Detailing Thread [For Newbies][ARCHIVED]

[madkatz]

*chickselog: thanks for that, that sure made me feel better

*FasTrac: i'll continue tomorrow, i had too much to eat tonight that im not feeling quite well

[mau2485]

:bruce_lee:Nakakainit ng ulo talaga yang mga tricycle na yan!! Bumigat pakiramdam ko dun sa nangyari sayo ms. madkatz halos ganun din yung color ng car ko grrrrrrr. Pag nakabanga sila puro sorry nalang ganun nalang ba yun mabubura ba yung gasgas pag nagsorry na sila?! grrrr! Try kaya nila i-detail yung mga tricycle nila tapos mabanga? eh di wala parin hehehe tricycle lang yun eh.

[madkatz]

*mau: it would be ok if the guy said sorry, it would have been a ton better for me to accept it was just an accident, but to actually accuse me of being wrong? whats worse and what i hate the most was that these guys are all surrounding me some are even pushing me, it just shows how uneducated they are at treating women. its just soooo violating..... and right now im really buying a second can of pepper spray tonight and im putting one on all cars.

[mau2485]

Yun pa babae ka pa so sana naging mas gentle naman sila and sana hindi ka naman nila pinagtulungan. Usually pag babae kasi ang tingin nila parating babae ang may mali dinaan kaagad sa sindak grabe talaga!!!

[FasTrac]

* ess & madkatz, thank you for entertaining my questions...well i came to the right place, your explanations are superb... pls continue sharing your knowledge guys, for a newbie like me, i know i can learn alot from you...

Sorry for misleading you to that orbital polisher, what i have is a B&D car polisher model WP1300K with speed controller.
May i change the question now, i want this unit to be compatible with whether LC Pads or Meguiar's pads, so what you think guys is there a need for me to buy a new backing plate, spindle,and what else are needed?

[FasTrac]

:bruce_lee:Nakakainit ng ulo talaga yang mga tricycle na yan!! Bumigat pakiramdam ko dun sa nangyari sayo ms. madkatz halos ganun din yung color ng car ko grrrrrrr. Pag nakabanga sila puro sorry nalang ganun nalang ba yun mabubura ba yung gasgas pag nagsorry na sila?! grrrr! Try kaya nila i-detail yung mga tricycle nila tapos mabanga? eh di wala parin hehehe tricycle lang yun eh.

Ganyan naman talaga mga yan...tayo pa dapat ang magpasensya at umintindi sa kanila tsk tsk.. sabihin ng meron nga sila naitutulong sa komunidad pero kalimitan naman puro sakit ng ulo dala ng mga yan sa lansangan

[madkatz]

*mau and FasTrac: anyways i just hope karma gets them, and if its within the original context of karma i hope either they get it 3x worse in the life or the next life. Im gonna try to buff out the scratches VIA rotary polisher and hopefully make them a lot less visible while waiting for the insurance paper works to finish.

[madkatz]

*FasTrac: Continuation...

Lake Country Manufactures 8 different colored pads and 9 if you will count in the hybrid purple foam wool pad.

While Wool pads are mainly used for heavy oxidation, moderate scratch removal and wet sanding marks, Foam pads are significantly lighter in terms of cut.

Pads in order of aggressiveness.

Yellow Pad - this is used for removing buffer swirls caused by the wool pad, this can also be used for moderate to light compounding which basically also tackles heavy swirl marks, moderate oxidation, and etchings. This is the most aggressive among the 8 foam pads. This is also called a cutting pad since it can level paint surfaces easily once used with compounds and heavy polishes.

Orange Pad - this is the light cutting pad, this pad can remove moderate to light swirls very easily, it can also remove minor oxidation and light scratches. this is a very popular product among the 8 pads because it can tackle serious paint defects just by repeating the procedure over and over again, and since it does not have enough cut into it, you can polish out paints with a lot less to worry about

Green Pad - this is a cross between the Orange and the White pad, this product is very versatile in the sense that it is like a softer version of the orange pad so it can tackle some problems that the orange pad can at the same time you can already use this pad with medium to light polishes. This would be great for tackling light swirls, very light oxidation and micro marring.

White Pad - this is the polishing pad, this is great for adding some gloss to the paint, removing light swirls and very light scratches, its also good for micro marring. With this pad it is advisable to use only medium to light polishes, this pad has very little cut, but in the wrong hands can still strike through or burn out paint especially those on the edges so be careful with all the pads listed above especially on corners. The White pad is a staple in the polishing step before LC introduced the 3 new pads, the white pad can really improve a paints finish and to some people the finish you get would already be enough to pass their standards. This pad once used properly will leave you a swirl free finish. This pad is also great for removing very light hazes and is great in getting that last few touches to dulled paint.

Black Pad - this pad is originally made to applying waxes and sealants, this pad, once used to apply waxes and sealants has no cut so it is safe for paint, but once used with light polishes it could still give that little extra cut. This pad is generally used for applying waxes and sealants but i also use this pad and achieve great results when applying light and fine polishes, this pad when used with fine polishes adds that added gloss that the white pad cannot, its like refining the polishing stage even more, this can be used to remove very very light scratches, mirco marring and fine hazing the ones that can only be seen with the help of good lighting. You can also use this to apply glazes since it has nearly zero cut, glazes can be used to fill in and hide those minute microscopic paint defects.

Blue and Red pads - this to me are the same actually, this is ideal for jeweling or burnishing the paint to the most gloss it can achieve. You use this pad much like the black pad with fine polishes but with the red and blue you use use ultra fine polishes so you end up with the most perfect paint you can get, its like the last 5% to that perfect shine. This is best used for getting that extra one more notch of gloss and shine that would set you apart even from show car standards.

Gold pads - this is their softest pad and is only used for applying waxes and sealants.

[madkatz]

*FasTrac: Continuation...

Meguiars also produces foam pads but so far i have only tried 5 of them...

Cut N Shine wool pad - this is basically Megs standard for serious to moderate paint removal, once done properly you could actually end up with very few and very light compounding scratches with this wool pad, i'm very happy with their wool pad since it can really good fast but it doesn't leave that much defects to remove after which is like a dream when compared to using 3m and LC

LC counterpart - all wool pads

Soft Buff Burgundy pad - this is their cutting pad and this is good for using heavy to medium polishes, this works great on finishing up your paint after using the wool pad, it removes moderate swirl marks and light scratches. This can also be used for moderate oxidation and in short all other moderate defects on the paint. This pad usually leaves you a very nice finish already.

LC counterpart - yellow and orange cutting pad

Soft Buff Yellow pad - this pad is ideal for using light and fine polishes to further improve the gloss of the paint. this pad can remove very fine swirls and scratches as well as hazing and very fine micro marring.

LC counterpart - White pad

Soft Buff V2.0 Black pad - this pad is quite a versatile pad, its basically pretty much like the beige pad but is better than the beige pad in terms of jeweling and burnishing the paint to a high gloss

LC Counterpart - Black pad

Soft Buff beige pad - this is their finishing pad, this can be used for ultra fine finishing polishes in jeweling and burnishing the paint as well as applying sealants and waxes, this in some cases can also be used to remove LSP's

LC counterpart - Red and Blue pad

[madkatz]

*FasTrac: Firstly i would have to warn you regarding handling a rotary polisher, this is not like a DA or a ROP polisher that is pretty much noob friendly since its does not induce swirls and it would take a long time to burn or strike through paint. The rotary polisher is a totally different animal, at first i though that after seeing video's of how to do it how can it be that hard? So i grabbed some paint panels from some body shops in banawe for a few hundred to about 1k pesos and practiced on them, and they are not joking when they say that it is very easy to strike through, so after practicing on some panels and learning the steep learning curve i was still not producing great results so i ended up taking the Megs and Mothers Seminar before i could start to get great results. A rotary polisher can be safe once you follow the guidelines and when you use light foam pads with light polishes but its a different story when using wool and cutting pads and compounds

Its a good thing that you have that polisher since thats also my first polisher, but in my case when i bought mine i already bought it as a package with an included 7" backing plate for 8 inch pads and an extra wool pad so that makes it 2. Outside this package sells for 4.5k to 5k but since we personally know the seller we got it for a little less but the thing is i don't know if he's selling the backing plate separately. If you want his number send me a PM and i'll give you his contact.

The wp1300 is actually a good buffer since it has the power to do serious paint correction but one thing to take note of, is that you cannot put too much pressure on the polisher since it tends to bog down unlike its Makita counterpart. Another thing that i noticed is that when it bogs down you have to release the trigger and start slow again so it definitely takes time to learn how to make it rotate well under different circumstances. Its also a bit heavy so i ended up buying a Makita since its definitely lighter and with the Makita i don't have to put on earphones.

Im saying those things just to give you some heads up without any intention to deter you.

Now with that said these are the things that you would need:

1. Backing plate - you can't attach any pads without this one. The sad thing about this is that this machine does not accept the standard backing pads available in the market so you either have to have one machined for you or find an adapter.

2. Lighting - you need proper lighting to be able to see whether the correction has been done, halogen and fluorescent lights are good for the average joe but if want to take it further, mercury and sodium bulbs are also great in showing up scratches and swirls.

3. Pads - the pads you will be needing would depend on the severity of the defects that you want to correct. It is always nice to start with the least aggressive pads as i've mentioned earlier its nice to get soft pads to for LC it would be white and black for starters and with Megs that would be Yellow and Beige. Once you are capable of getting good results and you might want to venture into more aggressive pads and polishes

4. Polishes and compounds - these are equally important as the pads, and these would also depend on your goals, Megs and Mothers have great polishes that are available locally. Megs 84 for compounding and heavy oxidation, Megs 83 for medium polishing and removing moderate scratches and swirls, sadly this is their lightest polish and this is even considered a medium polish and the Megs light, fine and ultra fine polishes are not available locally. As for Mothers they have a HD compound thats good for compounding, this is actually heavy duty and is considered very aggressive. Then there's Mother Power polish, this is a very versatile product but is very pad dependent, it could be a medium polish with a cutting pad, a light polish with a light cutting pad and a fine polish when used with a finishing pad.

5. Quick Detail Spray - you use this for priming the pad and for removing compound and polish residue's

6. Lots of MF towels - you need to remove polishes every after correction you do or after every polishing you do so alot around 3 for one vehicle this is for one step only.

7. Toothbrush - this is used to clean foam pads

8. Pad Spur - this is used to clean wool pads, if you're not going with wool you don't have to buy this

9. Spray bottle with high concentration of shampoo - you use this to treat those parts of you foam pad that are dirty while working the toothbrush

10. Spray bottle with water - used to rinse off the soap solution.

11. Masking tape - to tape of those non painted parts of the car, getting polishes stuck on non paint surfaces can really be a real pain to remove.