Upcoming Project - HELP

[04Mach1]

OK guys....and gals, I'm here to ask the professionals. I've got a 2004 Azure Blue Mach 1 Mustang that the previous owner drove very little, so low miles (21,000), but never took the best care of the paint. It even has vertical water stains/blemishes all over the car. Below is my "plan of attack" and products I plan on using. Please advise if anything else should be done. I know, be careful with vinyl decals and trim. Thanks.

Gold Class Wash
Meguiars Clay
Ultimate Compound
Swirl X
Ultimate Polish
NXT 2.0 Generation Tech Wax

I'll do alot by hand, but I do have a craftsman 7" buffer that has yet to be used. I figured I'd use that with the Ultimate Compound and the Ultimate Polish. Obviously I'll need the foam pads, etc.

[greg0303]

Re: Upcoming Project - HELP

If this is Craftman's 7" orbital buffer it won't help you much with defect removal. You'll get faster results working by hand on small sections with Ultimate Compound. Dual action (random orbital) polisher would be your best tool to go with.

SwirlX and Ultimate Polish are both cleaner polishes so I'd just stay with one of them. If you want additional step after then pure polish, like Deep Crystal Polish or M07 Show Car Glaze, would be best before finishing wax.

Craftman's buffer can help you with pure polish and finishing wax.

[Murr1525]

Re: Upcoming Project - HELP

Just be sure to do a panel first, check results, etc. You cna always do a before, after pic as well then to share here, if any questions arise, etc.

Dont go and do the whole car, and then find something was wrong.

The newer SMAT products (like Ultimate Compound, SwirlX) have shown to work ok sometimes with the cheaper buffers. Not as good as a DA like greg mentions, but was even worse with the older products. Can always try it if you like on a small area.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Upcoming Project - HELP

Since you already have the buffer you've got nothing to lose by giving it a shot. Worst case scenario it just won't do much for you, but that's it.

If you're going to use Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish, then SwirlX is probably redundant and can be eliminated altogether.

[04Mach1]

Re: Upcoming Project - HELP

In my list of products, I will take the SwirlX step out. Other than that would there be any other products that might yield better results. Should I stick with Ultimate Polish, or use either the Deep Crystal Polish or the #7 Show Car Polish?

[Murr1525]

Re: Upcoming Project - HELP

Probably Ultimate Polish...

[Merlin]

Re: Upcoming Project - HELP

I would be really helpful if you could post some pictures of the imperfections in the paint, vertical water stains/blemishes, scratches, swirl marks etc., that you are wanting to correct.

As has been stated above a Dual Action polisher is a real good investment to correct, polish and maintain the paint on this car, other cars and any future cars. You just can not do as good of a job by hand that you can do when you use a DA polisher. Trust me when I tell you this...doing it by hand your arms will be very tired and the machine will still be running strong.

The good part is a DA is safe to use and very easy to learn.

IMHO Products:
Gold Class Wash
Meguiars Clay
Ultimate Compound
Ultimate Polish
Ultimate Wax

This trio is a good place to start...