I am going to be having a cousin of mine pinstripe my 2010 gt this weekend and I am wanting to prep the paint well for him...

My only issue is deciding on what exactly I should do; I am a noob and I look to my father for his knowledge and he said be wary about how thin the clear is on these new cars and that it isn't just a lacquer that you can shape to you liking.

My car is black and has swirls on her (got her like that unfortunately) and I want to get rid of them... but don't want to go too deep and regret something.

I also wanted to clay my car, just not sure at which step I would do it?

Thanks for all of the insight you guys have to share.

PS - I had my mind set on flat black for the stripes.. but red is kind of calling me now... thoughts?

 

First you are going to want to wash the car very well. The next step would be to clay bar it. After the clay bar is when you would start polishing. Not sure what your method of polishing is (hand, random orbital, rotary). By hand you aren't going to get too much done, and also you have no worries about burning through clear coat. A random orbital buffer is pretty safe as long as you use it right, its pretty much impossible to make it through the clear unless you stay in one spot for like an hour. a rotary polisher is what you have to worry about, i wouldn't recommend using one of these since you dont seem to be very experienced, and they will burn through paint pretty easily if you arent careful.

 

wash the car using the two bucket method...clay the vehicle...then like ryan said, you won't get much work out of it if you hand polish, i'd pick up a Porter Cable 7424XP, you won't do any damage to your car...you can check out Adam's Polishes @ adamspolishes.com i use there products faithfully, they are so easy to use and give you top quality results...good luck man

 

Awesome. Thanks for the guidance, Ryan/Shad.

I can't wait to do this.

Any rec. on what polish I should use? I see some people using a two-step process when polishing with one finer and one coarser grit polish...

 

Adam's has Swirl & Haze Remover and Fine Machine Polish...both used with the Porter Cable with color matched Pads...always start with least invasive(think i spelled that correctly lol) then if swirls remain, step it up

i.e. use fine machine polish on white pad first(always start in the worst spot to see what you need to do for the rest of the car) if swirls still remain, use swirl and haze remover and then follow that with fine machine polish(always go over product if you are using multiple ones, don't wipe away)

you can check out the videos at adamspolishes.com you'll learn better by watching...the products are SUPER easy to use and you will receive the best customer service

 

Thanks, man.

I will remember these products for next time, as I am doing this day after tomorrow and need it fast, but I am definitely watching the videos... great find.