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Too scared to use an auto buffer. Ill just stick to a manual one (me). Btw, i bought 3 of those Meguiars Supreme Shine Microfibre Cloth. I gave them a quick wash. Damn they absorb so much. Hopefully it will do the job when i use it to remove polish and wax.
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Remember to wash it out if you drop one on the floor. It picks up sand/wood/dirt like a magnet picks up filings.
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Stocky CL9 - 1:17.2
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 Originally Posted by Shimian
I was thinking of getting a machine to polish/wax car. But whats stopping me is that ive been reading that if you dont know the technique, you will scratch the crap out of your car.  I dont mean you hold the machine in the one place for 30 secs. You need to know how much force, how long, direction of buffing etc. But i think to myself, theres a thick pad at the end, so its pretty hard to scratch your car.
ya gotta pick your polisher carefully, the mothers wax attack is a whole new system designed not to scratch. It's not the conventional polisher where the piece spins around on the spot, this one is a tiny pad which moves in little circles, kinda like how an orbital sander works. this movement does the same as if you polished the car making little circles all over. you wash the pads out after you're done, the pads velcrow on easily too.
next time you go to wash world or wherever you wash your car try this. easy cheap solution.
step 1:
put in $2
select the rinse
The first thing you should be cleaning is the brush which you use to scrub the car down with sprey it over quickly. Very important, some people drop the brush on the ground, and you could only imagine what sort of grit you may pick up with the brush at that point.
Sprey over your car very quickly, spreying off all the visible mess on the car. then switch over to the foam brush.
Scrub you car down removing making sure you havn't missed anywhere, be as thorough as you like, as its a foam brush, the brush still works after the timer has run out. you can do the wheels last.
step 2:
If you have a quick clay or clay bar or whatever clay, go over the car while the car is still plenty lubed with the form soap. This will remove any finer particals that are on the paint surface. I love clay, the car feels sooo smooth after its all done.
step 3:
Put in $1
And use the rinse again, clean off all the soap. (Dont be fooled into using the spot free rinse or any of those extra's if you're going to polish the car, they simply are not needed)
step 4
As it happens i live in Alice Springs, and the car wash isn't too far from my house. So I just drive home and not bother about drying the car off.
likewise, if you live close to the car wash, you could proceed to drive home, otherwise dry the car off, you dont want your car picking up any dirt on your way home.
step 5
At this point I'm at home, and there's very little water on the car. I use the Meguirs deep wet look polish on my mothers wax attack polisher, and rub that polish into the car while the surface is a little wet. This takes me about 10-20 mins. Buy a wax attack, one of the best buys you'll ever make, they're on special at supercheeps at the moment for $125. You can leave the polisher on the spot for as long as you like, you dont need to worry about how much pressure you put on it. You can do it with one hand. It spreads the polish evenly every time. It'll save you in the long run for time and how much polish you use. It'll be the best polishing experience you ever had!
step 6
Let the polish just sit there for about 30 mins, As stupid as this seams, just let it sit in the paint while the polish does its thing. I think its during this time that the polish is adhering to the paint surface. I've known some people to even leave the polish on the car overnight (not sure if there is any added benefit to this)
step 7
With a clean microfibre cloth, in a circular motion, I dust off the polish, and just take my time. Spend extra time wherever the metal bends as this is one of the most reflective parts.
You should have a really nice shine afterwards.
I dont bother cleaning my tyres, as I live in the desert, and they just get dirty pretty quickly with any of those silicon products.
Sorry this went on longer then I anticipated
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The mother's wax attack is just a random orbital. Nothing special about it. The downside is that it is low-powered and does not have speed selection. From this discussion at Autopia, it's only good for wax application and marring removal.
Oh, and you used the brush. That's a #2 no no, with #1 being not to use the roller brush auto car wash.
Last edited by aaronng; 09-10-2007 at 06:45 PM.
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Stocky CL9 - 1:17.2
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I sprey rinsed the brush first, which is just as clean (if not cleaner) then the wool glove 
(plus I'm a kiwi and there are all sorts of implications with having my hand inside any form of wool!!!)
Last edited by AzKik-R; 09-10-2007 at 06:52 PM.
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The brush is harder than your paint and will scratch. The lambswool is softer than paint, so it won't. Have you viewed your paint in the noon sun to inspect for swirls?
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Stocky CL9 - 1:17.2
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Have you guys seen these paint thickness gauges?
http://www.defelsko.com/applications...-detailing.htm
Most factory paint is about 3.5 to 5.5 mils. Would be interesting to know what the thickness of the latest honda range has (i.e. Euro, FD, CTR).. Probably 2mils lolz
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yeah I've looked it over pretty thoroughly, no swirls, i've been washing cars like this for a long time never had a swirl problem, the brush here must be a different species, they're all nice and soft. But I agree with the machine brushes, they're quite hard, and could only imagine them inflicting damage. Just curious, what does your speedo go up to? 180 or 260 or 300?
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The brushes here in Sydney and Melb are terrible. Instant scratching if you use them. The hand in wool reason is 100% valid.  Not going to insist that you use one. 
Our speedo goes to 260km/h. But in NZ, the cars imported from Japan have speedos that go up to only 180km/h.
Last edited by aaronng; 09-10-2007 at 08:37 PM.
Reason: typo. :)
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Stocky CL9 - 1:17.2
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Originally Posted by EuroDude
Have you guys seen these paint thickness gauges?
http://www.defelsko.com/applications...-detailing.htm
Most factory paint is about 3.5 to 5.5 mils. Would be interesting to know what the thickness of the latest honda range has (i.e. Euro, FD, CTR).. Probably 2mils lolz
5.5 mils includes the clearcoat and basecoat. So the thickness of the clearcoat itself is much thinner. New Honda paint is water-based and is softer, not necessarily thinner.
The PosiTest DFT combo is US$695.
Last edited by aaronng; 09-10-2007 at 07:15 PM.
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Stocky CL9 - 1:17.2
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Originally Posted by aaronng
5.5 mils includes the clearcoat and basecoat. So the thickness of the clearcoat itself is much thinner. New Honda paint is water-based and is softer, not necessarily thinner.
The PosiTest DFT combo is US$695.
US$695 ouch.
Some brushes are car wash places in Syd are actually quite soft, but yeah most are the harsh type (car lovers for example).
Shame you cant use woolen mitts at most car wash places. I guess they wouldnt mind if you paid $2 for the foam brush and applied the foam from the brush without making contact with the car, then used a Mitt to clean 
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any decent RO's around for a good price? i have been detailing my car via the good old hand method which i don't mind actually, but i wish to do it on a more regular basis so thought i would go for a RO, the mothers wax attack seems good but as stated its only a low speed RO which will not remove swirl marks
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