proper care of Meguiar's Pads

[russell336]

Ok, I was able to detail the hood on my wife's mustang last night and now I need to know the proper way to clean the pads. These are the Meguiar's pads, the Polishing pad, the Cutting pad and the Finishing pad.
Also, I was wondering if I followed the correct steps in use of the pads. I used a P/C with the speed set to 4 for all applications but I am not sure if I was aggresive enough as there are still some fine scratches showing. I also have not seen it in the daylight yet so there may be some that are visible under sunlight that were not visible last night.

Here are my steps in the detailing of the hood (plan to do the rest of the care tonight or tomorrow night).
1. wash
2. Meguiar'sClay Bar using Quik Detail spray
3. Meguiar's Swirl Remover (#9) applied using Cutting pad and removed by hand
4. Meguiar's Show Car Glaze (#7) applied using Polishing pad and removed by hand
5. Meguiar's NXT wax, applied and removed by hand
6. Meguiar's Hi-Tech Yellow Wax (#26) applied using finishing pad and removed by hand.

Here are some before and afters: .Before & After
These were taken with a digital so they are not the best. I have taken some with a SLR that I hope will show the differences better. I will post these as soon as I get the film developed.
I also have a black 2004 F-150 with some minor scratches in it that I plan to work on this weekend and will post pictures of that when I am done.

Thanks,

Before,

[Mike Phillips]

Hi russell336,

I checked out your pictures in the Gallery, but most of them were so dark it was hard to see accurate results. I took the liberty of inserting one of the before pictures into your message for you using the IMG tag.

A couple of notes:

From the looks from this before picture,



Your car's finish is in need of something more aggressive than #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 It will improve the finish, especially if applied with the PC, but if you really want to remove a majority of those swirls and scratches, I would recommend picking up a bottle of any of the following for the paint cleaning step.

#83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish

Medallion Premium Paint Cleaner

Clear Coat Body Scrub Paint Cleaner

Any of the above should remove more of the defects faster and more thoroughly. Use the W-8006 foam polishing pad on the PC on the 5.0 setting with about 5-8 pounds of hand pressure on the head of the PC. Overlap each pass by 50% and work each area for until the products have almost dissipated, but are still leaving a wet film behind.

Then follow with the steps you have outlined. You may want to look at the results of the NXT by itself out in the sun before applying the #26 over it. So far, I have never seen the need for a topper over Tech Wax. But, YMMV...

Cleaning PC Foam Pads

As far as cleaning the foam pads go,

You can take a clean terry cloth towel and push it into the foam with your hand to draw out any excess product.

You can tap or bang with your hand the face of a dry foam pad to knock loose any dry residue.

You can spin the foam pads to a high rpm on a rotary buffer, which will expel any excess product and then drag a nylon brush against the face of them to remove any dirt or abrasive particles. (This requires that you or a friend own a rotary buffer and the appropriate backing plate)

Some people wash their foam pads out under running water using soap solutions. Meguiar’s does not recommend this so you do so at your own risk.


Just yesterday, Jason Rose, a Meguiar's Professional Field Rep for California shared with me a method he was shown,

Take a clean terry cloth towel, or a clean microfiber polishing cloth and roll the foam pad up in the towel/cloth squeezing the pad/towel as you go, (Kind of like rolling up a sleeping bag). Squeezing the towel/microfiber polishing cloth will act to squish, or absorb any excess product out of the foam pad.

Kind of like ringing out a chamois.


Hope this helps…

Mike

[CHzo6]

On the package for the polishing pads it says " Cleaning the Pad : run a fine plastic bristle brush smoothly over the pad surface with the buffer turned on "

Anyone try this ?

[russell336]

Thanks Mike for your reply.

I mentioned that I just did the hood on my wife's mustang and was pleased with the results. That was until I saw it in direct sunlight.
The swirl marks are gone but apparently when taking off the wax, using a terry cloth hand towel, I put some more fine scratches in the finish. I am assuming that these were caused by the towels that I used as the scratches are following the pattern I used in taking off the wax (back and forth motion as opposed to a circular motion).
They are 100% terry cloth but I have been using them for some time now and the quality wasn't that great to begin with (came from Wally World). I am going to try again this weekend and use the microfiber towel I ordered from Meguiar's for removal of the wax.
I need to order a few more as I only have two but that is going to have to wait until next payday.



Thanks again for your help.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by CHzo6
On the package for the polishing pads it says " Cleaning the Pad : run a fine plastic bristle brush smoothly over the pad surface with the buffer turned on "

Anyone try this ?

I use that method on all of my pads.

[manueljlg]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a plastic bristle brush ?

[wlefevre]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips

Clear Coat Body Scrub Paint Cleaner

Mike

Mike,

What would be the difference in this and ColorX?

Thanks.

Wayne

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by manueljlg
Excuse my ignorance, but what is a plastic bristle brush ?

I use the black handled "plastic bristle brush" to clean my PC pads with.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by wlefevre
Mike,

What would be the difference in this and ColorX?

Thanks.

Wayne

I'm not Mike, but I will give you my take on the two.

Body Scrub is a dedicated cleaner...It is used before polishing & waxing.

ColorX is a cleaner wax...It cleans, polishes & waxes the finish all in one step.

Either can be used with a DA polisher (Orbital), or applied by hand.

[wlefevre]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
I'm not Mike, but I will give you my take on the two.

Body Scrub is a dedicated cleaner...It is used before polishing & waxing.

ColorX is a cleaner wax...It cleans, polishes & waxes the finish all in one step.

Either can be used with a DA polisher (Orbital), or applied by hand.

Ah, got it. Can you put NXT over ColorX, or should I only use the body scrub?
Thanks.
Wayne

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by wlefevre
Ah, got it. Can you put NXT over ColorX, or should I only use the body scrub?
Thanks.
Wayne

Yes, you can put NXT over ColorX.

Not sure if I understand the part about Body Scrub.