ckyliu

Full detail with lots of products new to me, first time I've ever used a machine polisher of any kind: Pre-wash with Koch Chemie Greenstar at 1:15 dilution applied with garden sprayer, then pressure washed Fairy liquid (!) wash with an Incredimitt, then pressure washed again Clay mitt with Mer's Clay lube Katsu 850w 6" DA polisher with Scholl S20 Black One Step using Chemical Guys hex logic green pads of 3.5" and 6.0". Did about 4 passes per section. Some very old Autoglym SRP glaze applied by DA using Chemical Guys hex logic black pads - surprisingly a lot less dusty than hand application Collinite 845 hybrid wax applied by hand with a German tri-foam applicator Roof has been done previously with Johnson's blue baby bath, an upholstery brush and Fabil+UV. Black plastic trim and rubbers previously done with CarPro PERL. Wheels I could not be arsed with today! With hindsight I should've gone a bit more aggressive with the pad or polish since I didn't get all the swirls out but it is much better than it was. I am now considering some Koch H8.02 and orange hex pads for the really messed up areas. It's 6 year old soft Mazda paint and been subjected to a few dealer washes so it was very swirly. Apologies for the lack of Skoda!

Cheers for the recommendations guys, I ended up with Britemax Spray and Shine for now because I know it'll go okay on Collinite 845; the car is freshly machine polished and it has yet to rain so I can't say how well it performs yet. I may give BH Auto QD or CG After Wash a try next time, see how I get on with Britemax.

Update time: I took the plunge this May and got a bargain Katsu 850W dual action polisher (it was a third of the price of a DAS6 Pro and fine for my occasional use), ended up with both 4 and 5.5" Hex green pads and S20 Black 1 Step - thanks for the pad advice @penguin17. I did machine apply SRP with a black pad after because I had more than half a bottle. Happy with the results, but could've gone a bit more aggressive with Meguiars Ultimate Compound as suggested. However, I have a new problem and looking for advice... the car had some areas resprayed previously and a big chunk of lacquer came off the nose during washing. I know it really needs professional respray but in the meantime, how would I get on using the DA and Mazda's chip paint to patch it? I was thinking an aggressive but well lubed compound like a Koch H8.02 using the firmest 4" pad I can get my hands on to smooth off the edges, brushing on lacquer then compounding again and polishing. But I have concerns if any DA would provide enough cut to make a notable difference and if I risked breaching the clearcoat of the surrounding good paint. Hopefully such a setup I could then spot use on some deeper scratches too? And as a side note, is the 4" pad suppose to vibrate much more than the 5.5"; I'm only really comfortable with it at speed 3.5 vs speed 6 (max) on the 5.5"? Do 4" pads cut more or less?

I want a drying aid I can apply to a wet car that provides dust repellancy/anti-static, some gloss enhancement and a bit of additional protection to last a couple of weeks, plan to use it on every wash so needs to be economical. Must be easy to work with and not prone to streaking, I’m lazy and cackhanded! My LSP is Collinite 845 (it’s somewhere between a wax and a sealant) so it needs to place nice with that. Don’t want cupboards full of half or rarely used products so ideally it doubles up as a quick detailer for spot cleans, although this is a secondary use. I’ve read quite a bit and have a list of products, could anyone help narrow it down or suggest something better? Am I trying to find a unicorn? Britemax Spray & Shine Finish Kare FK425 Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer(BSD) - apparently a bit grabby for drying use TAC Shinee wax - not sure this can go on a wet car, seems more of a post dry spray wax to last months? Garage Therapy Two Quick Detailer

I’m fed up of applying polish (and wax) by hand, the car is now 4 years old and I’m not getting the swirl correction I want. However, I am a detailing novice and completely cack handed, so very concerned about burning my soft paint (I swear it’s just dyed butter) with a machine polisher (aka rotary MOP?). I’ve been using Gtechniq’s Nano P1 polish by hand with a tri-foam applicator, and I understand this polish also works well by machine since it doesn’t fall away so you can use it at slower speeds (hence less burn risk) and it can be reactivated with water mist (or spritz as the DW folks say 🙄 ), and you use the pad firmness to control the level of cut. What would be a good entry-level DA/RO (Dual action/random orbital) machine for a novice? It’s only going to be used three-ish times a year so I don’t want to spend much I’ve seen Argos have some special offers on now and then, are their machines any cop (e.g. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1513974 and https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8647300 )? I looked at Meguiars RO adapter that fits onto a drill but apparently cordless stuff just isn’t powerful enough. Also it’s £60, I can get a whole machine for that! And do I want the type with two handles, or the one that’s big arm (kinda looks like a grinder)? Then I’m going to need some pads, any recommendations? I’ll also want a pad suitable for applying wax (I use AG SRP topped with Collinite 845). Finally I need advice on how to actually use the thing, in terms of speeds, sizes, pitfalls etc, I presume someone already knows of some great guide for a tit like me?