Hey, it's not up to me to approve or disapprove anything! As far as I'm concerned, if it works then great! I do agree with the concept of using the least aggressive process to get the job done, and I would rather see someone use a more aggressive liquid and less aggressive pad rather than a mild liquid with a cutting pad, but paint systems are all different and what works great on one may be totally ineffective on another. So bottom line, if it works for you then who am I to complain? Of course, since you admit to being less than completely satisfied with your results, you may want to try a very clear finishing polish with a more gentle pad as a final prep before waxing. Something like Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish or 3M Finesse-It II used with either a polishing pad or even a finishing pad.

That's the stuff, Andy. I would start with the polishing pad (mid grade of the three) and only step to the cutting pad (firmest of the three) if yoiu aren't getting the results you want with the polishing pad. Again, keep in mind that the cutting pad may leave some haze in the finish even as it removes swirl marks, so you may have to follow with a second pass with the polishing pad and the same M105. You won't know any of this for sure until you start working on the car, so a test spot is always recommended.




RE: Orange Peel. You will be very hard pressed to find a factory paint job without some orange peel. Some are pretty good, others are horrible. Every Crossfire I've seen with a factory paint job has some level of orange peel. Interestingly enough, my PT Cruiser has very little. Among the best I've seen in factory paint jobs are Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari (though not always), some Audis and a couple of McLaren SLRs (OK, these were almost perfect!). I've seen some S-Class Benzes with lots of orange peel, and plenty of custom cars with a fair amount too. It all comes down to how good the painter is or, lacking that, how much clear is laid down and then wet sanded to remove the orange peel. High end show cars and other custom paint jobs will make use of many coats of clear and then extensive wet sanding (usually 1000 grit followed by 2000 or even 2500 grit) followed by compounding and polishing. I know for a fact that some concours winning show cars (think Pebble Beach) have undergone $20,000 worth of wetsanding/compounding/polishing to get a truly flawless finish. That price does NOT include the paint job. Then again, we're talking cars worth millions of dollars so what's twenty grand between friends, huh?