Which polish?

[stewpot147]

could anyone tell me the best polish to use on my black skyline and is it worth buying one of those electric polishers?

[vizibledog]

Have a word with Tim @ Envy Valeting. He's your man for all things detailing
Envy Professional Valeting - Skyline Owners Club - The Nissan Skyline Enthusiast Community

[Squeak]

Stewpot - the thread title is meant to be a brief description of your post. not your forum name

[stewpot147]

ok sorry mate.

[andybob]

polishing is serious stuff if you wanna make it look good blacks easier than most colours to make look good as to can notice most imperfections at distance i use my own stuff i got specially brewed up by a chemicals supplier but anything with megs on it is good

start off with a tube of scrach x and then clay anything like tar off then seal it with a desent polish like gold glass and then use a carnaba wax to make it glow leaving it to cure for an hour or two before buffing off

you dont nessesarilly need a mop(electric polisher) you can do it by hand just takes longer imho you get better results by hand in most cases and you get a better feeling of achievement

electric polishers will cost alot once you got the polisher you need to buy pads and so forth and you need good ones and a handful of them too if your only using it on your own cars its not worth the cost and those £20 jobbies are a complete waste of money they dont last long and pads cost an arm and a leg compared with professional pads

i am a detailer myself if you need any guidence you can contact my business through my facebook group back to best (i only do this in my sparetime so not a trader as such and this is not a shameless plug i'm not selling anything) but anyone wanting advise feel free to join and fire away back to best | Facebook

[stewpot147]

great advice mate but could you tell me where to buy all the stuff from and let me know everything i need to get the best results regards stew

[andybob]

to get minor scraches and swirls marks out use this....

Meguiars Scratch X | Buy Scratch X Online - TheUltimateFinish.co.uk

for more stubborn scraches and paint overspray use this followed by scrach x again(but be light with it)
G3 Regular Grade Compound 400g [G3-400] - £10.47 : Martin Brown Paints, Supplying the bodyshop since 1961!

DO NOT USE Tcut its too abrassive and will make more swirl marks than you started with

for any tar marks or fallout(yellow blemishing looks like rust) use a clay bar rather than a finger nail or paint thiners (the purple looking thing)
Consumables Express Vehicle Valeting Products

once the paint is nice flat and conditioned use a good polish to seal the paint
Meguiar's Gold Class Clear Coat Car Wax
dont use a silicone based polish such as autoglym the polish fades too fast as is a pain if you need to pop to the bodyshop

next use a carnaba wax for a glass like wet finish use a bleached blue type as they tend to be easier to use and give better results in less time like
Zymol Wax and Glazes - Zymol Cleaner Wax. Z503

all avalible from most car accessory shops and varients

good quality mutton/Stockinette cloth should be ideal for doing it by hand

if you want a polisher i recomend SL406 Hi-Spec Sander Polisher
Toolstation > Power Tools > Silverline Power Tools

i have 3 of these and 2 matika's i prefere usin the silverline ones if they break its only a few quid i've lost not £3-400

pads are important and the colours you use for what purpose ie, use blue/white for scrach x depending on how bad the colour is faded or scrached,white for polishing,red for waxing all found here
Toolstation > Abrasives > Buffing & Polishing

this is all as easy to get hold as i could think most things will tell you how to get the best results

with carnabua wax i use a fingered lattice and dont apply it with a machine as the machine will just force it into the paint rather than soak it

only use enough polish if your getting residue that means your using too much you see alot of detailers using things like micrometers to messure the paint sufface and see how much they take off the idea is to put what your using into the paint and not take anything away and not waste any if you have a small amout of residue its better than none at all as you still have a lube and not grinding away the paint

there are people out there that take car cleaning to another level personally i giggle at them but you might get some tips from them on detailling world google it you'll find them somewhere

[Moff]

I use Swissvax Onyx... about £40 a tub and what Swiss Vax class as their entry level polish, but 10 times better that your standard Halfords stuff

[andybob]

if you want me to make a package using my on polishes and abrassives it takes 6 weeks to make so i cant realistically offer you my own stuff otherwise i would

tho it would be cheaper than the products above i'd need a deposit etc etc etc too much hassle

[andybob]

or poor boys stuff is good moff but costs a fair old bit

[Richf]

Originally Posted by Moff

I use Swissvax Onyx... about £40 a tub and what Swiss Vax class as their entry level polish, but 10 times better that your standard Halfords stuff

Thats a wax not a polish

When we did Nigel S's black Skyline i used Mer then Zymol polish then a coat of mothers carnauba wax to protect it , his car still looks awesome but it took the two of us most of a day with machines to do it

Its hard to give a exact reply as its down to how bad the paint is when you start ....Nigels was awful

[Daemon]

Originally Posted by andybob

you dont nessesarilly need a mop(electric polisher) you can do it by hand just takes longer imho you get better results by hand

Hmm...i'd have to disagree there mate, you really can't compare a correction finish from a machine to a hand polish.

And Richf, Mer is the worst polish ever. Fact. - stay away from it!

I don't pretend to be a pro detailer but i've learnt a hell of a lot over the last year from trying new things and spending a small fortune on different products. The guys on Detailing World (A world for detailers...) are more than happy to help with any questions you have and you can easily spend more than a few hours just looking through their showroom section...trust me!

As was mentioned earlier too, Tim from Envy posts here regularly and on detailing world where you can see the quality of his work, what he doesn't know about cleaning a car isn't worth knowing!

EDITED to add: I use www.cleanyourcar.co.uk for my products - great prices and really fast delivery, I think the guy that runs it is called Tim as well

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by andybob

polishing is serious stuff if you wanna make it look good blacks easier than most colours to make look good as to can notice most imperfections at distance i use my own stuff i got specially brewed up by a chemicals supplier but anything with megs on it is good

start off with a tube of scrach x and then clay anything like tar off then seal it with a desent polish like gold glass and then use a carnaba wax to make it glow leaving it to cure for an hour or two before buffing off

you dont nessesarilly need a mop(electric polisher) you can do it by hand just takes longer imho you get better results by hand in most cases and you get a better feeling of achievement

electric polishers will cost alot once you got the polisher you need to buy pads and so forth and you need good ones and a handful of them too if your only using it on your own cars its not worth the cost and those £20 jobbies are a complete waste of money they dont last long and pads cost an arm and a leg compared with professional pads

i am a detailer myself if you need any guidence you can contact my business through my facebook group back to best (i only do this in my sparetime so not a trader as such and this is not a shameless plug i'm not selling anything) but anyone wanting advise feel free to join and fire away back to best | Facebook

Originally Posted by andybob

to get minor scraches and swirls marks out use this....

Meguiars Scratch X | Buy Scratch X Online - TheUltimateFinish.co.uk

for more stubborn scraches and paint overspray use this followed by scrach x again(but be light with it)
G3 Regular Grade Compound 400g [G3-400] - £10.47 : Martin Brown Paints, Supplying the bodyshop since 1961!

DO NOT USE Tcut its too abrassive and will make more swirl marks than you started with

for any tar marks or fallout(yellow blemishing looks like rust) use a clay bar rather than a finger nail or paint thiners (the purple looking thing)
Consumables Express Vehicle Valeting Products

once the paint is nice flat and conditioned use a good polish to seal the paint
Meguiar's Gold Class Clear Coat Car Wax
dont use a silicone based polish such as autoglym the polish fades too fast as is a pain if you need to pop to the bodyshop

next use a carnaba wax for a glass like wet finish use a bleached blue type as they tend to be easier to use and give better results in less time like
Zymol Wax and Glazes - Zymol Cleaner Wax. Z503

all avalible from most car accessory shops and varients

good quality mutton/Stockinette cloth should be ideal for doing it by hand

if you want a polisher i recomend SL406 Hi-Spec Sander Polisher
Toolstation > Power Tools > Silverline Power Tools

i have 3 of these and 2 matika's i prefere usin the silverline ones if they break its only a few quid i've lost not £3-400

pads are important and the colours you use for what purpose ie, use blue/white for scrach x depending on how bad the colour is faded or scrached,white for polishing,red for waxing all found here
Toolstation > Abrasives > Buffing & Polishing

this is all as easy to get hold as i could think most things will tell you how to get the best results

with carnabua wax i use a fingered lattice and dont apply it with a machine as the machine will just force it into the paint rather than soak it

only use enough polish if your getting residue that means your using too much you see alot of detailers using things like micrometers to messure the paint sufface and see how much they take off the idea is to put what your using into the paint and not take anything away and not waste any if you have a small amout of residue its better than none at all as you still have a lube and not grinding away the paint

there are people out there that take car cleaning to another level personally i giggle at them but you might get some tips from them on detailling world google it you'll find them somewhere

Sorry mate but most of that is THE biggest load of tosh i've ever layed eyes on!!! If you really are a detailer then i would be VERY VERY dubious about letting you anywhere near my car!!!


So you start off with scratch X do you??

You seal with polish do you??

You get a better finish by hand over machine do you??

You remove tar with paint tinners and a finger nail do you??

We use micrometers to measure paint thickness do we??


Sorry but if you do any of the above then you are a fool!!!

The reason Tim from Envy hasn't replyd to this is because he is probably to busy cleaning his keyboard from spitting his coffee over it from reading this shite!!!!


Stewpot...

If you want some free Proffessional advise then PM me or Tim, you could possibly do some serious damage to your cars paintwork if you follow some of the adivce given above....

[Gordon]

I think what we have here is the difference between a Detailer (as in Tim & Bandit) and a person who cleans cars. The two are worlds apart

[Squeak]

Wow.. roar meat at it's best, what a kill!