Noob - buying advice for a beginner

traco

I was going to reply in the general chat thread but decided a separate one may be better and might help some one else down the road.

To date I only wash my cars, I do use the 2 bucket method, Bilt Hammer shampoo. Big mitt and dry with a big fuzzy thing. All stuff I got from detailing shed way back as I only focus on the "valued cars".

As a lurker here I've been thinking about trying my hand at taking things to the next level and the post below prompted me to start this.

Mods - throw this back into teh chat thread if more appropriate.

vectra wrote: »

It would be very difficult to mess up the car if you pay any sort of attention to what you are doing.
Here you go >> https://www.in2detailing.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/2007/s/in2detailing-da8-dual-action-machine-polisher-in2200327779/category/136/

Imran is an absolute gent to deal with.

I was looking at that one a few days ago as a first step into this world. From watching forensic detailing on youtube and few other guys the hex logic pads seem to be well thought of.
My question as a beginner is how many and what grade should I order for the above machine as it comes with 75mm and 125mm backing plate?
2 x orange Hex Logic medium cutting in 5.5?
2 x white medium Hex Logic polishing in 5.5?

I can't see hex logic in 3" sizes though, am I missing something? Whats a good smaller pad for the trickier areas.

I'm also thinking about this set of cutting and polishes?
https://www.in2detailing.co.uk/products/paint-correction/polishing-compounds/scholl-concepts/scholl-concepts-1kg-kit-s3-xxl-s17-s40.html

The cars are German, three are grey and one is black. I might practice on the daily a grey skoda superb which has been well abused and almost 200k miles on it. Actually we have 4 grey cars in the house??

The Boxster paint is very good as it was done a few years ago by a professional so it just needs a good wash and polish. The big one is a 2007 Grey Merc that I'd like to do a 2 stage on. This is a big car so lots of paint to cover. These are both weekend cars, just want to get them looking good and keep them good. They won't be show cars as they are there to be used.

I was thinking Fusso Soft 99 black as the wax / polish to finish but open to suggestions.

I probably need a shopping list, the more I look the more it seems like the machine is the simple part and probably the lowest cost also. Its all the accessories that add up and I'd rather not end up with a load of useless stuff and irrelevant products.

So keep it simple and be gentle. Thanks

MetzgerMeister

Shinemate and Lake Country pads are very good also so don't discount them.

Personally I haven't used wax in years. I prefer Gtechniq C2V3 for the following reasons:

- Spray, spread, buff
- No strong smell that gives headaches
- You're not left with applicator pads and cloths that reek and are hard enough to wash properly
- C2V3 lasts as long if not longer
- Ease of application
- Much less time consuming
- Can either be used on dry panels (after a wash) or used as a drying aid
- Doesn't matter if water runs out from cracks/panel gaps - this can be a PITA with wax

traco

I'm not sure about the coatings to be honest and don't know a lot about them. From what little I know they coating seems to be of real value for daily drivers but again there are now so many variations its really confusing.

The soft99 seems to behave a little like a coating and would seem a halfway point. The two cars are not daily's and will each only cover 3k kms or so per year. John on FD rated the soft 99 fairly highly. They will spend most of their time stored inside apart from when in use so looking for decent protection, easy to clean and reset each year. I will check out the C2V3 as it might be the ideal product. What is it like for shine / gloss / depth?

How hard are these coatings to remove and get back to just clearcoat to redo them once a year?

For ref this is the pair of trouble makers that require the minding and have prompted me to do the work myself. Figured if I do the grease monkey stuff I should learn how to keep their good looks also.

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ianobrien

OP, I'm another that used to use waxes (Fusso, Collinite 845, etc) and once I tried CarPro Reload/Gtechniq C2V3, I'll never go back to waxes.

For materials I use, have a look at this thread https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057947270

I was a bit worried before I machine polished for the first time. However, I got a scrap car door and practiced on that. I saw I was worrying needlessly and here's one of the first times I did a car properly, top to bottom https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108326827&postcount=5542