Swirly_McDoordings

Thanks. Should be good. It sounds like I was applying enough pressure to begin with, and made the mistake of letting up on the pressure later on. I'm still on the fence about doing the severe swirl remover, because I have moderate to mostly light swirls. Then again, perhaps the Severe Swirl remover is necessary because my clear coat is pretty hard, yeah?

If the Sever swirl remover does the trick, is it necessary to follow up with the orange pad as well?

As a novice PC user, you bring up the same issue I am having a difficult time in determining. That is, the hardness of the clear coat. I'd say the learning curve with a PC is small compared with the understanding of each product. Knowing what to use, why, and when to use them is the tough part. I was only able to complete the wash, clay, detail trim, cleaning wheels process last weekend, because I was learning how to use all of the products and accessories on top of learning how to use them on specific areas on the vehicle, such as inside the trunk, hinges, etc. I did want to try out the PC machine for the first time though, so I completed 2 passes with the Swirl/Haze remover and one pass with the Fine Machine polish in a test area on the hood. I'm fairly certain my car has a hard clear coat, as the swirls were only about 30% removed in my test area afterwards. I'm expecting I'll have to do 3-4 passes with the Swirl remover, and 2-3 passes with the Machine Polish to get the results I'm after. LOOOOOOONG weekend.

I will be washing the car, and quickly claying again in case of some freak brake dust or something. I'm actually not concerned about them flying off to be honest. I was just wondering if anyone had used them on a narrow panel that is a 1/4th the width of the 4" pad? Or rather, can I get proper results with the machine on a narrow area like that?

Alright guys, I need a few pointers after a marginally successful weekend. I had no real idea how long it was going to take to do a full machine detail from start to finish, but I figured I could handle it if given one full weekend. Turns out I will need double that and then some. That means more time to get familiar with everything. Saturday I washed, cleaned up the trim and wheels, as well as the trunk interior and several other tedious details. I couldn't get the fat grin off my face when I saw how well the Green Wheel Cleaner worked. It was able to remove some stains that I had never been able to remove with any other product. The All-Purpose Cleaner is palpably good. I found more uses for it than I can count. The VRT is to die for, and In N Out spray was an unbelievable time saver. I love all of this stuff. The microfibers ROCK. Now, I finished up some more things yesterday, and tried out my PC for the first time. I was only able to test an area on the hood before I had to wrap up. I tried the Swirl and Haze remover and then fine machine polish. I worked at a speed setting of 5 only, and was not able to remove what I considered to be light to moderate swirls and haze from my paint. I completed two passes with each solution. I would say the swirls were reduced by about 40-50%, and the haziness even more so. This is where I need some advice. At first I was pushing too hard on the machine, which slowed it down some, and created some unpleasant dusting in my work area. Once I got the hang of things, I realized how little physical pressure I need to keep the pad fixed to the surface (like doing it one handed as The Junkman has demonstrated). That seemed to prevent further dusting, but I'm not certain. Here are my questions and concerns so far: 1. When I use the plastic bag trick for claying, I noticed that I can feel plenty of paint imperfections no matter how much I clay an area. I clayed an area until there was no visible dirt or debris in the clay's surface, and yet I could still feel an assortment of texture with the bag afterwards. It felt like glass otherwise. 2. How many PC passes with swirl and haze remover are generally needed on a finish that doesn't have visible swirls (or scratches for that matter) when standing 5-10 feet from the vehicle? I also had a hard time knowing when the polish was "flashing," but i assumed it was once the polish had that slightly milky, wiggly transparent "heat-wave" effect going on. Is this correct? 3. Since I was unable to move beyond the clay bar process, I am not sure what I need to do so that I can pick up where I left off this next weekend. My gut says to wash and quickly clay the car once more before I move onto polishing. It's not going to rain, so I might be able to waterless wash the vehicle instead, yeah? 4. How does one polish and seal the really narrow areas on the bodywork? My front fender has painted areas as narrow as 1". I planned on trying the 4" pads over these areas, but I am worried about them flying off and hitting my cat. Thanks for any and all help guys. This is great community.

Hey guys. I'm about to call it a day in a couple of hours. I spent a ton of extra time doing the tedious stuff, such as cleaning out pollen and other debris from inside the trunk and other areas that required special attention. Needless to say, I am going to call it a day after I finish claying and I will pick up where I left off tomorrow. Here is my little dilemma. I know that the car is going to collect some dust/hair etc. overnight while in the garage. I figure I'll use the waterless wash to remove whatever collects overnight before I move onto the machine polishing phase tomorrow morning. Is this the ideal or correct procedure?

What if I do a complete detail, and fill in the paint chips at a later date?

It looks like there will be about 2 weeks of 70+ degree weather up here in Portland Oregon. You know what that means... Yes, it's time to detail. This will be my first attempt at using a PC to polish my paint. I'm confident, but I do have a few concerns/questions. Allow me to breakdown my process and plans for this weekend, just so we are on the same page. Exterior: 1. Rinse/wash/dry 2. Clay 3. Polish BONUS STEP: Dr. Colorchip 5. Sealant 6. Clean equipment 24 hours later... 6. Glaze 7. Wax 8. Clean equipment Interior: 1. Plastics, dash, etc. 2. Leather treatment 3. Carpet cleaning I'll probably clean under the hood at a different time later in the week. Now, in the past I'd clean the wheels during my wash, or just after. I'd then dress the trim and tires last. Is there an optimal time to do this during my detail? Detail spray. I have about a half gallon of Meguiar's "Last Touch" detail spray remaining. Would this be the perfect time to use a monsoon of the stuff during the clay bar process so as to limit my use of Adam's Detail Spray? Wish me luck!

I'm coating the chips with the sealant provided after they are filled in, but have no plans to clear coat anything. The full PC detail I'm gearing up for should offer enough protection for my needs after the fact. In my case, the chips are several many dozens in number, but very minuscule in size. Most of them are from trucks driving over the shoulder on the highway I take every morning.

Ah, now that makes perfect sense. I've got all of that other product, but I figured since I'm going all out with this detail, I should clean up the paint chips along the way.

I was primarily concerned with the order of operations, as I'm gearing up for a full detail soon. As you can imagine, Adam's has caused me to add several (and I think necessary) steps to my workflow.

Hi everyone. First post. I ordered Dr. Colorchip alongside my first Adam's purchase and was planning on cleaning up the front end of my vehicle (where 99% of the damage is) before going bonkers with the other detail products. Given enough time to dry and seal, is there any reason to think that these paint chips will be affected negatively during the porter cable phases of my detail? In my head I imagine doing the paint chip repair before polishing, but after claying, to insure I'm getting maximum results throughout the process. Dr. Colorchip provides you with matching OEM paint for your vehicle as well as a sealant. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it. Thoughts?