Attention all detailers:

The Nanoskin autoscrub sponge (available on amazon) is a fantastic product that will completely replace your claybar! It literally takes seconds to do whole areas that would take long minutes of scrubbing and kneeding with clay. It is a simple sponge with a black rubber surface that is meant to be used the same way as clay with your favourite detail spray or clay lube. The rubber surface can be easily and quickly cleaned with some soapy water (I use simple car wash soap).

You might want to keep your clay for certain nooks and crannies but this product has me sold. It is only about 15$ and should be much more durable than traditional claybar. I bought the blue fine grade but a more heavy duty red sponge is also available. It is now my go to product for prepping my paint for correcting or using a sealant.

 

I second this, but I highly recommend hand washing it after each use and break it in on the windshield.

I use dishsoap and water for "lube" and just go to town on the car. I still have to bust out the old claybar for certain areas but the Nanoskin helps me save time when doing a customers car. Here is a nanoskin clay process, cut with RUPE's and MF pad, then polish with Uber Green pad and FG400.

Before:



After:

 

Wow. Great results. I currently am using ultimate compound with an orange cutting pad and a porter cable. I wish I had something that cut a little more. I find myself doing two section passes on max with a lot of pressure to get the correction I want. Should I look into a microfiber system for the porter cable?

 

MF is nice, but gets hot. I used maguirs pink stuff and the rep said do 4 passes and ease up on the pressure on each pass and use two pads. There is higher cuttings stuff too like 205 and 105. I tried 205 with a white foam pad for my ssm gd, and it got rid of most of my fine scratchs. And I used 105(orange pad, maybe?) followed by compound (not the pink, and with the white pad) on my parents mr ge, but two passes with moderate pressure each. Still some swirling, I wish I talked to rep before I did it, would have turned out much better.

Nano skin is great though. I've gotten rail dust off with the med grit (yellow) before. Just make sure nothing touches the rubber part when sorting and that tar remover is never near it.

 

I agree, I use the fine sponge all the time on my personal vehicle. On neglected vehicles, I personally follow with the med sponge, then with a claybar. The problem with the sponges is that you can't see if you've fully decontaminated the surface as the contaminants are hidden by the color of the sponge.

With the PC, putting too much pressure on it will render it useless as it'll stop spinning to cut. It's because of that reason that the PC is regarded as one of the better DA polishers for beginners - although Grito's Garage is a better DA polisher imo with higher torque and a lifetime warranty. I own both; I've outgrown my PC but always keep it around for a buddy to help or to even lend it out - it's bulletproof!

Also, depending on which company you use, which I'm guessing is LC, you can go to the yellow pad for the most cut of their line-up. The PC will get the job done, no doubt - with proper technique and the right product/pads, you'll be as efficient as you can be with the PC.

205 is a polish. 105 is a compound. 101 is the "new" 105 that doesn't dust as much. The 105 is a slightly better cutting compound than Meg's "Ultimate" line-up. It doesn't benefit to follow 105 with another, separate compound.

 

FG400, Chemical Guys orange MF cutting pad and a PC was my go to for all my customer cars.

I know rock multiple compounds/polished and pads. I use Rupes Duetto + Rupes Yellow Pad + V34 alot, followed up with a green uber pad from detailers domain and Sonax 3/6 nano polish.