VroomVroom

That's a nice color - my folks had one of those back in the early-mid 200's. It'll look awesome once you've detailed it.

What Meguiar's stuff do you have? To remove swirls you'll need products with abrasives - light/medium cut for the orange pad, and fine for the finishing work with the white pad. Lots of great products out there. Where did you purchase your pads? Chances are that vendor has some terrific products and you might be able to combine shipping.

Poorboy's is a line I often recommend to folks who are just starting with the PC, but there are so many others - Meguiar's Pro line is great, as is 3M, Optimum, Menzerna, Einszett, etc., etc. If you haven't already roamed around, I recommend checking out some of the big detailing forums and shopping sites. Autopia, detailcity, autogeek, etc...

budhayes3

iTrader: (19)

I don't think that I have anything with abrasives, I have the Deep Crystal pain cleaner and polish, which I've been told is more of a glaze (seemed like a strong glaze to me when I did my truck with it). I think that I'm going to look into the Poorboy's stuff, seems good for a beginner. I got the pads from the links that wesley_burks provided, autogeek.

I joined autopia last night Did a little lurking and searching...

wesley_burks

iTrader: (1)

i havent had much luck with lake country pads. they loose there cutting ability too fast, they seem to get soft after a little heat is generated. i always loose the velcro backing fast too, but they are always quick to replace the defects free of charge. i live by griots orange foam pads and sonus white. sonus is much softer, but still has a little cut for the final polish. griots is a B**** though because they charge so much to ship! hey bud hayes, search autopia for a few of my post, you should learn alot just by following some of them. by the way, you will take lots of before and afters at first, but when you start detailing everyday, its just a hassle to document every step, especially when you are in a time crunch to begin with. ha i havent posted a detail on autopia in 6 or 8 months and i polish 3 cars a week!

VroomVroom

Interesting...I've got LC pads that have been regularly used for over a year. I actually lost a backing plate before a pad. Interesting on the Griots pads as well - my experience has been that their orange pads have about as much cut as the LC white ones. Anyway, there certainly are others out there. Some love the Edge pads, others Sonus, others Meguiar's. I'm sure you'll end up experimenting quite a bit in finding what works best for you.

budhayes3

iTrader: (19)

Can you recommend which PoorBoy's products I should get...thanks again!

VroomVroom

Youbetcha. I'd start with SSR2.5 and either SSR1 or Professional Polish. Now, you'll find that the combo of SSR2.5 + orange probably won't have enough cut to eliminate swirls in the fairly hard clear on your truck. However, multiple passes will do the trick, and 2.5 is a great product to learn on. It's intuitive, forgiving, and safe for use in direct sunlight. You'll know when it breaks down because it'll dust pretty heavily and will dry with very litle residue to remove. SSR1 is a better finishing polish, but Pro Polish is really versatile, and is great on glass, chrome and even smooth plastic. Toss a coin there, or if you're feeling extravagant, buy both.

If you're sticking with Poorboy's for topcoats, I'd probably recommend their EX sealant w/ carnauba, and one of the Natty's waxes. EX isn't overly durable, but it too can be applied in sunlight and is very easy to use. The Natty's waxes are great - it's very hard to beat them in terms of looks/results for the money spent. Just keep in mind - very, very light coats with any sealants & waxes.

budhayes3

iTrader: (19)

Thank you very much I'm probably going to order some Poorboy's stuff next week, now that I know what to order Don't have a date for mom's detail yet, but I'll be doing it some time this summer. Now I have alot of Meguiar's stuff that I won't be using lol

I'll say this, the Meguiar's stuff did a good job on my truck, I got alot of compliments on it at the New England Summer Nationals this weekend. People couldn't believe that it's a daily driven 1999 truck. One guy asked me if I had the truck painted.

VroomVroom

Meguiar's is great stuff...their OTC line and most definitely their professional line. The detailing mantra: 90% process and 10% product! Now you're just stepping up your game a bit. The stuff you've used in the past does a nice job of cleansing the paint, filling in some imperfections, and adding a ton of gloss and wetness to the finish. Now you're ready for the next step - actually correcting the finish by polishing to remove the scratches and marring. Then, anything you apply after that will look even better.

02_2500avalanche

Bud, I can def say your truck looked great this weekend. I was walking around up the top of the hill and I was like hey that truck looks damn familiar and then I saw the plate and it all came together. After that show I realized that I wasnt the only one out there that likes burnouts

budhayes3

iTrader: (19)

LOL, thanks for the compliment! Definitely some great burnouts for sure...what a small world!