Product Recomedations.. Swirly car

[ChristR]

Hi.
I'm new to this forum, and kinnda new to detailing to, but I really love it! :)

The thing is, my car has alot of swirls. I tried Meguiar's basic line, because it's easy to get hold of, but now I have decided to get something from Autogeek.

Today, I got these products:
Meg's NXT Wash
Meg's Quick Clay
Meg's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
Meg's Clear Coat Body Scrub
Meg's Deep Crystal Polish
Meg's NXT Wax
Meg's Gold Glass Liquid Wax

The wash and clay are great, but I'm not happy with the result of the polish and paint cleaner.

The equipment I use is a cheap Cyclo copy and Orange "allround" pads.

Here's a pic to show the swirls:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Blablahore58/IMG_2240.jpg

The best result I got was this, with the Meg's Body Scrub:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/Blablahore58/IMG_2312.jpg

But the swirls keep comming and I'm not happy with the Gloss.

The paint Is Ming Blue Pearl. It's an Audi A3, from 97. Done 160 000kms.

So I'm hoping you guys could recomend some products for me?

I figured out that I'll use Menzerna Intensive Polish, Menzerna Final Polish and Menzerna Finishing Glaze, and Poorboys SS&S Car Wash.

Is this ok? What Wax should I use? And what pads for what step? I use the 4" Pads..

I hope you guys could help me. I'm waiting to get paid, so I could get my order! :) I guess I want to use 200-300USD, cause I need to pay the norweigan customs toooo :P

PS: I also need a polish and protection for the wheels. The rims are aluminium, hyper silver. BBS Challenge rims.

[Thejoyofdriving]

well there are alot of polishes out there, and it really depends on what you want. Some polishes like Menzerna dust alot, and for me they dry out way too quick. But there are alot of people here that dont mind the dust and they sware by it. Another popular polish is Optimum polish, the thing i like about this one is that it never dries out, so you can work it in as long as you want, but i havent tried it yet so i cant comment on the gloss. Some people use a mix of optimum polish and menzerna, which lowers dust and extends working time. There are alot more out there too like poorboys, xmt, and 3m. so for paint protection it matters what you want achive also, you can go with a sealant and get great paint protection or with a carnauba wax and get a slightly better gloss, but less protection. for the wheels i would go with a sealant, there is no point in using a carnauba wax, its just too rough of an enviroment. the most popular waxes are wolfgang deep gloss sealant, pinnacle souveran(liquid and paste), porrboys nattys (red, blue, white), pinnacle signature series, and a ton of others. for the wheels you can look at DP wheel wax(glaze) or any sealant. what type of pad depends on what you are doing, for polishing i would use a med. cutting pad, followed by a finishing polish if you would like and a low cut pad, for wax you can use a finishing pad.

[D]

Go with Menzerna IP then 106FF and wax. No need for IP, then FP, then FG.

[bambo2888]

The pictures of the surface corrected that you did is actually pretty good, except you can really see the micromarring that was caused by either not working the polish enough or using too aggressive of a combo at the end.

Consider using what you have (to get it to the picture's status again), and then use a finishing polish. Pinnacle's Advanced Finishing Polish would be exactly what you need.

As for protection after correction, consider doing a sealant (Wg Deep Gloss) and Pinnacles Sig Series II wax. Using both will give you the ultimate protection (as far as durability and shine). If you keep getting swirls quicer than you should, you need to get some new equipment and adapt into new techniques. Using older, cheap tools will swirl the crap out of your paint and also, using circular motions is just asking for trouble.

Look into stocking up on HIGH QUALITY microfibers, like Cobra towels. Also, use a Schmitt or new Lake Country wash mit to reduce marring during washing. Finally, drying is where most swirls will come from, so use a Guzzler Microfiber wafle-weave to dry, or even the P21s Chamois. Both work incredibly.

Good luck!

[lgtspecb]

bambo2888: you can see micro marring in his after shot? $!#@ I have a lot to learn. those look like great results to me.

ChristR: you definitely need to look into your washing process if you are getting swirls that deep and often. check out the autopia guide or the pinnacle videos. you need to maintain your finish through washes, not through frequent paintwork correction or your clear coat will suffer the consequences.

[ChristR]

I can't really find something wrong with my wash process... :S

First I bead the car with water.
Then with foam (NXT Wash)
Then i bead the car again with water.
I use the Meg's Chenille Wash Mitt for washing. I use two buckets, and I rinse the mitt before I put it in the soap every time. I wash the car in 3 steps, first the roof, side-windows, frontwindshield and back-window. Then the hood, doors and upper side panels. Then the bumpers and lower side panels.
After every step, I rinse the car with water. I use Meg's Water Magnet for drying.

Thanks for all the advice:)

Think I will try some Menzerna, Wolfgang, Pinnacle and so on:)

[lgtspecb]

Sounds like a winning combo to me. The only thing I do differently (other than foam pre-soak, I am going to order that this weekend), is that I have the cars broken down into 5 sections. That is partially because I wash outside and on a summer day even in the shade it's hot enough to dry the soap quickly.

Maybe some grit guards? New wash mitt (I love the mf chenelle but maybe its just over used)? Even though I use the two bucket method, I always spray the wash mitt off before placing it in the rinse bucket, but I do not have grit guards and I use smaller 2.5 gal buckets.

[D]

Im not seeing any marring in the after shot either.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Im not seeing any marring in the after shot either.

Same here.

[mywifehatesclowns]

Consider this maybe....

Take some Rubbing ALcohol and after you polish the panel, wipe it down with the alcohol and that will remove any 'fillers' that maybe 'filling in' the scratches. That will give you an idea of how much you are working the paint.

I am unclear of what machine your using, but if your confident enough just use a high speed rotary and get yourself some foam pads, 1 medium cut, 1 light cut, 1 soft polish, 1 final finish (otional).

Hope this helps

[D]

Yep, alcohol and water 50/50 to remove fillers. Then you see what the polish is really doing.

[ChristR]

Consider this maybe....

Take some Rubbing ALcohol and after you polish the panel, wipe it down with the alcohol and that will remove any 'fillers' that maybe 'filling in' the scratches. That will give you an idea of how much you are working the paint.

I am unclear of what machine your using, but if your confident enough just use a high speed rotary and get yourself some foam pads, 1 medium cut, 1 light cut, 1 soft polish, 1 final finish (otional).

Hope this helps

The machine I'm using is a Cyclo copy, from CO/Tech.
http://www.clasohlson.no/Archive/images/products/N/Hi/309292_X_2006-07-04_141035_842.jpg


The problem is that it's really hard to get hold of polishing machine.
The Cyclo is almost 900USD, and that's actually the only DA machine you can use in Norway. The only machine you could get for a fair price is Makita Rotary. But I'm new to rotary machines, so I'm afraid I'll burn the paint.

[Truls]

Just get some Cyclo pads on that one and it works great imo. A other option is a transformer and the UMD or PC. The UMD is to be released with w to suit the European standards sometime in August ive been told.

The "cyclo" copy may not work that great with super heavy cutting stuff, but with the 106, APO60 from menzerna, the XMT line or MG83/80/82 it works well.

[ChristR]

Thanks Truls. You gave me alot of good advices at the BilForum too, but I'm a little slow on remembering :P But I got it now, promise.

I got a nice shopping basket now. I will post some pictures when I'm done.

Thank you all! :)