Opinion on the pads, or Detailers-domain?

I don't know much about detailersdomain.EDIT: (My bad, I didn't realize detailersdomain was a sponsor here - They should be great then!!) I'm of course a little biased because I run my own store. But trying to take that out of the equation, their pads may just be private labeled Lake Country pads. That's what I use and really am happy with. NOTE: do not mix polishes (if you are using more than one type) and pads. Designate a certain pad for a certain polish.

Which pads did you get?

In the Lake Country range, I generally recommend someone to start with 1 yellow pad (really aggressive, and only on paint that isn't really taken care of well), 2 orange pads, 2 white pads, and a black pad or two for applying the LSP.

On that NSX, I used the Orange and White pads to polish (Using Prima Swirl, Prima Finish and Prima Amigo) and the black for LSP(Prima Epic in this case).

That isn't necessarily what will work on your car as Black really changes the game when it comes to polishing.

I think the real key is to start with the least aggressive pad/polish combination until you get a feel for both the polisher, and the polishing process itself. If you aren't seeing results, then you can change it up and go a little more aggressive.

I found that going to a body shop and asking them for one of their junk panels was great for me to be able to practice on to get a feel for polishing.

And I would always ask questions while you are learning both a new process (machine polishing) and a new Product(Menzerna) Find someone who knows (and I assume Moe really knows the range of what is out there well) and ask questions!

Enjoy and welcome to OCD land!

D!

 

thanks for the order!

 

Phil.. you are very welcome.. thank you.. i am going to post the before and after pics right now..

 

i used the menzera and the flex (with the orange uber foam pad..)

i know the orange pad is a bit agressive, but this car needed some love..

.. i am very impressed.. first time using a machine polisher.. took me a little more than 3 hours.. tomorrow i will try it on the porsche.. or x5.. fingers crossed..

thanks gentlemen..

 

thanks for the tip of not mixing polishes... i actually handwashed the pad as soon as i finished with it..

i got a starter set of 3 pads from Detailers domain.. came with an orange uber foam pad which says "medium polish" it was a bit of a harder pad.. also came with a softer "polish" pad, and a very soft "wax/sealent" pad.. i am assuming the harder the pad, the more agressive or "cut" its going to offer...

 

that's great can't wait to the see the rest of the cars!

 

Yeah, that generally tends to be the case. So you play around with the aggressiveness of the pad and balance that with the aggressiveness of the polish. One thing to realize when moving on to another car for the first time is that the paint on different cars may not be the same hardness so a process that you find works for one car may not give the same results with another. Just keep trying and figuring out what works best for each. Then you will kind of "know" what to go to for each car.

The jeep looks great from what I can tell! Did you polish the whole thing, or just the hood?

D!

 

thank you very much will keep you kids in the loop... both were a great help

 

attached are the rest of the pics.. someone scratched the rear quarter panel like a month ago, and i really tried to get that scratch out.. i was able to get most of it out..

the flex was pretty easy to use but the vibration was pretty intense.. i thought it was going to come with the SoftVib handle but unfortunately i didnt see it in the pack.. of what i read most people dont like to use it.. any tips? and do you gentlemen know where we can get one?

 

Have you used the Flex yet? I'm interested to hear your feedback.

 

Scratch that... I missed the rest of the thread... oops!

 

great job for a first time. hopefully my first time goes as well as yours heh. i plan to give it my first shot in about a month or so. ;-)

let us know how it goes with your other cars.

 

Flex DA polisher is king of safety and performance, a little less cut than a rotary but very safe and efficient. If you are only going to be polishing your car every couple of months then go for the gold standard, the Porter Cable 7424

 

I am little confused here. Which polisher is considered "safer" and the other "better"?

 

flex is meant to be safer but more expensive. i believe the other is the porter cable which is used by a lot of professionals but trickier to use.