[Mulva]

I think I'm good re regular washing etc, but have some general questions re occasional paint restoration/correction.

My circumstances are I'm not looking to get massively into detailing with regular cutting/polishing (and will fight the addition) - I will only be looking to cut/polish my own 2 cars and probably only once a year each, and just want to find a good balance between result versus time/effort to get that result...so not chasing show/mirror finish after 2 days of effort (or more), but want to get enough of a visible result to justify an arvo or the better part of a day.

Plan is:
(1) Wash
(2) Clay
(3) Wash & Dry
(4) Cut and/or Polish with DA Polisher
(5) Wax
(6) Maybe detail spray??

It is at (4) that I am a bit lost. Did some reading but still a bit lost when it comes to all the different options for pads, such as foam versus microfibre versus wool etc; and things like diamond pads or hex pads or flat pads or CCS; and whether it is the usual get-what-you-paid-for or if there are some middle-of-the-road options for pads that give good bang-for-buck or have wider coverage of use?

I have the following:
- 1 x gunmetal grey with usual light scratches/swirls/lovemarks
- 1 x black with couple of deep scratches, lots of minor scratches, and very faded black paint on horizontal surfaces
- 1 x DA polisher with 6.5 inch and 4(?) inch backing plates
- 1 x Scholl S20 Black ordered and on its way

I know hard to say without seeing them, but from my loose description will the black car need a heavier/stronger cutting pad than the grey car? And/or possibly need compound heavier than Scholl S20 black?

I don't know if I can use S20 compound on both cars and use a heavy cutting pad on the black car and a medium pad on the grey; or if I should use a medium cutting pad on both cars but use S20 on the grey and use a harsher compound on the black car; or just use S20 and medium pad on both and spend more time and do more passes on the black car?

Using Lake Country as an example, would I get Yellow Cutting Pad for the black car and get Orange Light Cutting Pad for the grey car (and also get a White Polishing Pad and a Black/Grey Finishing Pad to use on both cars after cutting)? Or get a few Orange Light Cutting Pads and use on both cars?

And I have read that Scholl S20 Black "finishes" very clean and some use it as a one-step compound that cuts and polishes - so if I am only after good but not great results in a moderate amount of time, would I only need Cutting pads but won't really get much benefit from making further passes with Polishing and/or Finishing pads? So just get more cutting pads instead of getting polishing and/or finishing pads? How many cutting pads would you normally need to do a large sedan?

I know there is no generic answer to all of the above as it will really depend on circumstances and lots of variables, but if you were to have to put together a good value starter pack of pads for a novice that covers wide range of use but likely only once a year, what would you throw together? What brands would you recommend or avoid, what colour/grade, and how many of each?

Appreciate any advice, even if very broad