sillyboy

Car has minor swirls, no scratches. Plan is Wash/dry clay.....then was thinking of polishing with FG400 on an orange or white pad followed by SF4500 on a black......have some Lusso Oro around for wax vs adams ....

I'm a newbie with the Griots 6". My car is Black and I hear the porsche paint is somewhat soft. I'm wondering if the FG400 is too much cut for my skill, and or my vehicle. I was planning on an orange foam pad, but could go white, or just grab a less coarse polish.

I may just wus out, wash/clay/ hand polish seal/wax and bring it to a pro......though what fun is that......

Thanks for any advice. again, the swirls are minor.....apologies for no pics......

Homeles

Mine is black also. Use a white pad with Wolfgang Swirl Remover, black with Wolfgang Sealer, finish with Blackfire's Blackice wax applied by hand. Great thing about the black wax is you don't get the white wax residue everywhere.

Did the whole car in 9 hours.

Hammer911

ok my turn to respond (why should LexVan have all the fun?!)

multitudes of threads on this, many are recent. Products and techniques all covered, repeatedly. Many links to various detailing websites and instructional videos.

Give a man a fish versus Teach a man to fish...

socalsteve

Sound wisdom is to always try the least aggressive first on an small test section...then work your way based on that.

Good luck!

chuck911

Hard to say without seeing, you know? A good wax will fill in a lot of fine scratches, so clay/wax just might work out okay. But then as the wax wears off the scratches will reappear. Which is why you'll probably be better off polishing then waxing. If you're doing all your detailing and washing carefully then you will seldom need a more aggressive polish than Griot's Machine 4, probably one of the least aggressive polishes out there, which is good. Not sure why Hammer didn't just say this, with his impossibly deeply glossy black 991 he certainly knows what he's doing. I sink the saying nowadays is teach a man to google….

chuckbdc

Chuck, there is no need to google. Some folks here know it all and will post it.

addysdaddy

Amen to that. Try Menz 2500 first with a medium pad (white if it's LC) and do a test spot. If there is light micro marring, that will probably be all you need to do. Frankly if the paint is in pretty good shape, Menz 4000 with a white pad might even be enough. As Chuck said, difficult to tell without photos but 2500 & a white pad is a good place to start. If you don't have it, Meguiars 205 is excellent with about the same cut value - can buy at WalMart or any of the auto part stores. Use good quality MF towels.

c4-toy

I just did the Zaino Z01, Z5 swirl remover 2x and followed w Z2 plus. My 991a is also black and I'm simply amazed how this Zaino works. I'm not affiliated with them but I love the product. Really makes the car glow. lNo idea what they put in this stuff but it's awesome and easy to apply/remove with no machine required.

sillyboy

addy and others...thanks for your responses... Not a lot of folks out there taking FG400 to a new black 991, and not any posts I find on line. Have 2 Fcars in the stable(track a 03 CS), and this is my first 911, unsure of the paint hardness etc....... I was surprised to see Matt take the FG400 to his brand new 911 with a microfiber no less. Thought I may post for a bit of advice.....I'll try a less coarse polish and finish with the 4500 and see what we get....anyone else has some positive advice that'd be great. Whichever way I go, will certainly test it out first. I'll continue to "read" the multitude of threads in the meantime......

Money2536

http://www.detailingbliss.com/topic/...nt-correction/

Hammer911

Sorry OP, was not trying to be rude. I guess it is springtime and men of various ages' thoughts turn to shiny 911s, so a lot of these threads of late! Anyway, there is a wealth of information throughout the 911 fora, particularly in this 991 forum. I suppose I don't really have anything new to say on the topic, hence my short response, and there are others far more knowledgeable than I. That said, I'm pretty proud of the look of my car and will post some new pics after spring cleaning...I'm sure people have seen enough of the last set! If you want to take a look, just search for posts under my name.

To Chuck's (and others' points,) less is more.

chuck911

You'd be surprised what you can get away with on the relatively thick paint of a brand new car. Even if you color sand and then go crazy polishing several times a year there will probably still be enough clear on the car to do this for quite a few years. Longer than the average guy hangs onto a new car. The problem comes in when people take care of these things and have them still looking great 15, 20 or 30 years later, when someone looks in bright sunlight and notices a few patchy areas, where the primer is starting to show through. Take the long view. Go easy.

Money2536

I usually compound a new car, and then take ridiculous car of it the rest of it's life. While in my possession, I'll probably never have to compound the car again. I haven't had a car long enough to ever need to do a full paint correction a second time. You are only going to remove a fraction of a mil with FG400. An occasional finishing polish touch up is going to remove virtually nothing. Wet sanding is a different story. Unless I had about 20 mils of paint, I wouldn't even consider it. Most modern clear coats and color layers are going to have around 10 mils or less. Wet sanding, rotary polishing, then DA finishing is going to remove 5 or more to get the holograms out. You could certainly try a finishing polish and see if it works. Do a test area, and then take it out in the sun to see.

sillyboy

Great Matt and everyone. That was my main question...is FG400 too coarse for a new 911???....Thanks guys....and some impressively well taken care of vehicles here.

addysdaddy

Once again it all gets back to less is more and do a test spot first. ALWAYS try the least aggressive approach first - stepping it up is never a problem. But to dove tail with Chuck, you need to take the longer view. A new car factory fresh that has not been prepped by the dealer probably needs Menz 4500 and a yellow hybrid pad and it will look utterly fantastic. If it's a used vehicle or been handled repeatedly by the dealer or someone who doesn't understand proper car care, than all bets are off and you have to test. Menzerna is one of several great product lines and since you obviously have the 400 (cut value 10) & 4500 (cut value 1) so stick with that. Assuming you have 2500 (cut value 5) also sitting in the cabinet, you'll have all the basis covered. I also like 4000 (cut value 3) but I'm OCD when it comes to my paint. Use a Brickmann swirl finder light or take the car outside at high noon and look careful at the paint from a variety of angles. Gauge the condition and make your plan accordingly.