New guy here, have a few questions (DA's, single stage paint, etc)
Hello everyone, I am looking to buy a DA polisher and some supplies to take care of my and my parents vehicles. I will probably be ordering the Griots Garage 6" random orbital but aside from that, I'm kind of scratching my head on what I need.
I will be working on a 1989 mustang w/ single stage red paint, ~2003 grey metallic toyota tundra, and ~2006 white toyota rav 4. The mustang is heavily oxidized in spots (hood, roof, and trunk) and of course has scratches/swirls. The other two vehicles are just scratches/swirls.
I am slightly confused since there are a couple different steps used in both of the articles. In the first article, the paint is clayed, but it is not in the second. Also in the first article the megs#7 is applied with a microfiber towel, but it is applied with a terrycloth towel in the second.
In post #13 of the second link there is this quote:
"If you clay the paint, you'll load your expensive clay up with dead paint. Rubbing the paint down AGGRESSIVELY with the terry cloth will remove the top dead layer of paint and with it much and even most or all of any above surface bonded contaminants. Things are different when you work on single stage than when you work on clear coats.
Chances are you won't need to clay but check with the baggie test AFTER the first polishing step, (after wiping off the #7)."
I didn't see any info on the terrycloth vs microfiber for applying the #7, so I am guessing that since the second article is newer that the information in it supersedes the first article?
So my current plan is to follow the second article to try to restore the mustangs single stage paint. For the other two vehicles, the plan would be wash and clay, then use the same pinnacle polishes I used on the mustang (also will NOT be using the #7). Does this sound acceptable?
I will be using Meguiars nxt 2.0 tech wax.
Pads are another area that I'm unsure of. I am thinking of getting the 5" backing plate and using lake country 5.5" CCS pads. I am thinking of getting 2 orange light cutting pads for applying the swirl remover, but I don't know what colors would be best for applying the finishing polish, and nxt tech wax, maybe gray and red? Lastly, for cleaning the pads, use a conditioning brush and dish soap then DP pad rejuvinator or similar product?
is 6 microfiber towels enough or should I pick up some more? I also do NOT own a grit guard but will be picking one up or do I need to get two so I have one in each bucket?
WOW, what a long post full of newbie questions lol, I appreciate any help you guys can give me! I am just so overwhelmed with the amount of products/information here that it feels like my head is spinning.
Lastly, here are some pictures of the oxidized paint on the mustang.
Roof
Hood, not as bad as the roof and trunk lid but still pretty bad
Door, very little/no oxidation
Re: New guy here, have a few questions (DA's, single stage paint, etc)
I think my first post is kind of laid out poorly, making it difficult to read and follow. I would edit it but it appears that I cannot, so let me try to re-write it and hopefully be more concise and clear.
I will be working on 3 different cars:
1989 Mustang with red single stage paint
2003 Toyota Tundra with grey metallic bc/cc paint
2006 Toyota Rav4 with white bc/cc paint
Each car will be washed with the two bucket method using optimum car wash concentrate and a microfiber wash mitt in the summer, and optimum no rinse in a heated garage in the winter. And the polishing will be done with a Griots Garage polisher (that I am hoping to buy very soon)
The mustang is in rough shape (see pics in first post) and will be polished/restored using techniques from these two articles from Mike Phillips: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...ge-paints.html http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...nz-280-se.html
I have 2 questions about the articles as they have differing information. In the first article the car is clayed after washing, before #7 is applied. In the second article it is NOT clayed. Should I clay or not? Next, in the first article the #7 is applied with a microfiber towel, and in the 2nd it is applied with a terrycloth towel, which should I use?
I feel like I am leaning towards treating the Mustang like the Benz in the second article, using the products in that article except the wax, (I will use megs nxt 2.0 tech wax because that is what I have)
I will use basically the same process for the other two vehicles except that they will both be clayed after washing and I will not apply the Megs #7
Here is what I need advice on:
-Pads for the polisher, I am thinking about Lake country 5.5" CCS orange, gray, and red for swirl remover, polish, and wax respectively. (I do know I need the 5" backer for this)
-Are my choices for the car wash "soap" good?
-What do you use to "strip" the car of all old product? Pre wax cleaner? All purpose cleaner?
-Do I need 2 grit guards for the two bucket wash method or will one suffice?
-I have 6 of these Super Soft Deluxe Blue Microfiber Towels, microfiber detailing towels, buffing towels, micro fiber towel, detail cloth Do I need more or will 6 be enough.
-Cleaning the pads, I plan to use a pad brush with dish soap first and then DP pad rejuvinator or something similar (please say what you recommend.)
I think that this post reads much easier than my first, which I typed out in a rush. If a mod sees this, would it be possible to delete the text in the first post (keep the pics) and replace it with this post?
Re: New guy here, have a few questions (DA's, single stage paint, etc)
Have you looked for the paint code to see what it calls for? As an 89,Im thinking that your car probably has 2 stage on it. Here is a quick test. Take a MF or Terry towel and a hint of rubbing compound. Find a test spot and rub a bit with some elbow grease. If red comes off, then its single stage, if not it has a C/C. If it is single stage, either one of mikes methods are what I would follow. Many of the guys on here will let #7 sit over night to feed the paint. then go to work onit. Let us know.
Re: New guy here, have a few questions (DA's, single stage paint, etc)
Originally Posted by beamerstrumpet
Have you looked for the paint code to see what it calls for? As an 89,Im thinking that your car probably has 2 stage on it. Here is a quick test. Take a MF or Terry towel and a hint of rubbing compound. Find a test spot and rub a bit with some elbow grease. If red comes off, then its single stage, if not it has a C/C. If it is single stage, either one of mikes methods are what I would follow. Many of the guys on here will let #7 sit over night to feed the paint. then go to work onit. Let us know.
I am absolutely certain that the mustang is single stage, I actually did that test with some fine cut cleaner I had laying around a while back and it comes off pink/red onto the cloth. I have not checked out the paint code to see if it came from the factory that way but I'm fairly sure it did.
Ya, I plan on doing Mikes method on the mustang, just the two things that I pointed out are confusing me. Perhaps if I was NOT planning on doing any machine polishing, the car should be clayed and then have the #7 applied with a microfiber as to not add any more scratches to the car, but since I am going to do correction with the machine, then applying the #7 with the terrycloth will sort of take the place of the clay (since it is more abrasive than a microfiber and will remove contaminates as I rub on the #7?)
And I will for sure let the #7 sit overnight, I did 2 test spots on the trunk lid, one with a heavy overnight application of #7, wipe off, and then a wipe on wipe off application (2 applications on the same test spot), then I did a section next to it that was just a wipe on wipe off application. The overnight + second application was hands down better looking but still definitely needs machine polishing.
Any opinions on my questions about product selection?
Re: New guy here, have a few questions (DA's, single stage paint, etc)
Originally Posted by fst89lx
I am absolutely certain that the mustang is single stage, I actually did that test with some fine cut cleaner I had laying around a while back and it comes off pink/red onto the cloth. I have not checked out the paint code to see if it came from the factory that way but I'm fairly sure it did.
Ya, I plan on doing Mikes method on the mustang, just the two things that I pointed out are confusing me. Perhaps if I was NOT planning on doing any machine polishing, the car should be clayed and then have the #7 applied with a microfiber as to not add any more scratches to the car, but since I am going to do correction with the machine, then applying the #7 with the terrycloth will sort of take the place of the clay (since it is more abrasive than a microfiber and will remove contaminates as I rub on the #7?)
And I will for sure let the #7 sit overnight, I did 2 test spots on the trunk lid, one with a heavy overnight application of #7, wipe off, and then a wipe on wipe off application (2 applications on the same test spot), then I did a section next to it that was just a wipe on wipe off application. The overnight + second application was hands down better looking but still definitely needs machine polishing.
Any opinions on my questions about product selection?
I am very new to this also so I do not have lots of product experiance. But if I was going to go about it, I wouldnt rush the #7. Im thinking at least 2 seperate overnights with it. Then I would do as all here say, start least aggressive. I really have liked my 3DHD UNO, you can use that with a light pad and see if it gives you what you want and bump up the pad if you need to. Then as far as a Polish goes, I have only used Megs UP over the UNO. I just ordered some HD Speed and Ill report on how nice it does. I will say that if you have some heavy defects you may want to just go with some M205 and 105. I will eventually buy the rest of the HD line. I jsut really like it so far and it has a good long working time. With Texas heat, that is inportant since I dont have a Garage, not to mention a Air conditioned garage. HOw nice would that be?!?
I also have a sample of sonax. I bet taht would really be nice on S/S paint.
As far as pads go, here is a list I have put together so far (just 2). I want to make a cross ref data base since I have not found one yet:
Buff and Shine 5.5" Foam Pads are available in seven levels of aggresiveness:
· Red - Application Pad · Black - Finishing Pad
· Blue - Light Polishing Pad · Green - Polishing Pad
· WHITE - Heavy Polishing Pad · Orange - Medium Cutting Pad
· Yellow - Heavy Cutting Pad
LC Pad
· Red - A finishing foam for applying final-step products including waxes, sealants and glazes.
· Blue - A finishing foam for use with single step products when no swirls are present.
· Black - A finessing foam for use with glazes or single-step products when only light polishing is required.
· White - A polishing foam with light cutting power to bring up a full gloss when using a fine polish or paintwork cleanser.
· Green (Coarse) - A heavy polishing foam for light swirl removal and removing holograms produced from heavier polishing.
· Orange - A cutting foam for light to moderate paint correction. Yellow - A heavy cutting foam for removal of severe oxidation, swirls and scratches
Hope this helps I have not made the database for all the ohters yet and I need to put this in an XL sheet.
Re: New guy here, have a few questions (DA's, single stage paint, etc)
Man, all of these different styles of pads are really confusing me lol. I think what I am going to do now that I have thought about it is use the pads that Mike used on the Benz w/ single stage paint. He used white, black and blue flat LC pads. I will also purchase some orange pads just in case I need more cut.
Speaking of the flat foam LC pads, what advantage does the blue offer over the black for applying wax? All I can tell from the descriptions of the pads is that the blue pad is softer than the black, and I don't know how that makes it better or worse.
Hopefully some more people can chime in on this and my other questions, I really want to order this stuff soon, I can't wait to see what my mustang looks like without ugly oxidized paint lol.
Thanks: 
Likes: 
Dislikes: 
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by beamerstrumpet
Bookmarks