Just ordered Prima Finish, Amigo, Epic, Mystique, Clarity, Black Wow and a bunch of Microfiber to apply it!

All I need is a clay bar, then I can go to town on the Mini. I just picked it up and it feels like nothing is protecting the paint.

I'd love to pick up a buffer, but I have absolutely no experience with them and I don't want anything to go wrong, so I'll be doing everything by hand, unless I decide to pick one up and try it on my old Jetta first.

Anyway, I'll update this thread with before and after pics by next weekend. Feel free to post any tips you may have. I've detailed cars many times, but never a Mini and I've never used the Prima products.

 

you can get meguiar's claybar's at amazon for a good deal.

 

Mother's clay bar is at Pep Boys and that is just fine too. I think Checker has Clay Magic, perfectly acceptable as well. Think about getting Octane Guy's DVD on using the PCDA.

 

IMO there is no need to fear using a buffer, the products and pads you can get from DP, along with a good quality RO should not harm anything.

Practice on the old Jetta, so you feel comfortable with the products and the machine, and so you can see the amazing results.

Here are pics from my first attempt. I have never worried about taking the machine to any paint since.


And my personal fav.


Mark

 

Nice lotsie!

I may do it by hand this time and see how it comes out. If I'm not too happy with it maybe I'll get the buffer.

I'm starting to wonder if I should have picked up Swirl. I heard the combination of Swirl and Amigo is great, but my paint is already in good condition so I figured it wasn't necessary.

Anyway, everything will be here tomorrow and I'm going to attack it either Saturday or Sunday

 

I'll say this. I fought getting a buffer but the first couple of times trying to hand apply wax and use scratchX convinced me otherwise. Maybe if I had super muscles but not for a broken old guy. The results were not only easier in polishing and waxing were so much better for me. If you are like me that's not what you want to hear (oh no, not more money to spend )

 

If your paint is already in good condition then Amigo alone would probably do a great job. I know it worked great for me the first time around when I did it by hand, I had very little swirling left over.

 

Which begs the question - if a swirl is filled by Amigo is it still a swirl?
What if a bottle of Amigo falls off your garage shelf and no one was around to hear it - would it still fill a swirl?
Ah, the wonderment of Amigo.

 

I just got my first bottle of Epic yesterday, which I'll use on our Mercedes wagon this weekend; I just put a double-coat of Klasse AIO on the Mini a few weeks ago (with a P21 topper), so that should hold me over until the end of the summer. The Mercedes paint is infinitely harder than the Mini's so it will be interesting to see the results.

 

Hey Niko, I can attest to using the prima line by hand. One its hard and alot of work. Two you can not get it as thin as it needs. Three the look from a PC is awesome and unparalleled. plus easy

Richards DVD will explain it all and if you belong to a local club see if they have a PC you can borrow.

 

Just got done with the Wagon. It's the standard Mercedes silver, just to give some background.

I washed the car with the Turtle Wax Ice wash and gave it a quick claying (it didn't really need it, but I wanted a good clean surface anyway). I decided to apply by hand with a MF skinny from DP. It went on nice and smooth, and I did the whole car and let it set up while I worked on the wheels. Can I tell you how much I hate Mercedes brake pads? Thank God for Wheel Armour.

After about 40 minutes or so, I went to work with the Monster Fluffy. The Epic came right off without a hitch (I applied it pretty thinly) and the shine was immediately apparent; nice slickness, too - much more so than with the Klasse I've been using on the Mini.

When I pulled out of the shade and got a good look at my handiwork, it seemed that the car was white in the direct sunlight - it was that blinding. I can't wait until September or so when the Klasse wears off, to try Epic on my CR MCS.

 

I'll second the thought on Richard's DVD. Lots of hints, tips, and everyday wisdom even if you have a solid foundation/knowledge on polishing. Warning; it will convince you on spending $$ for a PCDA.

 

Hey guys, I ended up doing it by hand for now. I clayed the car and applied finish and Amigo so far. I'm waiting to apply Epic, but there's no shade at the moment :(

It's also windy outside, so hopefully the car doesn't get too dirty while Epic is on the car. We have a garage but I'm not sure what's in it. We share it with the people upstairs and I have never really checked it out. Might do that right now