I need to get my car buffed and polished. It looks like someone took a freakin brillo pad to it under the right lighting conditions. I bought it used about a month ago so I knew I would have to do some work on it but damn.

If anyone can recommend a good shop (that you have brought your own car to!) that does a mean hand or machine polish and wax job, in the southeastern MA (Plymouth county) area, please let me know. I'll be saving my pennies until then.

 

The Xtreme Clean in weymouth, Bottoms up Detail in Marshfield, or me i do detailing on the side.

 

I paid $300 for a professional polish and wax plus interior at the best place in buffalo in the Fall. The wax is still holding strong, but the swirls are coming back in full force. I'm going to try some stuff by hand, and then go back when the shop comes back up from Florida (they do boats down there in the winter). Just to give you an idea of the price. I know that was on the high side, but they came recommended by a few body shops and dealers, so I knew they were going to be worth it.

 

Buf,

Claybar the car and then use a really good wax and the swirl marks will be gone. In the sun you'll need sunglasses when you look at your car. Seriously...

-Mike

 

I've tried a ton of stuff by hand and I can never get the results. I've heard too many horror stories about using an orbital, and the RO just ain't cuttin it. I can do the claybar, but after that it seems like it's just a waste of my time.

 

Black cars are tough, pretty much the only way to get it looking good is using a high speed buffer. Obviously you have to know what your doing or you'll do more harm than good to the paint. I'll admit that I get sick of my car being white, but it's very easy to take care of.

 

buffaloss- i highly recommend picking up a porter cable random orbital and some of the pads adams polishes offers for different applications. Check out adams website and try their swirl and haze remover with some revive polish and then machine wax. The results are worth every bit of it and you can do it yourself. I have tried so many different combos and i think theres is one of the best. I do detailing on the side and have tried a lot of products. With the porter cable random orbit and the right pad i can make anything shine even my bosses black suburban came out unreal took out all the swirls.

 

Thanks. I'll consider it. Not the first time I heard of that PC RO buffer...everyone seems to recommend it. I just think I'll still **** it up some how. Got a model number on the buffer?

 

PC 7424, its on the adams website for $100. And you cant f*%& it up with the RO it doesnt create enough heat to ruin the paint.

 

Thanks for the info. Any idea what pads I should be looking at as well?

(sorry for the thread hijack, jnmartin. Hopefully you can gain something from this, too )

 

The Black & White pad is good for polishing out minor swirl marks and basic waxing. The orange and green pad i use on my boat and have used it on my car once to really get the tough swirls. Dont forget to wash with a dish soap like dawn and claybar the car before polishing/waxing.

 

Yep. Thanks. Once the weather gets better, I'll definitely try to get this done myself and pocket the other $200 (or spend it on other mods).

BTW, I'll try to find the "adams" website myself, but in case I don't have any luck...is it a simple link to or is Adam someone in particular?

 

thanks for the suggestions, i'm gonna make an appointment with xtreme, i think

 

http://www.adamspolishes.com/

xtreme clean has a website too-- thextremeclean.com

 

Save your clear coat for another day and just ignore the swirl marks. The more you buff the car the more of your clear coat disapers and then the swirl marks will come back and you'l lhave to get rid of another layer. If you just keep your swirl marks you'll know you have enough clear coat to get rid of them at any time you want. Most the time when i wax my car it gets rid of all the swirl marks i use Zyxol or some **** and works really good on swirls.

 

Wax only covers up the swirls until the wax dissapates, a sealer and glaze (part of 3-4 step process) will fill in the swirls making them "appear" gone and then the wax seals in the newly "filled" swirl marks. A good scratch/swirl remover (I only use the Zaino process on my personal vehicles for swirl/scratch removal) will work wonders in the right hands, you have to be careful because you can burn right through the clearcoat. If doing it yourself without much experience, read up online on how to use/read/get a paint meter, this will tell you how much clear/paint you have left before danger zone. I do detailing on the side as well, from police fleet maint. to Ferrari's. I am from Northeastern Mass but if anyone on here ever needs a 4 stage or even a layer of wax put on I'll hook the forum guys up! I am a fanatic about paint, especially living in New England (4 black cars in my house ), the weather here destroys paint!

 

Whats a good layer of clear to have ? and how often do you buff your car or recommend buffing it.

 

When looking through the gauge, you want to see MORE than 0.2 mils (GM comes with 0.5mils form the factory), this will give you 0.3 approx to work with. I am not by any means a "professional" car detailer but rather a car paint nut/gearhead. I estimate a 10-25% Loss of cleacoat with every cutting/scratch session, depending on how much you need to work on (ie if the car has been owned by someone who ALWAYS go through a mechanical car wash for 5 years and never buffed) this type of car will have many scratches and swirl marks. This would require removing close to 0.25 (of the estimated original 0.5 of the overall clear from GM). Some sections of the car will have less, some will have more based on location on the vehicle (road grime, rock chips, etc.) Personally I would recomend 2x a year of buffing with a random orbital, this will not (as stated above) heat up enough/gain enough speed to do damage. I have seen people burn through clearcoat with one but that was because they wanted to buff out a scratch that was > finger nail deep. Also some shops i my area at least, hire someone at min wage to do the detailing/buffing and have no prior experience.

If you are going to do a full scratch removal/swirl removes- do that once a year and follow with a 2 thick layers of wax after the 3 stage process. I will go in the garage and spend 10-12 hours on my Vette just on the paint. By sealing and applying thick wax layer, the elements the car faces everyday will not dissapate the wax, thus preserving the scratch removal and sealing work you have done.
This was a 4 stage/8hour job on my baby last July before the 4th of July cruise.