2017 Lightning Blue Mustang-Soft or Hard paint?

[5.0_SD]

I'm getting conflicting info...many spots have said medium to medium hard...I've less say soft...so I'm not sure. I have light swirls and some scratches due to me being a little lazy and I would like to correct my errors. Plan is to do full tilt boogie on it. Iron X, clay, probably need some compound, polish, then coating. So, I'm not sure which pads to get for this, which compound, which polish, which coating...I have the Griot's DA (the 6" and 3"). I've never coated before but like the longevity. I would not say I'm the greatest at this or even good, lol.
I was thinking maybe Meg's Ultimate Compound?
Polish, no idea what to get.
Coating I was thinking either Gyeon Prime, Opti-Gloss, or McKee's.
After so much reading I'm a little lost on this so any help would be greatly appreciated.
On a side note, I recently purchase an spx3000 to aid in future cleanings, gun and foam cannon from esoteric, still figuring out fittings for QD and which hose.

[The Guz]

One way to find out is by doing a test spot with a polish and a polishing pad and adjust from there.

Ultimate Compound is good.

If you are looking for a one step compounding polish then Sonax Cut & Finish works very well. It's correction can be adjusted by a using it with a different pad. I have had good results with it on a cutting pad and polishing pad.

If you are looking for a polish to use after a compound these are some that I like to use

SONAX EX 04-06 250 ml.

Optimum Polymer Technologies: Advanced Polymer Technology is in every Optimum Car Care Product. opt car care, optimum car wax, optimum car wash,

GYEON Q2M Polish

I received a sample of McKee's polish and it is also pretty good.

McKee's 37 Fast Polish For your dual action or rotary polisher

If you are going to proceed with a Gyeon coating, then I would consider this as a finishing polish. It has a light cut to it but leaves a layer of SiO2 for a Gyeon coating. Let it sit for 24 hours and there is no need for a prep wipe.

https://www.autogeek.net/gyeon-primer.html

As far as coating well you have quite a bit of options to choose from. I see you mentioned Gyeon Prime. It has been phased out and replaced with the new Pure which is supposed to be easier to apply and last longer. I have not had a chance to compare the two that I have.

Another option is possibly start with Gyeon CanCoat as it's a 6-9 month hybrid sealant with SiO2. It has characteristics of a coating and it really nice to work with. It may not last as long as some other coatings but it is quite impressive.

https://www.autogeek.net/gyeon-cancoat.html

Gloss Coat is ok. I have used it and based on my experience it never really made it to the 1 year mark without having issues even when Optimum guarantees 2 years. Not worth the cost for me personally with other coatings that are better. The pro is the ease of application.

McKee's 37 is popular as are both versions of Cquartz, Pinnacle Black Label, Wolfgang Uber.

You are going to get a lot of recommendations for coatings.

[WillSports3]

You can't go wrong with any coating nowadays, they're all great. It's going to be the nitpicky parts that you're gonna basically decide on. I've had no issues with Gloss Coat but I think Gloss Coat is a bit more finicky to apply and make it last because of all the different chemicals in the resin and the solvent to make it self level the way it does. To be honest, I find Optimum Coatings are the ones where it's almost required to stick to just Optimum products to polish and prep. Gyeon Primer is definitely recommended to use if you use Gyeon coatings. To be honest, the lightning blue is not soft like Toyota or Honda but it's not quite as hard as some of the Ford special order colours. It's somewhere in the middle, Sonax Cut and Finish should work great on it to be honest, especially if you follow up with Gyeon Primer.

To break it down for you..
Gloss Coat is easy to apply but you'd have to use Optimum polishes and paint prep, other wise it can be hit and miss. I don't like the beading of Gloss Coat, I don't find it's too hydrophobic so it's easy to apply but this spring it's definitely coming off one of my cars.

Gyeon Coatings, I haven't used them myself but I've heard nothing but great things about them. Only reason I haven't used Gyeon is because of my personal choice that I don't want to get into really on a public forum, nothing to do with product quality.

McKee 37 is easy to apply, and you apply almost the opposite of most other coatings and the price is great. Plus the newer version performs great. You have to make sure the applicator is wetter than something else, like say CQuartz UK where you want a little bit. Advantage to McKee 37 is that it's safe to use on single stage paint.

Cquartz Classic It's easy to apply but I don't like the look and I don't find it to be as satisfying to use as other coatings. It lasts decently and the protection is upto par with the average consumer coating.

Cquartz UK a lot of people find this finicky to apply, I find it super easy. You wipe on, count to 10, wipe off. Might have to wait for the product to flash if the weather is colder, and wipe off instantly if weather is warmer. My personal favourite, protects great and looks great.

Pinnacle Black Label It's easy to apply and it protects well. Recommended you use the PBL or McKee 37 paint cleansing lotion due bonding issues with paint prep sprays from other companies.

Wolfgang Uber is more expensive but it's an all in one coating. You can use it on everything from glass, to rims, to paint, and I find it works fine on non-textured plastic trim as well.

As for polishes, if you're going to coat, go with something less oily, and water based. Sonax polishes are not oily at all and easy wipe off, Hyper Polish is great for that as well. I haven't used McKee's Fast Polish yet so I can't comment on that.

When it comes to QD, if you're gonna coat the car, go with whatever QD the manufacturer makes. Whether it's Ech2o or ONR, or for McKee's it's the M37 High Gloss Detail Spray. Whatever coating it is you choose, maintain it with the manufacturers recommended products. Since this is going to be your first time coating, my advice is to do one quarter of your trunk lid and see what works for you when it comes to the coating you pick out. General maintenance is the same, keep it dry for 24 hours, don't wash with soap and water for a week. Any bird droppings get it off immediately with a good QD solution. Try to avoid anything that will add wax or sealant to the surface. You want a good warm weather with relatively low humidity so you're not waiting an hour for each panel to flash but it's also not flashing the second you lay the product down. And have a lot of towels. 6 towels per panel is what you should aim for. Toss the towels into an APC bucket mixture if you wanna reuse them. And chances are, most applicators you can't reuse.

[5.0_SD]

Thanks guys...I really appreciate all that both of you wrote...very informative..I've made a doc out of it for safe keeping. Sorry I didn't thank sooner...had a crash and re-install of windows this weekend