what to use

so i am getting the car ready for spring here over the next few days and i have always just done the normal wash and wax.....

now i have noticed that there is some swirl marks and such on the paint and isnt too smooth so can anyone tell me what step i should do from what to use through all the steps as i never do this lol

i have lots of meguairs products at the shop so just tell me what to do

rewash the car and then use a clay bar. If properly done your paint should feel like clean glass afterwards.

Then polish, Then rewax it.

I prefer mother's clay bars but megs bars work too.

Speaking of clay bars, in the direct sunlight you can see super tiny scratches all over the paint, even after a thorough waxing.. do clay bars get rid of these?

I don't know how well it would take care of your scratches. I know i had quite a few small ones and it kinda cleared up some of them. You should def. try and claybar it though, those things are magic and leave your car looking so great. Also if you ever do debadging it helps a great deal with that.

Corvete Crazy- The mothers are very good. Can't go wrong with them and they are only a few cents more than the meguiars kit.

clutch1 wrote:

Speaking of clay bars, in the direct sunlight you can see super tiny scratches all over the paint, even after a thorough waxing.. do clay bars get rid of these?

No Clay bars do not get rid of tiny scratches,nor were they designed for that purpose,and if not done properly can even add more fine scratches.

one word - sandpaper

I would say stay away from sand paper unless you really hate your paint job.

No **** dude... made a funny

Yes i am well aware sir. No need to flip out alright.

Anyways BOT. As for your scratches i don't know about that, though i do recommend a clay bar treatment. The reason i say that is because if nothing else your car will look like glass. You wouldn't be disappointed with the outcome of it. If you end doing it make sure for pics, before and after. Should be doing mine wed.

Sorry dude, just seeing your name every 3rd post or so in most threads gets a lil annoying, reminds me of most postcount-boosting dorks on other forums.

As for materials justin, with the xB i used Pinnacle and some Meguiars products (Meguiar's pro line for wax and sealant, #26 yellow wax / #21 synthetic sealant) with a PC7424, worked hella good.

I started following http://www.ocdetails.com/html/detailing_guide.html recently, excellent results every time

* excerpt on clay-bar and swirls
Claying the car is easy. You don't need an awful lot of pressure to do it. Just glide the clay over the car in the same direction that the wind blows over the car when you drive. The water on the surface will help, but use the clay lubricant when necessary. If it grabs too much then it needs some lube. Do it slowly and one section at a time. Fold the clay often and if you drop a piece then throw it away. It is possible to do a lot of damage with clay if there are abrasive particles in it. Even the smallest rock or piece of grit can cause problems. Better to be safe than sorry. A 200 gram bar of clay will cut up in to 6 or 8 pieces really easily. You don't need much to do a complete job.

You will feel the difference right away after you clay. The surface will be smooth as glass. I love the feeling of a freshly clayed car. At this point you might want to wash it again because there will be drips from the clay. Don't worry about cleaning that up as you go. Just save it for the end and you can wash your car again. Since our next step is step one of the polishing process, we don't have to worry about that.

Swirls come in many degrees and a lot of it depends on the color of the car. It may take longer or shorter to deal with them depending on a lot of factors. I like to start with DACP (Meguiar's #83) and do that first. From my experience I have learned that not many cars come to me with just a few swirls. Obviously if its a brand new car then I wouldn't do that, but I might. ;) DACP is pretty darn effective. If the swirls are really bad then you might need to step it up a notch. The order of abrasives on the Meguiar's scale is like this:

#85 Diamond Cut = 10
#84 Compound Power Cleaner = 9
#4 Heavy-cut Cleaner = 8
#1 Medium-cut Cleaner = 7
#83 DACP = 6
#2 Fine-cut Cleaner = 5
#80 Speed Glaze = 4
#82 Swirl Free Polish = 3
#9 Swirl Remover 2.0 = 3
#3 Machine Glaze = 1
They don't list anything at the 2 rating that I know of.

Choose the product that is appropriate for your application.

Swirls need a machine to be removed. I know there are a few super men out there who can do it all by hand, but that isn't most of us. If you want to spend 30 hours polishing your hood by hand to equal 10 minutes with a Porter Cable 7424 then be my guest. Take my advice and get the PC. You'll be glad that you did. Meguiar's also has a good variety of pads to use. I stick to the red pad while polishing. Maybe I'm using a cannon to kill a mosquito, but it works and I haven't seen any adverse results from it.

Polishing is a process and it may take a couple hours to get the results you are looking for. I would do this in a garage with a good light overhead. I've got a tripod with two 500 watt halogen lamps that I use. Depending on the angle that I'm at I can see just about every imperfection in my paint. ...Both of them. ;) It may not ever be perfect without touch up paint or wetsanding, but let's say that you can get it good enough for the show you are entering. After you are done polishing you need to protectant it.
For a good protectant on your paint I would suggest using a sealant. 4 Star's Ultimate Paint Protection is my current favorite. 3 coats of that and you'll have people walking into trees because they can't keep their eyes off your car. UPP works best if you use the pre-cleaner product first. Klasse AIO is also a good product to use. Since you just spent a couple hours polishing I would say that the surface is pretty clean and doesn't need much more help. Those products are good bases for the UPP to bond to and are recommended for best results.

UPP can be applied by hand or with a Porter Cable. It spreads really easy. Apply it to the whole car and buff it off all at once. The thinner you apply it makes buffing it off easier. Try and get it to spread around as much as possible.

You should buff off all these products with microfiber towels. If you fold it twice you have plenty of clean surfaces in one towel that you can use. Use one towel for buffing off polishes and one for sealants and one for waxes. I always have another towel under my left hand just so I'm not touching the car with my bare hands. You can wash the towels like normal when they get dirty. Just don't use any dryer sheets when you dry them. That leaves some kind of coating on the fibers that cause it to streak.

UPP should have about a day to cure between coats. The best I've ever seen it at starts at 3 layers. I just add a new layer every weekend before a show. If I want to really impress the judges then I start the process a week before the show and add a new layer of UPP on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Saturday morning I put on a coat of S100 carnauba wax. You can get that at any Harley Davidson shop. You don't really need to top UPP with a wax, but I love the effect that UPP has. Dust doesn't stick to it and that is a good thing. It looks great too. Basically you can look at the process like this, (and you can quote me if you want) "Polish to correct. Seal to protect. Wax to perfect." That's an easy way of keeping the steps and their purposes straight in your mind.

Just to clear this up, by scratches I mean ones like this:


Look around where the sun hits it, normally you can't see them but where ever a light hits it it gets like this picture.

Perhaps that's what some people call the swirls, yea.


Oh, and BTW, it's nothing like this, THIS is what I consider swirls, where you can see it even without a direct hit from the lights. The ones above I just consider fine scratches.

robbie wrote:

I would say stay away from sand paper unless you really hate your paint job.

Or you know what you are doing. Properly sanded cars will NOT damage your paint on your car. I sand everytime I do any painting. I spray the clear. Let it dry over night. Then I sand with various grits. then I jump up to polishing with different gritted compounds. Your statement couldn't be more wrong. But when done incorectly it couldn't be more right.

Ok man he didn't say that kinds of sanding and well he had the smiley face i figured based on that he meant hardcore stuff. Then he said it was joke solidifying that beleif.

I know about that when i did my gf's tails on her jetta with niteshade i wetsanded and it didn't hurt them. Maybe not the same concept but i know then when done it can be helpful.

****

clutch1 wrote:

Just to clear this up, by scratches I mean ones like this:

My car's got those too. Would be nice to get rid of eh?