Question

[TX_FX4]

Im not really "new" to detailing but im no pro either. Just want to know what i should get as a starter kit if you will? I want to fix swirl marks and shine.

[BarryK]

Re: Question

a bit more info would be nice, such as year and model of car, type of paint, etc but as a GENERAL guide you want to first keep i mind to use the LEAST aggressive product you can that will accomplish your goals. This will vary depending on type of paint, etc.
Also, are you doing everything by hand or do you have or plan on getting a Dual Action buffer?


for example, honda's tend to typically have softer paint so making paint corrections is usually easier and a less aggressive product can be effective such as using SwirlX to remove swirls, etc. On the other hand, newer Corvettes, Mercedes, and others tend to have clearcoats that are hard as rocks and trying to remove the same level of swirls that were in the Honda could take much more aggressive product and the SwirlX may not be at all effective so you would need to go up to ScratchX 2.0 or UC (Ultimate compound).

As a rough guide though i'd recommend having on your shelf:
1. high quality car wash such as Gold Class car wash
2. clay (Smooth Surface clay kit comes with clay and QD spray as lubricant)
3. SwirlX
4. ScratchX
5. Ultimate Compound
6. Your preference of wax or paint sealant - NXT 2.0 would be an excellent choice
7. a Quick Detail (QD) spray to keep vehicle looking good ad dusted of between washes. something like Ultimate Quick Detailer (UQD)

this selection of products isn't requiring you to keeps dozens of various items on hand but gives you pretty much everything you need from wash to finish and the "correction items of swirlx, scratchX, and UC are giving you a wide range of aggressiveness from pretty mild (SwirlX) to fairly aggressive (UC) to cover whatever paint type or level of defects you need to try to correct.

The 'shine" you want will come as a direct result of full paint surface care than includes the washing, claying, whatever polishing steps are required to remove swirls, etc, and than waxing (or paint sealant)

Seven items and a number of high quality microfiber towels and you are good.

of course you can also look into additional items next for other areas of the car other than paint such as a nice dressing or trim detail product for the plastic trim/molding parts, wheel/rim cleaners, tire coatings, interior cleaners, leather cleaners, etc but these are outside the realm of your post so we won't get into this other stuff at the moment

[scott0999]

Re: Question

I would go ahead and get some M105 too. UC is not bad, but on neglected cars you often need more cut