I know most KJ owners like a nice layer of filth on their paint as their preferred "top coat," but I am a detailing hobbyist and the first thing I did when I picked up my 04 Sport was bring it into the garage for five hours. The paint was in decent condition, but it was swirl city as someone had either lived to bring the poor rig through the autowash, or had no clue when it came down to paint prepping, gloss adders, and final wax "toppers."
The recon process included:
Poorboy's Super Swirl Remover (SSR) 2.5, on a yellow cutting pad with the Porter Cable (PC) set to 6
Poorboy's SSR1, orange light cutting pad, PC set to 5
Meguiar's NXT, black finishing pad, PC set to 5
Poorboy's Natty's Paste Wax (Blue version), hand applied and removed (2 Coats)
I usually would not have used the NXT, but I watched a friend use it with some fantastic results the weekend prior so I figured why the hell not. I know it only lasts at best a few weeks, at which point I will use a proper sealant to protect the paint against the coming nasty New England weather. I also usually finish with Pinnacle's Souveran paste wax, but I figured I would save that stuff for theother cars, and the Natty's Blue is very close to the Souveran in slickness and providing the "wet" look.
The result, in the dead sun, was no swirls, spiderwebbing, or defects (that could be removed by any given detailing process):
Compared to my friend's black SRT8, a car that I had to perform an intervention on because it was only a few thousand miles old, and it was swirl city:
It looks much better now, believe me.
More post-detailing pics:
