Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

[Mike in the Dro]

Setup: I'm brand new to electronic-assisted detailing and this if my first post here. I've hand-washed/waxed my cars all my life (I'm 56) but just bought a new car in November (Chrysler 3000S) in November which is the largest I've ever owned. I also used a new wax (Meguiar's NTX Gen liquid) instead of my usual (old school Turtle Wax paste). The Meguiar's took longer to apply and buff out; it actually took me several hours and frankly it was a workout I never want to do again. Let's face it, I'm no longer a kid.

Accordingly, I told myself I was going to buy a waxer/buffer; and after doing lots of research I ordered a Porter Cable 7424XP polisher from Amazon which should arrive next week. I've also decided on getting an Astro Pneumatic 4607 5" PU Velcro Backing Pad, which I learned I needed to use my own pads. I don't believe that I need the PC polisher for more than applying wax and buffing it out.

Here are my basic questions:

1. Do I use the same pad -- whatever one(s) I get -- to both apply AND buff out the wax?

2. Do I need some type of microfiber "bonnet" (I understand it's called) specifically for the buffing?

3. Several folks on Amazon recommend one simply get the Chemical Guys (BUF_HEXKITS_8P) 5.5" Hex-Logic Buffing Pad Kit - 8 Piece for about $45. If I do, would I be all set?

I really just need to know BESIDES the already purchased PC polisher, and AP backing pad, what specific pad or pads I need to apply and buff out the wax. Thanks folks! - Mike

[Ghawk]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Hi Mike and welcome to MOL!

I was in your shoes when I first started venturing in the world of machine detailing. There are so many options and variables that it all seems too much to take in.

If I understand your question, you want a very soft pad to spread a very thin layer of wax AND a pad to support a bonnet to buff the wax off with.

As far as wax applying pads, a good pad for the 6 in size is the Lake Country 6.5 inch finessing flat pad. It will allow you to safely spread waxes while providing no cut from the pad.

Now for the buffing off aspect, I have never used a machine to buff wax off a car, yet I know some people do. Honestly when using a machine to apply wax you can spread it so even and thin that it requires no effort at all to remove. In fact my bottle of Collinite wax has done 15 or so cars and has barely made a dent in the bottle. But if you would like to have a bonnet to remove the wax, yes I would recommend a high quality microfiber one and the lambs wool support pad they sell on Autogeek.

However, I have not used a machine to buff off, so if anyone else has, please chime in here with your recommendations.

I hope I answered your questions, Congrats on the new 300! Very awesome cars.

Griffith Hawk

[The Guz]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about the struggles using NXT. It almost sounds like a little too much product was used. NXT is a great product. Like anything else you want to apply it very thin. Almost to the point where you don't see it. Doing so will make it much easier to remove after it hazes on the surface for a few minutes.

As far as pads I prefer to use a 5.5" pad on a porter cable. The 5.5" pad rotates better and transfers the energy from the tool more efficiently than a larger pad. That is from my experience. I prefer to use the 5.5" lake country flat pads. If I apply wax by maching I will use the black pad. The orange pad I use it with a compound and the white pad I use with a polish.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Lake-Country-Inch-Flat/dp/B005GVC46G/ref=sr_1_6?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1395173534&sr=1-6&keywords=5.5%22+lake+country

http://www.amazon.com/Orange-Lake-Country-Inch-Flat/dp/B005GV3VT0/ref=sr_1_5?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1395173534&sr=1-5&keywords=5.5%22+lake+country

http://www.amazon.com/White-Lake-Country-Inch-Flat/dp/B005GV95QI/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1395173534&sr=1-3&keywords=5.5%22+lake+country

I have not used a bonnet to remove wax but it can be done. If you apply it thin all you need is a soft microfiber towel like the meguiar's supreme shine microfiber towel.

http://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Supreme-Shine-Microfiber-Cloths/dp/B0009IQZH0/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1395173771&sr=1-2&keywords=meguiars+supreme+shine

[Mike in the Dro]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Griffith and Michael -- thank you both for the great information to make things a bit clearer. I will look into it all.

Mike

[Blueline]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Setup: just bought a new car in November (Chrysler 3000S) in November

Hey, Mike...have you been lying to us guys over at http://www.300cforums.com/ You told us you had a 300S, but apparently it is a 3000S. A THREE THOUSAND S??? LOL.
Glad you found this site and chose Meguiar's for that Mesmerizingly Black beast. Lots of info here, a good bunch of people. I just have a waxer/buffer because I have no real paint correction on my new THREE HUNDRED. You must have some real good dealer scratches to need a DA. The kid me bought one of those DA gizmos you put on the end of a drill. Probably will sit on my shelf until I forget about it. As for wax, M16 was the best out there but not made anymore, Try Meguiar's Ultimate Wax... good stuff. Hope you clayed, and polished that new vehicle before you threw that wax on.

[Mike in the Dro]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Hey, Mike...have you been lying to us guys over at http://www.300cforums.com/ You told us you had a 300S, but apparently it is a 3000S. A THREE THOUSAND S??? LOL.

You *******! haha. But really I did see that ("3000") after the fact but couldn't find an edit button... I guess my car is just, uh, 100 times better than most 300s. ;-)

Otherwise, no -- my paint has no defects or scratches; I'm just an schmuck who is finally tired of hand-waxing my cars and wanted something nicer (and the whole world recommended that Porter-Cable device). Probably overkill I know but I didn't want some cheap-*** drugstore machine that would break on the second use is all. With any luck -- and after the next time I wax my car in a few months -- I'll have done it right and probably won't need to make myself too much of a prescence on these forums (jaysus, I'm already in car, motorcycle, music, smartphone and who knows what other forums...). I mean a man should get OUT and LIVE this damn life a little too!

You're a 300 owner similarly (are you named the same on the 300 forums - I just joined in Nov.)? Wow -- you folks get around!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Hi Mike, welcome to MOL!


The reason anyone uses a buffer to work on their car is to handle the difficult tasks that require elbow grease and cause us to have sore backs and shoulders. Wiping a hazed wax off the paint should not be included in that scenario..... if it is, you've simply applied way too much wax. Using a buffer with the appropriate soft foam finishing pad allows you to spread the wax very thin. When it's applied really thin it dries quickly and wipes off with ease once hazed over. There is never a need to "buff" your wax when wiping off; doing so does NOT increase the gloss. All it does is create more work for you, and it runs the very real risk of creating fine scratches in the paint and it removes the bulk of what you intended to leave behind in the first place. In fact, even applying wax shouldn't be a chore, if it's done right. But most people tend to seriously over use wax, which just causes problems and makes the whole process more time consuming and difficult than it needs to be.

[Mike in the Dro]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

But most people tend to seriously over use wax, which just causes problems and makes the whole process more time consuming and difficult than it needs to be.

OK OK, guilty! Mea culpa! But seriously, thanks for the information in your post and the welcome message. At my age I pretty much know what I'm doing but I appreciate all the guidance from everybody and what I can continue to learn.

- Mike

[Top Gear]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

I can chime in too on being overwhelmed with info (and mis-info) regarding car detailing! I also agree that most people over-use wax, greatly over-estimate the purpose and remedies of wax, and do more damage over time than the wax is supposed to originally fix. I was one of these people until I discovered the techniques in Meguiar's videos and in this forum.

The comparison between hand-waxing and DA-waxing is really a no-brainer, other than the confusing info/advice about products, techniques, and the cost of getting set up. You'll get much better results with the machine, and it should be surprisingly easy-on, easy-off deal, wax-wise. I use Gold Class liquid wax, which is very easy to apply by DA and wipe off/buff by hand. I do a 3-part wax step: A beige Mirror Glaze 6.5" foam pad at low speed to apply a very thin layer, a micro-fibre rag to remove once the wax is dry/hazed, and a chamois rag to lightly buff or touch-up.

However, the real benefit of purchasing and using the machine and dealing with all the confusing info comes when you add compound and polish steps with the DA before waxing. Now, you'll work much harder, and it will take much longer, over a typical wash and hand-wax approach, particularly the compounding part, but the results will be FAR beyond anything you could ever do by hand, or by waxing alone.

[Mike in the Dro]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Wow, ANOTHER post with great information. Thanks Top Gear. But, uh, about the working "much harder," and "longer" [than hand-detailing]. Uh, no -- that dog don't hunt. I mean, that's why I bought this contraption in the first place! ;-) Still, thanks again for the great education I'm continuing to get. I really just need to get the pads now.

[Top Gear]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

I hear you - for me, Aleve and adult beverages are part of the kit

You can probably get away without compounding, or at least without compounding the entire car. The claying and compounding are by far the most work, and the polishing step is really almost as easy as the waxing step. You also can do a fuller correction at a later time, say if you just do a wax this first time. Claying is essential, though, and might be the worst part of all. Again, pain killers should be on standby.

But, here's another HUGE tip I've learned here and totally embraced - spray detailing/waxing. Many car buffs seem to hand-wax every month or every few weeks or even weekly, because the wax wears off and they want to redo it. They even talk about how long a wax supposedly lasts as a reason as to why they picked it. A full correction, however, is an investment in your time (and back strain) which you only need to do once in a blue moon. After that, for months and months, you can perfectly maintain it with dusting, rinsing, occasional washing, and spray products matching your wax (Gold Class, Ultimate, NXT, etc).

Let me put it this way. It's been over a year since I fully corrected my paint (see the link in my sig), so that was the last time I "waxed the car" with the DA (other than a couple of touchup/tests). However, the car is always waxed, because I go through a lot of quik detailer and quik wax, cleaning and re-waxing the car every few days - but it only takes minutes

[Mike in the Dro]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

VERY interesting information Top Gear. Really, thank you so much for taking the time to provide detailing theory 101 and your opinion of things. It's always wise to listen to those (here in the thread) that have had regular dealings with this. Aleve and adult beverages -- yup, good combo. Ultimately and admittedly though, I may not be as serious a detailer as some so I will be relaxing my standards slightly. I normally wash my car perhaps ever 6-8 weeks and wax it about three or four times a year. That's enough for my needs. I like the Administrator (Michael)'s adage that this hobby is supposed to BE your therapy and not the reason you NEED therapy. Cheers!

[Top Gear]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

You're welcome! But you don't have to overwork yourself with these new solutions. That's part of the point. The old way (at least the way I grew up with) was to bucket wash and hand-wax as often as possible, which can be a lot of work. Yes, the DA will reduce that workload a bit, all else being equal. However, the paint will actually look worse and worse over time using this old way, particularly due to the ravages of sunlight and heat.

The new way, the new Zen and the Art of Detailing, if you will, is to "correct" the paint semi-professionally no more than once or twice a year. Also, you only bucket wash with the full suds-n-mitt treatment when the car flat-out demands to be washed. Otherwise, all you have to do (assuming you avoid driving in the rain, slush and mud), day after day, week after week, month after month, are quick rinses (and I like the blow dry method), quick wipes with spray products, or even just a dusting using a "California" duster. These approaches really are therapy - at least to me

This relatively low effort to "maintain the correction" is therapeutic, but still frees up time and energy, yet the car always looks "show car fresh". I can't impress on you enough the difference between these two methods.

[Mike in the Dro]

Re: Newbie Q: What Pads do I Need for Simple Wax and Buffing?

Ultimately, I'm just trying to have as nice looking car as I can with a modicum of effort.