First time detailing, rough shape

Ok first off I have an 09 obsidian black pearl legacy. I picked it up last August and had been maintaining it fairly well. Hand washes only, wax about every two months. Well towards the end of the winter my car was hit twice while parked over night (about $1300 work of damage between the front and rear bumper). This pissed me off to the point that I unfortunately stopped caring and let the car get out of hand. I had no idea how seemingly fragile this paint is. On my previous cars I could go through auto car washes and never get a scratch or swirl.

 

Fast forward to this car. Since the two minor accidents I had given up and have been going through car wash stations, leaving bird crap on the car for a few weeks at a time in the sun light, using the one bucket method, and removing wax with terry cloths (all the things I now know to be horrendously wrong). Again none of this had really been much of a problem on previous cars but this legacy is ugly in the sun. Ive begun to care again and being a black car (black bumpers under the Paint) the damage isnt too unsightly. However, the bird crap etchings, minor scratches, and swirls are, car doesn't stand out as I'd like in the sun. Looking for some suggestions or comments to the below. Here are the products I picked up (been a meguiars fan for a while so sorry if there's a bit much of there products) and what I plan on doing.

 

1. NXT generation wash with a microfiber wash mit.

2. Mothers Clay bar kit.

3. Meguiars swirl x by hand with meguiars foam applicator.

4. Wolfgang deep gloss sealant.

5. Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba will be using meguiars microfibers for removal.

 

Few quick questions on the above, and mind you I'm not looking for perfection, it is a daily driver all year round. First does anyone think with subaru paint being so soft (so I hear) I'll be able to achieve reasonable results with the swirl x by hand? Ive seen impressive results over on the meguiars forums, not sure if anyone here has tried it. Also what do you guys recommend for wax application? Foam or microfiber applicator pads?

dont know if the products are still available on here or not but check out or search danase. great products. helps though if you have a porter cable or an orbital buffer.

http://www.danase.com

SwirlX by hand would get you reasonable results if you plan on working on your paint for a month, either get it professionally compounded and polished or buy yourself a porter cable and learn how to DIY.

 

$0.02

DO NOT expect swirls to be removed if you are working by hand. It doesn't matter what product you use. If you are polishing by hand then you will not accomplish swirl removal. I've never met anyone strong enough to build up the heat and friction required to break down polishes and cut paint on an entire car. I couldn't even remove swirls by hand on a side mirror, let alone a whole car. I've been in the detailing industry for 13 years and trust me when I say that in order to get swirls out, you MUST use a machine.

 

With that, I say skip the SwirlX and I would skip the Meguiar's carnauba too. Wolfgang is a super top grade product. Topping it with a consumer grade wax like Gold Class would be like using burlap sheets on your $5000 mattress. Especially if you are using the liquid form. Liquid waxes have a high solvent content and could quite possibly remove the sealant below, so never top sealants with liquid waxes.

 

There is a lot more on the subject written in this forum if you do a little searching. I've also got some fairly extensive walkthroughs on http://blog.ocdetails.com that I posted this summer which might help.

Thanks for the responses everyone and thanks OCD for the link to your site. An incredible amount of information which I'll be reading through for a while. Most of the products I listed are things I already have. I understand the wolfgang sealant is a much higher quality product than the Meguiars stuff (Im using the paste carnuaba). However, the wolfgang sealant came as a free sample from autogeek.net when I ordered the wolfgang leather care kit. Enough to treat my car once so I don't really mind putting the meguiars on top. (I plan on getting one of the higher quality sealant/wax kits from autogeek after the winter). As far as the swirlx, the best I could do is borrow a Coleman Powermate 10in orbital polisher (I dont have the money right now for a DA polisher).

 

http://www.savingsahead.com/P/536/coleman_powermate_10_inch(25cm)_orbital_waxer_polisher.html

 

Would this be an adequate tool for the job? From what I've read, the Coleman 10in would be similar to a DA polisher (minimal risk of damage to the paint?), a bit more cumbersome though. Right now it has the wool bonnet on it. Should I use the wool bonnet to apply the swirlx or something else? Thanks in advance, I plan on trying to do this either tomorrow or Friday.

I was under the impression that when you're trying to remove swirls and what not that you DON'T want to build up heat... hrm.

You don't want too much heat, but you do need some to break down the polish in the compound. A rotary machine will create a ton of heat and there is a very different way to use it than with a DA, but the DA is much much safer.

 

Those 'el cheapo' orbital buffers are not to be used for swirl removal. Don't even waste the money on them. They are for waxing ONLY and will only cause damage to your paint if you try to use a compound with them. They don't have the power to break down polishes, so don't even try to remove swirls. You can use chemical paint cleaners for light oxidation or liquid waxes, but that's about the limit. This is the entry level and cheapest polisher you can buy which will get the job done. Nothing less than this will do what you want it to do. There just doesn't seem to be much in between the crappy buffers and the professional tools, so don't waste any money on something less than this. Live with the swirls until you have the money for a real tool. Especially on a black car. If you burn your paint with a cheap buffer it is going to stand out like a sore thumb. While those cheap buffers have the ability to tear up your paint, they do not have the ability to fix it, so just be patient and save your nickels and dimes for awhile.

Wow! The PC7424 is down to $120 shipped?! That's a hell of a deal and a good tool for the job. I remember just a few years back when those went for about 150, and you still needed to buy the 6" counterweight plus shipping.

Not only that, but that is the NEW 7424. It is smaller, lighter, and according to people I've talked to, it has a little more bite to it. It is one of a couple machines I have my sights set on. My 7424 has been in service for a decade now, so it may be time to get a new one. I wonder what the OCDetails PC7424 would go for on ebay... lol Probably about a buck fifty considering how used it looks.