{"id":10672,"date":"2013-07-10T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=10672"},"modified":"2014-07-17T13:43:37","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T17:43:37","slug":"my-favorite-one-stage-polishing-routines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/my-favorite-one-stage-polishing-routines\/","title":{"rendered":"My Favorite One Stage Polishing Routines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This question gets asked a lot by both enthusiasts and up and coming detailers.\u00a0 Knowing what combination to use when doing only one stage of machine polishing is essential in pleasing clients or simply reaching a better result on your personal vehicle.\u00a0 There is always the compromise of correction and finish, which needs to be balanced perfectly for different kinds of paints and vehicles for optimal results.\u00a0 The short answer is that there is really no &#8220;right&#8221; combination for all paint jobs, simply because there are way too many variables between paint, vehicle manufacturers, etc.\u00a0 That said, here are a few of my favorite combinations and the reasoning behind them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Meguiars-M43\/Ultra-Finishing-Polish-205-P389\/32-oz-S1\/\" target=\"_blank\">Meguiar&#8217;s Ultra Finishing Polish M205<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Lake-Country-M7\/Orange-Light-Cutting-Pad-P58\/55-inch-S2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lake Country Orange Light Cutting Pad<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is a combination I use for harder paints that aren&#8217;t too sensitive and can benefit from a bit extra cut.\u00a0 The M205 paired with the orange pad can do some fairly serious swirl correction on many paint finishes, which is why I almost always reach for it when my goal is to get as much cut as possible out of only one polishing stage and when the paint will allow it.\u00a0 The orange pad I find is one of those that can be both aggressive and not so aggressive depending on how it&#8217;s used, so it&#8217;s a very versatile pad.\u00a0 M205 as we all know is also versatile in that it can be used as a finishing polish on most finishes, however with some pressure and specific technique, it can surely remove some deeper defects on certain paints.\u00a0 Thus, I like to combine the two mainly when working on somewhat hard clear coats in order to get that correction but leave a marr and hologram free finish.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Meguiars-M43\/Ultra-Finishing-Polish-205-P389\/32-oz-S1\/\" target=\"_blank\">Meguiar&#8217;s Ultra Finishing Polish M205<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Lake-Country-M7\/Hydro-Tech-Crimson-Ultra-Fine-Finishing-Pad-P458\/55-inch-S2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lake Country Hydro Tech Crimson Ultra Fine Finishing Pad<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For paints that aren&#8217;t as hard and forgiving, I step down the pad in aggressiveness and use the crimson finishing pad with M205.\u00a0 The crimson pad is a very fine pad so it&#8217;s sure to never leave any marring in the paint, which makes it a great pad to use with a variety of polishes.\u00a0 When it comes to such a pad, the polish is mainly what is used to determine how much of the defects you can actually remove.\u00a0 That&#8217;s why I like to use M205 with it because I know that I can get pretty good correction with proper speed and pressure, all while making sure I don&#8217;t scour up the paint with an overly aggressive pad.\u00a0 The M205 and crimson pad combo is great for softer paint jobs where the finish can be a bit finicky to work with and requires a gentle touch to finish down correctly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Sonax-M49\/Profiline-Perfect-Finish-P782\/1000-ml-S1\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sonax Profiline Perfect Finish<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Lake-Country-M7\/Hydro-Tech-Crimson-Ultra-Fine-Finishing-Pad-P458\/55-inch-S2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lake Country Hydro Tech Crimson Ultra Fine Finishing Pad<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last, but certainly not least, is my go-to combination for paints that are a pain to work with and require a very fine finishing process in order to leave the paint free of any user induced defects.\u00a0 This combo works well to remove a lot of light swirl marks from such paints as softer jet black, but it also leaves a nice finish that is ready for waxing.\u00a0 Sonax Perfect Finish is a great polish here because while it can be used to slightly remove some light and moderate defects, it finishes down very well to leave a nice and glossy finish.\u00a0 It&#8217;s my main choice of finishing polish due to its ease of use compared to other fine polishes out there, so I like to pair it with the finer crimson pad when performing only one stage of polishing on sensitive paints requiring a very gentle combination.<\/p>\n<p>Well, while those are surely not all the combinations I use for one stage polishing, they are few of my favorites and some I use most of the time.\u00a0 As I mentioned already, with all the variables involved in paint polishing, it&#8217;s just about impossible to find a single pad and a single polish to use on every paint and get maximum results from just one polishing stage.\u00a0 However, having 2-3 different combinations (2-3 pads and 2-3 polishes) will pretty much take care of any paint one can encounter.<\/p>\n<h2>Buy Products From This Article<\/h2>\n<p>Purchase the products used in this article individually or in one convenient package <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Sales\/AAP-my-favorite-one-stage-polishing-routines-SP147\/\">here<\/a>!<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Sales\/AAP-my-favorite-one-stage-polishing-routines-SP147\/\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"view-article-products\">View Products Now <i class=\"icon-chevron-right\"><\/i><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ivan Rajic of LUSTR Auto Detail shares with you a few of his favorite one stage polishing routines!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,32,35,33,27,64],"tags":[850,894,1068,176,1053],"class_list":{"0":"post-10672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-detailing","8":"category-imperfection-removal","9":"category-pads","10":"category-polishes","11":"category-professional-work","12":"category-submitted-questions","13":"tag-ivan-rajic","14":"tag-lustr-auto-detail","15":"tag-one-stage-polishing","16":"tag-paint-correction","17":"tag-sonax-perfect-finish"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/aap_featured_image_default_2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-2M8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10672"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14663,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10672\/revisions\/14663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}