New member from Florida

[Mark0101]

Hi guys, Just wanted to introduce myself and get some advice from you guys. I am new to this whole detailing world and it is over whelming with the amount of information on this forum. :xyxthumbs: My questions will be in bold.

I am just trying to learn to do it on my own cars and have no intention of starting a business. I am building up my inventory but it takes a lot of money as you all know. So far I have Meg m105, meg m205 and Collinite 845 wax. I still have yet to buy pads, that is next. I can get Meg pads for 50% off from "advance auto parts" with coupons, so just waiting on the coupons to arrive right now. I see you guys use "LC" products a lot but they would be quite a bit more expensive for me to buy over the Megs which I don't see a lot of people use here. Would it be ok if I stick with Meg pads?

I just couldn't wait till the coupons arrived to buy the pads yet, so I made do with what I had. Harbor freight buffer, foam pad it come with and wool pad which again I bought from HF.
http://imageshack.us/a/img10/4079/7h1c.jpg

The car I am working on is a 97 Lincoln Mark VIII tri-coat pearl white. This is my daily driver. Now the paint IMO is really bad with swirls all over the place.

http://imageshack.us/a/img209/1505/88ge.jpg

I only did the trunk to see what could be done. Washed and clay bar the trunk to start with the Meg M105. Started with the Foam pad and M105 you saw on the pic but it didn't do anything with the swirls. Switched over to the wool type pad and it started to remove the swirls. Now I thought I would get the rest with Meg M205 with the foam pad. Are you suppose to remove all the swirls with the M105 and then move to M205 just to make it glossy? If not, I guess the foam pad that I am using just doesn't do crap.

After M105 and M205
http://imageshack.us/a/img202/3083/czw5.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img823/1258/ys2c.jpg

I will have another go at it when I get the correct supplies and see if that makes a difference. It is MUCH better but not glass smooth which I am going for. I am gonna stick with this buffer for right now because I can't afford the PC 7424 yet. The stuff I have and the pads I will be getting, would the PC 7424 be good for my use or should I go for another one?

These are the pads I will be getting

-Meg Wool cutting pad W4000
-Meg Cutting pad W7000
-Meg Polishing pad W8000
-Meg Finishing pad W9000


Thanks!

[IngramAutoDetail]

Welcome! Be careful with that Mark - I've yet to see one without signs of thin clear coat. (Had one myself, seen hundreds of them)

[LeeDiaz]

Welcome

[van185]

Welcome to the forum. Megs pads will probably be fine but be sure to use different pads for the type of correction that you want and use a finishing pad for the 845. There are more expensive products on the market but you have all the bases covered with the Megs 105, 205, and then the 845.

[rms64]

Mark, welcome from Orlando.

If you'd like to try out a GG, Flex, or well, pretty much anything I'm happy to help. Drop me a pm if you're in the area and again...welcome!

[Nightwing]

Welcome!

[Mark0101]

Welcome! Be careful with that Mark - I've yet to see one without signs of thin clear coat. (Had one myself, seen hundreds of them)
I am a Lincoln fan, I have 4 Mark VIIIs and one Town Car in my fleet. Non have clear coat issues yet. I know what you mean about these cars clear though.

And thanks for the welcome guys!

[firecorgi]

Welcome aboard Mark!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Welcome to AGO Mark.

[MrCleanit]

Welcome!

[Pats300zx]

Welcome to AGO Mark

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Mark and welcome to AGO


Just to note, the title to this threads reads,

New member from Florida


Normally, in an introduction thread you introduce yourself and then if you have any questions about products or process you would start a dedicated thread in the appropriate forum with a title that tells people more about what you want help with.

We have a LOT of really nice members that are always quick to "welcome" new members when they start an "intro thread", but lots of member don't >click< on these threads to simply "welcome" a new member BUT if the same new member started a thread in say Detailing 101 (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/) with a title like,

Need help buffing out car

The a LOT of our really nice members will >click< on that type of thread and post all kinds of helpful information.

It's the title of a thread that tells people what's inside the thread.

By writing a GREAT title you help yourself to get both MORE and BETTER answers to your questions.


Make sense?


That's the nutshell version of how this thing called a discussion forum works.


:welcome:

[Mike Phillips]

I only did the trunk to see what could be done. Washed and clay bar the trunk to start with the Meg M105.

Started with the Foam pad and M105 you saw on the pic but it didn't do anything with the swirls.


http://imageshack.us/a/img10/4079/7h1c.jpg





That looks like a polishing pad.

You need a more aggressive pad to take advantage of the abrading power of a compound.

Check out this thread, it explains it all...


Factors that affect how aggressive or non-aggressive a product is (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/28458-factors-affect-how-aggressive-non-aggressive-product.html)


When working on automotive paints, it's important to remember that it's not just the paint care products that determine total correction ability... it's anything that touches the paint and even the way the paint is touched…

Here's some factors...

Application Materials
Wool cutting pads are more aggressive than soft foam finishing pads. Applying any product with a more aggressive pad will make the process more aggressive overall. Applying any product with soft foam will tend to make the process less aggressive than if you were to use any kind of material that's more aggressive than soft foam.


Application Process
A Rotary Buffer is a powerful direct drive tool and has the ability and potential to make any chemical and any application material more aggressive than other tools.

DA Polishers have the potential to increase the aggressiveness of any paint care product by using aggressive foam or fiber pads or decrease the aggressiveness of a product or process by using soft foam buffing pads.

When working by hand you can increase the aggressiveness of any product by the application material you use and the amount of pressure you exert. Foam wax applicators are softer than terry cloth applicators so to give an abrasive hand applied polish more bite use a cotton terry cloth applicator and put some passion behind the pad. To make a product or process by hand less aggressive use a soft foam applicator and a gentle touch.

Size of work area
To increase aggressiveness of a process you can shrink downward the size of your work area, this will concentrate more product to the process. To decrease the aggressiveness of a process you can increase the size of the work area, this will act to dilute the strength of the product being used.


Product amount
Normally you want to use an ample amount of product for the procedure you're doing, that is not use too much product but also not use too little product. The reason why is because using too much product can hyper-lubricate the surface making it more difficult for abrasive to abrade paint. Using to little product means not having enough product on the surface to actually do a good job.

When it come to using cleaner/waxes on neglected surfaces, you should lean towards using the product heavy, or wet so that you error on the side of caution and have plenty of chemical cleaning agents working for you as well as any mechanical abrasives if they are present in the product. Using to little will result is less cleaning ability overall.


Number of applications
Applying a product multiple times can affect how aggressive a product is after the first application because the first application will tend to do the initial grunt work removing all the easily removed defects or topical impurities enabling second and third applications to go right to work on freshly cleaned paint.


Technique - technique is everything...
Using proper technique is vitally important. For example moving a DA Polisher too quickly over the surface will decrease a products aggressiveness because you don't give the combination of oscillating action, rotating action, the pad material and the product time to affect the paint in one area before moving the polisher further along the paint.


I'd recommend starting a new thread for help buffing out your car though...

:)

[Mark0101]

Thanks Mike for the info and I will start a new thread.

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks Mike for the info and I will start a new thread.





Cool....

It's really the best way to get the most help...



:dblthumb2: