mission 1, swirl removal

[CARACTERE 007]

Right the mission has started to get rid of those really annoying swirls and minor scratches!!

Last week i bought myself an orbital polisher, not you’re halfords type thing, but something on a body shop level apparently. I decided not to go for a rotary polisher version as i didn’t want to burn the paint and they seem quite hard to master.

The random orbital will never burn or damage the paint as it is constantly moving, hence it won’t stay long enough in one position to burn. Also it had the benefit of having a hook and loop Velcro systems for changing over the pads, this makes it very easy to swap over pads; I’ve found this great and saves a lot of hassle.

Just waiting for some items to arrive from John at cleanandshiney.co.uk whos been great and ordered me stuff that I didn’t think was available in the uk, thanks dude!

Think ill be doing the following..

1, NXT wash.

2, Claybar

3, Meguiars speed glaze on 8006 pad. To remove swirls.

4, Meguiars DACP if needed on an 8006 pad. To remove heavy swirls if speed glaze hasn’t removed the majority of the swirls.

5, Meguiars polymer sealant.

6, 2 thin coats of NXT wax allowing 20 mins for the NXT to cure on each coat. Applied on a 9006 finishing pad.

7, Depending on how knackered I am, I will apply 1 coat of high tech yellow wax or P21S Carnauba Wax 24 hours after applying the 2nd coat of NXT for it to fully cure overnight.

Ill go and take some "before" pics of the a6 in a bit.

[cleanimage]

I have two quick observations...

Firstly, don't be fooled into thinking that your new machine can do no damage to your car, because it can, in most of the ways a heavy duty job can, it's just that it's less likely to happen. You still have to watch those edges! You should be okay, but Complacency is the other of all cock-ups!

Secondly, I don't have much experience with Megs polymer sealant (none at all, although I know what I've heard). This is a sealant which is heading in the direction of Supagard and Diamondbrite, but nowhere close in terms of life... so you really have to consider it to be a normal wax type composition, as is NXT (although synthetic) and p21s, (which is wonderful stuff).

None of these products 'build' despite rumours to the contrary.

P21s contains a lot of wax by any standards. What makes this product so good is that it contains all top quality ingredients and no nonsense. But the normal rules apply, where there is wax, there is solvents, and the more wax, the more solvents... thats why some of these expensive products smell so nice, they use solvents designed for the cosmetics industry.

so, even if you allow the NXT 24 hrs, or 48 hrs to cure, it won't matter, because when you apply the p21s, you are dumping a load of solvent on your car and this will melt the wax resins already on the car... after all melting the wax is the reason they put them in products in the first place.

You can build some polymer sealants in layers, you can apply stuff like SRP and NXT over Lifeshine and Supagard because the origional sealant is pretty much like the paint it's self, it is not re-wettable. You can also build Zano Bros synthetic waxes.

But NXT has proved something of a disapointment as far as longlivety goes in all the test I have seen. so if it breaks down quickly in normal atmospheric conditions, then you can be sure that it won't last long if rubbing it over with p21s.

The result will be that when you apply the p21s, it wil wet the NXT and the two will mix together... you won't get a layer of wax any thicker than applying one or the other, instead you will end up with a mix of the two. This in it's self may give a finish which resembles very fine swirl marks.

The same is almost certainly true of NXT over Meg's Polymer sealant.

It sounds like you are serious about getting a good finish, and it sounds like you may have been reading some of those American enthusiast sites. sometimes they give some great advice, and are a great place to discover great products like p21s... but just remember that they do get a bit carried away at times.

If you want to go mad and put in THAT much effort, I would recommend looking for Zaino Brothers products. I have to admit that I am not 100% convinced, but even some professional detailers say that DO layer and build and that the polymer sealants are strong enough to take it.

They have a numbered system and you apply them in numerical order according to your needs... I have also heard that they can be a sod to use if you don't follow the instructions. But done right, the tests I have seen put ZB above p21s.

[Gren]

Gotta admit when I want to go the whole hog like you're doing I use SRP to get rid of the swirls and the use the Megs Hi-Tech yellow wax on top for protection. The yellow stuff is pretty good - easy to buff off and seems to last a while. All by hand and should take around an hour or so. Apply to the whole car and then wipe off to give enough time to dry.

No need for anything else if your paint's in good condition other than the swirls.