something together for you as my favorite part of the paint polishing world is restoring original and antique single stage paints and helping others to do the same.

Hang tight... I'm kind of a long copy writer....

I've had a little experience restoring single stage paints, here's one of the most shared before-and-after pictures on the Internet of red single stage paint, in fact this car was used on the label of Ultimate Compound


Photos courtesy of MeguiarsOnline.com
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2450MLBefore2.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2450SLfinished1.jpg


:)

[Mike Phillips]

You didn't really describe the condition of the paint? You said you've been maintaining it by hand and with a cheapie polisher so that leads me to believe it probably has a pretty good shine?

That or it's oxidized and dull. Either way, now that you have a Cyclo, a tool with quite a bit of power to really flatten out the surface to remove below surface defects and create a high gloss finish I'll post below some suggestion and a link to a brand new video on how to use the Cyclo polisher but first, read through this thread and if you think you will be creating some dramatic before and after pictures then be sure to get the BEFORE pictures.

Once you start polishing on the paint you can never go back and get the before pictures. Check this thread out...

The power in the after shots is created in the before shots (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/tricks-tips-techniques/21216-power-after-shots-created-before-shots.html)

Before
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/763/1960Ranchero01.jpg

One half covered and taped-off
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/763/1960Ranchero02.jpg

Before and after results
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/763/1960Ranchero03.jpg

After



:)

[Mike Phillips]

My car has a single stage red paint, and it was repainted for over ten years ago.


First and foremost, be very careful to avoid buffing on top of any raised body lines, edges and corners as most single stage paints are much softer than clear coat paints and it's very easy to burn through the paint and expose either the primer or shiny metal. So when machine polishing, focus on the task at hand and maybe consider using some painter's tape to tape off any raised body lines, you can get painter's tap that is 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 inch in diameter.



In my collection I have:

NXT Tech Wax 2.0
Gold Class
Deep Crystal Polish
Deep Crystal Cleaner
SwirlX
ScratchX
Ultimate Compound

My pads are:
White
Blue
Green
Orange
Yellow
Yellow Scrubbing (I don't know if I will be using these)






I know that the white pad is for the waxes, and probably the blue one for the polish, but how about the rest?


You didn't really say what the condition of the paint was in but since it's a single stage I'll assume it's oxidized, this being true then what you want to do is to carefully remove the dead oxidized paint to reveal a fresh base of good paint and then polish the paint to a high gloss and then seal it with wax.

Since it's a good idea follow the philosophy of using the least aggressive product to get the job done, but at the same time balance the right product for the job, I would suggest trying the SwirlX with either a Green Polishing Pad or a White Polishing Pad.

You could even try the Orange Light cutting pad but do some testing first as this pad is quite a bit more aggressive than the green and white polishing pad. Most people would probably recommend you to start with an aggressive pad but when it comes to old single stage paint you're better off to at least start out testing some less aggressive products as you can always get more aggressive if your first choices are not aggressive enough.

In order of least aggressive to most aggressive,

White Finishing Pad
Blue Polishing Pad
Green Polishing Pad
Orange Compounding & Polishing Pad
Yellow Cutting Pad
Yellow Scrubbing Pad


In order of aggressiveness of the product you say you already own from least to most aggressive,

Deep Crystal Polish - Non-abrasive, rich in polishing oils
Deep Crystal Cleaner
SwirlX
ScratchX (SMAT version, not DAT version)
Ultimate Compound

So if this car were mine, and this is just a guess from your description, a few high quality close-up pictures and/or a better description of the paint would help, here's what I would do...

Start out testing the SwirlX with the Green Polishing pad. Do a Test Spot about 20: squarish or so like I show in the below video link.

After making about 5-6 Section passes, stop the machine and inspect the results. If the condition of the paint looks good and meets your expectations, then duplicate this over the rest of the car, if not then repeat the Test Spot only try the Ultimate Compound with the Green Pad, (clean the green pad as best as you can), or with the Orange Compounding Pad, and again, inspect your results.

The UC with the Orange Compounding pad will be a fairly aggressive approach and probably the fastest, most effective and safest approach but test out the SwirlX/Green Pad combo first just to make sure this won't get your car's paint to where you want it to be.

Here's some videos to watch that address the above procedures, even the the Section Pass Video shows using a Porter Cable 7424XP polisher, you can use the same technique or guide for working with the Cyclo, the important point is to use slow, overlapping motions to cover an area one time and this would be One Section Pass. Be sure not to buff to a dry buff.


How to use the Cyclo Polisher to Remove Swirls, Scratches and Oxidation (http://www.palmbeachmotoring.net/ascg-videos/cyclo-2-13-10.html)


Section Pass on YouTube

- Removing Swirls with a PC7424XP How to do a Section Pass - Porter Cable




AFTER you remove the defects and any oxidation the next thing you want to do is polish the paint to a high gloss and also gorge the paint with the polishing oils found in the Deep Crystal Polish to really bring out the full richness of color of the red paint.

If you are able to restore the paint to your expectations using the SwirlX then you can go right to the Deep Crystal Polish using the blue polishing pad.

If you end up using the Ultimate Compound with the Orange Compounding pad, the follow this with the SwirlX with the Green Polishing Pad and then follow this with the Deep Crystal Polish using the blue Polishing Pad

After you get through the above process where you've finished off the paint using the Deep Crystal Polish, now use the White Finishing Pads to apply the NXT Tech Wax.

After the above process you should have a flawless finish with a deep, wet shine.

For your knowledge, for these product you apply them, work them and then wipe them off, none of them should be left to dry as allowing them to dry will add no benefit and just make wipe-off difficult.

The NXT Tech Wax should able allowed to dry for 15 minutes to 20 and even 30 minutes, the goal being to let it fully dry before wiping off the dried residue.


Please take some great before and after pictures and if you have any problems throughout the process please come back and share them and our forum members will do their best to help to see you through to success.

:)

[Mike Phillips]

And for everone reading this thread, here's some pictures of his classic Mustang,

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/RedMustang.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/RedMustang02.jpg


:xyxthumbs:

[Bronco-Stang]

Oh my gosh!

You own a classic Mustang in NORWAY with RED SINGLE STAGE PAINT?

What are the odds!

Yeah, A classic Mustang in Norway is cool, right?! :xyxthumbs:
I read a post a couple a weeks ago, where I saw i '66 convertible, so I thought you were the one to ask!

I have just one question. You ranked the scratchx less abrasive than the swirlX. Is this correct, or is it just a misprint?



You didn't really say what the condition of the paint was...

The paint is actually quite shiny, but it has a lot of scratches and swirls that needs to be corrected, so that was my main goal for this. As opposed to the pictures of the cars you posted, mine isn't very oxidized, just full of spiderwebs.

I have some cellphone-pics of the car last time I polished and waxed the car.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC003201.JPG

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC00321.JPG
As you can see it is quite shiny, and the color is pretty deep. What i didn't manage to capture with my crappy phone-cam is all the swirls, though. I will try to take som pictures next time I'm in the garage working on the car.

Thanks for all help, Mike! Not just in this thread, but in all videos and on all your post here on AG and Megs Online Forum!

I will come back to this thread as soon as I get to detail my car. Here in Norway it is still snow and ice outside, so the car won't see any road for at least a month, but when it is time for detailing, you will be updated!

[Mike Phillips]

I have just one question. You ranked the ScratchX less abrasive than the SwirlX. Is this correct, or is it just a misprint?


Yes, I fixed it.

All things being equal, the new SMAT ScratchX is more aggressive than the SwirlX, but the old DAT ScratchX is less aggressive than SwirlX.


:)

[Bronco-Stang]

Yes, I fixed it.

All things being equal, the new SMAT ScratchX is more aggressive than the SwirlX, but the old DAT ScratchX is less aggressive than SwirlX.


:)

Great! Thank you for great help! I'm looking forward to spring and summer, with the car-washing/car-detailing season following! :)