LC pads + UC/SwirlX

[MattyR]

I’m a newbie to the PC and I’ve got a few questions about what pads to match up with what products.
My car is a 2008 Subaru Forester (Dark Gray Metallic) and it’s loaded with light scratches/swirls from the snow brush, and a few surface scratches from tree branches. ScratchX, SwirlX, and NXT 2.0 worked well by hand last year, but it took forever, so I splurged on the PC 7424 “Perfect Starter Kit”, and some Meg’s UC from AutoGeek. Now, I just need to know what combo of pads and products I should use, especially considering the soft paint of my Subie…

My thoughts:
Wash
Clay
UC or SwirlX with Lake Country white pad
NXT 2.0 with Lake Country gray pad

Is the combo of UC and the Lake Country white pad too strong for the soft paint of a Subie, especially considering the “least aggressive” method described in this forum? I have a few 4in orange LC pads as well…are they, matched with UC too strong?

Also, I plan on using Meg’s Cleaner Wax (or ColorX?) and NXT on my wife’s Honda. Should I just apply the cleaner wax with a pad that has no cutting power, like the LC gray pad?

Thanks in advance for all the answers. This site has given me a ton of useful knowledge!!

[Top_Gun]

Re: LC pads + UC/SwirlX

ScratchX, SwirlX, and NXT 2.0 worked well by hand last year, but it took forever, so I splurged on the PC 7424 “Perfect Starter Kit”, and some Meg’s UC from AutoGeek. Now, I just need to know what combo of pads and products I should use, especially considering the soft paint of my Subie…

My thoughts:
Wash
Clay
UC or SwirlX with Lake Country white pad
NXT 2.0 with Lake Country gray pad

Is the combo of UC and the Lake Country white pad too strong for the soft paint of a Subie, especially considering the “least aggressive” method described in this forum? I have a few 4in orange LC pads as well…are they, matched with UC too strong?

Also, I plan on using Meg’s Cleaner Wax (or ColorX?) and NXT on my wife’s Honda. Should I just apply the cleaner wax with a pad that has no cutting power, like the LC gray pad?

Thanks in advance for all the answers. This site has given me a ton of useful knowledge!!

Following the least aggressive approach, I suggest:

- white LC-pad with SwirlX
- orange pad with SwirlX
- white LC-pad with UC
- orange pad with UC

and look which solution is sufficient to give the desired level of correction.

I guess that you refer to the "black" LC-pads which are actually dark grey. They have no corrective function and are called "finishing pad", meaning that they are suitable to apply waxes or glazes.

If the paint is soft, you will probably be quite happy with SwirlX on an orange pad. However, a 4"-pad is quite small. Do you have a matching backing plate? The pad mus be the same size or larger than the backing plate.

Regarding the cleaner wax on your wife's car: If you need a slight correction, you might try the white pads. If you just want to apply the wax, use the black finishing pads.

Best regards,

Detlev

[Michael Stoops]

Re: LC pads + UC/SwirlX

We would recommend you stick with the white LC pads and UC. The orange pads are pretty aggressive and moving to a 4" size only increases that aggressiveness on a D/A.

We'd rather see you use a slightly more aggressive liquid (UC vs SwirlX) on a less aggressive pad (white vs orange in the LC line) as there's a greater chance of a more aggressive pad causing marring or hazing than there is of a more aggressive liquid causing such an issue. At least when talking about these two liquids - obviously some liquids are so aggressive that use on a D/A is not recommended at all.

If you have both liquids on hand, do two test spots side by side on the hood, one with each product using a fresh pad for each. Keep the speed of the tool the same between test spots, as well as pad choice, pressure, time, etc. The only variable between test spots should be the liquid for a fair comparison. If SwirlX does the job, great, use it. If not and you need UC then so be it.

[MattyR]

Re: LC pads + UC/SwirlX

Thanks very much for all the great info!!