Looking for some advice on hand polishing..

[Watkins]

Hey everyone,

 

I've always been pretty meticulous with all of my rides, but with my recent purchase of a black 2012 GTI I've pretty much become far more obsessive with my paint and cleaning. As with most dealerships, the prep 'detail' was far from proper, as the car has the typical swirls.

 

Fortunately, I received the Adam's Hand Polishing kit recently, but never used it on my previous ride as my intention for the last year was to trade it in. However, after lurking around the forums for a bit it seems the general consensus is that I should probably just ignore hand polishing as it's a waste of time?

 

Unfortunately money is tight right now, so a porter cable is reserved to a wishlist. I'll post some pictures of the paint when I get chance, but outside of the swirls there's really no major defects in the paint. Should I go for it with the Swirl & Haze Remover, Revive Polish and Buttery Wax or just deal with it until I can invest in a porter cable?

 

TIA

[ChargerMatt]

It really depends on how bad of shape the paint is in. From what I've gathered (and from experience using non-adam's products), hand polishing is for very minor swirls. But again, it depends on the condition so as soon as you get some pics up someone with more experience hand polishing will be able to help.

[davidg]

If you know you can get a PC soon then just wait it out. If not, I would do revive followed with glaze (it helps cover imperfections) then do your choice of wax. Revive has little/no cut, so you'll have to use LSR with the PC. Money wasted (kind of) in the long run if you're gonna do machine polishing

 

The hand polish might remove some swirls with S&H, but you are gonna be ticked when you see how easy a PC makes it. Unless you want a good work out I would just hold back.

 

 

Edit, I posted at almost the exact same time as Jonathan, you will get different opinions. There will be benefit from hand polishing, just not as much. You really just have to make your mind up how much effort you wanna put in knowing there's a machine to do it for you.

[J Tegeler]

I woukld still say go for it! It wont remove all the swirls but it will still make the paint look deep and wet. I just used some revive for a quick detail last weekend and that stuff works awesome to help the paint come back to life.

[Doug123]

Revive is under-rated - I think it is a great product, and it really helps clean up the finish.

If you want to go whole hog by hand, SHR, then Revive, then BG, then your choice of wax. That will be about as good as it gets with hand polishing. You won't lose a lot of swirls by hand, but it will be the best you can do without a machine, and it WILL look noticeably better. Buttery looks great, you will be pleasantly surprised!

[Watkins]

Wow such quick replies!

 

Thanks for all the input so far, definitely makes me glad I posted here before attacking the paint. All the praise for the PC makes it pretty hard to resist just throwing that on the credit card and feeding the addiction.

 

I've always been pretty nervous about machine polishing, mainly because I have no experience at all in that field. But I have seen Junkman's videos on the ease of use, I guess I'm just having trouble comprehending that something that can achieve such outstanding results can be so newbie friendly.

 

Edit: Added a pic of the car, I'll get close ups of the paint when I get home from work. Forgot I had this one saved to photobucket already. This is the car following it's wash 15 minutes after I brought it home from the dealership

 

[Doug123]

I felt exactly like you do, fear of the polisher.

 

I was never a car detailer, it was lucky if it got washed every few weeks, then I got black paint, and after it started looking bad (after a few washes and that crud the dealership put on it washed off) I started looking for a way to help the finish look better.

 

I started with Detail Spray, and Buttery Wax. Then I got clay and more DS and Revive and SHR and a flip pad and gave it a go. I tried to get big improvement, but couldn't get what I wanted by hand. It looked good, but the swirls were still there.

 

Then I got a PC. And then I made the swirls go away, and my jaw dropped. It is not hard to do, just takes some time, but the results are amazing.

 

Don't fear the PC, it is super safe, if I can use it as a beginner, then anyone can use it. Follow the videos, ask for help on the forum if you need it. We are all here, and know what it's like to take that first leap into machine polishing.

[Team Adam's]

after lurking around the forums for a bit it seems the general consensus is that I should probably just ignore hand polishing as it's a waste of time?

 

Absolutely not, you just won't get perfection by hand. That doesn't mean that hand polishing won't at least give you some improvement. As long as you set your expectations reasonably you'll be fine hand polishing for now.

[THE Mook]

If it were me, and I were saving for one of the two machines, it would be the Flex.

 

Especially with that color. Congrats on the car, and the Hand Polishing kit will be fine to hold you over!

 

Mook

[Chewy]

If it were me, and I were saving for one of the two machines, it would be the Flex.

 

Especially with that color. Congrats on the car, and the Hand Polishing kit will be fine to hold you over!

 

Mook

 

Ditto! The PC is only used now with the smaller pads and for the machine sealant.

[Chris@Adams]

If it were me, and I were saving for one of the two machines, it would be the Flex.

 

Especially with that color. Congrats on the car, and the Hand Polishing kit will be fine to hold you over!

 

Mook

[Golf for Life]

I was fortunate enough to head off the dealer before they had a chance to even wash the Black Golf. I got it home and did a proper two bucket wash, then did a Revive polish followed by a coat of Americana. The paint never saw the dealer applied swirls.