Getting 7424 with other stuff-opinions?

Hi all. So after joining this forum recently, I was steered toward the PC 7424 XP rather than jumping straight into the Makita rotary. I know many people do jump in (without any problems or regrets, but I'm choosing this route).

I'm not exactly sure what all to get as I'm pretty much restarting my whole set of car cleaning supplies your help.

I guess, first off, a little background on me. I don't do any major detailing, I just love my car being clean, inside and out, and shiny.

My car was recently sprayed with brake fluid on the highway which pretty much destroyed my paint on my hood and front bumper. It also destroyed my headlight.

In an attempt to get it off, I wet sanded and it seemed to work fairly well. But now I'm left with a pretty scratched up hood and right front quarter panel. So with this buffer, I really need to take out some DEEP scratches. From what I've read on the forum, I haven't taken off the clean coat yet and the scratches seem to be within the clear coat. But I did make a pretty risky and dumb move by using 600 grit wet - finishing off with 1500 and 2000 grit wet.
I've gotten much of the shine back by using buffing compound, polishing compound, and scratch x, but it is still quite noticeable in light.

So, I guess to start off, I'll tell you what I have now.

Turtle Wax
- bug and tar remover
- polishing compound
- buffing compound
-- Both compounds are in tube (wet) form and paste form - i tried both
Vaper (from Autozone- cheapo thing) 6" random orbital buffer
6 inch Microfiber polishing bonnets for the buffer
Plenty of microfibers (from Autozone brand)
Meguiar's
-Cleaner Wax - liquid tube and "paste"
-Scratch X 2.0
Mother's
- Clay Bar - California Gold



Not sure how good these things are. It's just stuff I've accumulated over the past 3 years from Autozone and Pepboys.

Here's the (short) list of what I'm planning to get though

Collinite Sapphire PreWax Cleaner #840
Collinite Liquid Insulator Wax #845
Porter Cable 7424 XP


I know I need a back plate, I just don't know what size (5, 5.5 or 6") and I know I also need buffing pads. I'm not sure how my current materials stand to what others are using, but please keep in mind that I am also on a budget (things like Swissvax is WAYYY out of my budget. 15 to 20 bucks a bottle is already a stretch, but something I would consider).


I've read about Colli 845 and decided that would be a reasonable pick for me with a great price, but I'm always open to more suggestions.

Not quite sure what else to say, but if anything comes to mind, I'll be back updating ASAP.


I'm also wondering where to get all this for the best price (or best deal). I've checked out Autogeek and they seem to have reasonable prices. I've also figured that if I'm buying from them, I'll try to squeeze a couple of those free trials in!


Thank you everyone for all your help. I've only been here for less than a week, but this forum is already one of my favorites!

 

First off, welcome, this place is a wealth of information and its A-hole free, so you will not see alot of "the search feature is your friend type crap"

with that said

http://www.detailersdomain.com/The-...P-with-Menzerna-Polishes-16-oz-Kit_p_257.html

Phil makes it easy for you.........
Other then that, get extra pads, so you are not running around wasting time cleaning them mid detail.

However, it depends on the type of car, the type of results and it sounds like Powergloss or Megs 105 and follow up with menzerna powerfinish or M205.
Now the other option is the meguiars microfiber polishing system, I have not personally used it, but its a good starting place I hear.

http://www.detailersdomain.com/Meguiars-DA-Microfiber-System-5-inch-Kit_p_594.html

(note: you still need the buffer)

I would contact phil after more people post here, and you have a better bearing on what direction you want to go, and see if he can work up a comprehensive system for you....


again welcome

 

Definitely look into one of those kits from Phil. There are a few of them.

 

Welcome to the forum. I am very much like you, I don't detail professionally but I love keeping my cars looking new. I too started collecting car care products from auto parts stores, trying different things. I eventually found my way to forums such as this one, and started learning from reading alot here.

Where I learned the most is by watching the videos from Adam's Polishes. I would watch them and see if there is something that you don't already know. It might give you a few ideas as to what you want to try next.

Instructional Detailing Videos

I ordered my first 7424 kit from Phil as well, and it's the only buffer I own. It was able to take out all the scratches on my cars with no problem. For deeper scratches like you mentioned, the 7424 might not have the cutting power to do it efficiently, but nevertheless, I feel that most people here would recommend you start learning with the 7424 and not a Flex or a Rotary, for safety reasons.

 

Thanks for the fast replies. I did a little searching and found the the Uber PC kit isn't exactly the best deal.
For 2 bucks more, I got the heavy duty version of the 5 inch pack plating, 2 more 5.5" pads (Lake Country), all 3 bottles of Menzerna and both the Colli 845 and the 840. I left out the microfibers, only because I have about 50 in my drawers. I do get 1 free towel with my bottle of 845 and 2 more towels with the 3 pack of Menzerna though

And if I split up the order correctly, I can get atleast 2 (if not 3) free sample bottles.
There's also a 10% off coupon code online. So after shipping, the total is 288.64 ... actually, forget that. I just found another coupon for free shipping!



Oh, and to answer the question before from Kilo, I have a Scion tC. And I'm looking for near mirror finish results I guess. It's more like I just want shiny. I don't need extra superb results like i've seen on this forum.

 

When buying kits, be sure to watch out for kits with extra stuff you really do not need that is used to pad the claimed savings like pad conditioner, extra microfiber, etc. You just get a polisher, plenty of POLISHING pads (not just 1 or 2), polishes, etc.

If you want a custom kit, I would contact Phil and let him know what you want and let him see what he can do.

 

So, with regards to the polish, would you guys recommend the pack in the kit? It is the Power Gloss, Power Finish and Super Finish. I saw on the 50/50 shots thread that some people used Super Intensive Polish and Super Finish and that seemed to do wonders! But then I'm reading that super intensive is really for people with crazy hard clear coats like the ceramic coats on MBs.

 

I think if its just typical wash induced marring and no real deep scratches etc. Power finish with uber green and or blue pad may get the job done, I don't think there is a need to do a two step, but again it is situation dependent. Power finish is a great one step process and can yield the results you want, SIP works fine too, don't let the description of the product fool you, I use it on my super soft Subaru paint when needed with no issues.

 

Its a little more than wash induced marring. I got brake fluid on, so it spotted and damaged the paint pretty good (or clear coat). So now I'm left with a relatively shiny paint in certain lighting situations, but in the wrong ones, you see a lot of scratches caused by 600 grit wet sanding.

Would an orange pad and some tough cutting compound paired with the 7424xp work through that? I've been looking through quite a few pictures of bad scratches and they seem to come off quite well. Things like watch scratches, paint not taken care of, etc. But I think a lot of these scratches are exaggerated by the spot lights used. So I'm more or less looking for a straight forward answer. The sanding damage is over half of my hood and the front portion of my front quarter panel. I will try taking pictures, but i'm not quite sure how much time I have to grab my slr to get some quality stuff. But I may try to use my cellphone (its got a 5 mp camera...).

Also, my headlight got damaged pretty bad too. Would you recommend just using the PC or should I get a headlight restoration kit?

 

always start with the least aggressive method and work towards aggressive.

As for the headlight, you can use the PC, or a repair kit depending on how bad the damage is.

Post up pics

 

Hey, I took some pics, but I can't figure how to put titles on each picture, so i'll just tell you what it is from here.

The link to the album is
ImageShack Album - 17 images


17 pictures total:
This first set of pictures were taken the day I noticed the damage, the day I began "corrections" and the day I finished
1) Picture of damaged paint before any fixing
2) Picture of undamaged paint before any fixing - both pictures taken on hood of vehicle, only different spots of the hood
3) During 600 grit sanding
4) After 600 grit sanding
5) After 1500 grit sanding
6) After 2000 grit sanding, buffing and polishing using Vader Random Orbital Buffer (cheap 30 buck buffer with no power)
- used microfiber bonnets and turtlewax compounds
7) After a little more work to it - this is what it normally looks like when you are approaching the car.
8) Close up of some of the sanding damage
- you can still see some of the damage done to the paint. Lessened by a lot now though
9) More close ups
10) Passenger side quarter panel. only sanded. Not sure if I should have continued to buff or not

This set is now more than one month after (taken today... 5 minutes ago)
11) Close up of scratches on paint
12) More scratches of paint, also shows the bumps caused by the brake fluid
13) The passenger side headlamp. spotted from the brake fluid, and scratches from my attempts to sand with 2000 grit
14) View of headlamp from the top view
15) Another close up- one of the worst effected areas on the hood
16) Close up of a different section of the hood. Untouched by brake fluid. This is what my entire hood use to look like.
17) Another close up of the undamaged section of the hood. I miss this reflection!!!!





So what do you guys think? Is it worth trying to repair it? Even if I couldn't make it perfect again, how much would it be to make it so it shines again?

 

I'm no expert but I have seen a lot worse polish out.

 

start with the least aggressive polish,maybe Menzerna Powerfinish or SIP........green or orange pad. If that does not work, step up to something more aggressive like Megs 105, or Menzerna powergloss, But I think PF or SIP should do it.

 

oh wow. awesome! i'm glad its really not as bad as i think it is. Would it take a while with the PC though?
And what do you suggest for the plastic front bumper? Should I use the PC and polish (such as SIP and PF) on that as well?

 

Btw, if you had the choice of 6 pads, which ones would you pick?

I know many recommend picking up multiples of the same pads, but I don't know if money will allow me to.

Right now, I'm looking at
1 Yellow, 1 Orange, 1 White, 1 Red, 1 Gray, 1Blue

I am reconsidering the Yellow and don't know if I should drop any others and pick up other ones.

And which do you guys think is better,
Collinite or Glanz for wax? I saw a post where Phil used it and it really looks wet!

 

Both those waxes are fantastic and super values. You can't go wrong with either but if your paint is metallic I would go with Glanz If I could only have one.

 

Orange for cutting
Green for polishing
Blue for light polishing
Black for LSP

Glanz wax is one of two waxes that I use and I love it. Great looks and durability.
Never used colinite before.

I recommend buying two of each pad except the black, saves time from having to go clean a pad mid polish, but if budget is a concern you can get buy with one of each

 

If I get the Glanz 1Z wax, should I still get the Collinite pre-wax cleaner? Or is there another pre-wax cleaner you guys recommend?

Also, I'm more or less using the number 6 because there is a 6 pack deal for it. I could just get the 6 pack, then pick up a single pad too.
Probably get 2 of the orange, green, blue. Then pick up a 5.5" black lake country hi-gloss.

One of these on the very bottom
Lake Country Constant Pressure Technology 5.5 Inch Flat Pads, foam pads, buffing pads

Opinions?

 

you don't "have" to get a pre wax cleaner, after you polish the car use a soft microfiber towel and a spray bottle of diluted 70% rubbing alchol and do a wipe down of the car. I have never used pre wax cleaners, but others use them. also for glanz, you don't "have" to use a pad to apply it, you can do it with a applicator pad, just using the machine makes it more even of a coat if you ask me. again, all is budget related.

 

So i was looking through the lsp's with crazy beading thread.

Saw that Menzerna Power Lock does a pretty awesome job.

So I guess the question is 1Z glanz vs Menz Power lock. Which one? And if you have any other suggestions, please do tell. I'm looking through a bunch of them to see which ones are great with good prices.

thanks!