This weekends project

LDM

LDM

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My car needed some polishing & wax etc since I bought it. Thought I'd tackle that this weekend. I was hoping it would go to paint for repairs and the body shop would do it, but that's been a 7 month wait. The LS had lots of blemishes and didn't shine right (must have been an outside car).

Got supplies and went to work. Couldn't get the blemishes out by hand, went back and got Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0. Still wouldn't cut it. Went back and got Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. Still wouldn't remove it. Went back and got some polishing compound, and could only find Turtle Wax Premium Grade Polishing Compound (trying to stay away from rubbing compound). Got a $20 Turtle Wax 6" Random Orbital Polisher (i.e. Wax Spreader). That polishing compound did the trick. Went at it good.

Did 4 hours Thursday night... Wash, Meguiar's Clay Bar the whole car, Wash and then the testing above.

Last night did the whole car with Turtle Wax polishing compound, some places more than once (especially the roof). Put about 5-6 hours in it. Looks good.

Did the whole car with Ultimate Compound today. Then did the roof, rear deck lid, hood and top side edges of the car and mirrors with Scratch X 2.0.

Just starting with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish on the whole car tonight.

Then will do the Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Paste Wax tomorrow.

Got 9 hours into it today, going to try and finish the polishing tonight.

Took some pics (poor quality cell pics) of my masking (put one up the center to see before and after). Will take better pics once done. Man it's a lot of work to do it right. It is 9 years old, with a bunch of build up... so it's not like it was fairly new.

Here's some pics: 1st pic has the far side of the rear deck lid done with polishing compound, 2nd pic is after T/W polishing compound and then Meguiar's Ultimate Compound completed.

It's kinda got that "Tron" movie look. (The reason for posting).

Now back to polishing...

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Dang that's a lot of work but looks good! I know mine needs the same treatment. Well let's hope the rain and dust storms are over
 
The dust was bad here last night. Had to stop. Wiped it back down a couple times to start back up.

Here's pics after the Meguiar's Ultimate Polish was applied.

(Done for the night. Going for 2 coats of wax tomorrow).

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Should mask off the side trim on the doors as well.

Don't forget a wash after polishing the whole car, before you proceed with seal/wax. Great work so far.
 
Looks fantastic. If your headlights are a little hazy don't be scared to hit them a little bit as well.
 
looking great! Im buying myself porter cable for christmas so as soon as this cold weather is gone I will be doing the same, or maybe I will just go a for a paint job :p
 
Thanks for the compliments guys. It looks better than I thought it could.

JMTISEO: I did the headlights with 3 grades of polishing compounds, they are wayyyy better now.

M4rk: I didn't mask the side trim on doors as they had blemishes as well. Stayed off them as much as possible while doing flat surfaces, then hit them by themselves during each stage (not using a hi-speed pro rotary or DA... which minimizes the chance of burning the paint).

Just starting the 2nd coat of Ultimate Polish now on the whole car.

Wash after the polish phase before wax eh? Hmmm... reading conflicting opinions on that. If using off brands of polish & wax, or using Zaino and the like, then yes wash after polish otherwise the wax won't bond and there may be hazing. Staying with same brand Meguiar's polish & then carnauba should be no problem (depends on what you read). I am hoping for that, as it's already taped off and I don't want to pull the tape, wash, dry, re-tape, then wax. I think it probably depends on the products being used.

My steps this time are: Wash, Clay, Wash, 3 grades of Polishing Compounds, 2 coats of Ultimate Polish/Pre-Waxing Glaze finishing polish, 2 coats of Carnauba Wax (10 steps).

General accepted steps are: Wash, Clay, Polish, Protect (should be Wash, Clay, Wash, Polish, Protect).

I'm a couple hours from waxing...

Guys, please clarify if you: Polish - Wash - Wax in that order (or skip wash in between).
 
Polishing is to remove swirls, hazing, imperfections, etc. It's not to be layered for protection like a sealant. Perhaps you are confusing the two?

When I polished the car (I do that twice a year max), I did: Wash, clay, wash, IPA wipe, polish, IPA wipe/wash, seal and wax.

You should always wash after polishing to remove any left-over polishing oils, and to ensure your sealant and wax has max bonding to the paint surface (or clear coat, if you will). For a great synth. sealant I recommend Optimum Poli-Seal. I am very happy with it.


Edit: Looked up Meg's Ultimate Polish. Hmm.. it's labelled as a glaze, but is more like a finishing polish with filling abilities. I stand corrected, perhaps you don't need to wash it off?
 
Yea there seams to be two terms for polish: polishing compound, and finishing polish/glaze (like furniture polish gives it a shine - not removing swirls, haze etc like a polishing compound). Sounds like we agree after Ultimate Polish/Glaze I can go to wax. Great! Thanks for the suggestions and follow up response M4rk!
 
First coat of wax complete. (That's me in the chair).

Started second coat of wax (Hood, Roof, Rear Deck Lid, Upper angled surface of the fenders/doors/rear quarters completed so far).

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Done. Here's a completed pic.

(I'll take a few pics outside with another camera later this week).

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Wow how did I miss this?

Very nice job, that is a lot of hours!

How did that orbital work out? Easy to use?

Better garage it to preserve this job!
 
That orbital was very easy to use. It did what I wanted. Some tough areas I did by hand in the earliest stage. Really could have used a rougher compound to make it easier all around, and could have stayed with the random oribital that way. After the first polishing compound was done, I used the orbital the rest of the time. A friend is going to get one now, after seeing it used this weekend.
 
congrats man. looks great.... love to see it out in the sun.... it drives me crazy seeing people wax dirty cars.
 
Looks great, LDM. I did a full paint correction with Adam's products at the end of the summer. I've had about 30 people since then stop and look at the car when in parking lots or gas stations due to the mirror finish.
 
I did a quick one on mine but nothing like this, I used the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound but it looks like later I will have to go back and use a heavier compound. Great job!
 
Looks really good!

Only thing I don't really like is the mud flap/splash guard thingys.
 
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