Charleston SC - Need advise - General paint correction question

[ShawnCT450R]

Been reading here for along time. Learned a huge amount from this site and it's members & staff. Here are my comments and questions after last nights wax job.

Car: 2012 Mazda CX-9 with rather nice light grey/green paint.

Tools:
-GG6 3rd gen
-Mothers yellow clay kit with showtime spray
-pinnacle blue clay with pinnacle clay lube,
-Megs 205 and LC CCS orange 5.5 pads
-Collinite 845 and LC CCS red 6.5 pads
-various MF towels/buckets/items purchased from AG (no crap)


Washed car with mothers car wash, "Gold" microfiber wash mit from AG, buckets, etc.... Dried with guzzler waffle towel.

Started claying with my old mothers clay bar and showtime spray. Didn't seem effective so I swapped to the new pinnacle clay kit I bought awhile back. Re-clayed some areas, and the pinnacle clay was picking up more stuff.

***Does clay stop performing at some point? My mothers clay was 5 years old or so. Always kept it sealed and moist with clay lube, and it was still very pliable.

*The pinnacle clay lube also seemed to go a lot farther than the showtime, as much less was required for each panel. Just my observation.

Correction time. The 205 & orange pad combo wasn't giving me the results I was looking for. I have a bunch of very minor/small swirls and scratches (not felt with fingernail) but I was unable to remove them with this combo.

***How should I modify my process to remove the imperfections. Not looking for show quality, but I still want it to be smooth and pop!

Decided that I wasn't going to get the results I wanted last night, so I moved to applying the Collinite 845. Fantastic stuff. Can't say enough about it for my stored-outside daily-use cars.

Just need a little guidance here.

Also, if there is an AG member who is a well-respected detailer in the Charleston SC area who would like some free manual labor for a morning or afternoon, I would be willing to trade a few hours of help for some OJT. Let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advise.

[Jet Black]

Hey Shawn I'm no expert I only detail family and my personal cars, but the one thing all the guys on here say and it has helped me tremendously is the test spot. After claying that's the next thing I do. I know the guys on this forum will definitely set you in the right direction. Good luck

[mwoolfso]

Been reading here for along time. Learned a huge amount from this site and it's members & staff. Here are my comments and questions after last nights wax job.

Car: 2012 Mazda CX-9 with rather nice light grey/green paint.

Tools:
-GG6 3rd gen
-Mothers yellow clay kit with showtime spray
-pinnacle blue clay with pinnacle clay lube,
-Megs 205 and LC CCS orange 5.5 pads
-Collinite 845 and LC CCS red 6.5 pads
-various MF towels/buckets/items purchased from AG (no crap)


Washed car with mothers car wash, "Gold" microfiber wash mit from AG, buckets, etc.... Dried with guzzler waffle towel.

Started claying with my old mothers clay bar and showtime spray. Didn't seem effective so I swapped to the new pinnacle clay kit I bought awhile back. Re-clayed some areas, and the pinnacle clay was picking up more stuff.

***Does clay stop performing at some point? My mothers clay was 5 years old or so. Always kept it sealed and moist with clay lube, and it was still very pliable. While I cannot explain it I would chalk it up to age. Mothers clay has been very nice to me and one of my vehicles has hard paint.

*The pinnacle clay lube also seemed to go a lot farther than the showtime, as much less was required for each panel. Just my observation. Pinnacle is boutique, Showtime is OTC; in this instance I am not surprised. ONR is my go-to clay lube.

Correction time. The 205 & orange pad combo wasn't giving me the results I was looking for. I have a bunch of very minor/small swirls and scratches (not felt with fingernail) but I was unable to remove them with this combo.

***How should I modify my process to remove the imperfections. Not looking for show quality, but I still want it to be smooth and pop! 205 is a finishing polish. If 205/Orange isn't working then you need a medium or heavy cut polish. Megs SwirlX, UC or 105 with Orange would be the next steps I would consider.

Decided that I wasn't going to get the results I wanted last night, so I moved to applying the Collinite 845. Fantastic stuff. Can't say enough about it for my stored-outside daily-use cars.

Just need a little guidance here.

Also, if there is an AG member who is a well-respected detailer in the Charleston SC area who would like some free manual labor for a morning or afternoon, I would be willing to trade a few hours of help for some OJT. Let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advise.

...

[ShawnCT450R]

Jet:
I do only my own vehicles as well. My test spots (on some defects) did not reveal a satisfactory result. I, also, firmly believe in the information contained within the AG realm.

Mwoolfso:
-I cannot explain the clay issue, so I'm gonna keep it in reserve and use the pinnacle as my main chunk for now.
-As to your clay lube comment, I thought that might be the case. I will also be going with ONR on my next purchase (based on AG advise).
-As to the 105/205, I figured I probably needed the 105. Just don't have it on my shelf yet. It'll be coming soon as well. I've got the 845 coat on it now, so I'll wait until the weather starts cooling off and then tackle a better correction effort.

Thanks for the advise guys!

[Robbiek]

Shawn,
Your going to need to get m105 and follow it up with m205. I've used this combo on my c300 works great I also used hex logic pads. I had never used any micro fiber pads but I'm going to get some soon. I'm almost done with the car got 2 more doors to do then I'm done. Now that I'm washing the car the in a safe way and drying it safe I will not have to touch agian.