Critique my plan of attack

[JMak97008]

2005 Chrysler Pacifica - Green Metallic paint

Past exterior detailing - Clayed with hand-applied Meguiar's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, Polish, and Wax line of products.

Current condition - Vehicle is parked outside and exposed to Oregon's rainy seasons and generally dusty conditions. Except for road rash and rock chips, my Pacifica's paint is in fair shape as the clear coat is intact and a clay bar is able to remove all surface contaminants for a smooth feel. The car has been through the car wash several times in the last year (bad wifey) along with me hand-washing (generally two-bucket wash). The paint now has swirls and the occasional scratch.

Equipment: Griot's 6" orbital with GG's 6" and 5.5" orange and red pads.

Products: I still have some of the Deep Crystal products, but am not sure if they're made to be applied via machine. I also have Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, Polish, and Wax and the Ultimate Fast Finish. Additionally, I have GG's Machine Polish 3 and Best of Show Wax. On my other vehicles, I absolutely loved how they turned out with the Deep Crystal products, but with hand application, it just takes too long. I've not really liked the GG's machine polish as I didn't see that product removing swirling or light scratches and both the polish and wax always seemed to heavily dust and get everywhere and gum up the pads. Hence, I got the Ultimate line of products from Meguiar's.

My plan was to wash with Meguiar's Gold Class soap, then clay with GG's Clay Bar. I thought I'd use the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound over the entire vehicle to fully strip any left over wax and to, hopefully, rub out those swirls and scratches. Question: Should I first try the Ultimate Polish in the swirls and light scratches (least aggressive first) to see if that removes them and then switch to the Compound it the Polish fails to?

Following Compound, I thought I'd then use the Ultimate Polish to get some deep color back. Once finished with the Ultimate Polish, then put the Ultimate Wax on and then final step with Fast Finish.

The front windshield is in terrible shape with speckling and the wiper sweeps across the glass. Can the GG machine polish or the ultimate compound or polish be used to polish the glass? Should I be worried of the compound or polish marring the glass to rendering it even worse?

Any other things I should be thinking about or tips?

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any advice, tips, suggestions, etc.

[fly07sti]

Using the Megs products you have on hand, you should do a test spot with a Polishing pad and UP and see if the results are adequate for you. But if it's been through a bunch of tunnel washes you'll most likely need to use UC first. The UC may finish down well enough to go to wax after, but again it comes down to what you are satisfied with.

[fly07sti]

Also, the UC may clean up the super trails on your windshield. Try a small section first. Don't worry about distorting the glass with it. The windshield surface is much harder than your paint.

[JMak97008]

Thanks for the suggestions...I'm fairly new to using the GG orbital and am wondering if perhaps I wasn't using enough downward pressure with the GG machine polish #3 to remove the swirls or light scratches...

[JMak97008]

Here are some pics of the scratches and swirls that are representative of what I was referring to above.

Also, before I start compounding, polishing, waxing, should I be priming the pad with any sort of liquid? I've been seeing more people do that before spreading out the liquid compound, polish, or wax.

[JMak97008]

[Sean M at ShowShine]

OK! here we go...

Your GG 6" does not have the power of a GG G21. What you have is a 6" random orbital, don't over think it. It's capable of what you want to do but only with the right products.

For correction you have:
GG orange correction pads and GG red waxing pads
Megs Ultimate compound, Megs ultimate polish, Megs ultimate wax
GG Polish 3 and wax

So what do you do?

Wash it with whatever you want "in this case its Megs Gold Class", Clay it with whatever you want "in this case GG clay", then take your GG 6" with orange pad and Megs Ultimate polish, put 4-6 drops of polish on the outer two thirds of the pad, and polish a section of the hood. Do six or less passes to a section of the hood and stop when you see the polish turn translucent. Wipe the product off the hood, take car outside in the sun, examine results.

If you are unsure, wipe the area down with IPA or Prepsol and reexamine. If you aren't happy with the correction results change from ultimate polish to ultimate compound and follow the same steps as above. If you have any haze left over just use the GG red pad and ultimate polish to remove it.

After the whole car is done take one of your 6" red pads and apply Best of Show Wax thinly over the entire car. Start on one corner of the car and just do the entire car with the 6" pad "reapply when necessary". When done, go back to where you started and start removing the wax following the same pattern you applied the wax.

Big hint: stop going though auto car washes

[JMak97008]

Thanks for the advice and tips.

Do you not see any need for the Ultimate Compound? And would you choose the GG best in show wax over the Ultimate Wax? Thanks, again.

[Sean M at ShowShine]

Ultimate compound has an awesome ability to finish down LSP ready. With your available materials I would personally just go over the whole car with ultimate compound and the orange pad. As far as the wax goes thats strait up personal preference. Pick the one that applies the easiest, comes off the easiest, and lasts the longest. Make a sacrifice on one of those categories if they are nearly even. Chances are you're going to wax it in a few weeks anyway.

[JMak97008]

Ultimate compound has an awesome ability to finish down LSP ready. With your available materials I would personally just go over the whole car with ultimate compound and the orange pad. As far as the wax goes thats strait up personal preference. Pick the one that applies the easiest, comes off the easiest, and lasts the longest. Make a sacrifice on one of those categories if they are nearly even. Chances are you're going to wax it in a few weeks anyway.

Yeah, I'm gonna try the Ultimate Fast Finish on top of the Ultimate Wax...I guess since I haven't touched this car for a year, I'll polish forst and see what happens with the swirls and if they're not removed, then go with the compound, then wax and fast finish.