OP vs OC

[JerryG]

I have two cars I'm detailing - the first one is a 2007 Nissan - metallic dark red - I'll get to the other one in a minute.

 

I started noticing some minor cob-webs on the Nissan, so I decided to polish (first time) and seal using:

 

1) Menzerna FP-II

2) Poli-seal

3) Opti-seal

 

I polished with a PC using an LC White pad and the FP-II. While I eventually took care of 90% of the micro-marring, it took me many passes - more work than I anticipated, although I did work the polish until it slightly dusted. The OS looked great as the LSP.

 

Next, I'd like to tackle the 2000 Toyota which has never been polished. However, it is the three-stage Ivory Pearlescent paint, so the color mostly hides the swirls that have built up over the years. Otherwise, it appears in good shape. Based on the previous experience on the Nissan, I think the FP-II will take longer than I'm willing to spend to recover unless the clearcoat is significantly softer.

 

So, I'm considering stepping up the aggressiveness maybe one increment to cut down the necessary time. The heaviest pad I currently have is the LC White polishing pad. Don't have any OP or OC, yet.

 

I'm weighing these options:

 

1) LC Orange + OP (cut factor of OP is apparently rated about the same as FP-II?)

or

2) LC White + OC

or

3) LC Orange + OC

 

Std best practice would be to start with the least aggressive, but I hesitate to order the OP only to find out I should have skipped a bit further and need to re-order some OC.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[Anthony Orosco]

Menzerna makes some very nice polishes, can't go wrong with that choice.

 

The Optimum Polish and orange pad can do some very nice correction work and leave you with hardly anything to clean up in terms of swirls. Also OP and a wool pad does great things also, again leaving behind very fine swirls (I would not recommend Hyper with wool).

 

So you may want to try the OP with an orange pad and then OP with the LC white polishing pad and close with an orbital and OP or FPII. It should be done and looking fantastic.

 

Anthony

[JerryG]

OP + LC Orange did a nice job with the remaining mm and I finished out with the FP-II (OP + LC White probably would have done similarly well). Thanks for the advice.