Which Cleaner/Polish?

[_G-DoG_]

Hello There.
I'm having a problem and I hope you can help me.
My problem is that i really don't know which cleaner or polish I should use. I've read a lot in here, but I'm not able to decide wheather I should buy #3, #7, #80, #81, #82, #83 or another product.
I want to clean my paint (which has not been done in the last 7 years, but it does not look too bad, except for the swirls and scratches) and make it really shiny and flat.
I'm going to use an orbital polisher which looks like this:

After polishing I'm going to add some coats of Liquid Glass and after this 2 coats of the NXT Tech Wax Paste topped with a coat of #26 I think.
Is that ok or do you have a better idea?

So could you guys please tell me which cleaner/polish i should use to remove the swirls and scratches and to make my car really shiny again??

Here are some pics of my paint: ( I know that some of these scratches can not be fixed )




Greets
Markus

[scarface_]

Start with the most least aggressive product first, which i think would be 80. I don't know how well that orbital will work to remove the swirls and scratches though.

[Power man]

Originally posted by scarface_
Start with the most least aggressive product first, which i think would be 80. I don't know how well that orbital will work to remove the swirls and scratches though.

Generally the aggressiveness depends on the faktors produkt, pad, pad speed (rpm), arm speed and pressure.

Meguiar's teaches, "Always use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

A good help for select the least aggressive product is the aggressivescale which you can find on each bottle of Meguiar's Professional Line:

Product (Aggressivescale)
#3 Machine Glaze (1)
#9 Swirl Remover 2.0 (3)
#82 Swirl Free Polish (3)
#80 Speed Glaze (4)
#66 Quick Detailer (4)
#2 Fine-Cut Cleaner (5)
#83 Dual Action Cleaner/Polish (6)
#1 Medium Cut Cleaner (7) only for rotary use
#4 Heavy-Cut Cleaner (8) only for rotary use
#84 Compound Power Cleaner (9) only for rotary use
#85 Diamond Cut Compound 2.0 (10) only for rotary use

@_G-DoG_
The orbital polisher on your photo is not the best choice - if possible, take a better machine e.g. Festo Rotex or Makita BO 6040.

A good allround product is Meg's #80, but when your car's paint is in a good condition, you could beginn with #82 especially for dark paints.

If you like you could follow with a pure polish like Meg's #5, #7 or #81. Meg's pure polishes has no cutting ability and adds your paint a little more wet look.

Then take a sealant or wax of your choice and put one or two layers on the well prepped surface.

Hope this helps

Harald

[_G-DoG_]

Thanks Harald.
But i speak german as well
Habe diese Maschine schon und um ehrlich zu sein habe ich etwas angst mit ner Rotationsmaschine.

I would use the least abrasive, if I would knew which has enough power for the job.
Could perhaps somebody tell me which polish would be the right to remove my scratches and swirls?

@ Harald: Hast du #7 schonmal probiert? Bringt es einen deutlichen Unterschied?

[_G-DoG_]

Is #7 bringing a big difference when used after #80 or #83?

[Power man]

@_G-DoG_
you have a P.M.!

[_G-DoG_]

Did the Hood with some Cleaner (I still had some of it from another car) today.
I think it looks not bad except for the swirls

What would you think about #83 and then #82??


The last picture is zoomed.

[Mike Phillips]

Orbital polisher like the one in the picture tend not to be very efficient at removing swirls out of clear coat finishes. I say tends, because you don't know what you can do until you try.

If you want to try using your orbital buffer to remove swirls then you might try our ScratchX. This product is not formulated for use by machine in that when it gets warm it gets gummy and this makes it difficult to remove. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work great by machine to remove swirls and scratches. It actually works pretty well at removing swirls and scratches by machine it's just the heat/gummy issue that's a problem.

Because these types of tools do not oscillate at as high as speeds as a dual action polisher you'll have less problems with heat.

ScratchX should be available to you locally also so you can at least start with ScratchX and work a small section and see if it works and if not then we can move in a different direction as far as stepping up to a product in the Professional Line. If you want to just start in the professional line then you could opt for the M80 Speed Glaze to start with or the M83 DACP, but watch my words... best results from these two products are achieved when applied with either a rotary buffer or a G100 Dual action polisher.

[Mike Phillips]

Just so everyone is on the same page when it comes to removing below surface defects, here's a little article I wrote on the topic,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...


In order to remove a scratch out of anything, metal, plastic glass, paint, etc. You must remove material around the scratch until the surface is level or equal to the lowest depths of the scratch or scratches.

The below diagram if for paint, the the same thing applies to just about an surface material or coating.



In essences, you don't really remove a scratch, you remove material around a scratch.

Then the big question is, is the material or coating workable, as in can you abrade small particles of it and leave behind an original looking surface. For example, some things you can abrade, (remove the scratch), but you can never completely remove all of your abrading marks, thus you can't really fix the problem, all you can do is exchange one set of scratches of a different set of scratches.

The next questions is, how thick is the surface material you're working on or the coating. You are limited to what you can do by the thickness of these to things, (surface coating or surface material), and whether or not this surface is workable.

Sometimes you don't know what you can so until you try. It's always a good idea to test your choice of products, applicator materials and application process, (By hand or by machine), to an inconspicuous area. If you cannot make a small area look good with your product, applicator and process, you will not be able to make the entire surface look good. It's always a good idea to test first and error on the side of caution, versus make a mistake you cannot undo.

[_G-DoG_]

Yes Scratch X is available here. But the problem is that the professional series isn't.
My only chance is to order #83 or #82 or #80 from the US. This would be very expensive, except if I place my order until tommorow because some friends want to order a lot of things from the US and if I place my order with them the shipping costs will be much less.
I heard that #80 would not be the best for me if I want to add Liquid Glass after the polishing and before waxing. Is that true?
I think I can not remove all swirls, but at least make them less. After that i hope that the LG, topped with NXT or #26 (or both) will cover them.
What do you think about that Mike?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by _G-DoG_
Yes Scratch X is available here. But the problem is that the professional series isn't.

Get some and try it. You just might be surprised.

I heard that #80 would not be the best for me if I want to add Liquid Glass after the polishing and before waxing.

Where or what forum did you read this on?

[_G-DoG_]

It was in a german forum.
I was told that #80 brings a little protection along and this would not be the best if I want to apply LG afterwards. Is that not true?