Tips For A Great Buff & Wax

[DayDreamer41]

O.K., friends, back at this after a long hiatus - divorce, move, all of that stuff. Lost track of my Makita buffer and Lake Country pads, so bought another, and couldn't find LC 8" pads, so bought a 5" backing plate and a set of foam pads from SPTA, five foam pads from "heavy cut," T120, though "polish," T20 (numbers seem to run opposite of sanding grits). I have a collection of car detailing products from Chemical Guys which I will use.

I want to get that wet-look gloss on the deck (between the non-skid portions), coach roof, and cockpit gel coat. That's the goal.

I don't think it's at the point that it needs wet sanding - yet.

How would you all recommend I proceed? Try "sneaking up on it," by starting with a light cut then polish, then finish, or just go for it and start with a heavy cut and work my way up?

Would really appreciate some advice.

p.s. I plan to finish with just a couple of coats of Colonite carnuba wax, 'though I was considering one of these automotive ceramic coatings.

 

[DayDreamer41]

I would use the Presta compound as mentioned at the beginning of this thread followed by the polish and wax. This product results are very good, I would stick with the Colinite wax seems to do a great job and has good last power

 

[Davidasailor26]

O.K., friends, back at this after a long hiatus - divorce, move, all of that stuff. Lost track of my Makita buffer and Lake Country pads, so bought another, and couldn't find LC 8" pads, so bought a 5" backing plate and a set of foam pads from SPTA, five foam pads from "heavy cut," T120, though "polish," T20 (numbers seem to run opposite of sanding grits). I have a collection of car detailing products from Chemical Guys which I will use.

I want to get that wet-look gloss on the deck (between the non-skid portions), coach roof, and cockpit gel coat. That's the goal.

I don't think it's at the point that it needs wet sanding - yet.

How would you all recommend I proceed? Try "sneaking up on it," by starting with a light cut then polish, then finish, or just go for it and start with a heavy cut and work my way up?

Would really appreciate some advice.

p.s. I plan to finish with just a couple of coats of Colonite carnuba wax, 'though I was considering one of these automotive ceramic coatings.

What’s it look like now? I’ve tried skipping straight to the Presta Ultra Cutting Crème step on noticeably oxidized but not old/abused gelcoat; it didn’t work out great. It did well enough that when waxed it looked ok, but not the deep gloss look and not that long lasting. The next year I started from the Presta Gelcoat compound step and the results were much better.