[I335]

My 17 yr old son just recently purchased his first car - a 1998 Buick Riviera Supercharged - pretty cool car actually and loaded to the hilt. I don't have any pics just yet but if you can imagine a car that at some point in its life was sentenced to "1000 automatic car washes" it might give you an idea of what the pearl white paint looks like. It's just totally swirled everywhere but it doesn't have deep scratches. With a little (or maybe a lot) work, I think he and I can make it look a lot better. My question is, is there a polish/swirl remover that you can recommend that can be used with my PC orbital? Is this something an orbital can handle or is that totally out of the question? I thought we'd wash it and clay it first just to get the heavy stuff off, and then do some amateur paint correction, and finally top it off with a polish and a wax job. Thanks in advance!

[nikku]

If you are trying to tackle that job yourself with a PC it is possible. You'll need the right polishes and pads and a pinch of patience

For pads I would recommend grabbing 4 inch pads for sure for better cut. George at DI can hook you up. I would recommend grabbing white, orange and yellow. You can get away with finishing up on a white pad. It'll provide for more versatility when it comes to your one step maintenance details.

For polishes Power Finish should be handle most of the work. Grab a 32 oz of power finish by menzerna and a 16oz of power gloss.

On to the patience. Take your time and tackle a panel or two each day. Don't look at it as a full car but rather individual panels. If you look at the big picture you may get frustrated. So take the time and enjoy each corrected panel with your son. Congrats to you and your son. I forsee some definite quality bonding time with your son !

Enjoy and fire more questions if you need more answers.

Cheers,
Nick

[I335]

Thanks Nick - much appreciated! I'll see if I can connect with George at DI to pick up the products you recommend and I really like the idea of tackling one panel at a time.

So even though my machine uses larger pads (5.5 or 6"?) it's OK to use a smaller 4" pad with it? Also, which pad is used with which product?

And yes, I'm looking forward to the bonding time - probably more so than my son at this point but as soon as he sees the results I think he'll enjoy it very much.

Thanks again!

...Jay

[328i]

Originally Posted by I335

Thanks Nick - much appreciated! I'll see if I can connect with George at DI to pick up the products you recommend and I really like the idea of tackling one panel at a time.

So even though my machine uses larger pads (5.5 or 6"?) it's OK to use a smaller 4" pad with it? Also, which pad is used with which product?

And yes, I'm looking forward to the bonding time - probably more so than my son at this point but as soon as he sees the results I think he'll enjoy it very much.

Thanks again!

...Jay

Jay,

The Porter Cable can accept 4 inch pads as well, however you will need a smaller sized backing plate which you can purchase from detailed image. What I suggest polish wise is purple foamed wool pads, along with Meguairs M105 compound. The new formula is approved for DA polishers such as the porter cable you have, and with the Kevin Brown method you should see great results. Follow that with M105 and a white Pad and the Kevin Brown Method, and then Menzerna 106ff and a black pad, or Meguairs M205 and a Black pad.

I recommend getting all pads from Detailed Image as they have the flat pads with no dimples, which yield the best results and allow for the most uniform polishing imo. The Menzerna and backing plates can be bought from them as well. As for the M105 and M205, they can be purchased from www.autodetailingsolutions.com. They have small sample sizes that should be more than enough to do this vehicle and have some left over.

What the Kevin Brown Method entails is priming the pad as can be seen here:
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31568

And initially applying quite a bit of pressure to the polisher, and then letting of a bit after a couple passes. You can then spray some distilled water and keep working the polish to achieve more cut. I'll see if I can find the better write up that covers it more.


Good luck!,
Pat

[I335]

Pat - thank you very much as well! I really like the idea of the sample sizes of the Meguiar's compounds as I don't expect to do this very often. The Kevin Brown method makes sense to me as well - good info.

Thanks again gentlemen - I really appreciate the assistance! We'll have to do a few before and after shots and post the results.

...Jay