Pads for DA?

Ha I'm with ya. But I know that polish will do the job on its own in most cases.

Actually, some experiments have been done where guys wash with dawn. And they've discovered that the surfactants left behind after dawn washes are masking the beading properties of waxes/sealers.

After dawn washing, They then do a wipe down with isopropyl alcohol, and the beading properties return to the surface (the IPA removes the surfactants left by by the soap, "reviving" the wax).

Long story short-- the dawn looks like its removing wax, but it's not

Sealers have gotten to be incredibly durable in recent years. There's a thread over on AG where a guy went after Menzerna Powerlock with all kinds of chemicals and couldn't even put a dent in it after multiple attempts.

 

+1 on the Adams. I like the fact they simplified the pads/polish combo. Made life easier starting out. Now that I have gotten more experienced I have branched out into other brands.

 

So now it looks like I am going to have to polish my sons car which is older and has more light scratches, but not terrible. Which pad and polish should I need?

 

Post up some pics so we can see what you are looking at. I would say try Shine Supply Classic Cut. It works really well. Finishes nice.

 

Not great pictures but there are some light scratches here and there. Doesn't seem to be many swirls from what I can tell.

 

I think the UP and white pads will do. If not, move up to UC.

They say if you can feel a scratch with your fingernail, it's too deep to remove without compromising the clear coat.

 

I'll add-- It's hard to say. If the clear is really hard on that vehicle, maybe you'd need to move to the next pad (Orange, I think). You just won't know until you do a test spot. But the whites will very likely make a noticeable improvement.

 

Shine Supply Classic Cut and a finishing pad judging from pics. Maybe a cutting pad for defects.

 

I would start with a white pad and do a test area. If you like what you see with a white pad then great on some of the scratches you may need to look at using a romance or red pad. Remember 1 St do a test panel to determine what kind of paint you are working with , hard paint or soft paint. Based on what you learn here will tell you which pad to use and which compound to use.

You may be able to detail the car most of the way with a white pad and the rest with a orange then a white

 

AM I accurate by saying polish with a white pad would be least abrasive, if I want more abrasion I could go to an orange pad. Even more abrasion would be compound with a white pad and then for most abrasion a compound with orange pad? That's 4 levels of abrasion with 2 pads and compound and polish?

 

I see what you're saying... And yes, you're on track (in theory). But keep in mind that polishing isn't necessarily "linear" like that.

Some pads will cut all by themself (with no product applied- the pad itself actually cuts, in addition to the product). That has to do with the material the pad is made out of. Then there's the firmness of the pad to consider. It's possible to have a firmer pad that has no inherent cut, while the next softer pad does have inherent cut.

When you apply pressure to a pad, the abrasives are more apt to cut the clear coat with a firm pad. Physics. The abrasive presses into the paint. With a softer pad, the pad absorbs some of the cut, so to speak. Add to it the varying hardnesses of different car's clear coats, inherent cut of the pad material, humidity, more vs less product, pressure on the polisher itself-- there are a whole lot of things going on. So it might not be a simple linear progression like you mentioned as far as real world results go.

So what you described above- while in theory, that makes sense, but It doesn't necessarily apply "across the board". Case in point-- you wouldn't ever go beyond the orange pad to the yellow and still use a polish. Nor would you use a wax/sealer pad for a compound. Haha Am I making sense? There are polishing pads and compounding pads. And yeah you can bounce back and forth with product to a certain degree.

It's kinda hard to explain-- yeah, white pad with polish would be least abrasive. But you can actually use polish on the black pad, too (even less abrasive than the white). I recommended black for wax/sealer for that reason-- because you can also polish with it (versatility). But by the time you get to the softest pad (blue), your polish won't do much because the foam is too soft.

Ok Back to your above scenerio-- You could go to orange with polish, but if white doesn't cut with the polish, chances are good you'll need compound anyway. Haha in summary-- do a test spot! It's entirely possible you'll need orange pads if working on really hard paint and you want optimal results. A variety of pads is nice. But when you're first starting out- it's nice to be able to take a job from start to finish and work on your technique. And thats hard to do if you just have one or two pads in each color. So that's why I suggested that pads i did. They are pads you will always use, but will also help you decide what other pads you might want to get (and how many of each-- for example maybe you'll just need one orange pad for one small spot).

More than you asked for, but just thought I'd throw it out there. Your questions are very common ones for new guys. I had the exact same questions. In doing my research, I noticed that answers to these questions were often "what are you working on and can we see photos", followed by "do a test spot". As you'll discover-- even an experienced pro detailer often can't simply pick a pad and polish and go to town on an unfamiliar paint job. You really don't know exactly what's going to work on a particular vehicle until you do a test spot. So, you choose a combo based on experience and then adjust from there. Sometimes the answer is as simple as putting a little less pressure on the polisher. Other times it might be jumping to a completely different brand of pad.

 

Heres a thread containing links to some great resources.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...722-car-detailing-articles-mike-phillips.html

Another good one.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-articles-help-newbies-machine-polishing.html

 

Well I finished washing, claying, paint correction by compound and then polish and then waxed my sons car last week. I learned quite a bit, mainly to go slow and I need better lighting in my garage. I removed quite a few scratches but after I moved it outside I saw a couple that I overlooked. Paint still looks awesome though.

Now I know why this is a spring/fall gig, just too hot in summer.

Thanks for all the tips guys.