polishing a daily driver over a period of time?

[bagged00]

so i wanna polish my daily driver, but i dont wanna do it all in one day. i drive it to work daily, i dont park it in a garage but its not under trees or any thing. so how would i go about polishing a few panels a day? do i need to wash it everytime i go to polish it?

[Doug123]

I have done the daily thing, a panel at a time, and I would suggest doing a number of panels each weekend after a full wash. I think it reduces the preparation and clean up overhead.

[AudiOx]

I've been doing a panel at a time about every three days. I did two throrough washes prior to the first panel, but just did waterless wash for the next two panels. Since it's been a week now, I'll do a full wash again for my next polishing session.

It's a little more setup that way, but it's still a small percentage of the overall time since I'm only doing waterless wash on the panel I'm working.

[BlueGenCoupe]

Me personally, when I do my DD I make sure I start Saturday morning and try my best to finish sunday night...I wouldn't do a few panels at a time..thats just me

[Chris@Adams]

If you don't drive in the rain in between WCW is your best friend!

[AudiOx]

Me personally, when I do my DD I make sure I start Saturday morning and try my best to finish sunday night...I wouldn't do a few panels at a time..thats just me

 

Once I get my full correction done, I would think I could easily get it all in in a weekend for maintaining the paint.

Being a noob to paint correction and doing 4+ passes per panel + clay + sealant + wax is just too much for me to do. I'll get faster in time.

I've spent 12 hours so far on polishing and only have the roof, hood, and top of the trunk done.

I suppose I could possibly have it done in that time, but add in some quality weekend time for my 5 year old and my wife, and it's just not practical. That's a good thing though, as I probably wouldn't be able to move my fingers or walk if I did it all at once. I'm not 22 any more.

I only thought I was dedicated; some of you folks are machines.

[BlueGenCoupe]

Once I get my full correction done, I would think I could easily get it all in in a weekend for maintaining the paint.

Being a noob to paint correction and doing 4+ passes per panel + clay + sealant + wax is just too much for me to do. I'll get faster in time.

I've spent 12 hours so far on polishing and only have the roof, hood, and top of the trunk done.

I suppose I could possibly have it done in that time, but add in some quality weekend time for my 5 year old and my wife, and it's just not practical. That's a good thing though, as I probably wouldn't be able to move my fingers or walk if I did it all at once. I'm not 22 any more.

I only thought I was dedicated; some of you folks are machines.

 

Im young, no kids no wife...just 2 dogs. The PC does take FOREVER..Try moving up to the flex. It will cut ur time down in half.

[AudiOx]

Im young, no kids no wife...just 2 dogs. The PC does take FOREVER..Try moving up to the flex. It will cut ur time down in half.

 

That IS with a flex. Gosh I'm slow.

My pace is as close as I can emulate to the Junkman's video. I use about 4-6 seconds in 24". My 'boxes' are probably closer to 24"x 24". That's 20-24 overlapping 'lines' to do a box, so about 2 minutes for a pass of a box. That pretty much matches what I've watched on other videos too.

I did the trunk in 4 boxes (I'll do 3 next time but it was my first panel ever), hood in 6 boxes, roof (excl. glass sunroof) in 4 boxes+2 L's, and the A and C pillars each get their turn. Plus I wasted a full 2-1/2 hood passes on speed 3 before I realized, so that was an hour or so wasted.

 

I'm using different polishes, but in effect I'm doing 1 pass SSR, 2 passes SHR, 1 pass FMP, then hand applying sealant and paste wax.

 

So 18 'boxes' of 4 polishing passes each is only 2.5 hours of actual polishing time not including my wasted passes. I probably spent an extra hour of inspection on the trunk since I buffed everything off after each pass to see the progress and hone my technique.

 

So much of the time is not spent polishing. It's setting up (lights, getting materials, etc), masking, washing, claying, spreading, buffing, unmasking, buff around masking, pad cleaning, and tear down.

 

It doesn't seem like it would take that long, but the session start and stop times don't lie. Doing it all in a weekend would certainly save some wash and setup/teardown time, but I'd also have to stop to wash pads. I have 2 sets, but it takes them a couple of days to dry.

[Kingsford]

I did mine over the course of a whole weekend. I didnt drive it for 2 1/2 days. Went Panel by Panel.

 

If you don't drive in the rain in between WCW is your best friend!

 

If you scratch it up a little who cares, you are buffing it anyways.

[r.t.saucedo]

This is exactly what i want to do since i have a full size gm and i have 2 kids and a wife. my biggest concern is acually the pads, do i have to clean them each time, is there a way to store them overnight with polish in them without destroying the pads ?

[krewsman]

This is exactly what i want to do since i have a full size gm and i have 2 kids and a wife. my biggest concern is acually the pads, do i have to clean them each time, is there a way to store them overnight with polish in them without destroying the pads ?

 

As long as it's only overnight--give them a spritz of Detail Spray and seal in a Ziploc bag. When you're finished with the job, wash the pads well and allow them to dry, I leave mine sitting on a paper towel on the windowsill in the garage for at least 3-4 days, more if it's really oppressive humid like it has been. If you leave them damp in the bag sealed up much longer, they'll mold and start to fall apart. Trust me, I know!