which compound?

[reeces555]

Bought myself a kestral polisher finally..question is which way is best to get the colour from

a a dark blue colour car

b a silver car

 

paint cleaner by hand or polisher and which cutting compound by polisher I am guessing.

[ilogikal1]

For silver I'd be aiming mainly for gloss, aside from getting some flake pop if it's metallic silver there's little else you can do with it really.

 

For the blue, I'd be aiming for depth and that dripping wet look.

 

Both will be acheived by polishing the surface to perfection in the same way, it's the steps after that, that will add to the finish - happy to expand on that if you'd like me to, but I'll stick to answering the questions you've already asked for now.

 

Paint cleaner, I'd recommend either Car Chem Paint Cleaner or Auto Finesse Rejuvinate - it's worth noting though that the latter contains both fillers and abbrassives; the abbrassives don't offer much cut at all so it's pretty safe to use on all paint but the filler can and will interfere with certains LSP's, not a problem if you're using wax, more of a problem if you're using sealants and a massive problem if you're using a coating. Nothing an IPA wipedown won't resolve but it's best used when going straight to wax or when doing the "full works" as opposed to anything in between. Car Chem Paint Cleaner leaves nothing behind.

Both are good by hand but better by machine. You'll be amazed at how much filth either one will pull out of seemingly clean paint, and just how quickly either can ruin a perfectly good clean, new pad!

 

 

With regards to what compounds (and pads), that will largely depend on the hardness and thickness of the paint. Thickness is something that you're going to need to judge for yourself, the easiest safest way is a Paint Depth guage (good ones are expensive but will be able to tell the thickness of the lacquer separately to the rest of paint and as that's what you're worried about, they are worth every penny). The easiest way is just to go in blind and hope for the best - you may well be fine with that approach, many are, but it may cost you a respray. Entirely your choice.

I can offer an educated guess at the hardness though, I'll just need to know what cars are they both are, how old and are they both OEM paint still or have they been resprayed at all? The standard advice always applies though - always start with the least aggressive combination and work your way up until you're seeing the results you need, never, ever, EVER just jump in with the most aggressive!

[reeces555]

Ill send you a pm mate..thankyou for the in depth reply