Need help choosing polishing pads.

[racer24crm]

Hello all,

Picked up a Griots G9 for my first time polishing up my Ruby Red Mustang. Anyway, I have a bottle of Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions 1 and done compound that I used a while back to hand polish out some scratches a friend's dog put on my car when it was excited to see me and jumped on my door near the window. It worked perfectly with a white chemical guys hex logic pad.

Now, the car is 7 years old and I've gone through great lengths to keep it protected but it is time for a solid polish job. It's daily driven and I have a decent amount of love marks. Nothing deep, just light scratches and some swirls. So, I'm looking for the best pad for the task. I'm trying to keep it simple.

I'm stuck choosing between an all in one pad, chemical guys green or lake country green pads, or going with multiple pads such as their orange and white pads. In the vein of trying to keep it simple, would a green pad give good results for removing swirl marks with the 1 and done compound or is my logic flawed and I need to go in a different direction?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

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[Joker721]

I've used Meguairs polishing and finishing pads for years along with their cutting pads (in the past 3 years) and have achieved great results. Griots pads are good too, but I prefer the Meguairs ones and they have lasted me.

for the micro fine scratches, Griots BOSS Fast Cutting Cream worked very well with the cutting pads. 3M makes a Perfect It Polishing compound that does the trick as well. It depends on what works for you too.

 

[Strokerswild]

I've got the orange, yellow, and black pads from Griot's (used with a G9) and for my general uses so far, I tend to gravitate to the yellow and just progress with different chemicals.

As far as the polishes and compounds involved, I haven't had any complaints with the 3M stuff.

 

[PC_GUARD]

Thats a pretty good unit. This is MY OPINION and others may vary.

Run 5" pads lake country and I would get the whole gambit up to black, 3 or 4 each min. You do not want to use a dirty pad, and ideal is one pad per panel, but you can clean them out as you go.

To do a great one step sonax profiline perfect finish is great.

Im sure there is a thread on this somewhere but heres the basic steps.

1. wash car with purple power rv and boat wash
2. use eagle one plasti coat wheel cleaner spray on EVERYTHING
A. Rinse thoroughly
3. Heavily soap car again and use a clay bar or clay pad everything
4. dry car
5. SPray down car with Dupli-Color ECM543000 Single Paint Grease and Wax Remover Soy Based and wipe clean
6. Start with the lake country yellow pad and test and area, and see how it cuts. If its not getting you to where you want, go down to orange, and BE CAREFUL, you only have so much clear coat, and you will not get perfection. If it requires orange pad, then you will need to 2 step, and move up to green with a good polish i like sonax profiline finish

6. Wipe down car with isopropyl alcohol and distilled water 50/50 clean all the cracks and any place there's remaining buffing funk. You can also use the duplicolor stuff, but ipo and water is cheap.


Then you need to seal it with whatever you want. You are corrected, and the paint is virgin clean ready for protection

 

[DFB5.0]

Hello all,

Picked up a Griots G9 for my first time polishing up my Ruby Red Mustang. Anyway, I have a bottle of Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions 1 and done compound that I used a while back to hand polish out some scratches a friend's dog put on my car when it was excited to see me and jumped on my door near the window. It worked perfectly with a white chemical guys hex logic pad.

Now, the car is 7 years old and I've gone through great lengths to keep it protected but it is time for a solid polish job. It's daily driven and I have a decent amount of love marks. Nothing deep, just light scratches and some swirls. So, I'm looking for the best pad for the task. I'm trying to keep it simple.

I'm stuck choosing between an all in one pad, chemical guys green or lake country green pads, or going with multiple pads such as their orange and white pads. In the vein of trying to keep it simple, would a green pad give good results for removing swirl marks with the 1 and done compound or is my logic flawed and I need to go in a different direction?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

If the car is only sporting some love marks and a few swirls, you should be able to get it sorted in a one step. That will vary though depending on what the paint is like (hard/soft) and of course what polish and pad you choose.

I have no experience with the green Lake Country Pad but have used their white and orange pads.

To simplify things, I would suggest getting some Sonax Perfect Finish or Scholl S20 Black. Both of these are One-Step Polishes that have the ability to cut through the swirls but also finish down really well.

I would probably go with a yellow Rupes pad or Lake Country orange. If you wanted to try a less aggressive pad, the Rupes white or Lake Country white would be the choice. Considering you mention it needs a decent polish, I would just go straight to the yellow/orange pad. As mentioned earlier, order at least 6 pads to get you through the whole car.

Adding to PC-GUARD's basic steps, I would do the following -

1. Wash the car as normal. Consider using a "strip wash", although not crucial.
2. Use an iron remover such as CarPro IronX or P&S Iron Buster. Spray the entire car, let soak for 5 min then wash thoroughly.
3. Clay bar or Clay pad the car. (Clay mitts/pads are far easier to use, happy to send you in the right direction if you need)
4. Thoroughly dry the car.
5. Mask up the rubber trims, emblems and unpainted plastics.
6. Optional - wipe the car down with an IPA product. CarPro Eraser is the best for this, it's easier to use, no prep required and smells great.
7. Polish the whole car, swapping to a clean pad often. Clean pads are safer on the paint and work better.
8. Wipe the car down with IPA/Eraser.
9. Re-apply you desired wax/sealant/coating.

 

[PC_GUARD]

If the car is only sporting some love marks and a few swirls, you should be able to get it sorted in a one step. That will vary though depending on what the paint is like (hard/soft) and of course what polish and pad you choose.

I have no experience with the green Lake Country Pad but have used their white and orange pads.

To simplify things, I would suggest getting some Sonax Perfect Finish or Scholl S20 Black. Both of these are One-Step Polishes that have the ability to cut through the swirls but also finish down really well.

I would probably go with a yellow Rupes pad or Lake Country orange. If you wanted to try a less aggressive pad, the Rupes white or Lake Country white would be the choice. Considering you mention it needs a decent polish, I would just go straight to the yellow/orange pad. As mentioned earlier, order at least 6 pads to get you through the whole car.

Adding to PC-GUARD's basic steps, I would do the following -

1. Wash the car as normal. Consider using a "strip wash", although not crucial.
2. Use an iron remover such as CarPro IronX or P&S Iron Buster. Spray the entire car, let soak for 5 min then wash thoroughly.
3. Clay bar or Clay pad the car. (Clay mitts/pads are far easier to use, happy to send you in the right direction if you need)
4. Thoroughly dry the car.
5. Mask up the rubber trims, emblems and unpainted plastics.
6. Optional - wipe the car down with an IPA product. CarPro Eraser is the best for this, it's easier to use, no prep required and smells great.
7. Polish the whole car, swapping to a clean pad often. Clean pads are safer on the paint and work better.
8. Wipe the car down with IPA/Eraser.
9. Re-apply you desired wax/sealant/coating.

Green LC is slightly less aggressive than white, i couldnt cut my paint with it. My car the paint is HARD AF!! lol But i did use green on the 2 step, and used blue to "jewel" the paint. I wished I had setup with more cut from get go. I did a pretty through once over, and got it to about a 6/10. I havent messed with this stuff in a LONG time so, im to get it to an 8 im probably going to take and have it ceramic coated, and completely corrected. If it were a brand new car, i'd have it wet sanded and perfect and then get PPF on the whole thing, but this isnt worth all that.

Good tips DFB

 

[racer24crm]

Cool. Sounds like I will order up a bunch of orange and white pads. Starting with the white and moving to orange and necessary. Looks like chemical guys markets their green pad as an in-between of the white and orange where as LC has theirs as softer than their white. I'm hoping the white is all I will need since I had great results working out the scratches on my door from my friends dog using the turtlewax 1 and done and a white hand polish pad. Thanks I'm the advice guys.

 

[DFB5.0]

Cool. Sounds like I will order up a bunch of orange and white pads. Starting with the white and moving to orange and necessary. Looks like chemical guys markets their green pad as an in-between of the white and orange where as LC has theirs as softer than their white. I'm hoping the white is all I will need since I had great results working out the scratches on my door from my friends dog using the turtlewax 1 and done and a white hand polish pad. Thanks I'm the advice guys.

Pad choice can be hard, made more confusing by each pad manufacturers choice of color coding.

Never base your pad decision on color alone, always read the product description. While their are some similarities, each company will assign a color codes differently.

 

[PC_GUARD]

Pad choice can be hard, made more confusing by each pad manufacturers choice of color coding.

Never base your pad decision on color alone, always read the product description. While their are some similarities, each company will assign a color codes differently.

LIke the yellow rupes is about the same as the Lake country white, and yellow LC is more cutting (iirc)

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