Moe,

Regarding the very first post: So I should be applying the wax by hand? Manual labor!? What is the finishing DA pad for then?

 

You can apply the wax by hand or with the 9006, tan/beige color, SoftBuff pad. I always wax by hand. I have seen others take the P21S wax out of the jar and hold it and apply it to the foam pad. I'd rather see you apply paste wax with a foam hand applicator by hand. The finishing pad might be good for the P21S polish. Hope this answers your question.

 

moe, my wife bought me the griots garage random orbital for christmas. i am going to use it this weekend. the dude from griots suggested that since my car is so new, i may not need to use their mild polish but rather just clay it and use their best of show wax. do you agree that since i only have 3k miles on the car i can skip the polishing step? thanks in advance. happy new year to all!!!

 

An UPDATE......I've switched from the Meguiar's pads to Lake Country. I found the Menzerna polishes, 106FF Nano Polish in particular, was too much for the Meguiar's pads. After lots of research and guidance from forum members and other detailers, I've found the Lake Country pads to be PERFECT. Their pads are clearly of high-quality material and craftsmanship. I spoke with Eric Dunn at Lake Country and it seems Menzerna uses Lake Country pads too. So it's nice to get the pads from the guys that actually know about Menzerna and use the polish. Menzerna also spoke highly of Lake Country and that sealed the deal for me. I've been using the orange, white, and grey pad for the past 2 months and wouldn't consider another pad. The orange is the aggressive, best left to a rotary buffer; the white is medium, can be used with DA and rotary; and the grey is for finishing, DA and rotary. PM if you guys need more info.

 

Griot's sells some great products but I hear more and more stories of how their technical staff have little knowledge outside the Griot's line. Jax, you definitely need to polish. Claying will scratch your paint; not like traditional scratching from dirty wash mitts, towels, etc. Micro abrasion to remove minor swirls and contaminants from the paint is one important task of clay. You then MUST follow with a polish to CLEAN the paint and remove the slight abrasion caused by the clay. You then can wax. If you clay and wax, what did you actually clean with? Wax merely protects the work you previously did while imparting a deeper and richer look in the finish. So if you follow the advice you were given, you will protect the micro abrasion aspect of claying. Hope this helps.

 

Moe, very helpful tips, i am glad i checked the forum this morning as i clayed the car and was getting ready to apply wax. i will polish first and then wax and post the results later. i guess the key is only applying the polish in small sections and removing it before it has a chance to dry. thanks again Moe, totally apprecitated. i wish you traveled and did demos!!

 

i need help. i just finished polishing my car (spent 6 hours doing it, first time don't laugh). but the towel and light swirl marks i was trying to eliminate are not really gone. i have the griots garage orbital and am using their orange polishing pad. its irriatating b/c i followed their instructions as they say the towel and light swirl marks are the easiest to eliminate. am i going too fast and not letting the machine do its job working the polish onto the surface? am i not pushing down the machine down with enough pressure onto the paint?

i decided not to go back out to the garage until tomorrow morning as i have champagne on ice and will let my patience re-load. any help or suggestions would totally be appreciated. happy new year!

 

it's not you bro. You need the right pad and polish. It might also be your swirls are too deep for the porter cable. take a picture and post it. Depending on the condition, you should be able to make a noticable difference. Do a small area first to test your application, then move on if you like the results. This saves time and frustration.

 

I havent used all products (swirl removers) but I have used a few:

Zaino ZPC
Optimum Compound, Hyper Compound
Pinnacle XMT
Poorboys SSR
Pinnacle ASR

without a doubt for the DA some Zaino ZPC is the easiest to remove swirls and finishes down to an awesome shine. If your car is that bad you may need compounding in some areas but pass over it with the ZPC (12$) and you will be amazed. Remember lots of pressure and slow, you wont hurt anything with the DA.

 

Orange will not likely remove the spider webbing and very light swirls marks in fact it can add some, when you are getting to the finishing stage move down to a white or gray pad and it will do you a lot of good.