What's your budget? What do you want to achieve?

Hi.. I am a newbie in caring for my car. This is my story and how i did mine.

I started reading and using carcare product from aug on my 6 months old car.

When i got the car, the body/paint was not at its best condition for a new car.It was probably kept poorly/uncovered carpark at the storage garage. There was a lot of contaminants stuck at the paint surface and was very rough. 

After much reading & watching youtube. I bought :-
1. Meguiars new car kit.
2. Meguiars paint restoration kit.
3. Meguiars soft buff 7" yellow pad
4. Black & decker kp600 + velcro (sponsored)

As per megs tutorial, i wash, clay, ultimate compound and wax.

So far i must say, i am very satisfied. Now i am kinda chasing for my own ultimate shine.

Btw my car is white, i know, its an easy color, but i hate it when it doesnt shine..

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Added on October 18, 2012, 10:45 pm

I am currently using Black & decker. My car had low level swirls/scrathes due to using improper washing cloths.

I used the BD with megs yellow pad to polish but wax still by hand (i havent bought the black finishing pad yet).
So far it does the job but need to be patient when polishing bcoz might need to do 3-4 passes depending on the damage.
(polishing should not be frequent anyways).

I am now targeting to buy the black pad for waxing but still researching bcoz it might be difficult to use the 7 " pad for tight areas. Trying to find 5.5" pad and to see whether it fits the BD.    maybe sifus can give some ideas on this.

Btw, to polish/to do correction, it still depends on your type of paint (soft or not, single stage or not, how thick is it right now etc). [attachmentid=3108491][attachmentid=3108494]

Sorry to say, but with RM300, you won't be able to get much. A new, good quality DA would cost you at least around RM600, and an orbital (we normally call it a Random Orbital Buffer - ROB) like the Bosch is round RM350. By the way, a rotary rotate/spin whereas a DA/orbital would 'vibrate', like the B&D or Bosch. You won't be able to do much correction with a DA/ROB. But, saying that, I'm trying to find some time to try out some new polishes that is said to be able to do some decent amount of correction on a DA/ROB. So, there might still be hope for those who have limited budget to get some decent level of results. But still, RM300 is a little on the low side, considering you'd also need to buy a few buffing pads as well.

I'd say your next best option would be to get to know some of the detailing enthusiasts around here who detail as a hobby. Make some friends and you might be able to borrow from them cuz, from personal experience , they only use the machine occasionally. I would volunteer mine but, unfortunately, my bosch is already with another guy.

If you don't fancy that, then you can opt for those china-made cheap rotaries that cost around RM200 and spend some RM100 ~ RM150 more for a few buffing pads. Just be aware though, these machines' performance are way off if compare to the like of the Makita or DeWalt. But you should be able to get a decent level of finish with some extra patience, care and perserverence, not to mention some good quality coaching and plenty of practicing.

Another option that you could consider is to get your car to be properly detailed by a professional and just follow up with some DIY maintenance. For this, the B&D might be all the tools you'd need. With a good maintenance scheme/routine, you might not need another full detail for a couple of years or so.

Ask away if you have any more questions.
Well, you can try washing your car more thoroughly and pay extra attention to those area where the marks originate. Dirt/contaminant could be accumulating at those cracks or crevises where they originate and rain/water would wash them out, hence causing those marks. Try flushing them out more thoroughly with a strong jet of water or something the next time you wash your car and see whether the occurrance is reduced. But as long as the marks can be easily removed during your normal washing, then it wouldn't be much of a concern. If they're difficult to wash off, then I would think that the protection (wax/sealant/coating) is weakening/deteriorating and it's time to apply a fresh coat.

Regards.

ps. no I'm not a professional detailer nor do I detail for money. I'm just a hobbyist whose been maintaining my own rides and enjoying every minutes of it.....hehehe.....

I prefer to apply waxes and sealants by hand. But I do see the advantage of using a machine for it - less tiring. The DeWalt I mentioned earlier is a rotary buffer - one that spins, not prefered by most people for wax/sealant application. Most of the time, if we were to use a machine, it would be using something like the Bosch or B&D random orbital buffer. Tight spaces/area would be a little bit of a problem though, but for those area, just change and use hand instead.

But....errr...is your B&D a rotary (spin) or an orbital (vibrate)? Your backing plate got velcro or not?

Either way, for application of wax/sealant, the softest pad would be most suitable, either Lake Country 5.5" Black or Blue pad or Meg's W9006 6.5" Finishing Pad or the like.

Unless, of course, when you're talking about finishing/waxing you mean removing some very mild defects.....
They are effective but, as with *most* cheap machine, they're not as powerful or nice to use as compared to those from the established brands. For example, these machines would bog down (or slow down) when you apply pressure, makes louder sound, the head can get very hot, etc. But if you don't mind those and after you get used to using it, it can produce results as good as their more expensive counterparts. I had one of those when I started getting serious into detailing and I don't have a single regret of selling it and getting the Makita (though it took me a while to save up the money for it). And I also know of a few fellow enthusiasts who are satisfied with just having the cheaper rotary as they don't really clock too many hours on them.

As for the brands, there are plenty of them out there selling at any hardware shop with all sort of names. But, try to find those from well established names before you go for the 'no-name' ones. I can't remember the one that I sold off, but I know of a Boh Hai, there's also the Maktek, Skils also selling a cheap polisher....and plenty of other with weird names. You can find plenty selling in mudah.

Your routine sounds fine to me. But, for me, other than the regular weekly washes, the rest I do when the time comes or when/if required. For example claying, if the surface still feels nice and smooth, even after a few months I'd just let it be cuz there's really no point of claying if not needed. Same thing goes to waxing and polishing. After a while you'd get to know when to wax again and when to polish. I also get lazy (or busy) some time and didn't do any polishing for more than a year. But do remember, the most important thing is TO PROTECT the paintwork. Polishing is for the looks and, if you can close one eye and stand all those swirls and marring, you don't really need to polish (I had to do that very often nowadays cuz don't have much of the luxury of time with works and family commitments). But I will make sure that I keep the protection going until I can find the time to make it shine again......

Regards.
TA.

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Added on October 19, 2012, 3:12 pmOh...may I just add that detailing is more like 80% skills and 20% tools and products. You can have the best tools/machine and the best products in the world, but without practicing and learning the proper techniques, you won't be able to achieve those that you've seen here. How many times have we seen people buying an expensive product from a well known brand and then condemning it saying that it's crap, whereas others have been using the same product and have no such problem?

By 'casual maintenance' I take it that you mean doing some minor corrections once in a while and majority of the times would be doing some paint cleaning or light polishing and waxing. For that, I would really recommend a DA. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there are only 3 DAs available locally, the Megs G220, Ultramate and the Flex 3401 VRG. The Flex cost about RM2xxx, Megs retails for around RM16xx and the Ultramate RM7xx/RM8xx. Expensive? Yes, unfortunately, they are, but they are the best for what they do .

The cheaper rotary would be good too, as you can use it to remove some deeper defects as well. You'd need some practice and training when using a rotary or else, like you said, there's a small chance that you might cause more damage. But it's not as dangerous as most people say and not that difficult to learn. You just need to respect the machine and just pay attention on what you're doing. Learning to use the rotary is fun and watching the results is even more satisfying. I learned using the rotary from the many on-line videos, some guides from the detailing sifus and plenty of trial and error. So far, I can't remember damaging any paint yet. Just need patience and practice.

The B&D and Bosch are ROB or, another term would be an accentric polisher. The B&D is cheaper than the bosch which retails for around RM350. The principle on how they work is to immitate how you polish by hand. So, in a way, if you can do it by hand, then you can do it with ROBs. If you can't, then most probably the ROB also can't. But, again, I have yet to try my ROB with a few of new polishes that I just bought. These polishes is said to be able to do better correction with a DA and I'm trying to test it out and gauge how much correction it can achieve with an ROB. Still can't find the time to test them out though.......maybe others who had tried can chime in on this. Until then, I'd say that the ROB are good for applying waxes/sealants and doing some very light polishing (better terms would be paint cleaning).

I can't choose for you, all I can do is guide you and share my personal experience, observation and analysis. If you're looking to 'achieve' something with an ROB like the B&D, you might be dissapointed....I was. So I sold off mine and bought the Bosch which has a little bit more power and variable speed. I wasn't that satisfied either as, although it can correct a little bit more than the B&D, but it's still far from what a rotary can achieve. I still keep it because it's a great machine for doing some light polishing/paint cleaning and saves my arms from going limp from applying wax/sealant. A DA's performance would be something in between the ROB and a rotary. If that's what you're looking for, then a DA would be your best bet. Either that, or, if you're willing to wait a little bit more and give me some time to try my ROB with those now polishes......

How's that for an answer eh.....Hahaha....after reading back, I just realised that I didn't even answer your question....hahahah.....