Up until recently I thought I cared for my vehicles paint fairly well, that is until I started reading some of these threads and learned the right (or at least much better ways) to go about the process. Previously I used a car shampoo (Megs Gold Class) mixed in a 1 gallon bucket and washed with microfiber sponge. Most times I would use almost all the water in the bucket before adding more. Then I followed with a carnuba cleaner wax, either Mothers or Megs (haven’t noticed much mention of Mothers products here). Nothing spectacular, but it left a shine. Now I know as many of you already do the error of my ways.

I have a black 08 I bought new in July and after a couple washes using this method I have swirls…go figure In addition to this, I noticed water spots, have not washed it in the sun. Think they are from rain and then clear sunny skies within 20 mins while at work.

I tried Clay Bar, Megs swirl x, but the spots remained, not as noticable but there. I went ahead and applied #7 and NXT 2.0. This was all by hand. Not satisfied, especially after seeing some pics of a few of your trucks I decided it was time to get more serious and buy a few things:
PC7424, (2) white, (2) black, 2(orange) and (1) blue 6.5” CCS pads with xmt cleaner and conditioner, #205, Natty’s blue, 5 Gallon wash bucket, grit guard, lambswool mit, scratch x, and stoner’s glass cleaner. Additionally, I thought I might give Adam’s a try and got their swirl/haze remover, fine machine polish, machine superwax, APC and a few other things.

When I bought all this my initial thoughts were to see what worked best by practicing on the daily beater, but it’s that time of year down south when it like to rain and I would really like to get good protection on the truck and my wifes 08 escape ASAP, so that means the beater has to wait.

My question is given supply on hand, what should be attempted. Thought about swirl x with white pad first to see if it comes out with the machine. Looks like the PC is one speed only so I guess that don’t matter. If not, try 205 or go grab some Ultimate compound since they carry it local and I thought I read it was less aggressive than 205. Then #7 (white pad), followed by NXT 2.0 (black pad) and topped with Natty’s blue by hand.

Then there’s the alternative, half Adam’s swirl/haze remover, half fine machine polish with white pad, then machine superwax with black pad and possibly topped with nattys by hand.

Thoughts or alternatives? Additionally, what is the best way to finish ie...detail spray, buffing pad, just wipe off?

 

I would try the 205 first and then if you needed something better use the Adam's swirl/haze remover. You may have to experiment at first to see what works best.

Kevin

 

Least aggressive first - test it on a section.

 

Ultimate Compound is more aggressiv than 205. Also, the PC is not single speed. If you look where the cord goes into the machine you will see a dial 1-6. Those are the speeds. I generally use 5-5.5 with polishes.

Back to the polishes themselves. Meg's line can be a bit confusing. According to Meg's, from least to most aggressive (more popular products), 80, ScratchX, 205, 83, SwirlX, ScratchX 2.0, Ultimate Compound, 105. Whats weird is Ultimate Compound is said to have half the cut of 105. 105 is ranked a 12 from 1-12 on the cut level. 83 is a 6. If UC is half of 12, that makes it a 6. So if 83 and UC are both 6s, what does that make SwirlX and Scratch X 2.0?

 

I can tell you the actually consistency of 105 and UC are different. Pour a little bit of each out and you'll see what i mean.

I haven't opened swirl x or scratch x 2.0 yet.. If i do i'll probaly do all 4 side by side so we can see the difference.

 

As for washing the truck, use two buckets. One bucket for the clean soapy water. And one bucket for rinsing your wash rag, sponge, etc. By using only one bucket, you end up putting all that dirt back on your truck. Try this method and your soap bucket should still be clean when you are done.

 

Even better is 2 buckets with a grit guard in each one.

 

I think the scale is also kinda off because 80 and 83 were out before 105 and 205 so once the new products were introduced, they just had to fit them on the scale as best as they could.

 

Ultimate Compound is more like 7/8 than 6.

As for consistency, Ultimate Compound is fairly thin, followed by ScratchX 2.0, then SwirlX being the thickest (That list is consistency, NOT cut!).

SwirlX, ScratchX 2.0, and Ultimate Compound offer some incredible cut for consumer products. Even the least aggressive of the three will take out 3,000 Unigrit sand marks in a single application with a hand foam softbuff applicator!

 

Bingo!

 

Aren't the scales different now? Before it was 1-10, now, with 105 out, it's 1-12. That might throw comparisons off a little, no?

 

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that Adam's SHR was less aggressive than Meg's 205? It's not very aggressive but it works. I definitely agree to try some test sections first.