Was going to do a full "Autopian" Polish on the Grande next week, but after discussions with Jeremy, we decided the Blue Mach1 will receive the treatment next week as part of preparations for the Perth Nationals. We do not want any last minute rush to prepare the 2 Mach 1`s like last year.
In the meantime, i took the Grande to work today so that i could do a 3 stage Menzerna polish on part of the car to show interested people what is involved. Washed the car before i left home so that i could go straight to the Clay stage.
Firstly, here is my pad selection. Different coloured pads are used depending on how agressively you need to polish -
These are the 3 Menzerna polishes to be used -
The polishes are a year or so old. The codes have now changed.I have ordered a new batch to do the Mach1 next week.
Items required to do the claying are the clay, clay lube, quick detailer to clean up afterwards and clean Microfibre cloths -
I broke off a bit of clay, kneaded it, then formed a disc about the size of a 50c piece. Claying is easy, just spray a bit of clay lube on the panel, then rub the clay gently across the surface. You can hear and feel a slight scratching noise as the clay pulls dirt out of the paint. Only took a couple of minutes to clay the whole quarter panel. Next step was to spray quick detailer on the panel, then wipe it off with the microfibre cloth -
Time to start polishing. For the first stage i used menzerna P203S ( New Code name PF2500) which has a cut of 3.0 out of 5, and a gloss of 4.0 out of five. Chose a white pad for this stage because the paint was already in very good condition with absolutely minimum swirls.
Just put 4 pea sized dobs of polish on the pad, squirt the pad with just one small application of quick detailer to lube the pad, dab the pad on the panel then spread the polish evenly with the buffing machine on slowest speed no.1 It is important to do a small section about 400mm square each time -
Only takes a few seconds to spread the polish evenly, then you crank up the machine to highest speed no.6 and work that polish. I go over each area about 6 times very slowly which takes about 4 minutes. Once the polish is completely broken down it will go clear and there will be next to no residue.
I then spray quick detailer and wipe the area with a microfibre cloth to completey remove any left over polish -
Stage 1 now complete. Looking better -
Will continue next post shortly.