Ok so I have had my car for around 2 years and it's starting to show. I am in dire need of a detail.

I don't have a porter cable but these are the items I do own.




Now I read the stickied detailing how to but I get lost in the porter cable part with all the different applicators because I don't own one.

So my question is will that random orbit polisher do everything a porter cable can? My car has alot of little scratches everywhere so I need to try and buff those out.

Also what do I all need to do a detail, next time I am at the store I am going to pick up a clay bar kit, but what else do I need? And what brand is best for the buck, I'm not really looking to spend that much money.

Thanks.

 

Turtle Wax makes a nice liquid clay bar that works pretty good. You may want to use it BEFORE you use the actual clay bar seeing your car has gone so long without any love. After that a nice polish and finsh it off with a coat of carnuba wax and you should be good.

No real need for the buffer IMHO as I prefer to do it all by hand.

 

agree@ doing it by hand. not just is doing it with a machine easy to mess up, but i think it looks better hand buffed

 

If you know how to use a buffer it will give better result. The orbital he has (or any orbital for that matter) are pretty much impossible to screw your paint up. It's the rotary's you've got to be careful with.

To answer your question, I haven't read the stickied detailing post. but by looking at what you've got I'd be looking into microfiber pad covers over what you have. Honestly... as stupid as this sounds all of the really thin ones scare me as to me they can allow harder edges from the buffing bracket itself to come through. I dunno... some wierd thing I have. Microfiber buffing covers are not very expensive.

I don't know what you have for rags but get a few of them. Again... I'd go microfiber they're really soft and wont scratch the paint anywhere near as much as other kinds of cloths. The thicker the better to.

The rain X stuff is fine. I've never used it but as long as its made for cars (which it is) you should be good.

If i were you I'd go a 3 step over just using the scratch remover. Get a cleaner wax (or stage 1, sometimes you'll see a cleaner wax or a stage one... they're both the same), a swirl remover(stage 2) then get a good wax. Meguire's NXT is about 20 bucks but well worth it. I'd get it in the tin over the bottle. Again though just my personal preferance. All good waxes you should apply by hand. The other two steps are no biggy. I'd also go meg's. I've tried and tested MANY types of waxes. Every kind has it's place. Mothers works well on my one step car megs I've found works better for clear coats.

Hope that helps Initial cost will prolly be between 80-100 but it will all last quite a while if your just doing one vehicle (a year or more depending on how much you do it) and all microfiber (or any fabric cloths) can go your washing machine and be reused. I even use fabric cloths when doing my windows.

Good luck and post pics when your done!!

 

Most of your more 'top of the line' brands such as Meguiars, Mothers, Turbo Wax etc are a matter of preferance. I myself use the Meguiars Mirror Glaze professional line. You can usually find it all at Advanced Discount Auto Parts, but if not, you could order it online.

It also would be a good idea to read up on clay barring. they make difference coumpounds of clay for removing different types of bonded contaminants. IE, a Meguiars clay bar will be good at removing bonded dirt/pollin particales but not good at removing paint over spray or rust spots.

And to answer your question, you will not get the same results with a rotary. No matter how long you try. Your paint won't look horrible but there would be a lot more to be had out of it by using a high speed buffer with the proper pads/waxes. If your funds are tight, I would tell you to just stick with the rotary buffer you have. If you have some money to blow, go get a high speed D/A polisher and some really good waxes. A full proper detail will take at the least 2-3 days to complete. Slow process. But worth it.

 

He has an orbital... not a rotary... rotary's are the ones that do the better job faster but can cause a hell of a lot more damage a hell of a lot faster.
Going out as a backyard detailer and jumping into a rotary is a bad idea. Unless he has practice cars/metal that it doesn't matter what happens to it till he gets the hang of it we could end up seeing a post in a couple days saying he needs a new paint job.
I'm all for learning how to use a rotary but i wouldn't suggest a good car being the test guinea pig.

 

I said rotary meaning orbital.

 

I figured as much. Just figured I'd clear that up. That would be a BIG ooops!! If someone doesn't know the difference lol.

 

Yea...here's what I'm using.

http://www.deltaportercable.com/Prod...roductID=11080

 

Yeea I've got one of those I love it for minor stuff and cleaning up after a rotary. I use a rotary A LOT though to. But I've been doing a lot of paint correction lately that a PC just wont cut it for. Well.. it may do it... but I'd still be outside doing the first foot

 

Yea, it also depends on what you use as far as waxes. Meguiars has several different 'cutting' compounds that are semi-abbraisive and will buff out minor paint defects (when combined with the proper cutting pads)

 

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah I saw how everyone uses a rotary buffer but then I know how they can screw up a paint job real fast if you don't know what your doing, so I'll stick to my orbital because this will be my first time ever detailing.

I also forgot to mention that I live in a small town full of dirt roads so this doesn't need to be a perfect top of the line detail, just something that'll make it look real nice.

Alright next time I go looks like i'll pick up some meguiars or mothers wax's and clay bar. *I already have a microfiber wash mitt and a drying chamois*

 

I live on a dirt road to (although they're paving it this week thank god!!!! 11yrs dealing with this crap!!) and its more the reason to put a good coat of wax on it.

G85 SS I was using megs stuff and I really liked it but it's REALLY hard to get it around here. The closest I could find was Ottawa and prior to that I was getting everything when I was in New Hampshire. I've recently flipped over to 3M and really like what they have so far. expensive as all hell though.

 

Yea, 3M is expensive. I've never used their products though. The 'best' products I have used were Zymol products. Talk about expensive! but the results are nothing short of outstanding.

 

Yeea. Never used Zymol heard good things about it though. For now the 3M works. It's easily accessible for me and it works very well.

 

is there a full How-To guide on how to detail your car??.. i just wash mine and wax it, idk how to use a buffer or nething like that...

 

Everyone details there car differently. It depends what you want (think of what youd want someone to do if you paid them) as to what you have to do.

 

Ok so I have been reading around on the Meguairs and Mothers site, and I think I got a list of what I am going to buy.

Mother's Clay Bar set
Pre-Wax Cleaner Step 1
Sealer And Glaze Step 2
Carnauba Wax Step 3

Does that sound about right for all I need? Do I need a polish or anything?

Also would I have to get something different to use for all my scratch/swirl marks?

 

That should all work. Step 2 will be your scratch/swirl remover.

You can skip step 3 and go to a higher wax like the megs nxt in the tin. It's a much better wax and not much more expensive then the step 3. Either one is a decent wax though.