Many questions about Polishing + Recommendation

[Seeker]

Hi everyone

I spent lots of time reading in this forum, and recently decided to get my hands dirty and up my game with detailing.

Hopefully you could get me in track and on budget for a good set up (Polish, Sealant and Wax).

For now, I got many things that confuses me with polishing.

It would be nice if I could get answers for the following questions:

Q:Is there a difference in shine or quality given from polishing compounds? I mean if there isn't any fillers in them. Would brand A be a better then brand B, or for polishing part would any cheap brand do it for me?

Up till now, I was doing things through my hands and soon enough I'll be getting my self a polishing machine. My experience with Turtle polish and couple of others cheap brands were merely a waste of money with no gain. However, Turtle rubbing compounds is the only one the was able to remove scratches and I notice a difference with it. I presume, it was because I'm applying it with my hands instead of a polishing machine.

Q:So for a polishing machine which polish or rubbing compound do you recommend (or shall I reuse my current polish/rubbing compounds)?

I'd appreciate if you give your polish recommendation in the following manners:

1- Heavy duty scratches:........?
2- Light scratches:..........?
3- Finishing polish:.....(AIO klasse)...?

And last question for the polish part, would a clay be necessary if I'm going to polish my car? The way, I understand it is that polishing would strip part of the paint (clear coat), and so the contamination would be gone as well, yet many argues it should be a part of detailing.


Thanks in advance.

[dlc95]

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound - Heavy Cut
Meguiar's Ultimate Polish - Light Cut / Finishing
Meguiar's Ultimate Wax - Sealant.

Compound is designed to remove damage, polish is designed to bring out the highest gloss potential. Polish can also remove light damage such as towel marks, and light swirls - depending on the pad. This assuming it's an abrasive polish like Ultimate Polish, Meguiar's M205, Menzerna SF4000, Etc.

I always clay before polishing paint. It's more of a must, than an option.

I'd stay far away from the TW compound and polish in the tubs. If you have the ones in the green and black bottles, you'll be ok. I don't like them as much as I like the Meguiar's offerings.

[FUNX650]

It would be nice if I could get answers
for the following questions:

I'll give it the ol' college try.

Q:Is there a difference in shine or quality
given from polishing compounds?

IMO: Yes.
They are abrasives that run the
gamut from: "rocks-in-a-bottle" to
those that "finish-LSP-ready".

I mean if there isn't any fillers in them.
Would brand A be a better then brand B,

•Woops! Fillers, you say?
-Are you familiar with that certain
aspect of detailing terminology; but,
yet, in need of assistance in what
seems to be "the polishing basics"?

•OK...I was going along with the premise
of your thread in a good naturedly manner.
-I must now admit that I'm just a little
bit hesitant to continue down that path.


Bob

[goldenlight]

You will definitely notice the difference when you clay. I would stick with major brands to avoid any quality control issues. all clay on auto-geek seems good, and even the bigbox stores.

Since your just starting out, I would start with products you can easily get \

1- Heavy duty scratches:........Ultimate compound
2- Light scratches:..........Meguiars m205
3- Finishing polish:.....(Meguiars M205)

Compound..Meguiar's Ultimate compound. This product can also be used for cleaning fiberglass tubs, and removing stubborn waterspots onyour car windows, as well as the shower door :-)

Finishing Polish. I recommend Meguiar's M205. I believe they have this in an 8oz bottle if you want to try it out. This is a very versatile polish. You can increase the pad aggressiveness and have it finish down like perfect to my eyes..


As far as major brands, Menzerna, Meguairs, are solid brands they been around since the horse and buggy days. Even HD Products, and Griot's boss polishing creams are becoming popular.

for cost I would start with Meguiars and Build your technique from there.

[AGOatemywallet]

Read all of these and answer 90% of your questions

CLICKABLE LINK

Auto Detailing Facts, auto detailing Tips, How to detailing Guides, how to polish, how to wax, DIY detailing, do it yourself guides

[custmsprty]

Read all of these and answer 90% of your questions

CLICKABLE LINK

Auto Detailing Facts, auto detailing Tips, How to detailing Guides, how to polish, how to wax, DIY detailing, do it yourself guides

Yup

[Seeker]

@dlc95:
Thanks for your answers. I just realized that pads contributes into cutting (I though it depends on the polish type). Either way, as I am getting wax/sealant answers.

My idea that, after I got the polishing part done. I'll be using Klasse AIO and the sealant one (so, I am trying to using Klasse as my base).

The way I though of it is:
Cleaning->>(Claying?)->>Polishing->>Klasse AIO->>KSG(3-5)->>Collinite(#476/915)->>Pinnacle (Soveran or Signaure Series II)
I was going to open a new thread for this (also got many questions on these steps).

Back to the polishing part:
Currently, I have TW that came in tubs (TW/Ice is easier for me to obtain than other brands).
Q: Would the bottled liquid Polish (16oz) lasts me the whole car?

@Bob:
Accept my apologize, if I appeared to insult your knowledge it's not my attention. I though All-In-One polishes contains fillers, which I tried to remove it from the comparison I made.
Let's me paraphrase my question: Is there a difference in terms of shine or depth between cheap polish and a highly expensive one, given that both are having the same cutting power?

@goldenlight:
Thanks bro for your answer, and even more thanks for your consideration.
Unfortunately, the only major brand I could easily get is Turtle Wax. Hence, I decided to collect a list of things I need, and I'll be ordering them online.

Also, nice list to try to practice on it!
For now, I guess I will keep M205 as an option for light scratches, but do you think Klasse AIO would be good for finishing polish? (I'm trying to build my setup around Klasse twins).

@AGOatemywallet:
Thanks, just finished reading about couple of topics there. I guess it answered my question, there is no need for claying if the paint surface is smooth (which can be achieved through rubbing/polishing compounds).

Thanks again for the link, and the warning. :P

@custmsprty:
Thanks for your contribution here, also I agree that link is useful & informative.

I guess the outcome for this thread is the following:

A nice polishing set up is consists from the following:

1. Heavy duty scratches:..... Ultimate Compound
2. Light scratches:..... Meguair's M205
3. Finishing Polish:..... Meguair's M205

Now, this will rise one more question: Which pad to use for each one of these?