Porter cable kit

[yankees2452]

I plan on getting the PC 7424 xp and ccs pad kit. It allows you to chose 5 6.5 inch pads. I plan on getting 2 orange pads, a white pad and 2 gray pads. It also comes with 2 free 5.5 inch red pads. Do the above pad choices look like the right way to go? I plan on just using the pc for paint correction as I would usually wax by hand. Also if anyone has suggestions for a polish or swirl remover, my car has the soft BMW jet black paint with moderate swirls.

[zmcgovern45]

Assuming the vehicle in your avatar picture is yours, I would suggest 5.5" pads over the 6.5" pads. I would also recommend picking up a smaller backing plate and some 3" and/or 4" pads for those tight areas like pillars, bumpers, and around the rear badges.

I would get a couple of light cutting pads, a couple polishing pads, a couple finishing pads, and a couple fine finishing pads.

As far as your soft jet black paint... let me tell you to be patient, as you may not see perfect results at first. That paint can be somewhat finicky.

Since it seems you are going to have only foam pads at your disposal, I would recommend a compound like Menzerna FG400 (if needed) for heavier defect removal and a polish like Sonax Perfect Finish for finish polishing and light/moderate defect removal.

-Zach

[yankees2452]

Assuming the vehicle in your avatar picture is yours, I would suggest 5.5" pads over the 6.5" pads. I would also recommend picking up a smaller backing plate and some 3" and/or 4" pads for those tight areas like pillars, bumpers, and around the rear badges.

I would get a couple of light cutting pads, a couple polishing pads, a couple finishing pads, and a couple fine finishing pads.

As far as your soft jet black paint... let me tell you to be patient, as you may not see perfect results at first. That paint can be somewhat finicky.

Since it seems you are going to have only foam pads at your disposal, I would recommend a compound like Menzerna FG400 (if needed) for heavier defect removal and a polish like Sonax Perfect Finish for finish polishing and light/moderate defect removal.

-Zach

Is the fine finishing pad the blue finessing pad or is it something different?

[zmcgovern45]

Is the fine finishing pad the blue finessing pad or is it something different?

Yes, the blue pad.

[yankees2452]

Ok thank you

[WantcarPerfect]

I agree with zmcgovern45. The PC is a good basic polisher that should give you many years of use. However I am not sure why so many kits come with 6.5" pads. I feel the PC has trouble with having enough power when using 6.5" pads. The 5.5" pads will work much better and are cheaper to buy. I use 5.5" pads on my GG6 and am very happy with them. 6.5" pads are good when working on a very large vehicle like a Ford Expedition but on a smaller vehicle like a BMW 3 series they are to big. The nice thing about a PC is, with the right back plate they work great on 4" pads as well. If you really want to use 6.5" I would recommend getting a GG6. This is a good time to get either since AG is having a no exclusion sale. This will save you 15% and free shipping on orders over $125

[yankees2452]

Would fg400 and sonax be good for these defects or is there something else that would work 21043better210402104121042

[zmcgovern45]

Would fg400 and sonax be good for these defects or is there something else that would work 21043better210402104121042

FG400 and Sonax Perfect Finish can handle basically anything. It is hard to tell how severe those defects are since they are clearly cell phone pics and the sun is very overpowering in most of them. You might even even get away with just using SPF, but once again it is hard to tell.

Do your proper test spots and get a process dialed in.

[zmcgovern45]

For reference, here is a jet black M3 that I did with FG400 and FF4500, but had SPF been an option to me at the time I probably would have used that for the 2nd step. (also, this car is in much worse shape than yours appears to be)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/61676-what-great-way-kick-2013-detailing-season-trashed-e46-m3.html

[yankees2452]

Thank you for all your help. I think I will end up ordering those two products and start of with the sonax first on my test spot to see how it starts to come out and if I need something more aggressive I will then use the fg400. Thank you again.

[zmcgovern45]

Thank you for all your help. I think I will end up ordering those two products and start of with the sonax first on my test spot to see how it starts to come out and if I need something more aggressive I will then use the fg400. Thank you again.

You're welcome.

Don't be afraid to be a little unorthodox in your product/pad selection if needed.

For example, some people think they "shouldn't" use a finishing polish with a light cutting pad, but in reality it is often a great combination.

On the other side of things, some people think they should only use a compound with a cutting pad, when in reality a product like FG400 is very useful on something like a white polishing pad when you need a bit more cut, but not as much cut as you would get if using it on a cutting pad.

Test, test, test until you find what you're looking for!

[yankees2452]

For reference, here is a jet black M3 that I did with FG400 and FF4500, but had SPF been an option to me at the time I probably would have used that for the 2nd step. (also, this car is in much worse shape than yours appears to be)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/61676-what-great-way-kick-2013-detailing-season-trashed-e46-m3.html

That looks amazing. My car is no where near as bad as that m3 was but its cool to see that even something as bad as that car can be saved and look amazing. Will place order tonight to take advantage of the sale and free shipping.