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What type of polish and what type of pads do you guys use for buffing after last wetsand?

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PADS: with my Cable Porter, I simply use the white foam pad that comes with that polisher. I use it to apply rubbing compounds, polishes and waxes. Occassionally I will put a microfiber cloth between the foam head and the paint... and use the microfiber to get the best shine I can.

I do know that some of the guys have used the wooly head on their polisher when doing the rubbing compound stage. That is because the wooly head gives them additional 'cutting' when trying to polish the surface. But you have to be careful because it may give 'too much' cutting IF YOU don't keep the polisher constantly moving and stay too long on one spot.

Now... back to a quick chat about rubbing compounds, polishes and waxes..

Once you have the paint wetsanded to its best point, you next move to using a Rubbing Compound. I believe originally that Charger made use of the Turtle Rubbing compound... which basically looks like a brown clay in a tub

The thing to keep in mind is that after you have taken your paintjob to the smoothest point using wetsanding.... you basically are continuing to further polish the surface with a rubbing compound. For example, if the sandpaper you worked it up to was 2000, 2500, or 3000 grit... well the rubbing compound is simply the next highest grit to get the surface even smoother.

Other then the Turtle Rubbing compound, there are also excellent polishing and cutting compounds made by 3M which basically do the same job. They are just like using liquified sandpaper - but at a higher level of grit.

You follow your 'rubbing compound' stage with a polish. Even plain old Turtle polish can be used at that point. Or just about any other car polish.

You need to watch out what is actually in the various polishes that are sold. Some are solely polishes... some are polishes with cleaners... some are polishes with waxing compounds... some are polishes with acrylic or synthetic shine compounds.

Ideally you want just a straight polishing wax... but you can substitute a polishing/cleanser as well.

Once you nail down the polishing stage..... you next move to the final 'waxing' stage. I tend to prefer using Meguirs 'pure Carnuba' wax... but most car waxes can do the job equally well. You have to remember that the whole objective of the waxing stage is to achieve 3 things :

a ) you are sealing the paint surface to reduce the amount of oxygen or other foreign matter that might want to get to the paint. It also provides some Ultra Violet protection to reduce future fading from the UV of the sun.

b ) you are trying to tweak up the shine by adding a layer of the refractive qualities of the wax. This gives the paint more depth and shine.

c ) you are trying to put a coating on the paint that will repel road grit, bird poo and smashed bugs from embedding in to the paint.

One thing that I have learned is that the acrylic type 'waxes' or the synthetic type waxes, that promise one year shines or diamond hard coatings, are best to stay away from. At this point you want a real wax on the car and not some synthetic shine.

Although I held high hopes for the Turtle ICE wax, NuShine and other synthetic shines... they all were crap in the end. I would have gotten the same result by spraying Armorall on the paint. It looks good when wet and fresh... but dries out to look like crap or that nothing was used.

Hope these thoughts help out...

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