First Polish

[DEREKC]

I am here seeking some advice regarding polishing my car for the 1st time myself. The car is a 2012 Ford Focus. I have had a full detail dome each of the two past years, and then maintained it afterwards so I do not believe that the paint is that bad. I should mention that I live in Canada, so the car suffers from the effects of winter. Their are a couple of light scratches, but for the most part just swirl marks.

Should I do a 1 stage or 2 stage polish?

I have the following products to work with.

- Griots Polisher with 5" and 6" backing plates.
- 6.5" Lake Country CCS pads (2 white & 1 blue)
- 5.5" Lake Country CCS pads (2 orange, 2 white, 1 green, 1 blue)
- 5.5" Lake Country Hydro-Tech (2 cyan, 2 tangerine, 1 crimson)

- Menzerna IP2000 Intensive Polish
- Menzerna FF3000 Final Finish Plish

- Gtechniq P1 Polish
- Gtechniq P2 Polish

I will be applying Gtechniq products after the polish (C1, EXOv2, etc.)

Thanks to all!!

Derek.

[ihaveacamaro]

For deciding on whether or not to do a 1 step polish or 2 step, do a test spot.

Start with the least aggressive method and when you are finally happy with your test spot, do it to the whole car :)

[DEREKC]

Thanks for the quick reply and suggestion. I just finished reading both of Mike's books (new and old). The "Test Spot" seems to be his #1 message when it comes to polishing.

[Evan.J]

Thanks for the quick reply and suggestion. I just finished reading both of Mike's books (new and old). The "Test Spot" seems to be his #1 message when it comes to polishing.

And for great reason. If you dial in the process on the test spot then you should have no issues on the entire car. Mike always says it takes just as long to do I the wrong way.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/57400-takes-just-long-do-wrong.html?highlight=takes+long