Planet 9

Newbie jumping in the pool - other than the polisher..what are the essential must haves?
- brand new black cherry metallic SUV
- gold metallic 2001 Audi A6 paint in pretty good shape
- black porsche boxster 2001 paint in decent to poor shape - swirl marks, scratches, road rash, etc., def. needs work.

thanks

The Porter Cable might disappoint when used on the Cayman/Boxster because it is such a curvy car. I use one on other vehicles but decided that it is easier and more fun just to wax by hand on the Cayman. It will work well for your SUV and Audi. There are a bunch of wax threads to read to get a sense of the favorites but it is sort of like radar detectors where everyone pretty much likes what they use..

One thing most agree on (but not all) is having a good supply of micro fiber towels reserved for different care use (wax removal, polishing, glass and so on).

your notgoing to get swirl marks, scratches, out by hand

Porta cable is great I just use a smaller unit.

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I would suggest grabbing the 4.7/8" flexible backing plate (a necessity if you dont already have one), and possibly a 3.5" backing plate if you plan to use the smaller 4" pads. Flexible, Molded Urethane Backing Plates for your Porter Cable and Rotary Buffers

From there, you'll need some pads. They run like this (from most aggressive to least). Yellow, Orange, Green, White, Black, Blue, Red, Gold. The last 4 dont have any cut to them and are best suited for waxes, glazes and paint cleaners. They do vary in density, so the black pad would allow for the most pressure to be applied w/o collapsing as easiely as the others. (for this reason, the gold pads dont even come in the smaller 5.5" size). The yellow pad is a heavy cut pad, the orange is a light cut pad (very popular), green for light cut/heavy polish, white for polishing (again, very popular choice).

I'd recommend going w/ at least one of the orange, white and black in 5.5". The 5.5's work a little better on the porter cable than the larger 6.5" pads imo. 5.5" x 7/8" CCS Foam Pads

I would then look in to some stronger polishes/compounds to assist in correcting that 01 boxster. ssr2.5, optimum compound, etc. Great choices that arent very aggressive. This would just need to be followed up w/ a lighter polish such as ssr1 or optimum polish.
Polishes, Swirl Removers, Paint Cleaners & Compounds

And thats pretty much it really. Waxes/Sealants are somewhat optional b/c you dont have to apply these by machine. Hope this helps point you in the right direction

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you should also check what counter weight you have, or may need (depending on size of pad.. 5", 6" etc.). This just helps to reduce the vibration so your hands don't go all numb.