Starter kit for personal use?

A

Alexia

New member
I have done tons of research on products for machine polishing, how the process works, and what to look for! However, there are so many products to choose from and all I really need is a kit to take care of my personal vehicle. All the choices are confusing to me what I really should get. Basically I decided to go with a Porter Cable setup with only the polishes I need. I really would like a Flex, but I have to think about the extra cost.(Need new tires too!)

I have been looking at this kit as my final selection: Menzerna Porter Cable Maximum Shine Kit FREE BONUS

Polisher, machine, towels, pads, etcetera... It seems to have all I would need for polishing start to finish.

Any opinions or better recommendations are welcome! My budget is less than $300.



For reference this is a Jeep Wrangler with Electric Lime Green paint. As I have been told it is a three stage paint. It has light to intermediate swirling from appears to be sponge washing by the previous owner. There is one spot on the hood that looks like the radial pattern of egg hitting it.

http://www.nonamestudios.com/albums/jeep/IMG_0677w.jpg



I am surprised the exterior paint is in decent enough condition considering how the previous owner treated it based on this on the tail gate.

http://www.nonamestudios.com/albums/jeep/IMG_0574w.jpg



My experience with paint polishing is mainly hand polishing with new coats of paint I was doing in the first place. Such as making mirror finishes with spray paint. :P
 
If this Menzern kit is the one that includes 'Intensive Polish'-this stuff really isn't that, well, intensive. It's a great polish but with a PC, you might have to make 2-3 passes to get swirls out and that's assuming you have the technique down pat. This polish can also tend to get in abad mood if humidity is too high, temp is too hot, or too cold and it can be a bit dusty. Then other days, it works fine.



hmmm, I guess this is where I should suggest an alternative but I'm going to let someone wit more experience chime in. Consider this a bump...LOL. I've never worked on a Jeep or any Chrysler product.
 
For the weekend warrior I would probly recomend some poorboys world. Use in sun or shade, hot or cold. Natty's is pretty easy to work with same with exp. SSR2.5 and 1 should be fine. Just depends on the condition of paint.
 
Alexia, unfortunately, by asking for help with this you'll only be even more confused... why? Because EVERYONE has their own favorite pads, products and polishers...



That said, I'll make a suggestion...



I highly suggest you stay away from that Menzerna kit because it's just way too much polish for one car (I use about 3-5 oz. per detail per polish) and you're wasting tons of money on it for no reason... plus Menzerna has a learning curve and is picky with weather... sooo..



Buy everything (except some 5.5" LC low profile pads from Autogeek) from autodetailingsolutions.net...





Meguiar's G110 Dual-Action Polisher Kit $149.95

Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool Pad 3.5" x 1" $5.95

Meguiar's 6.5" Soft Buff Foam Polishing Pad $10.95

Meguiar's 6.5" Soft Buff Foam Finishing Pad $10.95

Lake Country 4" CCS Yellow Heavy Cutting Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS Orange Cutting Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS Green Heavy Polishing Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS White Polishing Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS Black Light Polishing Pad $5.49

Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 $15.95

12-Pak Premium Microfiber Towel $9.99

Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Bar Replacement Kit $18.49

1-Gal Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash $12.99

California Drying Towel $9.95

Meguiar's M34 Final Inspection $6.49

Meguiar's M95 Speed Cut $6.99

Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut New Version $9.99

Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish $11.99

Meguiar's M80 Speed Glaze $6.99

Meguiar's M82 Swirl Free Polish $7.49

Buff & Shine 3" Backing Plate 1/4" Shank $7.95

Pad Conditioning Brush $11.99



Total: $342.50



You can then easily take out a few things here and there to get down to $300 but you're still getting a lot more and useful stuff than the other kit... plus Meg's polishes are much easier to work with and do a great job.



Meguiar's G110 Dual-Action Polisher Kit $149.95

Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool Pad 3.5" x 1" $5.95

Meguiar's 6.5" Soft Buff Foam Polishing Pad $10.95

Meguiar's 6.5" Soft Buff Foam Finishing Pad $10.95

Lake Country 4" CCS Orange Cutting Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS Green Heavy Polishing Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS White Polishing Pad $5.49

Lake Country 4" CCS Black Light Polishing Pad $5.49

Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 $15.95

12-Pak Premium Microfiber Towel $9.99

Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Bar Replacement Kit $18.49

California Drying Towel $9.95

Meguiar's M34 Final Inspection $6.49

Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut New Version $9.99

Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish $11.99

Meguiar's M82 Swirl Free Polish $7.49

Buff & Shine 3" Backing Plate 1/4" Shank $7.95



Total: $298.05





Hope that helps.
 
lecchilo said:
Alexia, unfortunately, by asking for help with this you'll only be even more confused... why? Because EVERYONE has their own favorite pads, products and polishers...



That said, I'll make a suggestion...Meg's polishes are much easier to work with and do a great job...
Click to expand...



Yeah :xyxthumbs



I like the second recommendation, the $298 one, myself as there seems to be less overlap/chance of redundancy. I'd probably skip the #82, get spare 4" pads, and skip the 6.5" polishing pad but that's just me.



The M105/M205 oughta give great results with minimal frustration, which is more than I'd expect from a lot of other popular approaches.
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah :xyxthumbs



I like the second recommendation, the $298 one, myself as there seems to be less overlap/chance of redundancy. I'd probably skip the #82, get spare 4" pads, and skip the 6.5" polishing pad but that's just me.



The M105/M205 oughta give great results with minimal frustration, which is more than I'd expect from a lot of other popular approaches.
Click to expand...



I included a couple things just for pure experimenting (like a finer finish with M82 maybe over 205 and Meg's 8 and 9006 pads vs. LC... I have yet to try M205 so when I say maybe a finer finish with M82 PLEASE no one take it to heart haha)
 
lecchilo- Heh heh, here we are recommending a product (m205) that we've never used despite all the stuff we *have* used! I think that the big thing is that there are no reports of issues with the M105/205 twins, which is a whole lot more than you can say for most of the usual favorites. I place a *huge* premium on stuff being user-friendly to the point of being idiot-proof (or rather, Accumulator-proof).



I've never been a big fan of #82, so I probably woulda leaned towards #80 for an alternative :nixweiss



Still, we're much more in agreement regarding this starter kit than people usually are on such stuff :xyxthumbs
 
That looks like a decent starter kit! Thank you for the advice. I will probably remove a few things I already have.(Clay, towels...)
 
Accumulator said:
lecchilo- Heh heh, here we are recommending a product (m205) that we've never used despite all the stuff we *have* used! I think that the big thing is that there are no reports of issues with the M105/205 twins, which is a whole lot more than you can say for most of the usual favorites. I place a *huge* premium on stuff being user-friendly to the point of being idiot-proof (or rather, Accumulator-proof).



I've never been a big fan of #82, so I probably woulda leaned towards #80 for an alternative :nixweiss



Still, we're much more in agreement regarding this starter kit than people usually are on such stuff :xyxthumbs
Click to expand...



haha I was thinking of that as well... the M205 recommendation... knowing how M105, 95 and the previous "pro" polishes turned out for me though, it's not too hard for me to recommend it, but I am very eager to try some.



As for M82, why weren't you a fan, just out of curiosity? You can PM me if you wish so as to not clutter the thread, but then again it might help Alexia...
 
lecchilo said:
As for M82, why weren't you a fan, just out of curiosity? You can PM me if you wish so as to not clutter the thread, but then again it might help Alexia...
Click to expand...



Eh, I'll just post here.



It struck me (in my *VERY* limited experience with it) as being too much like its older sibling #9. Not really capable of much (other than some concealing and a nice oils-gloss) except by rotary and a bit tricky to use that way (I can't finish out 100% hologram free with a rotary anyhow).



Unless it's some weird paint where M205/#80 has too much initial cut, I'd just stick with those. Not like #80 doesn't finish out ready-to-wax most of the time anyhow, and for beginners I'm pretty confident that it'll finish out just great. IN this case, I just don't see Alexia deriving any benefit from it.



Alexia- Glad our little back-and-forth has apparently given you some guidance.
 
Accumulator said:
Eh, I'll just post here.



It struck me (in my *VERY* limited experience with it) as being too much like its older sibling #9. Not really capable of much (other than some concealing and a nice oils-gloss) except by rotary and a bit tricky to use that way (I can't finish out 100% hologram free with a rotary anyhow).



Unless it's some weird paint where M205/#80 has too much initial cut, I'd just stick with those. Not like #80 doesn't finish out ready-to-wax most of the time anyhow, and for beginners I'm pretty confident that it'll finish out just great. IN this case, I just don't see Alexia deriving any benefit from it.



Alexia- Glad our little back-and-forth has apparently given you some guidance.
Click to expand...



Gotcha.. I know what you mean comparing it to #9... I don't use #82 too often as I either finish down great with M80 and 9006 or a black LC pad on some medium to harder paints and go with 106ff or 85rd on softer paints but it does work great for me with a 9006 pad on ss paint.. M80 8006 or 9006 followed by M82 9006 is one of my favorites on ss paint.
 
Alexia- You might really like it!



Just remember to use the more aggressive products to fix any flaws, don't move on to the #82 too soon.
 
Accumulator said:
Alexia- You might really like it!



Just remember to use the more aggressive products to fix any flaws, don't move on to the #82 too soon.
Click to expand...



I am going to see about getting some good shots of what I am dealing with once I am off work in about an hour. I have a few key areas I will be taking care of and learning to it is much more entertaining. :D
 
This is the list I finally ended up with. I purposely waited to buy to give myself more time to customize the list. It has also been absolute crap outside for the past two weeks so having it sit around and not being able to use it would be unfair! There is also the fact I am waiting for the landlord to have maintenance arrive to fix the outside water tap.



Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool Pad 3.5" x 1"

Lake Country 4" CCS Yellow Heavy Cutting Pad

Lake Country 4" CCS White Polishing Pad

Lake Country 4" CCS Black Light Polishing Pad

Lake Country 4" CCS Green Heavy Polishing Pad

Lake Country 4" CCS Orange Cutting Pad

Meguiar's 6.5" Soft Buff Foam Finishing Pad

1-Gal Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash

California Drying Towelâ„¢

Meguiar's NXT Generation G12718 Tech Wax 2.0(Free blue towels!)

Meguiar's M82 Swirl Free Polish

Meguiar's M34 Final Inspection

Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut M10512 New Version - DA Polisher Approved

Meguiar's M80 Speed Glaze

Meguiar's G110 G110-KIT-1 Dual-Action Polisher Kit(Free duffle bag and M205)

Buff & Shine 3" Backing Plate 1/4" Shank



Total: 289.05
 
is the wool pad and yellow foam pad necessary?? Paint looked to be in really good shape, except for the tailgate section. which i assume is on the inside
 
02zx9r said:
is the wool pad and yellow foam pad necessary?? Paint looked to be in really good shape, except for the tailgate section. which i assume is on the inside
Click to expand...



Yes, that is on the inside. The paint looks good in the pictures, but I can see huge swirls from twenty feet back there is probably some work to be done that may end up requiring some heavier work.



I will also be practicing on another old Jeep of my parents' that is beyond repair.
 
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