TYPEONE8

Hi i own a black is300 and i havent waxed the car for about a year and i hate how it looks now it has a bunch of swirls on the paint. Im a Meguiars kind of guy and this is a list of what i bought and plan on using with a rotary buffer:

ULTIMATE WASH & WAX
SMOOTH SURFACE CLAY KIT
MICROFIBER WASH MIT
SUPREME SHINE MICROFIBER TOWELS
M105 ULTRA CUT COMPOUND
M205 ULTRA FINISHING POLISH
M21 MIRROR GLAZE SYNTHETIC SEALANT 2.0
W8000 SOFT BUFF FOAM POLISHING PAD 8-INCH
W9000 SOFT BUFF FOAM FINISHING PAD 8-INCH
ULTIMATE QUICK DETAILER
ULTIMATE QUICK SPRAY WAX

Im going to use the 2 bucket method wash the car dry then clay it,then im going to use the w8000 pad for the m105 and 205 then the w9000 pad for the #21 sealant then use the ultimate quick detailer then the ultimate quick spray wax. I just want to know if these are the right steps to do it and the right products im going to attach a few pictures give you guys an idea on what im dealing with after i washed it with ULTIMATE WASH & WAX. Also whats a good product to clean microfiber and foam pads. Is the MicroFiber Rejuvenator Microfiber Cleaning Detergent Concentrate (16 oz) by CHEMICAL GUYS any good??

Todd@ProperAutoCare

Sounds about right!

TYPEONE8

Ok thanks what about cleaning microfiber?

embolism

most of the compounds are water soluble so you can clean them off pretty easily with soap and water. Some use dish detergent, some use liquid tide.

Once you get into the sealants and waxes though, then you need some type of degreasing agent since those products repel water (hence the beading on your car). Do a search for cleaning pads and you will find some articles from the guys at proper auto care on how best to clean your pads and MFs. I remember once article actually recommended working Meg's engine degreaser into the pad before rinsing it in buckets...

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

I have always used just regular Dawn dish detergent since it cleans thoroughly and I've never had an issue. One caveat - you must make sure and rinse very thoroughly. Wash the pads in the hottest water possible, then rinse them in a hotter bath. Letting them soak in there for a bit (usually about 15-30 mins at the most), you should be okay.

As for your pads, I'm leery about using a pad that large (8"). You will have a lot more control with a 5.5" pad or even a 6.5" pad - especially when doing swirl removal. It is always recommended to use a smaller pad when doing this, as you want to remove the minimum amount of clear possible to correct the damage. You cut a wide berth with an 8" pad. If you have access to smaller ones, I'd highly recommend them.

Big Mack

Todd@ProperAutoCare

Sorry totally missed your question in the op.

Here is how I clean pads.

The Easy and Affordable Way to Clean Your Polishing Pads

Keeping your polishing pads clean is extremely important to the performance and life of your polishing pads. I have used all of the machines, gadgets, and tools to clean pads, and while some of them really do a great job, they are not always practicable. I have always used dedicated pad cleaners, but a friend suggested to me that they where just degreasers. I looked around the garage, saw a spray bottle of Meguiar's Super Degreaser, and gave it a go. The results were instananeous. Over time this became my preferred method of pad cleaning and I enthusiasticly recommended this process to everybody who would/will listen.

Degreaser vs. Soap

A lot of detailers use liquid soaps, most commonly dish washing soaps, to clean their pads. Most of the stronger soaps do a great job, but can be frustrating to fully rinse out of the pad. It seems several hours of rinsing later you can still squeeze foam soap bubbles out. Meguiar's Super Degreaser rinses clean very quickly, as it is designed to release from surface quickly. Most dish soaps will leave behind a film to promote water sheeting off over plates and silverware, to resist water spotting. This film can be very difficult to fully remove, particularly once trapped inside the foam cells of a pad.

Two Bucket Method

While it is not necessary to have two buckets for pad washing, it certaintely helps. The wash bucket it were all the dirty cleaning happens, and this water will be contaminated with solution and polish residue. The rinse bucket is used after the pad has been cleaned to flush out any remaining solution from the first bucket and to ensure the pad is perfectly clean.

Getting Started

• Two Buckets- The larger the better. Fill each bucket up with water.
• Meguiars Super Degreaser- Diluted 10 parts water with 1 part solution.
• A pad brush- Used to scrub stubborn stains from the surface of pad.
• Dirty pads

The surface of this Meguiar's Softbuff 2.0 Cutting pad has a lot of embedded abrasives and is in desperate need of cleaning.





Spray the surface of the pad liberally with degreaser solution and massage the cleaner into the pad.



Dunk into the wash bucket. Massage and scrunch the pad in the water. Polish residue will release immediately.





Finally wring and inspect. There is some stubborn residue on the bottom right corner of this pad.



If needed, spray more degreaser on the pad and brush any stubborn areas with a stiff nylon brush, such as a pad brush.



Dunk and flush out as much solution in the wash bucket. Finally wring out as much solution over the wash bucket.



At this point the pad should appear clean, and well rang out. Finally massage and wring out any solution in the second bucket; the rinse bucket. This will ensure that all of the contaminated water from the wash bucket is removed and the pad is completely clean.



Finally spin the pad dry on a machine, if available, and allow to air dry completely before use.



The end result is a pad that is completely clean and should be free of any residues which could hamper further use. This method will clean the entire pad, instead of just the surface.



A Method for All Pads

This method, because of the submergence of the pad, is suited to all pad types including wool and multi-fingered pads that have large surface areas. These pads tend to require scrubbing for the best results.







Notes

• If you have sensitive skin or notice any irritation you should consider wearing nitrile, vinyl or latex gloves.
• Reticulated or 'closed-cell' foam pads will require additional time to dry. You can identify these pads because they will release little air bubbles that will make the water appear cloudy when massaged underwater.
• You should change the water in the buckets when they become contaminated. Try to keep the rinse bucket's water as clean as possible.
• The large surface area of wool, micro-finger, and microfiber pads will contaminate the water much quicker than foam pads. Clean the water more frequently

.

Todd@ProperAutoCare

As far as cleaning towels.

I usually wash my towels (keeping the paint friendly towels separate from the non-paint friendly towels) with regular (no scent or softener additives) TIDE, then add a couple oz's of vinegar to the rinse cycle.

I also let air dry to prevent static charge.

TYPEONE8

Ok I returned the 8-inch pads and got meguiars rotary backing plate and got 6.5-inch polishing and buffing pads

flektone

iTrader: (1)

you dont use the quick detailer and quick wax after a major wax job like you are doing. top with #21 and you are set. anything else is overkill and you are wasting your time and the results wont look any better. quick detailer and quick wax are to "maintain" that "just waxed" look down the road when it wears off after many washes.

Angelo

I like using Micro-Restore in washing my Microfiber towels. Then let them air dry so I don't have any linting problems with them. So far I haven't had any problems.

TYPEONE8

Ok thanks for the advice, one more quick question I'm going to use meguiars polishing pad with #105 and #205 I bought 2 polishing pads for each is that correct cause I didn't want to take time to clean the pad before I used the the other compound??

embolism

you will probably need to clean the pads a couple times. It is better to work clean especially since you will be taking off clear with your compound. Once it starts to build up, you will diminish the effectiveness of the abrasives against the paint. That is the case when using a DA at least. I'm not sure how often you are supposed to clean your pads when using a rotary.

Another thing I forgot to mention when practising on a spare piece from the junkyard. I would deliberately burn through the clear so you have an idea how quickly it can happen if you don't keep the pad moving. It is just something that will help you remember to always keep the pad moving, especially when you see a scratch that you think you can take out if you just hold it there for a few seconds -- sometimes that's all it takes to burn it.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Cleaning the pad depends on how saturated it gets with product/stuff. If its heavily caked, clean it and spin dry and reuse it. Simple as that since you're using a rotary

Be sure to check out using the "Kevin Brown Method" for the rotary. It works very nice if you can manage to control it perfectly. The polishes you use are generally what I use on most details since their paints are much worse than yours. Good luck to you bud