My poser polishing skillz documented:
1. Claybar your entire car, you can get claybars at any Auto Zone, Pep Boys, etc...the brand doesn't matter. USE PLENTY OF LUBRICANT! A large spray bottle with some Dawn dishwashing soap works great...Wait until you see the contaminants the claybar pulls off...and "renew" the claybar often, just stretch it, reshape it like Silly Putty...
2. Swirls...These are scratches in your clear coat...The easiest way to get rid of them is with a random orbital...I trust only one...The Porter Cable...It's about $125...and spring for the "velcro foam pad adapter kit"...Very important, you're gonna need it. Throw the pads that come with it in the trash, especially the wool pad.
3. To remove fine scratches and swirls, you'll need 6" YELLOW FOAM PADS... from
www.topoftheline.com ...get about three of them. Also, you'll need a bottle of 3M Fine Cut Rubbing Compound. Put about a quarter sized amount of the 3M on the yellow pad, and at about 4000 rpms, work a 2 ft x 2ft area of your finish...(Tape up any crevices, like the black screens in the hood, this dust gets everywhere)...Keep the buffer moving, but go slow, and press hard enough to compress the YELLOW pad to half it's thickness...and when you think you are going slow enough, go slower...Heat (buffing pad) and abrasive (3M compound) are the only things that will remove swirls/scratches.
4. Once you have peeled all of the swirls/scratches out of your clearcoat, you'll need the 6" BLACK FOAM PADS from
www.topoftheline.com ...Also, a bottle of 3M 3M Perfect-It™ III Finishing Glaze...for either DARK cars or for LIGHT cars...they make both...Now do the same as you did with the compound, only at 6000 rpms, again, pressing just hard enough to compress the pad to half it's thickness, which won't be as hard as the yellow pad was. This takes the finest of flaws out, and smooths your clearcoat to near perfection.
5. That should have taken you most of a weekend...if you stayed at it...You cannot [******] this up with the Porter Cable...trust me...you could stand on that buffer with the beforementioned foam pads and not hurt your clearcoat...You have three coats of clear from the factory...15 years worth, if you did this every freakin winter...
6. Now, all you need is to apply many coats of whatever polish/wax you prefer, and when I say many, I mean at least 20...You can use the Porter Cable and WHITE FOAM PADS from
www.topoftheline.com ...These are finishing pads and softer than baby's ass (I have this on good authority from Father McOnlee, down at St. Catherines Middle School)Once you get a routine down, applying and removing one coat takes maybe 20 minutes...So instead of planting your ass in front of the bigscreen after dinner, apply a coat of polish to the Viper...Think of it as cardio...
7. I've used Meguires, Mothers, Zaino, etc...Really doesn't matter...Here's the super secret sensitive secret: Apply a coat of Pinnacle Spray Wax in between each coat of polish...and before you take your baby out, and after you put it up... you can get the Pinnacle Spray from...you guessed it...
www.topoftheline.com ...I recommend these people because their service is phenomenal...period.
8. NEVAR! Use anything but foam pads, or MicroFiber towels on your finish...The Viper's clearcoat is very soft, and scratches easy...
9. Dusting...California Duster...Buy a new one every summer, use the old one on your wheels to remove the bulk of the brake dust. Next summer, same deal, buy a new one, old one goes to the wheels, the old old one goes either to the wifeys car or the trash...
10. Now, you've got several coats of polish/wax and Pinnacle applied...Your baby is looking pretty sweet...Take a brand new WHITE foam pad and at about 4000 rpms, go over the entire finish...yep...just a dry white finishing pad...Now do this after every Pinnacle application to really make your finish pop...
