Long time lurker in this section. I always did my details by hand (~6 hours and a dead arm, neck, and back usually) By hand, I would Wash, dry, clay, polish, and wax with mainstream brands like Mothers & Meguiers.
After the detail, everything look good... until I seen it in the sun!! There were a lot of buff marks & marring that I was unable to get out by hand. And I DONT want to pay someone to detail the car, so what better than to DIY?

I was never ready to pull the trigger to spend a few bills on a PC & more detail-holic brands... until I got some overtime this work week .

Heres what I just ordered off excel after much reading, researching, and headaches for the past few hours. All whilst watching Mike Phelps dominate the swimming race...


This is a pic after the hand detail... looks good right? too bad it's not in the sun.


Anyways... hope this is the right approach for the correction.
Wash + dry
(No clay as I just clayed last month, it's still baby's ass smooth)
Optimum Polish + white pad @ 4spd... or orange pad @ 3spd?
Optimum Poliseal + white pad @ 4spd
FS PPP + red pad @ 4spd... or by hand?




:tear: for my wallet

 

i think youll get quicker correction at speeds 5 or 6, although i have heard of a slow cut method whatever that is.

everyone says go from least aggressive to more aggressive, no one can really tell you what they need without seeing the severity of the swirls. so try polish on white then check if you need to move up in aggressiveness weather its pad or polish.

i personally like applying the sealant with the machine quick and easy

 

polish at speed 5-6, use the orange pad for the op, and use the white pad for the poliseal...

any lsp that your going to use with the machine should be done with a low setting...i use upp on setting 1-2 with a black pad, but in your case use the red one....the last step product(lsp) shouldnt take you more than 20 minutes to do the whole car, and very little product.....

 

Your prolly not going to do a lot of correction with the Polish alone if you need to .. you might need to do spot work with the Compound or Hyper then the whole car with the Polish.

 

Oh boy are you going to have a good time!!
Were all here to help also!

 

Most of these guys have more experience than me. Get the Optimum Compound for correction man.

 

Yeah PM'd him, waiting for response... hopefully he didn't ship yet D: !

 

I see him on. If he ship it, you'll get a tracking # from him.

 

Recieved everything yesterday.... and did the deet this mornig, just finished. took about 3.5 hours

Wash
Dry
(didn't need to clay)
Optimum Compound on orange pad @ 4spd
Optimum Polish on White @ 4spd
Optimum Poli-seal on white @ 4spd
Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection on red @ 3spd

I tihnk this ones the before;

can't really tell :\, my paint wasn't in too bad of a condition
afters





I'm happy with the product.. i can really see the carbon grey pearsl now

anyone in the bay area needa detail ?

 

Johnny looks great! And im sure its even better in person! Beats the tar out of hand polishing eh?

 

Looks good! Is there any how-to's on polishing with an orbital buffer? I've seen one video but I'd like to see how others are doing it. I guess I'm just not quite sure how long you're suppose to polish a particular area for. I'm planning to do my car next weekend.

 

Yeah my shitty 4.1mp 10yr old camera doesn't do much justice lol

I wasn't too sure hwo to start, however, that's when youtube comes in handy

I did about 3-4 passes per panel, only 2 pass with the poliseal & UPP

Ain't nothin better than a MS Paint explanation

 

With a dedicated polish, repeat pass 1. as #3.