[Motastic]

So I just bought some detail equipment. Spent over $700 getting the random orbital and polish's, wax's, sealants.

Basically bought the big and small Griot's garage orbital and their 1 - 4 polish's. The one step sealant and wax.

Now my question is for what it is was worth, the polish's did good work. I mean but not as good as I thought it would. I did two pass's, went straight to the #2. Than sealant and Wax.

One problem I have is it left buffer trails all over the car...what is something that I can use to get rid of those?

Also I still have quite a few swirls and fine scratches. I used the Orange Polishing Pad for the polish / sealant and than Red Wax pad to apply the wax.

So for the next time when I clean all the cars in summer, what should I buy to change up the equipment?

Also those damm buffer trails, what can I do about those?

[Royal Flush]

You're probably using the wrong techniques along with the wrong polishes and pads. I'd also assume you're not prepping the car properly before polishing.

What did you do to prep the car before polishing? What polishes, pads, and combos did you use for your 2-step process?

You can use this,Auto Detailing Guide, to familiarize yourself some more with detailing.

[Motastic]

well i watched the video correctly it came with twice also had a good local detailer come by to supervise me.

I washed the car, clayed it, taped it and than went at it

Used the Orange Polish bad with the #2 polish. Went side to side and than up and down.

[Envious Eric]

should have listened to me!!!!!!!

Im pretty sure their orange pad is more like LC white...you arent going to acheive a ton of correction with it with their "medium polish #1" You would need more cutting ability from the pad to use that polish and get correction like you may in deed need. Dont quote me on that, I havent used their line up of polishes.

What other pads do you have? Did you get the LC lineup of pads...orange, white, black, blue?

Doesnt sound like you were aggressive enough with the polish/pad combo over all. If anything, you should just have RIDS left, not swirls. Thats where the stronger pads and compounds like M105, surbuf, mf pads, D300 come into play...

I would look back over the list I gave you and figure out what you need based on what you have now. add to it, not necessarily replace.

AND buffer trails with a DA? you are doing something seriously wrong as I have never had that happen, so I cant even begin to tell what you may be doing wrong.

[mvillezcas]

Eric is right. DA's don't leave buffer trails. The pad/polish combo is probably off and I'm sure any experienced detailer would agree with me when I say you won't get any serious results unless you start using a rotary.

[Envious Eric]

Originally Posted by mvillezcas

Eric is right. DA's don't leave buffer trails. The pad/polish combo is probably off and I'm sure any experienced detailer would agree with me when I say you won't get any serious results unless you start using a rotary.

completely untrue!!! I havent touched a rotary in over two years. I know others are the same! Only real time is when you need to remove sanding scratches, and even then, surbuf and a griots DA with a 5.5" pad with 105 or 101 or menzerna F500 can handle that with ease! Rotary is still necessary, but not like everyone thinks! Mercedes/Audi hard paints, its beneficial...most everything else...not needed

[Motastic]

I know eric, i should have listened, but i got the itch and had a local griots dealer here so went to him

no i did not buy any other pads besides the orange and red from griots. and the polish's i bought were the 1 - 4 for them. I used #2 on all the cars.

Although I think I might have buffer trails on one car because it already had it from the dealership, so I might be confusing those thinking i put them on. How could I get rid of those?

Come to think of it, I had some on my 335 after I got done with it but a simple wipe down with a MB cleaned them off

[Envious Eric]

you cant wipe off buffer trails...these are buffer trails/holograms


You need to polish the paint correctly to remove the buffer trails. You cannot go from a wool pad and compound to a fine polish and a finishing pad and remove the buffer trails, you need a more aggressive middle step (or two) to break down and refine the paint properly

I would check out detailed image and get the following:
surbuf pad
megs MF pad
orange pad
white pad
black pad
meguiars D300
Menzerna 203
menzera 85rd
meguiars 105

you will have enough to handle almost anything with those options at your disposal. get the 5.5" pad sizes with a 5" backing plate.

Still have that email I sent you, look things over and email me back if you have any other questions about it...

[Detailed Image]

The DetailedImage.com detailing guide and Ask a Pro Blog should be a huge help to you. On the blog you can interact with the authors by responding to their articles or e-mail us any questions you might have. Let me know if you need any recommendations I'd be happy to help!

Greg @ DI