TripperFx3
03-18-2008, 07:30 PM
I mentioned I would do this, so I thought I better get started before I back out on this lol. This will be a continuously updated thread as I add steps and such through the summer when I have the time to take pics as I detail my/a customers car.
Washing:
I'm sure everyone here has washed a car. What most don't know is that using the improper washing and drying techniques and equipment can and will cause the majority of the swirls in the cars clear coat.
First off avoid most OTC car washes, drying towels, chamois, wash mits, etc. The reason being most of the car washes are either too harsh and will strip any wax or protection already on the car or aren't hard enough and won't leave enough lubricity, so when you wash the car your just basically digging the dirt and containments into the car causing more swirls/scratches.
There are a few exceptions. The main one being Meguiars Gold Class Car wash. You can pick this up for 8 dollars a gallon at Advanced (best price i've found) and its what I mainly use in the spring/summer/early fall times. It suds quite a bit and offers a good deal of protection. If you want to find something better, but will cost more check the links at the end of the thread.
Next is the wash mit/sponge. I personally don't like microfiber wash mits as I haven't had good experiences with them (cause swirling). I found a sheepskin mit at AutoZone years back thats been great, but unfortunately is on its last leg and I'll need to be picking another one up soon from Autogeek.net. Also grout sponges are great for washing cars and can be picked up for around a dollar or so at Lowes. The downside to this is they don't last long. Long story short try to find a good sheepskin mit from autogeek.net or a try a grout sponge from Lowes.
For the actual washing process. Make sure the bucket has a good bit of suds. Thats whats going to actually wash the dirt off the car. If your using Gold Class put about 5 cap fulls in about 2 gallons of water. Next make sure you have another bucket with clean water to wash the mit/sponge off after every panel. Most people like to do a circular motion when washing the car, but this can lead to swirls as it leads to uneven pressure across different panels. What you need to do is go back and forth (side to side) across each panel. This will give even pressure across all panels and reducing any circular swirling marks. Don't forget after every panel to dip the mit in the clean water to rinse it off.
Drying:
This may seems simple, but everyone seems to use old bath towels, or old beach towels. These can lead to swirls as their fibers are very coarse and will swirl the paint. The best thing to use is a microfiber drying towel. A good one. I buy mine from Autogeek.net. They cost about 15-25 bucks depending on size, but I only need 1 medium sized one for an Evo and that will completely dry the car. Target has some good POLISHING microfiber clothes, but I have yet to try their drying MF cloth. The ones I use are Cobra from Autogeek.net BTW. A good rule of thumb though is too look where the MF is made. If its made in Korea its probably good quality, but if its China or anywhere else stay away from it.
Again when drying use the same back and forth method used in washing for the same reason. Obviously don't dip your towel in clean water as the car should be clean from the washing.
Claying (clay bar):
This is used to remove containments and rail dust trapped in the paint. You may not see it, but I'm sure you've felt it when running your hand across the car after its been washed. If you've never done this to your car you should as just doing this will enhance depth and gloss immediately by removing said containments that normally distort light that hits the paint. This should be done about once a year.
If you've never done this before I recommend picking up a Meguiars kit from AutoZone to start out with as there are various levels of grades of clay (mild to harsh) and the megs is a good mild clay. It will take longer, but it'll be harder to damage the paint. It comes with a bottle of Megs Quick Detailer and a 100 or 200g clay bar. This should be good for one car.
What you can do before you dry the car is to take some Saranwrap and put it over your hand and lightly pull your hand across the paint. Doint this will let you feel all the containments in the paint better and see what kind of work you have ahead of you. If its truly smooth (which with all the pollution in ATL i highly doubt it) than you can skip this step and move on to polishing. If not keep reading.
Make sure you wash your hands before handling the clay as it will pick crap off of your fingers. ALSO NEVER DROP THE BAR!!! IF YOU DO ITS USELESS AND YOU NEED TO GET A NEW ONE!!! Than spray the quick detailer (QD) on a small area and make sure its nice and lubed up. Start to pull the clay lightly over the paint, but do not let the bar grab. If it starts to grab you don't have enough QD. As you drag the bar over the paint (side to side, back and forth motion) it should sound like sand paper. The containments are removed when you stop hearing that sound and than you can move on to a new section.
I personally don't use Megs anymore, as like i said its a rather mild clay and it takes a while, but i've been claying for a good while. I personally like Adams polishes clay and QD as its a good middle of the road clay and you get ALOT of it for your money.
Polishing:
This is where you start to get the swirls out and there are various levels of abrasives in polishes (compounding is actually tougher, but used mainly to remove oxidation). I personally love Menzerna polishes. They are tough and leave a great shine if allowed to break down correctly. I'll actually get more into this when I can show pics of everything with machine polishing.
For hand polishing try Poorboys polishes. They are fairly inexpensive and can do a good bit of swirl removal by hand. Use a microfiber applicator (good ones at Target) and apply and dime sized amount to start with. You will get extremely tired doing this by hand, so I won't go too much into it until I can post steps with machine polishing, but basically just start rubbing in a back and forth manner until the polish goes from hazy to clear. Repeat for every panel and remove with a microfiber cloth (Good ones at Target).
Glazing:
I really only recommend this for darker cars as lighter cars like silver and white normally don't show too much of a difference with a glaze, but I'll be purchasing a new glaze called Danase wet glaze which has great results with silver and white. With glaze by hand just go over the entire car with a MF applicator. You don't have to rub it in as you just want a good even coat of glaze. Let it set for about 10 mins (sometimes more or less) and than remove with a MF cloth.
Wax/Sealant:
There are NUMEROUS wax/sealants out there. Waxes are mainly made out of natural ingridents (Carunuba being the best) while Sealants are synthetics basically. Sealants also normally last longer than a Carnuba based wax too. I personally like to use Poorboys EX-P sealant for cars that have a lot of flake as it really makes it pop. Also, for my car for example (silver Evo) I like to top it with Collinte #845 wax. While it is a wax it offers AMAZING protection (over 6 months if maintained properly) and doesn't dull flake like most waxs. Hence why I use the Collinite over the EX-P. Also for darker colors Collinite 845 will make the car look really wet (ask Ryan). There are better waxes such as Pinnacle Souveran which costs 90 dollars a tub and than theres Swissvax and Zymol that offer waxes that costs up to 10,000 dollars!!! A good OTC wax which will work great with almost all colors is Megs. NXT 2.0. Not the original, but 2.0.
Thats it for now... Like I said I'll update with more when I can add pics. If anyone here is a fairly experienced detailer and wants some tips on some products or anyone in general has any questions feel free to post here or PM me.
Websites I like:
www.autogeek.net (check out their forums too. I learned a good bit. Place where i buy most of my stuff from)
www.autopia.org (Forum with a small store, but very informative)
www.exceldetail.com (store)
Washing:
I'm sure everyone here has washed a car. What most don't know is that using the improper washing and drying techniques and equipment can and will cause the majority of the swirls in the cars clear coat.
First off avoid most OTC car washes, drying towels, chamois, wash mits, etc. The reason being most of the car washes are either too harsh and will strip any wax or protection already on the car or aren't hard enough and won't leave enough lubricity, so when you wash the car your just basically digging the dirt and containments into the car causing more swirls/scratches.
There are a few exceptions. The main one being Meguiars Gold Class Car wash. You can pick this up for 8 dollars a gallon at Advanced (best price i've found) and its what I mainly use in the spring/summer/early fall times. It suds quite a bit and offers a good deal of protection. If you want to find something better, but will cost more check the links at the end of the thread.
Next is the wash mit/sponge. I personally don't like microfiber wash mits as I haven't had good experiences with them (cause swirling). I found a sheepskin mit at AutoZone years back thats been great, but unfortunately is on its last leg and I'll need to be picking another one up soon from Autogeek.net. Also grout sponges are great for washing cars and can be picked up for around a dollar or so at Lowes. The downside to this is they don't last long. Long story short try to find a good sheepskin mit from autogeek.net or a try a grout sponge from Lowes.
For the actual washing process. Make sure the bucket has a good bit of suds. Thats whats going to actually wash the dirt off the car. If your using Gold Class put about 5 cap fulls in about 2 gallons of water. Next make sure you have another bucket with clean water to wash the mit/sponge off after every panel. Most people like to do a circular motion when washing the car, but this can lead to swirls as it leads to uneven pressure across different panels. What you need to do is go back and forth (side to side) across each panel. This will give even pressure across all panels and reducing any circular swirling marks. Don't forget after every panel to dip the mit in the clean water to rinse it off.
Drying:
This may seems simple, but everyone seems to use old bath towels, or old beach towels. These can lead to swirls as their fibers are very coarse and will swirl the paint. The best thing to use is a microfiber drying towel. A good one. I buy mine from Autogeek.net. They cost about 15-25 bucks depending on size, but I only need 1 medium sized one for an Evo and that will completely dry the car. Target has some good POLISHING microfiber clothes, but I have yet to try their drying MF cloth. The ones I use are Cobra from Autogeek.net BTW. A good rule of thumb though is too look where the MF is made. If its made in Korea its probably good quality, but if its China or anywhere else stay away from it.
Again when drying use the same back and forth method used in washing for the same reason. Obviously don't dip your towel in clean water as the car should be clean from the washing.
Claying (clay bar):
This is used to remove containments and rail dust trapped in the paint. You may not see it, but I'm sure you've felt it when running your hand across the car after its been washed. If you've never done this to your car you should as just doing this will enhance depth and gloss immediately by removing said containments that normally distort light that hits the paint. This should be done about once a year.
If you've never done this before I recommend picking up a Meguiars kit from AutoZone to start out with as there are various levels of grades of clay (mild to harsh) and the megs is a good mild clay. It will take longer, but it'll be harder to damage the paint. It comes with a bottle of Megs Quick Detailer and a 100 or 200g clay bar. This should be good for one car.
What you can do before you dry the car is to take some Saranwrap and put it over your hand and lightly pull your hand across the paint. Doint this will let you feel all the containments in the paint better and see what kind of work you have ahead of you. If its truly smooth (which with all the pollution in ATL i highly doubt it) than you can skip this step and move on to polishing. If not keep reading.
Make sure you wash your hands before handling the clay as it will pick crap off of your fingers. ALSO NEVER DROP THE BAR!!! IF YOU DO ITS USELESS AND YOU NEED TO GET A NEW ONE!!! Than spray the quick detailer (QD) on a small area and make sure its nice and lubed up. Start to pull the clay lightly over the paint, but do not let the bar grab. If it starts to grab you don't have enough QD. As you drag the bar over the paint (side to side, back and forth motion) it should sound like sand paper. The containments are removed when you stop hearing that sound and than you can move on to a new section.
I personally don't use Megs anymore, as like i said its a rather mild clay and it takes a while, but i've been claying for a good while. I personally like Adams polishes clay and QD as its a good middle of the road clay and you get ALOT of it for your money.
Polishing:
This is where you start to get the swirls out and there are various levels of abrasives in polishes (compounding is actually tougher, but used mainly to remove oxidation). I personally love Menzerna polishes. They are tough and leave a great shine if allowed to break down correctly. I'll actually get more into this when I can show pics of everything with machine polishing.
For hand polishing try Poorboys polishes. They are fairly inexpensive and can do a good bit of swirl removal by hand. Use a microfiber applicator (good ones at Target) and apply and dime sized amount to start with. You will get extremely tired doing this by hand, so I won't go too much into it until I can post steps with machine polishing, but basically just start rubbing in a back and forth manner until the polish goes from hazy to clear. Repeat for every panel and remove with a microfiber cloth (Good ones at Target).
Glazing:
I really only recommend this for darker cars as lighter cars like silver and white normally don't show too much of a difference with a glaze, but I'll be purchasing a new glaze called Danase wet glaze which has great results with silver and white. With glaze by hand just go over the entire car with a MF applicator. You don't have to rub it in as you just want a good even coat of glaze. Let it set for about 10 mins (sometimes more or less) and than remove with a MF cloth.
Wax/Sealant:
There are NUMEROUS wax/sealants out there. Waxes are mainly made out of natural ingridents (Carunuba being the best) while Sealants are synthetics basically. Sealants also normally last longer than a Carnuba based wax too. I personally like to use Poorboys EX-P sealant for cars that have a lot of flake as it really makes it pop. Also, for my car for example (silver Evo) I like to top it with Collinte #845 wax. While it is a wax it offers AMAZING protection (over 6 months if maintained properly) and doesn't dull flake like most waxs. Hence why I use the Collinite over the EX-P. Also for darker colors Collinite 845 will make the car look really wet (ask Ryan). There are better waxes such as Pinnacle Souveran which costs 90 dollars a tub and than theres Swissvax and Zymol that offer waxes that costs up to 10,000 dollars!!! A good OTC wax which will work great with almost all colors is Megs. NXT 2.0. Not the original, but 2.0.
Thats it for now... Like I said I'll update with more when I can add pics. If anyone here is a fairly experienced detailer and wants some tips on some products or anyone in general has any questions feel free to post here or PM me.
Websites I like:
www.autogeek.net (check out their forums too. I learned a good bit. Place where i buy most of my stuff from)
www.autopia.org (Forum with a small store, but very informative)
www.exceldetail.com (store)