Hey guys. Its that time again. Detailing time for the spring. I wanted to know your different opinions on detailing. I have never used a claybar on my car. Its an 06, so i wasn't sure if it was necessary. I normally use a paint cleaner and wax by hand. I have visited autopia and read their detailing tips, but i wanted to know if anyone has ever used a decent high speed buffer. The most popular ones on nasioc seem to be Ultimate Detailing machine 1000 http://www.autopia-carcare.com/udm-1000-na.html Flex XC3401 http://autogeek.net/ Porter 7424 http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-porter-cable-7424-car-polisher.html Anyone actually use any of these or recommend another type. My primary focus is to not have any of those nasty swirl marks from those cheap detail places, but something more efficient than my elbow. Any personal tips using any of these would be great too! Or if someone would like to demonstrate.
porter is the way to go. do not get a rotary high speed buffer until you know what you're doing. you can easily ruin your paint with it. the way to get rid of swirl marks is to polish, with appropriate compound and wheels. Its possible by hand, but you can't really generate the pressure and heat to break down the polishing compound. the usual order of detailing goes: 1.wash (not car wash, but dish detergent to strip all the old wax off) 2. claybar 3. wash (car wash is fine) 4. dry 4. polish 5. wax you want all the contaminants out of the paint before you polish, so do a good job with the claybar. and yes I would recommend it even if it's an 06. I would do this routine once a year, and wash with a good quality car wash and polish throughout the year to maintain
I would only do it all by hand if I really cared about it...you can ruin something fast with buffers and it will make you lazy.
whoops, you're right. at that point there is nothing to wash It's near impossible to screw something up with a random orbit polisher
I 2nd everything that nicad said. I would also recommend that you use a very high quality polish and wax. I've been using some 3m stuff that I got from an auto body supply place and have had really nice results.
I got my order in from autogeek. the detailing supply is growing http://picasaweb.google.com/nicad0/Random/photo#5187363310531071490
Meguiar's makes a scratch remover that is safe for the whole car. I used it on mine after the service wash guy at SOG dried my car with sandpaper (or something) following an oil change. Worked rather well. It's called Scratch X and it's like 8 bucks a tube.
I have tried all the scratch removers and nothing is working. This is from a door dent I had pulled and whatever hit me did a number. I think the only thing that will fix it is a orbital with someone who knows what they are doing. Thx for feedback
you need a random orbit to generate the heat/pressure to break down the polish and remove scratches. you'll never get them out trying to polish by hand
Scratch X is a 'diminish' i believe i was told, meaning it gets weaker as you use it. By design this is a very safe beginner polish with some cleaners in it too. I also thought that 'random orbits' are safe because they don't generate the heat/rpms, and the random orbit path helps avoid marring. (like those cheap wal-mart buffers, and the nicer Porter cables they rave about on autopia) 'Rotaries' have no other axis of movement and are designed for higher velocities and generate the heat, I thought...
you sound like you know what your talking about but everything I have read about detailing said a very big NO to washing with any kind of dish detergent. I’m not an expert but I heard it may not be good for the paint depending on the detergent.
You only want to wash with dish detergent about once a year to completely strip off any wax on the car. Any extended use of it will dull clear coats. the above method is purely a once/twice a year type thing. after you do that routine (it will take all day, trust me) you only need to wash with a HIGH quality car shampoo once a week or so and rewax according to what type of wax you used. do not use dish soap on a regular basis
From a professional detailer...... My favorite line of polishes is by Optimum Polymer Technologies (OPT). For you, one bottle should last a long time. I think they only sell in quarts. OPT polish is my go to. I can use it with a variety of pads for a variety of needs. So for a home detailer I don't think you would need the whole line of polishes. And for suby paint you should never need Hyper. I do love the poly-seal for an all-in-one job. Very nice product and very easy to use. Don't really need to recommend any other polishes to you, but can if you want other options. One other though is Clearkote vanilla moose. This stuff can be used with the machine for minor swirls and stuff but too it can be used on rubber, plastic, glass etc...Really nice stuff. For waxing/sealing again I like OPT. The poly-seal I mentioned is nice. I LOVE the opti-seal (no machine use needed). Easiest product ever. And it looks amazing for a synthetic. Will last you for a very very long time for just your cars. But for white there are others I like. p21s carnauba wax is very nice and you can buy it under the s100 label at your local Harley Davidson store for less money too. Again there are others I like but since you are not wanting to break the bank I want go any further. These are great choices. If you want other opinions feel free to ask. He knows his stuff.
I use a dewalt high speed at work, and it works very well. As far as, can a high speed ruin a paint job? "YES" if you bare down to hard or hit a sharp corner on the bod panels, you will burn through the clear coat very quickly. Orbitals are nice for polishing and wax, But imo nothing shines like wax and polish by hand.
Good wash and claybar is must first. If you are using hand then the Klasse twins can be applied by hand. If using machine then menzerna and 3m are very good products. For the LSP, a hard wax like Collinite 476s is perfect balance of protection, longevity and shine but application can be tricky.
either claybar or dishsoap. I wouldn't do both. I would suggest claybar if you haven't recently(ever) waxed or polished. as far as polishing tools, a Porter Cable model with orbiting action i'm told will give you %90 of the goodies you can get from a high speed rotary, with almost none of the risks to damaging your paint. (professionals need that last %10, but understand the risks in using a rotary)
I use a random orbital ($20 from AutoZone 3 yrs ago!) but I'll upgrade to a orbital porter cable this year. This one does a great job, but it's tougher on the hands and it sounds like its about to die. Still, you can't beat a $20 random orbital that lasted for 3 yrs doing multiple cars! I agree the Wash, Clay Bar, Polish, then Wax method. With the Wash being car soap or Dawn dish detergent (to strip old wax off). I generally do this cycle twice a year but I only use dawn once. I also put an extra coat of wax on if it's a 'dawn' cycle. Generally I'm using NXT Tech Wax, but I'm going to go to thier NXT 2.0 or something else (more professional) in the future. Good thread.