First time polishing

[OneLethal87GN]

I'm going to try and polish my car for the first time tomorrow. I have a buffer and bought one of them wool pads to use on it. I bought some Mother's California Gold carnauba cleaner wax. What tips can you guys give me on doind this for my first time?

 

[OneLethal87GN]

I forgot to add the steps I plan on taking. After washing the car with a quality car wash I'll dry it off and apply the polish with the wool pad and buffer in the shade. If it comes out good I will then finish it off with a coat of Mother's gold paste wax. Sound good?

 

[Gary Wells]

FWIW & IMHO:
Considering that you are planning on waxing the car, I would use liquid dawn or liquid palmolive dish soap which will do a much better job of removing any old wax/polish. Otherwise, you might end up having to glaze the car also. Car soaps, even good ones, will generally not remove any old wax/polish, but they are an excellent wash medium when cleansing the car, but retain as much as possible whatever wax/polish is on the vehicle. This would be a good time to look into claybarring the car if it needs it. Have fun.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

It definitely needs a clay barring. The only problem is the guy I bought the car from repainted it himself. It was his first time doing a car too. He did a pretty decent job. The only problem is he used single stage paint and only one layer. The paint is cracking some on the front of the hood and you can see how thin it is. I just wanted to polish the car to bring some of the shine back in faded areas like around the door handle and where hard water made some trails at the bottom of the small side window. If I can at least get it all a uniform color I would be satisfied. It looks like thunderstorms today so I'll have to wait on doing anything. Thanks for the replies and if you can think of any tips to give me I would appreciate it. Thanks again.

 

[turbo6x2]

I would suggest not using the wool pad then. Try Terry cloth applicator with some water on it. This way you won't get it on too thick. The wool pad may be to abrasive.

 

[GNS-FLY]

waxing

I would't use a buffer to apply wax. A buffer or polisher is made to bring the shine back. Wax is designed to protect the paint and seal it up. Plus with a wool pad you are going to see those annoying buffer swirls and glare in the daylight. I would use a foam polishing pad to do it if anything. The wool pad can very easiely burn through your paint and not to mention you said the paint was thin anyway. With a foam pad its probally 25 times harder to burn through the paint. Personally I would wax it by hand. But anyway good luck and it is just somthing to think about.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

Well, I need to bring the shine and color back to a few areas. One being around the driver's door handle and a few more on the front of the hood and tops of the front fenders. They have dulled and look a dull gray in the light. I thought maybe a wool pad and some cleaner wax would make it one solid color again. The sides look great. I still haven't had time to try either by buffer or hand due to rainstorms out of the blue. Maybe tomorrow I can give it a whirl. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[turbo6x2]

Just a good coat of wax might help with that. Or at least make it look nicer. The foam works great with a little water on it then the wax before applying, by hand would be the safest