Spec.B to get first full detail

I've had my car almost 4 months. I clayed the whole car once, and the front bumper and rear deck twice. I have applied NXT with a pc 3 times.

It's been washed every weekend since I got it, and never seen any swirls except for on the trunk and passenger side rear quarter panel that the dealer put there when doing the new car detail (i think they dropped the wash mitt and kept going). I got sprayed with some tree sap mist 2 weeks ago and it is all over the car. After washing and drying the car I began seeing light swirls over the entire car. Most people cannot see them even if I am pointing it out, but I can see them in the right lighting conditions if I am looking for them.

The car's paint is nearly perfect, the swirling is very light so I don't need any heavy polish. My real questions are:

1) Should I use a green edge pad (light cut) with ssr1 or the blue pad (polishing pad) with ssr1?

2) What pad do I use for applying paint cleaner? I've only done this by hand previously on my other car.

3) Polish then clean? Or clean then polish? I know you generally clean before polishing, but the wg is a pre-wax polish enhancer so I would imagine it is applied post polishing and pre waxing.

4) Is washing needed after claying when polishing or cleaning is the next step? I normally clay in my wash spot so I can spray water on the car for extra lube while claying. Then hose the panel I just clayed off, since the car is still wet a quick wash really wouldn't be that bad I guess, but there shouldn't be any remaining lube on the car and if there was cleaning or polishing should remove it.

Proposed steps:

Saturday:

1) Wash with Megs GC

2) Clay with Megs claybar and megs qd

3) Polish with PB SSR1 (green edge pad)

Sunday:

4) Wash with WG auto bathe

5) Clean with WG pre-wax polish enhancer (blue edge pad)

5) Seal with WG sealant (white edge pad)

If you clay, I don't think you need to use a cleaner unless your wax/sealant requires it to bond better to the paint.

I think you want a white pad for polishing, or a blue for more intense polishing, the green/orange is a heavier cutting pad afaik and the yellow one being the most abrasive

After claying I usually do not wash again and just do a rinse and dry since most clay bar lubes are more or less "soapy water"

http://www.detailersdomain.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=73

Procedure:

1. Rinsed down the wheels (they were cool enough to touch)

2. Sprayed down the wheels with some P21S Wheel Cleaner

3. Brush and cleaned the wheels with a Boar's Hair Brush

4. Rinsed down the wheels

5. Filled the bucket with water for the rinse

6. Filled up the Gilmour Foam gun and proceed to pre soak the car.

7. Used the Shmitt to wash the car, from top to hood to sides to rear, cleaning the Shmitt after each panel was soaped up by dunking it in the bucket with the grit guard at the bottom, rinse and clean the pad and continue on to the next panel repeat till you finish washing each panel.

8.After you wash the car rinse car off throughly

9. Since there was no sun out and it was cool, I sprayed Adam's Detail Spray on the panels and proceeded to clay the car (Adam's Clay Bar) after each panel and each window was clayed I used the WW Drying Towel to wipe the excess detail spray off.

10. Car is clayed and dried.

11. Used the Metabo with the Menzerna 85rd to polish out all the minor imperfections.

12. After each section was corrected I buffed off the excess polish with a MF Buffing Towel.

13. Proceeded to polished out the headlights and tail lights with the 85rd.

14. With a MF Towel I buffed off the Menzerna 85rd from the lights.

15. Applied the Swissol Pre Cleaner (needed for the Swissol wax to bond to the car)

16. Removed Pre Cleaner

17. Applied and removed Swissol (WOW amazing a super wet/deep/shine....)

18. Cleaned up the windows with Adam's Glass Cleaner (interior/exterior)

19. Applied Adam's BSG on the windows to give it that nice mirrored look.

20. Dressed the tires with Adam's VRT (did one pass on the applicator and did a pass using the dry side as the customer prefers a matte finish)

21. Used 1Z Detail Spray to do a final wipe down on the wheels.

22. Used the 1Z Detail Spray for a final wipe down on the car.

Interior:

1. Wiped down the door jambs with 1Z detail spray

2. Vacuumed the mats, carpet, etc.

3. Wiped down the interior and used 1Z Leather Cleaner/Conditioner (applied with a MF Applicator pad 1 pass to apply the next pass on the dry side to wipe to a matte finish, no shine for this customer)

4. Wiped down the dash with 1Z Cockpit

5. Cleaned the glass

Engine:

Engine cleaning was done after the wheels, as the engine was still warm

1. Rinsed down the engine

2. Sprayed some P21S Autowash on the engine

3. Brushed the dirt and grime off the engine with a boar's hair brush

4. Sprayed down engine to rinse the P21S off

5. Closed the rear hatch and let it dry

6. Wiped down the jambs and the metal part with 1Z einszett detail spray.

I tested my process on a different surface last night, and found that the green pad is pretty nasty on fair paint even with ssr1. i had to polish again with the blue pad and ssr1 to get the hazing out which still did not come out completely. ssr2 and green pad worked great on my wifes black car when followed up by ssr1 and blue pad. the rest of the process seemed to work just fine. Although I did not see an improvement over NXT using the Wolfgang (not layered). It's glossy and shiny, but the reflections lack depth and there is no real 'wow' factor to it. Maybe I will try a second coat tonight.

Thanks for you reply, I'm glad you just copied and pasted that from your site rather than typing the whole thing up.

I have spent the last 4 months reading every detailing site and article a google search turns up, discussing products and techniques on the forums here and testing different products on my two cars, and any painted surface I can get my hands on. I actually just finished watching a Meguiars professional detailing training video.

I love my pc, it's so much easier and faster to seal a car than doing it by hand and it actualy encourages me to properly maintain my car. I have had very good results polishing my wifes black car and my friends car. Throughout all of this I still cannot answer these questions that only time, experience and professional training can tell:

How much product to apply?

When to apply more?

What PC speed settings?

What is slow to moderate speed?

How much pressure to apply?

How to tell when the polish has broken down completely?

How to tell if you have polished too long?

I've always been a nut about keeping my cars clean, but this is my first dark car, and my favorite car that I have owned. And now I am completely obsessed with car care, the $1000 worth of product sitting in the corner that I have collected over the last few months can attest to that.

The results I got from polishing look good, pass the 5ft test with ease, and look great in pictures, but upon close inspection there is still much to be desired, if I don't learn proper technique or when to stop I will just keep polishing until there is no paint left on the cars. To anyone buy myself, my car is perfect, the swirling is so light that you have to really focus in on it with perfect lighting and the right angle to tell its there.

I am going to do my car and clearcoat a favor and skip the polishing altogether. Wash, Clay, Cleaner, Seal, Seal, Done. I'm hoping that two coats of wolfgang gives me the protection, shine and depth I am after and that topping the paint off with Prima Hydro after each weekly wash will fill the minor swirling and not dull the reflections of the wolgfang sealant and the depth of a untouched clear coat (however thin subaru coats it anyhow).

Thanks ocd, iyalla, brady and everyone else on here for your words of wisdom and product recommendations.

In order:

- How much product to apply will be dictated on the back of the specific product most often, my Klasse kit came with instructions actually and was very specific.

- Apply More if you want more shine with the understanding that the extra shine will not last as long even though the sealant will last 6 months to a year. If you want deep shine year round you'll need some quick detailer after a wash in between detailing sessions.

- Rotary/PC speed settings vary per product, follow their directions :x

- Most products reccommend little to no pressure, usually just the weight of the PC should be enough.

- Polishes should turn to dust afaik, depends on application.

- You will get a feel for that pretty quickly, basically it's when the finish no longer improves with more passes. If you use a very light cutting polish then it should leave a finish with no swirls, if you used a more abrasive polish then there may be some (consistant) marks that will come out when you use the next lighter polish.

The steps really heavily depend on your choice of products which OCDetails could probably chime in on what works best on dark cars as I've have little experience with those.

P.S. the guide is not mine, it's from a poster on another forum I frequent. You sound like you have the right ideas and just need practice and I can understand your reluctance to practice on your new SpecB.

Perhaps offer to detail a family members less expensive car to start?

In order -

A nickel size amount to a foam applicator or a circle of product 1" from the outer edge of the pad to cover a 2x2 section of paint.

Apply product evenly at speed 3 then polish at 4.5 - 5.

Polishes with diminishing abrasives work better when moderate pressure is initially applied, lightening up on each pass. Final passes should only be the weight of the pc.

Polish should turn to dust and only a light haze should remain on the paint. But no matter how long I polish the spot still looks oily and wet. I am either using too much product or covering too small of an area. But when I am done polishing the paint is telling me I haven't used the polish to its full effectiveness.

This is the part I have the most trouble with and only time and experience will give me the answers. Which pads and polishes to use for each severity and type of defect. Using ssr2 with green edge pad gave me tremendous results, then backing down to ssr1 and blue pad minor defects still remained which I hoped backing down to nxt and white pad would resolve. I don't know if this is because I didn't work the polish correctly, I need to reapply it again for a few more passes, or what.

I am fairly comfortable with the steps and products it is just the correct procedure for polishing that I am having difficulty with. When I work on my wifes car (a black 04 Hyundai Accent) I have no worries. The paint was unmaintained for 4 years, always ran through a auto wash (maybe every other month), never waxed. Basically your typical car owned by a typical woman (no offensive to woman enthusiasts, who do maintain their cars properly). I cannot really hurt her car any worse than it was, and the paint is not going to make or break a deal when selling a used Hyundai, its just not what buyers in that market are concerned with. I couldn't ask for a better test car. My friend has a white 04 evo while he does hand wash and wax it, the thing was just marred so badly from improper washing tools and never cleaned or polished, that you can't really do more harm and white doesn't show my inexperience like dark colors do.

My car is different, it is brand new, the paint is in good shape, and it's a dark color. I will definitely be keeping it for 5+ years (or atleast getting something else and passing this down to the wife). It's not something I want to use as a learning vehicle. Since the scratches are hardly noticeable I think my best option right now is to just wash, clay, clean, seal, seal and maintain. But I may still lightly polish the trunk and spoiler where the dealer did put some heavier marring prior to delivery. I think for that I will try ScratchX by hand first though and step up to pb ssr1 and blue pad if that proves to be ineffective.

I'm in the same boat as you stewart...

I've bought my PC and tons of products of various kinds and I still even though other's love my work I personally am never satisfied totally. I feel and notice everything that I didn't get and it drives me nuts. Sure the car's look 100 times better but upon close inspection you can see scratches and some swirling still.

I've had tons of people ask me to work on there cars and I turn them all down usually because until I get comfortable with my PC and products I don't want to risk pissing someone off or something.

I'm in the same boat as you stewart...

 

I've bought my PC and tons of products of various kinds and I still even though other's love my work I personally am never satisfied totally. I feel and notice everything that I didn't get and it drives me nuts. Sure the car's look 100 times better but upon close inspection you can see scratches and some swirling still.

 

 

I've had tons of people ask me to work on there cars and I turn them all down usually because until I get comfortable with my PC and products I don't want to risk pissing someone off or something.

As you get better with your PC, you can start to judge what you'll be able to get out. MOST scratches can come out with Polishing compounds and a heavy cutting pad.

Check out the How to use a PC thread. I posted Video's in the last page that show how tp properly use it.

And what i did, is I started with my car, then my moms. I got soemwhat comfortable, so I tried new things with my friends cars, to see what got out the most paint damage. After 3-4 more cars, I am detailing cars for customers [i am starting a small detailing business]

The nice thing with the PC is, you can't really burn paint, so its hard to screw up people's cars.