CAR POLISH

Mustang Australia

Author Topic: CAR POLISH  (Read 385086 times)

Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #50 on: October 21, 2012, 10:50:32 am »
Hey Rocket,

The paint on my car is very thin, it was freshened up when first landed in Australia about 19 years ago for a National Concourse. A closed door job. The bonnet shinned up ok just a little patchy, looks good in photo's and at 10foot.
I purchased a rotary buffer from superdump after the detailer had a go at the bonnet,  he said it would do the job for a non professional,  it has variable speed and looks similar design to the one you use so like a big angle grinder.
we also have a orbital polisher for polishing the parents caravan, when I get off my but to help them lol. Needs a polish having said that  :ouch: some early mornings coming soon  :toetapping:
yes only out of direct sunlight on cool paint but a good tip to others reading this thread.


Offline 65muzzy

  • Worked
  • ***
  • Posts: 276
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #51 on: October 21, 2012, 12:22:02 pm »
There's a detailer in Sydney called care care products. He has a kit for $279 which includes 3 pads, 3 polishes and a machine. Is this similar to what you guys are using/talking about.

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #52 on: October 21, 2012, 01:15:06 pm »
Hi 65 Muzzy, That kit would do the job nicely for a weekend warrior. I would suggest the pad choice to be Lake Country in Orange, White and Black.
Note that different suppliers of pads use their own colour codes/density of foam. I stick with Lake Country because i believe they do a great job.

Here is a link to the kit you mention - http://www.carcareproducts.com.au/product/car_care_products/ro_polisher_das6_kit_plus

The polisher that i use is called a Flex 3401 VRG forced rotation orbital polisher -
http://www.zas.com.au/product/132/flex_xc3401_vrg_dual_action_machine_polisher.html
The Flex is an expensive machine in Australia. I see they have dropped the price back to $649. It was $850 a couple of years ago.

If you look at page 1 of this thread you will see a link that mwizz put up regarding buying from the USA. The Flex in the USA is about $400 (230v version) and just requires a cheap adaptor to change it to suit our power points. In fact here is the link that mwizz put up -
http://www.toolking.com/flex-xc3401vrgcee-variable-speed-dual-action-orbital-polisher-230-volt#

Another option is to buy a Makita rotary polisher/sander for about $400, but as previously stated - the rotary should only be used by professionals or experienced users.

But in reality, for somebody who just wants to look after the paint on their own car, the kit you mention is good value. There was another kit mentioned earlier in this thread from waxit.com.au called the concourse 900 kit. Maybe compare the 2 kits?

Rocket.
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #53 on: October 21, 2012, 01:23:37 pm »
Hey Rocket,

The paint on my car is very thin, it was freshened up when first landed in Australia about 19 years ago for a National Concourse. A closed door job. The bonnet shinned up ok just a little patchy, looks good in photo's and at 10foot.
I purchased a rotary buffer from superdump after the detailer had a go at the bonnet,  he said it would do the job for a non professional,  it has variable speed and looks similar design to the one you use so like a big angle grinder.
we also have a orbital polisher for polishing the parents caravan, when I get off my but to help them lol. Needs a polish having said that  :ouch: some early mornings coming soon  :toetapping:
yes only out of direct sunlight on cool paint but a good tip to others reading this thread.

Hi Justang, Was that rotary you bought from superdump called a Foreman by any chance? ( in a blue box ). Bought that one myself many years ago but did not find it any good.
With the thin paint on your bonnet, maybe try the medium polish SF4000 on the white pad first. I worry that a coarse polish may go through the paint.

Have fun polishing the caravan :grin: Biiiiig Job!

Rocket.
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #54 on: October 21, 2012, 02:12:42 pm »
was a rockwell brand. probably similar quality but for the price seemed to do alright.  Would love to get a better one and may look into a flex down the track.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2017, 05:24:54 pm by peterp »


Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #55 on: October 21, 2012, 02:20:02 pm »
Have fun polishing the caravan :grin: Biiiiig Job!
Rocket.

what pad for the Van would u say?

told the old lady I needed to order a new pad on your advice  :thumb:  gives me a few more weeks off
She did ask who this Rocket guy was and did he know what he was talking about    :toetapping:  Said you were a south Australian and old .......... her reply was good, he must be alright then  :grin: (originally from South Australia both my parents Yankalilla, Wallaroo)


Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #56 on: October 21, 2012, 03:22:27 pm »
Hmmmm........ South Australian......and OLD? :kickass: :grin:

Actually Victorian! Grew up in Maidstone and dragged to South Australia by my parents as a teenager. Day we moved i had to leave a Collingwood/ Carlton game at half time! Bugger! Pies won too. :thumb: Always been a Victorian on his way back home soon... Just never quite made it . 40 years later still here. Still, worse things can happen i guess.
OLD you say! Me! :tissue: :nopity: Not too old to have a good time :burnout: :burnout: :cheers: :cheers: :grin:

Back to business....  You probably should clay the caravan before polishing, then trial and error. Maybe start with an orange pad and PF2500. If that is not agressive enough try a coarse green pad. If the first try with the orange pad was too fierce - back off to a white pad and SF4000. Every polish job is different. Be prepared to experiment to find the right combo.

How about i help your mother to get the job done. :thumb: I will send you a coarse green pad, an orange pad and a white pad. That should have you ready to hook in by the weekend. Cannot have you slacking off whipper snipper. :grin: :grin: Just send me a name and delivery address via U2U.

Rocket.
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline Brumby1

  • Thoroughbred
  • **
  • Posts: 195
  • Location: Barossa Valley
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #57 on: October 21, 2012, 06:09:52 pm »
Hi Old Man
Checked the Tool King price on the flex
Tool Au$395
Shipping to SA Au $55

Jack
What can I say that hasn't been said

Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #58 on: October 21, 2012, 06:53:07 pm »
Hmmmm........ South Australian......and OLD? :kickass: :grin:

Actually Victorian! Grew up in Maidstone and dragged to South Australia by my parents as a teenager. Day we moved i had to leave a Collingwood/ Carlton game at half time! Bugger! Pies won too. :thumb: Always been a Victorian on his way back home soon... Just never quite made it . 40 years later still here. Still, worse things can happen i guess.
OLD you say! Me! :tissue: :nopity: Not too old to have a good time :burnout: :burnout: :cheers: :cheers: :grin:

Back to business....  You probably should clay the caravan before polishing, then trial and error. Maybe start with an orange pad and PF2500. If that is not agressive enough try a coarse green pad. If the first try with the orange pad was too fierce - back off to a white pad and SF4000. Every polish job is different. Be prepared to experiment to find the right combo.

How about i help your mother to get the job done. :thumb: I will send you a coarse green pad, an orange pad and a white pad. That should have you ready to hook in by the weekend. Cannot have you slacking off whipper snipper. :grin: :grin: Just send me a name and delivery address via U2U.

Rocket.

 :lmao:

not so young mate just no as old as some

 :bolt:

Alzheimer's  must have set in early and I can not remember how to use U2U  thanks for the offer  :thumb:


Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #59 on: October 21, 2012, 06:57:46 pm »
. Day we moved i had to leave a Collingwood/ Carlton game at half time! Bugger! Pies won too. :thumb:

Rocket.

ps........ go the Pies  :cheers:


Offline mwizz

  • Shelby
  • *********
  • Posts: 6281
  • MOCSA member #827
  • Location: Adelaide
  • Name: Mark
  • Car: 1969 Shelby GT500
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #60 on: October 21, 2012, 07:56:42 pm »
Hi Old Man
Checked the Tool King price on the flex
Tool Au$395
Shipping to SA Au $55

Jack

Great value

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #61 on: October 23, 2012, 09:01:24 am »
The old fart has begun an autopian polish on the Blue Mach1 as part of preparations for the Perth Nationals.

This car was painted about a year ago. It was given the standard cut and polish after being painted. Since then, apart from regular washing, the only other work on the paint was 2 coats of wax at the Newcastle Nationals back in April. The paint felt just a little coarse so i gave it a claying before polishing -

Claying finished, just needed to be sprayed with quick detailer then wiped clean with a microfibre before fitting masking tape to body seams -

Not doing the bonnet yet as we have decided to remove it , fit new hinges and change the blackouts to a Matt finish. Although we prefer a Gloss finish for the blackouts , the factory original were Matt finish and as the Mach1`s are entered in concours judging - we will keep them original.

My new Menzerna polishes arrived just as i was preparing to start polishing -

This will be a 3 stage polish. Here are a few shots taken after  the second stage.

During stage 1

After 2nd stage -

This is a work in progress. Off to work to do some more.

For those interested, i have started a new photobucket album titled Autopian Car Polishing and will add more photos as each car is being polished. Link -

Rocket.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2017, 05:26:37 pm by peterp »
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline Brumby1

  • Thoroughbred
  • **
  • Posts: 195
  • Location: Barossa Valley
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #62 on: October 23, 2012, 10:00:25 am »
At least one intereted party.........Keep em coming
What can I say that hasn't been said

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #63 on: October 23, 2012, 08:23:28 pm »
Hi Jack, Made very good progress today.

Finished the second stage, which was a white pad with SF 4000 Polish. The white pad is quite firm - still slightly cutting but upping the gloss level -

After stage 2 i decided to experiment a bit by using the same polish for the next stage, but with a slightly softer green finishing pad. This will reduce the cut while increasing the gloss -


Rocketing along. Brad gave me a stool on wheels. Made it a lot easier on the back -

Onto stage 4. Used a new Black pad with SF4500 refining polish. This is a great combo for burnishing the paint -

In the morning i just need to finish stage 4 on the front door and guard, give it a bit of a clean with quick detailer and a microfibre cloth, then apply the first of 2 coats of jetseal.

After that i will turn the car around to do the other side.

Are you starting to realise why not many people will do this type of car polishing? It seems to take forever. After the second stage, you are increasing the gloss level by about 10 percent each stage, but after several more stages that percentage becomes even less. The rule of diminishing returns applies.

But after finishing with wiping off the sealant and taking the car out in the sun, that beautiful Menzerna shine makes it all worthwhile. Well... to me anyway!

Rocket.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2017, 05:27:42 pm by peterp »
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #64 on: October 23, 2012, 08:59:28 pm »
great write up old fella   :smilies:  and looks fantastic


Offline MachAttack

  • Worked
  • ***
  • Posts: 732
  • Location: SE Melbourne
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #65 on: October 23, 2012, 09:02:53 pm »
Nice work Rocket, looks like a hell of a shine already. You're tempting me to have a go on my daily driver. It's only 18 months old but being black (yes I'm a glutton for punishment) it's covered in swirling/scratches from washing which really stand out in the sun. Thanks for your informative posts.  :thumb:

Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #66 on: October 23, 2012, 09:15:41 pm »
Rocket, at what stage do you take the masking off the door gaps and why at that stage while you like other masking on other parts?
I think I know the answers however amuze this young mind :thumb:


Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #67 on: October 23, 2012, 09:58:14 pm »
Hi Justang, After a couple of stages the polish is starting to accumulate at the edges of the masking tape - particularly at the door gaps. I just watch what is happening and if the pad is dragging polish from the tape back onto the freshly buffed paint it is time to rip off the tape. Also, on the final stage i will normally pull the tape off each panel as i get up to it so that i can polish up to the edges and eliminate any lines created by the tape. In some areas there is next to no polish on the tape, so i just leave it if it will not affect the job.

In the following photo i have pulled the tape off the quarter panel and the door gap to clean up around the edges, but you will note the tape is still at the top of the door and around the door handles. As i polish the door tomorrow, i will pull off the tape as i go. The taped up area over the rear louvre will remain in place till the job is finished because it would be a very difficult job to clean it afterwards.

In reality, i probably did not need to use so much masking tape. Did it mainly for demonstration purposes. Menzerna polish does not sling very much.
To this day, it annoys the shyte out of me when i see our painters not bothering to tape up when doing a cut and buff on a freshly painted car. They just make so much fiddly clean up work when it is totally unnecessary.

Hope the above makes sense.

Rocket.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2017, 05:28:05 pm by peterp »
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline GLENN 70

  • GT 500
  • *********
  • Posts: 8620
  • Location: Gold Coast .
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #68 on: October 23, 2012, 09:59:46 pm »
Gee i just wanted to know what to polish my stang with .    :ouch:

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #69 on: October 23, 2012, 10:06:39 pm »
Nice work Rocket, looks like a hell of a shine already. You're tempting me to have a go on my daily driver. It's only 18 months old but being black (yes I'm a glutton for punishment) it's covered in swirling/scratches from washing which really stand out in the sun. Thanks for your informative posts.  :thumb:

Hi MachAttack, Thanks - Glad you like it.

Yes... As you have found out, Black is a very difficult colour to maintain. You can make that paint look fantastic by giving it a Menzerna polish. Use a good sealant or wax afterwards to protect and maintain it.

Have you checked out the kits mentioned earlier in the thread from waxit.com.au and concourse car care. Around $270 - $300 They would do the job well. If you took the car to a professional for this kind of polish it would cost around $800-$1200. A lot cheaper to buy your own kit.

Rocket.
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #70 on: October 23, 2012, 10:07:59 pm »
Gee i just wanted to know what to polish my stang with .    :ouch:

Hi Glenn, That is easy - menzerna. :grin: :grin:
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline Nobby76

  • Stallion
  • **
  • Posts: 81
  • Location: Newcastle
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #71 on: October 30, 2012, 07:18:38 pm »
Nice work again Rocket, seeing threads like this inspires me to get out and do my cars, which desperately need it.  Been back 12 months and haven't touched my detailing gear!! lol

Offline jusTANG

  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1334
  • Location: Canberra, Belconnen
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #72 on: October 30, 2012, 07:43:12 pm »
thanks rocket, yes made sense. I think that was the photo that got me wondering as i went through your bucket account

great write up  :thumb:


Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #73 on: October 30, 2012, 07:50:04 pm »
Hi Nobby76, Thanks mate!

Time for you to break out your detailing gear. Glad you feel inspired. I know it can get monotonous sometimes, but once i see that Menzerna shine on the first panel i get motivated to keep going.

How about posting some photos of your cars . Before and as you go. Below is another photo to inspire you. It is a 65 Fastback owned by Dave Bills. He had some windscreen work done on the fastback and the fitter rubbed dry windscreen sealer all over his boot and bonnet area. Dave was beside himself thinking his beautiful paint job had been destroyed. He brought the car down and i set about a 3 stage correction polish on his car. Came up superb. Here he is a happy fella picking up the car -

I have a few more cars to do. Moniques 69 Convertible, Jeremys 65 Fastback and also i need to finish the Grande. Thinking about getting another Festool Shinex to help do them all a bit quicker.

Rocket.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2017, 05:28:22 pm by peterp »
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/

Offline rocket

  • Please visit our new Website
  • Blue Printed
  • ****
  • Posts: 1621
  • MOCSA Member No. 894
    • Image Classic Cars
  • Location: South Australia
Re: CAR POLISH
« Reply #74 on: October 30, 2012, 07:56:09 pm »
thanks rocket, yes made sense. I think that was the photo that got me wondering as i went through your bucket account

great write up  :thumb:

Hi Justang,  Ah.... Good. Glad it made sense.

Looking forward to seeing your photos when you hook in with the Menzerna.
Had the Grande at work for a couple of days this week and now i am kicking myself for just doing the rear quarter. Better get into the rest of it! The difference i see everytime i walk past the car is staggering. Makes the rest of the car look dull now. Love that Menzerna and Jetseal 109.

Rocket.
Check out our new Website

http://www.imageclassiccars.com.au/