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2tall, I'd be interested to know what products you use to detail your car.
Depends on the car.
For my car with hard clearcoat, i use meguiars 105 for heavy work, 205 for light and finishing work to work out imperfections.
I then use Zaino Z5 as the polish, with maybe a coat of Zaino Z2 thrown in.
I use whatever claybar kit I can get easily.
For my car with a softer clearcoat, I just use megs 205 for polishing, then I wax it with Collinite 845. Collinte has great protective properties, but only lasts about a month in the summer. I also use the stuff on vintage military collectibles so they don't rust... and my bicycles.
Interior and plastic/rubber stuff gets Aerospace 303.
Seals get gummi stick.
folex for carpet.... and meguiars bulk orange cleaner diluted for interior/wheel wells.
Flitz for shiny metal stuff.
I also use Adams for instant detailer.
Optimum No Rinse is my car wash of choice...
And I'm using Adams VRT dressing. I'm not thrilled with it, but I have a gallon to go through.
Good to know. How do I know if my car has a hard or soft clearcoat? This is the first time I've heard those terms.
What kind of car is it? I believe most german cars have a hard clearcoat. Corvettes do. I can't remember the name of the clearcoat but.. It scratches/swirls VERY easy, but 'ts a mf'n bear to correct. You will die of old age before you correct anything on a 1997+ corvette by hand.
Toyotas and subarus seem soft. Some lexus don't have clear coats.
I never go to an automatic carwash because of high probability of getting swirl marks. I hand wash it myself or it stays dirty while it's waiting for me to get around to washing it. It's garage kept, so it doesn't get as dirty as many cars that are left outside.
Yep. I experienced that years ago when I bought a new car. I didn't have scratches before and did have scratches after and they told me it wasn't from the car wash. Right. And then we had a white car and it came out with dirt still visible on it. The car wash told us it was clean, it's just that since it was a white car it looked dirty. Really?! Since then I just wash my car myself. It's a lot more convenient to go to the car wash, but I don't trust them.
I took my new baby (3 months) to a car wash because it was covered in salt. NOrmally I would wash it at home, but it's been too cold for too long.
When I got home I saw scratches on the hood, the bumper, the door pillar near the windshield and some on the door. The scratches are diagonal from the driver headlight up toward the center. Most are pretty short. The door pillar ones seem to be less of an angle.
Car wash says they are soft cloth and nothing would scratch and their cloths go side to side and back to front. He says it looks like a broom did it clearing off snow. I know I didn't use a broom, but can't swear they hubby (who is very anal about keeping car nice) did or didn't. He is away.
As a courtesy they will attempt to buff them for me this week, some may be too deep.
This is a car with 1800 miles. I don't want to paint it even if someone else paid for it because then I'd be faced with fading etc down the road and I plan to keep it for 6 years. It is a sort of shiny flat black, no sparkles or metallic to it. It's a Nissan
I considered using the black wax and then trying to maybe work a deal to trade it with the dealer for a different color!
DO you think these are car wash scratches? I don't know if it would be comp or collision with car insurance. If they don't believe it's car wash damage then I could be on the hook for an "at fault" claim....I would hope they would go after the car wash, but who knows how it would work out.
Advice and thought appreciated. Any suggestions for other places to ask for advices?
2 pics of the hood. The long scratches are near the center but angle toward the batch that is at the front edge of the hood. The bumper is hard to tell but they are a series of short vertical scratches where the bumper "bends" from the flat top to the front part. The pillar photo should be rotated so the windshield is on the left side. The scratches go back from the windshield towards the door window.
Those scratches look like they could be corrected. It would need a very aggressive pad/product combo and/or a rotary buffer though.
Washing the car is one of the most damaging things you can do to your clear coat. Just about anything will put hazing or light scratches in the clearcoat.
I use a lake county blue sponge and do 1 panel at a time (hood as 2 panels) and i only move the sponge in straight lines, NEVER circles. After each go, i use a second bucket with a grit guard to clean the sponge before putting more soap on.
Once I'm done washing, I rinse it, then blow dry the car. Any remaining water is removed by pat-drying the paint. NEVER wiping the paint dry.
All that, and you still get microscratches. Once a year I use a light cutting compound with a random orbital to remove micromarring, then I use a few layers of a polymer polish with filling agents to take care of the tiny bits left behind. Keep in mind you don't remove scratches from a car. You remove the clearcoat around the scratch until its as low as the scratch.
If you have a pressure washer...even a cheap electrical one...a foam cannon is a good investment. It makes washing faster and safer for the paint.
Quote:
Pro detailers will use non-filling swirl compound. Hack detailers use lots of fillers. That way you can't see the damage from their buffers until the wax wears off your car. And when it does... Ugh. The car should be swirl free with absolutely bare paint.
Excellent detailers will have a little device that can measure remaining clearcoat, and they will do so before using any abrasives.
Any one who can induce buffer damage with a filler laden product (usually limited to glazes and swirl removers) is shockingly inept and does not deserve to call themselves a detailer.
If you have a pressure washer...even a cheap electrical one...a foam cannon is a good investment. It makes washing faster and safer for the paint.
Any one who can induce buffer damage with a filler laden product (usually limited to glazes and swirl removers) is shockingly inept and does not deserve to call themselves a detailer.
I definitely need to get one of those foam guns, and a good foaming cleanser. I've just been using a cheap mixer sprayer to get soap on the car so far.
Another handy tool is a xenon detailing light. Though I'm sort of glad mine broke...
I definitely need to get one of those foam guns, and a good foaming cleanser. I've just been using a cheap mixer sprayer to get soap on the car so far.
Another handy tool is a xenon detailing light. Though I'm sort of glad mine broke...
Good news is that they seem to have gone down in price. I found this one for $59.99 from Sears. Previously, I couldn't find a new one under $80.
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