New to using a DA.

[DetailGk]

I recently acquired a 2001 GMC Yukon. Paint has been taken care of except for a clear coat problem on the passenger door (dull, cracked glass look on the top of the door frame) that luckily isn't too noticeable. Overall the paint has swirl marks that can only be seen in direct sunlight and some minor scratches in a few spots. A month ago I washed and clayed, then applied UP by hand followed by UW. I also used UC on the passenger door with the clearcoat problem and it then UP, UW; it didn't correct the problem, but hid it well. Results were amazing and my black truck is shinier and richer than ever.
So after all of that, I detailed the wife's car and a couple of family members cars and realized that I'm really enjoying the hobby. I went out and bought a DA power system to use with my drill. I purchased the compound, polishing and finishing pads. I plan on doing my truck again to get the swirls and random scratches corrected but not sure if I should use UC on the entire truck- who knows if the previous owner polished off a lot of the clear coat, right? My question is, should I use something less aggressive than UC but more aggressive than UP to correct my paint defects? Also, I'm wondering if UC on the yellow polishing pad would be less aggressive than using it on the purple compounding pad and prevent me from having to by another product.

thanks

[Michael Stoops]

Re: New to using a DA.

Unless you have access to a paint thickness gauge you won't know for sure if the previous owner did enough polishing to remove a significant amount of clear. But, if he had been doing that much polishing over the years, you would expect the paint to have looked darn near flawless when you got it. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of car owners do nothing more than wax their cars maybe once a year. Odds are you've got more than enough clear on the truck to safely remove the typical swirls and other light defects that are detracting from the overall appearance.

As you've guessed, using UC on the yellow polishing pad will provide less overall cut than UC on the burgundy cutting pad will. If UC/yellow is sufficient to remove the defects to your satisfaction, then by all means take that route as it's less invasive overall. But do a couple of test spots side by side with both pads and see what you get, then proceed from there. As for selecting a product between UP and UC.....well, that would be something like M80 or M83, but you really don't need to go out and buy another product when you can achieve the same reduction in cut from UC by either swapping pads (as noted above) or using less tool speed, less pressure, or working a larger area at a time.

[dedydut]

Re: New to using a DA.

I want to buy DA from my friend. he don't use it anymore. i have a few questions about it
1. what should I look out about the DA before I pay for it?
2. what kind of pad or backing plate should i have?
3. I'm going to buy DMCKIT5, is this enough? or I Should have another important things

I'm going to use it to my white car, 1,5 years used. I want to make my car shine again like new car, and I will use DA to do that job
M105, M205, Ult.Polish, D300,D301, Ult.liquid Wax, Last Touch, Body solvent, HyperDressing, all of them are already in hand. is that enough to make my car 'White' Again? how many pad do i need?

Thanks for help.