A little help with finishing my project.

[mills3]

Greetings everyone!

I have a few questions that I am hoping that someone will be able to help me with. Let me first explain what I've already done before I get into the questions.

I recently purchased a Harbor Freight DA Polisher. With some recommendations from this site, I purchased a new backing plate and also Lake Country pads. I got 2 orange pads, 2 white pads, a black pad and a blue pad.

My 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee had some very light swirls, so I really didn't need to do much to it. Granted, it's a daily driver with 130k miles on it, but I've been very careful with maintaining the paint. I use the two bucket wash method to try to reduce the swirls and scratches.

Now on to my process/questions.

First, I started off by using my orange LC pads with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish. I made 4-6 passes and did this twice on the over the entire car. I'm pretty happy with the results.

I am kind of stuck from this point to determine what I should do next. I'd like to see a little bit more "pop" in the paint, so should I use the polish with a white or blue pad?

After that I'd like to finish it off by applying Meguiar's Liquid wax. If I'm not mistaken, I would apply this with either a white or black pad too?

I've done a little bit of research about choosing the correct pads, but I'm still confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[allenk4]

You should always "start off" by doing a 2'x2' Test Spot to make sure you are getting the results you desire

There is nothing worse than skipping this step, doing process on the entire car and then pulling out into the Sun and not seeing the improvement you expected

I suggest that the appropriate next step is a test spot using the UP and a White pad to see if the extra effort produces the "pop" you are looking for

If it does pop after the Test Spot, proceed to do the rest of the car

If it does not improve, you can try a Test Spot using UP with a softer pad


FWIW, the Orange pad is more commonly used with a Compound.
Pad/Polish pairing can be tricky though and will become something you get good at only with experience in lots of different vehicles

Good Luck

Have Fun

[JMP]

Would agree.. Orange, WG Swirl.. White, WG Finish, Blue your choice of wax( Pinnacle Souveran) machine polished. Now have we washed and clayed first?

[mills3]

Yes it was washed and clayed prior to doing any correction.

[mreed2483]

I use a polish with a white pad and apply my LSP with a black pad. I have the same polisher you have from HF and also use Lake Country pads. When using the black pad for your LSP you don't need to put any pressure on the machine just let it do all the work while you maintain flat pad contact with the surface of the vehichle. If you want to cut down your steps I recommend the Pinnacle XMT360 (XMT 360 corrects, cleans, and seals auto paint! XMT 360 is more than a cleaner wax, its a swirl remover, polish, and paint sealant in one.). I used this on my wifes 2003 Escape with an orange pad due to some oxidation of the clear coat and it worked great. I have also used it on my mother-in-laws car with a green pad, her car is kept in a garage, and it made the paint shine like it was brand new. You can still top the XMT360 if you want for added protection. I topped my wife's Escape with Meguire's NXT Tech Wax 2.0 liquid wax just for the heck of it since I had it on hand and it came out with a deep, wet shine.