Newbie looking for DA/wax/pad selection for mostly adding sealant and wax

[BleuCheeze]

I've been reading the forums and detailing articles for awhile but am a little overwhelmed with the procedures and detailing equipment/products.

Everyone has their own opinions of products which is great, but I just am looking for a short list of items that I can buy from AG and start working on my cars ('06 Jeep Wrangler, '07 Infiniti G35, '15 MB and '16 Ram).

I just purchase a 2016 Ram 1500 new and sealed it with Wolfgang 3.0 and then a coat of Collinite 845 by hand. It took some time to do this by hand and am looking to keep the truck looking good and wanted to get an orbital polisher to do it a lot quicker.

Who can dumb it down for me and just let me know what I need to buy in regard to the pads (color) and wax, etc. I'm ok with spending the money for a Flex Orbital, but which one and what pads do I need for just doing waxing/sealing and making it look good. The truck isn't a show car and is a Daily Driver, but I like a clean vehicle.

Eventually, I get into trying to bring back the shine on the older vehicles I have and will need to get pads and products for those tasks.

Thanks folks for any suggestions.

[rlmccarty2000]

The Lake Country Crimson is a good soft pad for applying wax with a buffer. As for waxes the Collinite you have is a good wax or if you want the best beauty wax go with Pinnacle Souveran, imho it is the best pure beauty wax on the market. If you want a little more protection go with Wolfgang Fusion. Enjoy!

[BleuCheeze]

I just ordered the Wolfgang FLEX XC3401 Ultimate Polishing Kit on AG. Looking forward to trying it out once it arrives. Do you still have to clay bar or nanoskin the vehicle if you are going to compound out the swirl marks, polish and wax?

[lane5515]

I just ordered the Wolfgang FLEX XC3401 Ultimate Polishing Kit on AG. Looking forward to trying it out once it arrives. Do you still have to clay bar or nanoskin the vehicle if you are going to compound out the swirl marks, polish and wax?

It's best if you clay first. Actually I would use Iron X first and Tar X if needed and then clay. When you do these steps first you save your pads from picking up all the contaminants that were on or embedded in the paint.

[ski2]

OP--The value of a Flex is that it has forced rotation which speeds up correction and has no value in applying LSPs. Eventually you'll want to get into polishing so you might as well get an honest to goodness dual action random orbital polisher. I would suggest the Griots Garage 6--once you get into polishing you'll appreciate the added torque and most importantly it has a lifetime warranty backed by Griots excellent customer service.

Equip it with a 5" backing plate for 5.5" pads and a 3.5" backing plate for 4" pads. Each pad company has pads recommended for applying LSPs, but each company uses a different color scheme. I prefer Buff & Shine 5.5" red pads for applying LSPs as the foam is soft, but has very dense pores which helps keep the LSP on the surface of the pad--Buff and Shine Red Foam Ultra Finishing Pad - 5.5 Inch. In the 4" pads use the white pad--- Buff and Shine White Foam Ultra Finishing Pad - 4 Inch (2 Pack)

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Hi, welcome to AutoGeekOnline! Congrats on picking up a FLEX machine.

Yes you still need to clay the vehicle. I prefer to use the Nanoskin pads with the 3401. This combination gets the paint decontaminated in short order!

For the newer vehicles, I would pair up the Tangerine polishing pads and the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze and give the paint a test spot. Should be enough to clear up the paint. For the others you can perform a test spot with the same combination and see how it performs. You may need to move up to something more aggressive such as the compound and Tangerine pad or all the way up to the Cyan pad & Über Compound.