Detailing noob, help me make a decision

[Kinalyx]

I recently bought a 2005 black GTO and the paint is in pretty bad shape. Tons of swirls, hazing, the typical used black car i assume.

Ive never detailed, or corrected paint, or....well done much of anything other than wash & cheap wax.

I did a little research and put a decent cart together, but i want to make sure that im getting the best and most user friendly for my money.

A little background, i was originally going to get the Adams Premium PC kit

Adam's Premium Porter Cable 7424XP Detail Kit (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-85-adams-premium-porter-cable-7424xp-detail-kit.aspx)

Ive heard from some that the products arent that great, and dont last.

Here is my cart from AG, tell me what you think.

PoorBoys PC polish & protect Kit
Poorboy’s Porter Cable 7424XP Polish & wax Kit (http://www.autogeek.net/popoprkit.html)

Pinnacled Clay kit
Pinnacle’s Ultra Poly Clay is the single finest clay composition available today. (http://www.autogeek.net/piulpoclkit.html)

Detail Pro Auto Bath
DP Auto Bath Shampoo - car wash (http://www.autogeek.net/dp300.html)

Wolfgang bucket with caddy kit w/seat
Wolfgang Complete Wash System with Dolly will help you get a swirl-free wash for your vehicle. (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-grit-guard-wash-system.html)

Wolfgang bucket/grit guard
Wolfgang 5 Gallon Wash Bucket Combo, wash bucket and grit guard (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-wash-bucket-combo.html)

Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant
Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant delivers a deep, wet, liquid shimmer unlike anything you can imagine. (http://www.autogeek.net/wg5500.html)

Wolfgang tire gel
Wolfgang Black Diamond Tire Gel this thick gel penetrates beneath the surface to give your tires a long-lasting true glow! (http://www.autogeek.net/wg4700.html)

guzzler pack
The Guzzler Combo Kit (http://www.autogeek.net/guzzler-microfiber-combo.html)

cobra microfiber 6 pack
Cobra Microfiber Towel Super 6 Pack includes five of Cobra's most popular microfiber detailing towels. (http://www.autogeek.net/commickit.html)

Cobra chenille wash mit
Cobra Orange Micro-Chenille Wash Mitt: Microfiber Mitt, shampoo mitt, car wash mitt (http://www.autogeek.net/cobra-orange-microfiber-wash-mitt.html)

The basic price of both of these kits is $520, maybe an extra $20 for the adams kit after both sites discounts.

Im hoping after my bit of research i did ok, im sure there are some changes that can be made, im just not sure what i need. My biggest concern is getting a swirl removing system that is fairly easy for someone like me to used, but something powerful enough to do the job.

Any and all help would be great.

Shawn

[Ryan R]

that looks like a good PC starter kit.
I'd recommend calling customer service and requesting the change of those 6.5 inch pads to 5.5 inch pads

I learned the hard way and ended up buying all new 5.5 inch pads and polishing and compounding was so much easier and more efficient.

[Mobile detail]

I would look at the wolfgang twins for swirl removal. Also consider the megs microfiber kit with d300 instead of the twins. Everyone (myself included) are raving about the correction. I'm personally a fan of using all the same brands so using poor boys then WGDgps isn't something I would do but it can be done.also for the tire gel I would look at the bogo. Black fire is in bogo.

[Kinalyx]

Ill look into it.

[BobbyG]

:welcome: To Autogeek Online Shawn!!

Shawn, your research yielded some very nice products. I've included a link for a kit that I think you might find includes everything you need.

There is a wealth of information here and here's some good reading.

Articles by Mike Phillips (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/23722-articles-mike-phillips.html)

Basic steps in order are:


Wash
Clay
Paint Correction & Polish
Seal
Wax

Take a good look at the kit below. This kit will handle just about anything you can throw at it then ask for more. The Flex 3401 incorporates forced rotation so you never have to worry about it pad turning throughout the correction phase.

Flex 3401 & Menzerna

Menzerna polishes for ceramic clear coat paint, Flex buffer, Nano polish, super intensive, Lake Country pads, Show car kit (http://www.autogeek.net/menzerna-flex-xc3401-ceramic-show-car-kit.html)

Some finish protection recommendations you might want to take a look at.
Sealants


PRIMA Hydro-Seal
BlackFire Wet Diamond
Menzerna Power Lock
Optimum Opti-Seal

Wax


Collinite 845
Prima Banana Gloss
BlackFire Midnight Sun

[Kinalyx]

Im a little concerned about using menzerna as I have very soft clearcoat on my car. Weren't the menzerna products made specifically for hard clearcoats?

U will definitely lok into those waxes and sealants tho

Shawn

[BobbyG]

Im a little concerned about using menzerna as I have very soft clearcoat on my car. Weren't the menzerna products made specifically for hard clearcoats?

U will definitely lok into those waxes and sealants tho

Shawn

I have no evidence of this I don't believe the Menzerna line was developed specifically for hard clear coats. I have used many of their products on Ford Escapes, Explorers, an F250 truck, a Chevy truck, two C5 Corvettes, a Jeep Cherokee, Toyota Camry, a Dodge Dakota, and a Hyundai Elantra.

Always begin with finer or less aggressive pads and polishes and go more aggressive if need-be..

[Kinalyx]

ok, ill look into the menzerna stuff, cant afford to do a flex at this point, can only afford the PC kits, the Flex kits being $200 more blows my budget completely. I can only really afford $550ish total for everything. Everything being towels, correction, polishes, polisher, clay, buckets, ect.

Shawn

[Kinalyx]

Anyother opinions?

[tuscarora dave]

I would steer clear of the Poorboy's kit if I were you. I used Poorboys for over 2 years doing paint correction as a living and I can tell you first hand that the SSR polishes do not break down properly with dual action polishers. It is user friendly in the sun but with a DA and especially with a black car you will be left with a nice shiny black finish with micro scratches in it because some of the abrasives just won't fully break down no matter how long you work the polish.

These SSR polishes break down very well using a rotary polisher and do produce very nice results so long as the finish is not too bad to start as the cut is insufficient to remove really deep defects unless you use wool pads to start with.

I would go with the Wolfgang ceramic kit for your paint correction project.

Wolfgang Duo & Porter Cable 7424XP FREE BONUS (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-porter-cable-combo.html)

[modman]

I have started using 5.5 surbuf pads with optimum compound and have been seeing great results. I find the surbuf pads easy to clean on the fly and I use less product.

[tuscarora dave]

The Wolfgang duo are a mixture of finely milled Menzerna non diminishing abrasives (relatively fast cut) and Wolfgang's diminishing abrasives (nice finishing) and these will work fine even with soft paints. They will be more user friendly than an all diminishing abrasive polish that you must insure is fully broken down to achieve a fine finish.

[Kinalyx]

ok, so what is the difference between the wolfgang duo and the correction part of the wolfgang swirl free kit?

[tuscarora dave]

No difference, other than with the swirl free kit you get more stuff like the QD and an extra pad. It look to me like the duo kit goes from cutting right to finishing (pad wise) and the swirl free kit includes an intermediate polishing pad between the orange light cutting pad and the blue finessing pad. You will want this white pad and the blue pad will finish nicely too so I'd probably get the swirl free kit now that you mention it. The compound and finishing glaze are the same between the two kits.

[tuscarora dave]

I'd suggest getting a 6 pack of extra pads. Maybe 4 orange, 1 white and 1 gray or blue. You will go through the pads as you get the feel for what you are doing. Trust me on this or you'll be stuck in the middle of the job and have to wait till more pads come in to finish things up.