How to compound, polish and finish?

[putszie]

Hello forumers, how are you all doing?
Here comes the newbie again :-)
What is the correct approach when compounding, polishing and finishing fellow forumers?
Should i compound the whole car first before polishing followed by finishing or as i go little by little panel should i do the 3 steps (compound, polish, finish) on each little panel i do?
Sorry for my english fellow forumers, i’m not to good in writing and speaking in english cause i’m an asian guy.
Have a good one to all of us and thank you in advance :-)

[Mask]

Do a test spot (compound-polish-finish) on rear hood before doing the whole car ;)
Welcome to Autogeek online forum!

[DaveT435]

It's hard to say. The paint may not even need compound. As mentioned do a test spot. Try a polish first, if that doesn't work move up in aggressiveness. If the scratches/swirls etc. are pretty consistent over the whole vehicle then you will use the same process over the whole vehicle. As also mentioned above take your test spot through all the steps your going to do to make sure the finished product is what you want the entire car to look like. Have you read all of the available information on the AG site? If not I would start there.

[Paul A.]

After my test spots determine what is most effective for that job i do the first step to the entire car and then do the second step around. Conversely, I recently did my wife's car in sections and it was a cut, buff/polish and LSP. Because she was prone to "running out" on short notice i did the entire car in sections...compound, polish and LSP on one section at a time. Both ways work for me but the section-at-a-time method works better if you don't have all of the time available to complete the job. At least you can complete a section in the limited time you have and be done with it. You'll eventually finish the whole vehicle.

[DaveT435]

Yes, compound the entire car, then polish, then LSP.

[putszie]

Thanks you all :-) i’ll apply those tips of yours

[hawaiian]

Wash car, clay car, you may want to consider Wolfgang uber aio.

[putszie]

Thnks

[putszie]

How about these combinations for testing, cutting pad + polishing chemical and polishing pad + cutting chemical?

[DaveT435]

Those are fine, if one isn't working step up to the next aggressive. Polishing pad and polish to cutting pad with polish etc.

[Paul A.]

I will usually step up my pad to a slightly more aggressive pad if the polish or "chemical" product as you say isn't giving me just that extra cut. A case in point. Recently i tried M205 with a white LC pad and saw about a 50-60% reduction on my test area. I moved to a fresh area (untouched) and tried M205 with an orange LC pad. Voila!

There are times when i stay with the same pad and change up to a more aggressive product. Works both ways and let the paint tell you what it wants.

[putszie]

Thnk u guys... Sounds good

[BillE]

Just remember, ALWAYS start with the least aggressive method first.

Bill

[putszie]

I will, thnks

[putszie]

I usually made it a pattern that goes like compound, polish, wax even if the paint is in good condition but now i have an idea through your help geekers :-D