Ultimate Compound vs Ultimate Polish?

[Edse30]

Hey guys noob here. I bought an 89 BMW e30 thats been in the sun for at least a decade. I bought a PC 7424XP with an orange and black pad, XMT 360, AND THE PINNACLE twins. Without desired results.
I've read a a lot of you guys' posts and comments about Meguiars Utltimate compound so I picked one up as well as the Ultimate Polish, Clay kit, quick detailer and quick wax.
So I clayed it and hit it with compound and the PC at speed 5 with the orange pad and the results are AMAZING but when does the polish come in?
Here's a crappy phone pic of the improvement:

[glen e]

Hey guys noob here. I bought an 89 BMW e30 thats been in the sun for at least a decade. I bought a PC 7424XP with an orange and black pad, XMT 360, AND THE PINNACLE twins. Without desired results.
I've read a a lot of you guys' posts and comments about Meguiars Utltimate compound so I picked one up as well as the Ultimate Polish, Clay kit, quick detailer and quick wax.
So I clayed it and hit it with compound and the PC at speed 5 with the orange pad and the results are AMAZING but when does the polish come in?
Here's a crappy phone pic of the improvement:

after compound with blk pad

[Edse30]

Thank you. What speed should i use? Follow that with wax? I just have the spray wax, would that work or should I buy another one?
Thanks again and sorry for all the questions. I'm the kind of guy that washed his car once every six months cause I got a voucher at the oil change place but I'm trying really hard to make this one look awesome and keep it that way.

[Eandras]

Since you clayed it then compounded it the next step is to polish. I use a white pad on 5-6. Once that is done I follow up with the black pad and ultimate wax (Liquid). I buff with a blue pad that has a microfiber bonnet. Wax is applied on a 3 or 4.

[tw33k2514]

You may not even need to polish on that BMW paint. do a test spot and see if it even provides more clarity.

[lokichaos]

I usually use megs UP on a 4 or 4 1/2 with a white pad. After I would use a sealant or wax. The polish is really more for finessing the finish, IMO. UC gets rid of the heavy stuff, swirls, oxidation ect. If it adds more clarity, go for it!

Happy detailing! :buffing:

[Edse30]

Thanks for all your help guys, makes a guy feel welcome.
I hit it with a black pad and the ultimate polish but found no difference, I even did the masking tape technique but nothing so I just finished it off with the PC and a hand pad on tight areas.
Can you recomend a good-gr8 over-the-counter wax for white paint? Can I wait till tomorrow to apply it or will I need to do this again if I wait? This is my DD.
Might I add, HOOOOLY SMOKES!!!! It looks awesome after the UC, which in turn makes my wheels look terrible. Good OTC wheel cleaner for baked on brake dust?

[embolism]

you should probably take the wheels off and temper your expectations. If brake dust is allowed to cake on, then it actually eats into the wheel.

Try hitting it with megs wheel brightener and use the proper precautions. Some people have had good results using iron x paste too.

Duragloss 501/601 is the stuff for white paint
collinite 845 is also quite good and can be put on your wheels once they are clean

you might also want to consider a coating as white paint really is tough to keep clean

[Danube]

I have completely abandoned any polish as such (however no experience with UP). Don't see any point or improvement in using a polish at all!

From compounding I'd go straight to sealant/wax of your choice.

As for wax, I recently bought Collonite 845 and fell in love immediately. Then I ordered 3 more bottles of the 845 :D:D:D

[Rix6]

Thanks for all your help guys, makes a guy feel welcome.
I hit it with a black pad and the ultimate polish but found no difference, I even did the masking tape technique but nothing so I just finished it off with the PC and a hand pad on tight areas.
Can you recomend a good-gr8 over-the-counter wax for white paint? Can I wait till tomorrow to apply it or will I need to do this again if I wait? This is my DD.
Might I add, HOOOOLY SMOKES!!!! It looks awesome after the UC, which in turn makes my wheels look terrible. Good OTC wheel cleaner for baked on brake dust?Use some meguiars all wheels for the brake dust. Brush to agitate would be good. And yes, you should take the wheels off to make your wheels cleaning efforts more effective. Follow the instructions and make sure you rinse it off before it dries!

For wax, if you can't get the duragloss or collinite mentioned, just get some meguiars cleaner wax paste or liquid if you prefer. Use the cleaner wax often and you'll keep your white paint nice and slick. Wait, you have XMT 360? Why not just use that for now? You could also give meguiars hi-tech yellow wax a try if you want to try something different. Like their cleaner wax, it's also an oldie but a goodie. Mother's also makes good wax. And finally, that meguiar's ultimate quik wax you got is really nice to use after giving the car a wash. If you've finished correcting your car late and just want to pack it in, just go over it quickly with ultimate quik wax until you can put something more durable on later.

[timaishu]

I have completely abandoned any polish as such (however no experience with UP). Don't see any point or improvement in using a polish at all!

From compounding I'd go straight to sealant/wax of your choice.

Here is something to think about though. If your car has soft clear coat. You may be able to "compound" the paint with a polish like swirlx or UP. In some cases UC may be overkill.

With my car when I first corrected the paint. I tried swirlx on a white pad and got decent results. I would say I got rid of a little more than half the swirls. Ill bet if I did another pass or two I could have removed them all.

I didnt want to do so many step so I upped it to UC with and orange pad and that removed 98% on the first full pass. So even though swirlx was capable of removing the swirls in my altima, it would take longer due to less cut. But it can be done.

So in my mind, its a good idea to have compounds/polishes of various cut so you can remove the least amount of clear coat to get the job done.

[Edse30]

Update:
So my collinite 845 came in the mail during the week so I cleared everything off my plate and worked on my e30 today. Heres what I used:
Megs clay kit
Megs ultimate compound-orange pad on pc7424xp
Megs ultimate polish-black pad on pc7424xp(test spot showed no results so I skipped it)
Collinite 845(2thin coats)-hand applied
Pulled all wheels and hit them with eagle1 mag wheel cleaner and a wheel brush then 2 coats of 845.
Here are the results, keep in mind this car hadn't seen a garage in many, many, maaaannnyyy years and in utah weather, the paint showed it. Picked her up for $250 which is about what I've spent in AG on care products haha.
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o511/ixparts/2012-02-07185905_PleasantGrove_Utah_US.jpg
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o511/ixparts/2012-02-18172142_Lindon_Utah_US.jpg
Sprinkled tonight
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o511/ixparts/2012-02-18232505_PleasantGrove_Utah_US.jpg
Heres the before
http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j329/edspic/e64210b7.jpg
http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j329/edspic/321c716e.jpg

[mg6045]

wow, great work and great product selection. megs UC is very good stuff especially on what looks to be single stage paint.

fantastic 50/50 shot !

[jjkacz]

That turned out great! I must say, you got quite the deal on that E30.

[Rix6]

Car looks great! You really brought that car back. It will be a lot easier to maintain it's looks now.