The Detailing Superthread

[B0000rt]

So lets start a thread for noobs like I who want to get into detailing.

I'm always confused as to the naming of these things.

In detailing a car there 5 major steps right?

1) Wash
2) Clay
3) Cleaning Compound
4) Polishing
5) Waxing

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Edit:
Apparently step 3 isn't needed as when you're machine polishing it'll remove any old stuff anyways. Dawn and claybar do NOT remove old wax.

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Alright, now onto the biggie that really makes the difference, Polishing. What the hell is the difference from a polish and a glaze and a sealer? From my limited knowledge a polish and glaze are similar, while a sealer is more of a wax type product (final sealer that keeps everything in correct me if I'm wrong please!)

As for specific products coupe recommends Meguiars #83, #80, #82 in that order. I've been told on other forums, namely lurking on Autopia that #83 is very hard to work with and noobs like me should avoid it. Any truth to this?

With that being said for a noob not knowing why one would polish 3 times, it's to go from a higher abrasive to a lower one, similar to you sanding something down, you start at a rough grit sand paper and slowly go finer until your finish product looks nice and smooth. I assume what's left over after using #83 isn't that nice, right? Is it possible just to skip #83 and #80 and maybe just go straight to #82 if your paint isn't that bad? Probably, someone chime in!

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Waxes and sealers, again is this terminology very similar? If I seal do I need to wax? Waxing is straight forward, wax on (in circular motions if you plan to do by hand) and wax off (in straight lines)

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Equipment, looks like the best tool for noobs isn't your $20 random orbital polishers, these have no power whatsoever! Porter Cable 7424 is the answer. I believe the cheapest I've found so far is Amazon.com for $124 or so, anyone find it for cheaper?

Pads, autogeek.net has a 4 pad 6.5" kit for $80 while autopia has a Sonus kit for $52 but only includes 3 - 7" pads Is the extra 1 pad useful or not?

[ryanbgb22]

well you seem to have a little bit of a background, but this site along with autopia is very informative

http://www.paintcare-n-detailing.com/

but anyway im not going to answer your questions because im sure someone else can come on here and answer them alot mroe throughly than i could.

[coupe]

Lets see if i can answer some of these coherently lol
The biggest problem is terminology, there is no set rule on what is called what.

Stripping old wax/sealant:
The popular belief is washing your vehicle with Dawn will remove old wax/sealant (thanks Sal Zaino, retard). This is NOT true. Dawn does not have the grunt to remove wax/sealant. Claybarring with light agressive clay (consumer clays are light agressive) will also not remove wax/sealant. It may weeken it but it will not remove it. 2 sure-fire things will however. Isopropyl alcohol mixed 50/50 with distilled water (IPA) will remove wax/sealant completely and quickly. Put it in a water sprayer and spray and wipe each panel. The second way is by machine polishing. Obviously you are removing clear coat so no wax/sealant will survive that, kinda a no brainer there.
I have a neet experiment you can try to see which removes wax/sealant, dawn or IPA mix.

Clay, it removes *above* surface contaminants by *pulling* it out of the paint. It does nothing else. This step should never be skipped *unless* the vehicle had been clayed recently.

Compounds/polishes, this is a tough one to explain with words.
Aggressive polishes are often called compounds. If your working on paint that has sever defects you may need to step up to a compound and a more aggressive pad. This will level the paint to the lowest level of the scratches. The down side is you end up with micro-marring. Micro-marring is thousands upon thousands of smaller scratches. After compounding you would need to step down to a less abrasive polish and a less abrasive pad to get rid of the micro-marring.
Whether you need to compound or not depends on the paint your working on. Always use the least abrasive method first on a *test section*. Tape off a 12”x12” section and use your least abrasive method. If that cleans up paint then repeat that on the entire vehicle, if not then step it up.
I always recommend having a heavy cut, medium cut and a light cut polish, same with pads. That does NOT mean you use all 3 on every job.

Megs #83 does have a learning curve. But every polish has a learning curve. None work the same. #83 tends to *gum up* quickly. Not a big deal, just clean your pad after every panel.

Waxes/sealants. The link Ryan posted will explain the difference between them.


For the PC I don’t use pads bigger than 6”. Anything bigger bogs the machine down way to much. I only use 6” and 4” pads, I use 4” much more than the 6” pads.

[Metallman56]

excellent tips :cheers:

[B0000rt]

well you seem to have a little bit of a background, but this site along with autopia is very informative

http://www.paintcare-n-detailing.com/

but anyway im not going to answer your questions because im sure someone else can come on here and answer them alot mroe throughly than i could.

Wow Great link!

I found this the most useful, though I haven't looked through the whole thing:
http://paintcare-n-detailing.com/ssr.html

[Metallman56]

i guess what i dont get is everyone says start with the lightest cutting pad, then if that doesnt work, move your way to a move agressive cut. i dont get that. lets say i have 3 pads, heavy, med, and light. if i use my med cut pad first, and that doesnt work, then i move on to the heavy. that works, but i just made a extra step for myself, cause i'm going to have to go back over it with the med pad anyway. wouldnt it be better to just break the paint down once with the heavy, then clean it all up with med, and light?

[coupe]

i guess what i dont get is everyone says start with the lightest cutting pad, then if that doesnt work, move your way to a move agressive cut. i dont get that. lets say i have 3 pads, heavy, med, and light. if i use my med cut pad first, and that doesnt work, then i move on to the heavy. that works, but i just made a extra step for myself, cause i'm going to have to go back over it with the med pad anyway. wouldnt it be better to just break the paint down once with the heavy, then clean it all up with med, and light?


All paint systems are different. Some are hard, some are soft, some are hard but scratch easily ect.
Some paints are so soft you can correct it with a polishing/finishing pad and a light cut polish. Since you did a test *section* you know this is the case. You just saved yourself 1-2 more polishing steps and 4-6 hours of your time.

I *ussually* try to do paint correction in only 1-2 compounding/polishing steps.

[99blackSE]

It looks daunting at first yes, but once you start reading it will all come together.

[Bryan]

Equipment, looks like the best tool for noobs isn't your $20 random orbital polishers, these have no power whatsoever! Porter Cable 7424 is the answer. I believe the cheapest I've found so far is Amazon.com for $124 or so, anyone find it for cheaper?

I know on eBay a store called Mac Tools(or something along those lines) had them for about $106 shipped. A member on here bought one from there I believe too.

[zhd1000]

I know on eBay a store called Mac Tools(or something along those lines) had them for about $106 shipped. A member on here bought one from there I believe too.

best i found doing a quick search was $107.73 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/Porter-Cable-7424-6-Random-Orbit-Polisher-NEW_W0QQitemZ170109346791QQihZ007QQcategoryZ42266Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[ryanbgb22]

best i found doing a quick search was $107.73 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/Porter-Cable-7424-6-Random-Orbit-Polisher-NEW_W0QQitemZ170109346791QQihZ007QQcategoryZ42266Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

iirc, autopia has the 3 pad setup for about $50 and about another $12 for the backing plate, so you could get the whole setup for about $170. Not bad at all.

[Rich]

"Barclay"..."Barry"..."Bert"..."Bort?"/simpsons