Anything easily applied by hand to a car that.....

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demarpaint

demarpaint

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Anything easily applied by hand to a car that hasn't been waxed in years? The paint is in good shape, but only washed, it hasn't been waxed in years. I want something easy to do by hand, and I don't mind using more than one product. I was thinking of washing, clay, Color-X and Collinite 845, these are products I already have. I'm open to suggestions. TIA
 
Originally Posted By: VicVinegar
Curious about this myself. I have Collinite 845, but not sure what else to get. Klasse AIO? Ultimate compound? Both?


I had good luck with the combo I mentioned above on my van, but that was waxed and well maintained on the outside. The vehicle in question wasn't waxed for several years.
 
Id definitely run an AIO first, and Klasse is a good one. You may want to compound or polish before or after, if the paint is heavily oxidized. May well need before and after, a few tries.
 
Colorx will do a pretty good job by hand if the paint isn't trashed. I think you have all you need right now. I'd love to see some before and after pics if you're able to take them.
 
I agree. That should be a good combo. Use the ColorX first. If you don't like the results after it, buy something a little more aggressive before you top with the IW845.
 
Before going out and spending tons on specialty stuff, to try one thing and then switch to another just to get good results by hand, instead buy a cheap 6 inch random orbital polisher. These can easily be had for $15 at Walmart.

They look like these.

http://www.carisini.com/products/Black-%26-Decker-W006B-6%22-Waxer-%7B47%7D-Polisher-%252d%252d-3AOOO0027I6PG80.html

Believe me it will make your job much better and more consistent. They have the same size motor as those budget 10 inch polishers so in the smaller size you get more polishing power, better precision, and more efficient use of your polish. Not to mention the bonnets are less expensive. What I find works very well for pretty cheap is using a wool bonnet and Turtle Wax Premium Polishing Compound, the one in the black squeeze bottle. This works amazingly well as a fine polish and leaves no swirls behind. The trick is to move very slowly and not use too much polish. Use just enough to leave a very thin haze where you've polished. The speed you want to go is covering about a foot every 30 seconds. This will leave a perfect polish for topping with a pure wax like Collinite.

All in you'd have spent less than trying out several different polishes by hand.
 
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I disagree. Those "polishers" are for spreading wax and that's all they are good for. If you're going to get a machine polisher spend the money and buy the real thing.

I would suggest you take your combination of products and do a trial area. Mask off a section of hood,roof,or trunk and have at it. Buff it all off when done, remove the tape, and compare it to the rest. If it's not quite what you had hoped for go with Megs Ultimate compound instead of Color-X. There's only so much improvement you can do by hand but I'm sure it will look better than it does currently.
 
Well I got home early washed it, hit it with Color X and 476S instead of 845. I never thought to take before and after shots, but it looks pretty darn good. I'll put a coat of 845 on in just before the cold weather sets in.


That little B&D polisher looks pretty good next time I'm at Walmart I'm going to look for one. Thanks!
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint


That little B&D polisher looks pretty good next time I'm at Walmart I'm going to look for one. Thanks!

I have one someone gave me, tried it once for about 2 minutes just to test it out, and I can now see why it was given to me. That thing is just collection dust now. For me, I find that B&D so called polisher a total waste of $20.
 
Originally Posted By: gary031
Originally Posted By: demarpaint


That little B&D polisher looks pretty good next time I'm at Walmart I'm going to look for one. Thanks!

I have one someone gave me, tried it once for about 2 minutes just to test it out, and I can now see why it was given to me. That thing is just collection dust now. For me, I find that B&D so called polisher a total waste of $20.


Thanks for the info it looked pretty good. I always got by doing the job by hand, and then happy with the results. I might just stick with that way, or invest in something of better quality.
 
I use a product that has been around for years... RaceGlaze... It is easy on and easy off with a great shine. Each year in Louisville the Street Rod Nationals are here and I see a lot of people using this product on there very expensive cars.....
 
demar, I also did everything by hand but finally broke down (I resisted as long as possible) and picked up a PC random polisher. Part of it was the paint correction just couldn't be done by hand, the other part of it was time, plus my shoulder problems. Never looked back. They are a wonderful machine. The initial cost is high, but once you have the materials, it's not bad. You may want to consider one someday yourself.
 
With the right polishes those cheapy machines can do a better job than by hand. I know people poo poo them but I have wet sanded orange peel off my car down to 2000 grit sandpaper and the dull finish left behind was definitely polished to a high gloss using Meguiars M105 and a cheapy polisher.

So if you wanna believe they don't do anything but spread polish I know from personal experience you can do a pretty decent job with one. The only difference is it's a little slower. So you certainly won't be using it for a detail business but for keeping you from tiring your arms out doing a polishing job by hand, they work.
 
You can find Griot's garage R/O or the PC7424xp on sale quite often , I got my Griots "bundle" for $88 shipped on sale and it came with a bunch of griot's towels, speed shine, sealant and bunch of other stuff. That's the way I would go. Trust me, those little under-powered so called "polishers" are almost worthless. They don't have the right throw, speed or power to do much of any polishing. And what little polishing they do takes FOREVER. They are only slightly better than doing your car by hand.
The right tool for the right job.
 
Originally Posted By: bigmike
demar, I also did everything by hand but finally broke down (I resisted as long as possible) and picked up a PC random polisher. Part of it was the paint correction just couldn't be done by hand, the other part of it was time, plus my shoulder problems. Never looked back. They are a wonderful machine. The initial cost is high, but once you have the materials, it's not bad. You may want to consider one someday yourself.


I'm considering a random polisher, as I get older my van gets harder to do by hand, and my fingers ache from arthritis setting in. A machine might just be the ticket.
 
I have used both the cheap small buffer from walmart (less than $20) and the cheap rotary from Harbor Frieght. They both work provided 1) paint hardness 2) Correction chemicals 3) Pads are selected correctly.

Bottom line is if you can correct the paint using your chemical by hand, then having the same material on your buffer will work at least as good if not better. That is just the physics. Your car's paint does NOT know if cheap buffer is caressing it or the expensive Makita is kissing it :)

There are lots of reason why one would prefer a Makita to Harbor Freight but if you are willing, you can get the results with either.

But this subject is like Snap-On vs Pittsburgh Pro ratchet discussion and it will never be resolved.

If you want I can provide a bunch of supporting material to show you corrected paint using cheap tools.
 
Originally Posted By: qwertydude
With the right polishes those cheapy machines can do a better job than by hand. I know people poo poo them but I have wet sanded orange peel off my car down to 2000 grit sandpaper and the dull finish left behind was definitely polished to a high gloss using Meguiars M105 and a cheapy polisher.

So if you wanna believe they don't do anything but spread polish I know from personal experience you can do a pretty decent job with one. The only difference is it's a little slower. So you certainly won't be using it for a detail business but for keeping you from tiring your arms out doing a polishing job by hand, they work.


+1

Here is the proof, please excuse the quality of pictures, I think they were taken from a phone camera but you should be able to see that it can make a 10yr old paint look nice. Most of the material was picked up at local store or from Amazon for reasonable price. If I can do this, anybody should be able to do it without having to spend hundreds of dollars first.

http://picasaweb.google.com/117978808290111570308/MeguiarsRotaryBuffer
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I have used both the cheap small buffer from walmart (less than $20) and the cheap rotary from Harbor Frieght. They both work provided 1) paint hardness 2) Correction chemicals 3) Pads are selected correctly.


I have and still us a Harbor Freight rotary, it's awesome and works great and I can get the same results with the Harbor Freight buffer as I get with my Makita 9227. The Makita is quieter, WAY better built and I haven't burned up my Makita on boats like I did the Harbor freight buffer, but still that harbor freight buffer for the price works great.
That $20 B&D unit from Walmart is a toy and most paints of any hardness will not only kill that machine, but it would take forever to do any type of correction. Then again, it wasn't built for serious detailing or paint correction.

When correcting with the Harbor freight rotary, I still prefer to finish out with a R/O polisher to avoid holograms, since it's very difficult for most people to finish out with a rotary hologram free no matter what type of polish or pad combo they are using. Most people that finish off with a rotary "think" they have finished hologram free, usually that's not the case though.

Anyhow, I haven't used either of my rotaries in months because I can correct way faster, safer and get much better results with a cheap R/O Griot's polisher, go figure. Technology and innovation at it's best.
 
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