Newbie at compounding

[tazman]

I have had my car for 18 months now and feel I have kept good care of it doing the 2 bucket wash. I get the car coated every 6 months from the dealer and I want to compound and polish before my next coating in March. I purchased my polisher kit http://www.chemicalguys.com/TORQ_TOR..._p/buf503x.htm and I notice now that it only comes with a certain amount of pads. I only have mostly light swirl marks and i was thinking of using the medium heavy cutting pad with V36 then using CarPro Essence Xtreme Gloss Enhancer with the finishing pad. Do those pads and compounds sound like a good starting point or is the medium heavy cutting pad to harsh to start with when the car does not have much in the way of defects? I appreciate any tips on what minimal steps I could start with. Also can you use a cutting compound with a polishing pad?

[O.F.]

Experiment on something you don't care about first. My $.02

[Adam's Polishes]

I am not familiar with their pads or polishes however watch this video and you can see the basics of machine polishing.
One thing I will say do a test 2x2 spot on your car and don't move on until you have corrected it, so you will know what it's going to take to make your paint perfect again.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Your dealership is not putting a "coating" on your car. It's either a sealant or a wax.

If you take the time to remove the defects in your paint, I would do the sealant/wax too.

Your dealership won't prep the surface properly. Likely won't use high quality clean towels/applicators, and you'll end up with swirls back in your paint.

I'd never let a dealership touch my paint. Get your own LSP, and put protection on yourself. It's easy to do. The black Hex logic pad is good for applying sealants.

For swirl removal, start with the orange pad and the V36. Do one 2'x2' section, and check results. If defects still remain, step up to V34, go up to V32 if needed.

After defects are removed, do another 2' x 2' section. Then finish one section with the V38 and white pad, and the other with V36. Whichever gives best results, use on rest of car.

Essence is a finishing polish, gloss enhancer, and SI02 protection all in one product. Since you already have V36 and V38 which are finishing polishes, you really don't need Essence. If your going to use it anyway, I'd recommend using Megs DMF finishing pads with it.

You'll need more then the 3 pads you got with the kit. If you want to stay with the hex logic, I'd get 2 more each of the orange/white 5.5". Also a 3.5" backing plate and a couple each of the 4" orange/white hex logic for the smaller areas.

If you don't have these, you'll also need them.

Clay/clay alternative and lube
Iron decontamination product
Swirl finder light
Good quality Korean microfiber towels
Isopropyl Alcohol/distilled water/spray bottle, or a bottle of Carpro Eraser
Detailing tape, to cover trim/badges
Pad brush

[lbls1]

Try not to use "compound" on your paint surface. Most compounds are an aggressive type of polish. I would recommend that you use a regimen consisting of washing the car, then clay, and then polish, clean-up of the polish residue, and then a last step product such as wax or a sealant.

Do your own research in terms of the proper products that will include washing and claying products, towels, polish products, polishing pads and machine (if you intend to polish by machine), polishing methods (including taping of trim....very important) and the brand of an lsp (wax or a sealant). Make your own choices that will fit with the amount of time and confidence that you have in the products and methods.

When you get a handle on the basics, you can then compare products and methods and fine tune your detailing regimen to a sure-fire formula that you can trust....everytime.

Good luck.

[chef-beavis]

Originally Posted by Joe M 2012 2SS

Your dealership is not putting a "coating" on your car. It's either a sealant or a wax.

If you take the time to remove the defects in your paint, I would do the sealant/wax too.

Your dealership won't prep the surface properly. Likely won't use high quality clean towels/applicators, and you'll end up with swirls back in your paint.

I'd never let a dealership touch my paint. Get your own LSP, and put protection on yourself. It's easy to do. The black Hex logic pad is good for applying sealants.

For swirl removal, start with the orange pad and the V36. Do one 2'x2' section, and check results. If defects still remain, step up to V34, go up to V32 if needed.

After defects are removed, do another 2' x 2' section. Then finish one section with the V38 and white pad, and the other with V36. Whichever gives best results, use on rest of car.

Essence is a finishing polish, gloss enhancer, and SI02 protection all in one product. Since you already have V36 and V38 which are finishing polishes, you really don't need Essence. If your going to use it anyway, I'd recommend using Megs DMF finishing pads with it.

You'll need more then the 3 pads you got with the kit. If you want to stay with the hex logic, I'd get 2 more each of the orange/white 5.5". Also a 3.5" backing plate and a couple each of the 4" orange/white hex logic for the smaller areas.

If you don't have these, you'll also need them.

Clay/clay alternative and lube
Iron decontamination product
Swirl finder light
Good quality Korean microfiber towels
Isopropyl Alcohol/distilled water/spray bottle, or a bottle of Carpro Eraser
Detailing tape, to cover trim/badges
Pad brush

I am a pro body man, mostly retired, and Joe M is nearly always spot-on! Thanks for all you contribute to this forum. I typically have no time to post much.

[tazman]

Thanks for the tips guys. It is a paint sealant the dealer uses and it works quite well I feel it makes the car easy to maintain. I have used a speedy prep towel before the coating was done since the second time. I have purchase the smaller wheel and pads. I guess I just need the swirl finder light and is the blue painters tape ok or do I need to get something else? I watched a lot of videos on this before I decide to try it but I just wanted to be sure I did not start to aggressive since my car does not have a lot of defects.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Originally Posted by tazman

Thanks for the tips guys. It is a paint sealant the dealer uses and it works quite well I feel it makes the car easy to maintain. I have used a speedy prep towel before the coating was done since the second time. I have purchase the smaller wheel and pads. I guess I just need the swirl finder light and is the blue painters tape ok or do I need to get something else? I watched a lot of videos on this before I decide to try it but I just wanted to be sure I did not start to aggressive since my car does not have a lot of defects.

You can find a light on Amazon for a reasonable price.
I bought a "Flex" one a couple years ago from AG, because I was misled to believe it was made by Flex, but it isn't. It's a good light for paint correction, just way overpriced.

Something around 130-200 lumens that has an adjustable beam.

This one on Amazon is $8 and will work fine.
LE Adjustable Focus Mini LED Flashlight Torch, CREE LED, Zoomable, Small Flashlight, Super Bright, Batteries Included

Adams also has recently added a swirl finder light which is reasonably priced at $15. Use code Camaro5 if they aren't running a sale for a 10% discount.

http://adamspolishes.com/shop/specia...lashlight.html

The use of a light like one of these will allow you to see what progress your making, also will let you know when it's time to change to a fresh pad.

Even though you'll be using a brush or a towel to clean your pad after each section, the pores of the pad will eventually become clogged with spent product and paint residue. When this happens, your section won't have the same correction results as the prior ones, so switch out to a fresh pad.

Use the light to check each section to be sure your getting the desired results.

Most every car will have at least a few RIDS (random isolated deeper scratches) that won't come out from light/moderate compounding.

You can use the smaller pads and the V32 on these. They still may not come completely out, but you can get them to the point that you will be the only one able to find them.

The blue painters tape will work fine.

There is a really good thread I'm going to "bump" for you that covers the entire process of correcting your paint.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Originally Posted by chef-beavis

I am a pro body man, mostly retired, and Joe M is nearly always spot-on! Thanks for all you contribute to this forum. I typically have no time to post much.

Thanks for your kind comment. Most everything I have learned has been from professional detailers, so I just like to help anyone I can sharing the same information that was shared with me.