Carnuba Wax

[SatinSilver]

Yes, it's called a palm polisher. There was a guy on here that had some high end polishers and a Walmart polisher. He preferred the WM ones because it was so easy to use over the professional ones. He did some modifications to it where it could correct the paint as well. But that involved removing the backing plate and replacing it. Maybe I'll try that down the road.

WM also has a $50 polisher that has variable speed control, same manufacturer as the cheaper ones. I tried it out and returned it since it was heavier and more than I need. It also included a third type of bonnet, a wool one for final buffing. It was pretty smooth and quiet though but heavier than the other ones.

 

[danez_yoda]

Just a thing about putting carnuba over sealants. make sure the carnuba doesn't say "cleaner wax".

Cleaner way has solvents to remove stains from the paints surface. it will also remove the sealant. You want plain carnuba.

Mothers pure carnuba and Harley-Davidsons S100 wax are two examples.

 

[gofast182]

Sorry if I missed it Sierra048 but is this for the Frontier? If so, I did a coworker's '14 Frontier after some foreign objects blew across the paint in a wind storm a year ago. That Frontier had the hardest clearcoat of any car I've detailed and I couldn't correct all of the scratches. Point is, if you have anything but very light correction to do, you won't want a weak/under-powered polisher.

 

[Sierra048]

Satin, not sure I understand the logic of replacing a backing plate. Can you explain?

Gofast, my wifes Frontier is white and is easy to keep sparkling. I went over it looking for problems and I didn't see the first one. No water spots, no scratches. It is garage kept. My Sierra on the other hand needs a little work, even though it's washed constantly and waxed periodically. Just yesterday, while going over the Sierra after getting Line-X'd, I saw some light scratches on one of the doors. No earthly idea where they came from but there none the less. And I'm not blaming the Line-X guy. It was not close to where he did his work.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: gofast182
Point is, if you have anything but very light correction to do, you won't want a weak/under-powered polisher.


He was going to do everything by hand which is when I suggested the Walmart polisher. That will be a step up from doing everything manually.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Satin, not sure I understand the logic of replacing a backing plate. Can you explain?


The backing plate is what the bonnets/pads are attached to. With the WM polisher it is made of different layers of foam for padding. Then the bonnet is placed over it.

The Harbor Freight one doesn't have the foam on it. But the polishing pads are often foam instead. Here are some backing plates:

http://autogeek.commerce-search.net/sear...amp;x=0&y=0

 

[gofast182]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: gofast182
Point is, if you have anything but very light correction to do, you won't want a weak/under-powered polisher.


He was going to do everything by hand which is when I suggested the Walmart polisher. That will be a step up from doing everything manually.

Indeed but I use a 7424XP and I couldn't get scratches out of the Frontier that I would've easily been able to get out of a Honda. But it sounds like he's talking about the Sierra which should be easier.

 

[Sierra048]

Satin, do you remember the brand name of the Walmart polisher? They've got so many online. Got an opinion on the Meguire's g3500 polisher, the one you use a drill with?

 

[SatinSilver]

Yes, it's called an AutoSpa polisher. All of the ones in the store are made by the same company. The store this morning had one palm polisher available and a few of the bigger ones available. So their supply is dwindling a little bit.

I haven't used the Megs drill attachment polisher but I think the reviews are good. I think that would be a good idea for getting rid of scratches.

 

[SatinSilver]

Here are some links on it:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=autospa+polisher&spf=1500594165506

And some videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFEAz93qkHc

 

[SatinSilver]

Even Home Depot has some nice, inexpensive polishers to choose from that won't break the bank:

http://www.homedepot.com/s/car%2520polisher?NCNI-5

 

[nolesfan]

To anyone that is (for whatever reason) still applying polish/compound/sealant/wax by hand, STOP!! Do yourself a favor and spend $50 at harbor freight on their dual action polisher. I bought one a couple weekends ago and finally got a chance to use it on my VW this weekend. In the past I've used the PC 7424xp, Rupes, Flex, etc. and while the HF da polisher isn't on par with the Rupes or Flex, for my needs, it's a great machine. At higher speeds (5-6), this thing does not stop spinning on character lines, though I did see it slow down on some concave spots at lower speeds (1-3). Marking the backing plate so you can see if it stops spinning is important. If the pad doesn't spin, you aren't correcting paint! I spent I think $15 on a Meguiar's or Lake Country (forget which, but it doesn't matter) 5" backing plate to replace the one the polisher came with, and another $30-$40 on 6 pad kit at AutoGeek (I chose 2 orange, 3 white and 1 black) and used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with orange pad and Ultimate Polish on a white pad, then Meguiar's sealant (#21) on a black pad.

The order I worked in: wash (ONR rinseless), clay, wash again, then compound/polish/sealant, buff and wipe down with Ultimate Detailer. It's super slick now, looks awesome in the direct sunlight and has minimal spots where I didn't get all the fine spiderwebs out of. That could be my technique, but I think I just need slightly more aggressive compound/polish to get the really small, fine spots out. But, that also will take some clear coat down as well, so I may pass.

Anyway, I know this may be off topic for the OP, but I hope this helps. I have worked as a detailer in the past (on the side for my brother-in-law when he needed help), so I do know a thing or two about products, machines and techniques but I don't know it all. This machine really impressed me and for less than $100 on the machine, new backing plate and pads, I'm all set. Much better than spending (for right now) a couple hundred on the Rupes mk2 15 I was looking at

And yes, if you must use carnauba, apply it after using a sealant, 24-36 hours should be long enough.

Mike

 

[Sierra048]

Great info SatinSilver and Nolesfan. Got a little side-tracked these past few weeks with some family issues but I'm ready to pick up where I left off. Thanks again.

 

[demarpaint]

I did 2 clay and coats of paint sealant about 3 months ago on one of my vehicles. I would like to apply a Carnauba wax now to top it off. Should I reapply the sealant, wait a few days and apply the Carnauba wax or am I GTG? Thanks!

 

[razel]

It hard to go wrong with any modern wax from any of the major brand names. I grew up with Turtle Wax paste and eventually settled on Meguiar's Cleaner Wax for years until I went prosumer with Porter Cable orbital and began using Meg's #26. It's great for cars that live in the sun, but you do have to apply more than once a year to keep the layer going. With a wash&wax + wax-as-u-dry, you can stretch that to yearly. Vehicles garaged at night, but in a parking structure during the day can definitely go 1 year.

 

[Sierra048]

SatinSilver, do you think the Autospa buffer from Walmart would be able to do some light duty paint correction? Light scratches, swirls, water spots etc... Not looking for something to do professional correction.

 

[SatinSilver]

A little bit. My goal was to get the car clean, protected and shiny. A lot of the microscratches that you're trying to get rid of will come back in short order. Every time you compound you reduce some of the clear coat that's on the vehicle. So you don't want to be too aggressive on the finish.

I did use the polisher on the headlights with some Megs PlastiX which did a very good job. So it does have more ability compared to using your own elbow grease. But correcting ability with this polisher should be low on the priority list imo. A professional was able to swap out the backing plate and claimed that it could correct but I never went down that road with it yet.

It's a nice small light weight polisher.

 

[Sierra048]

Gotcha. Thanks. Gotta head back to Gainesville, GA tomorrow to take my wife's Frontier in for an air bag module recall. I'll look at the HF polisher and the AutoSpa polisher at Walmart (if they have one there) and hopefully come home with one of them. Appreciate the help.