New Paint + General Car Care Tips

Hey Katie, just find a local detail shop (not a turtle wax joint) and have them do it "professionally" . I have a local shop by me that clayed, buffed and waxed my car for $100 bucks, it only takes a few hours and it's good for three months. When I went and picked up my car the first time, I didn't even think it was mine because it looked awesome!

[Ajaxus]

if they're charging you only $100 then they're easily using inferior products and not taking their time to do the job right. a real pro would be cutting you a deal at $180.

[coupe]

I wont even wash, clay and wax for $100.

The cheapest i ever went on a full paint correction is this miata i did for $250 and got a never used craftsmen 3 ton jack as a tip. It took me close to 8 hours to just do her paint. I didnt do her interior or her rims and tires.
Only takes a few hours?........ Um no. $100?......hack job. Is good for 3 months?....yeah thats becuase the wax is starting to fail at 3 months uncovering their hack job.


Im crazy, i detailed my wheel wells (pics)

[Bouchie11982]

Originally Posted by coupe

Thats why im letting it go off topic becuase in what we are talking about you will also pick up some info that may help you take care of your car for the winter and especially your new hood. In a way its not off topic.

oh i know i was just pulling his chain a tiny bit i actually decided to take it off during the winter, but, obivously keeping the other parts that were painted on or else i'll get pulled over

[coupe]

Just as long as you know you dont have to do that for winter. It would be a headache to swap hoods.

[slowbird]

I clay barred my car when I first got it....I hated it. But the finished look (and smooth feel) was very nice!

Katie: I feel your pain. I don't have a Garage, and I've been wondering what I should do about my hood for the winter. I really shouldn't care but brushing snow off the CF hood, and driving behind truck throwing salt and rocks up at it doesn't make me very happy.

But I leave it on anyways. Like Coupe said....too much of a hassle.

Whenever I polish/wax my car I have to park it as close to the house as possible to get some shade...but I end up having to do 1/3 of the car in the sun. I have no garage...there's no way around it....the sun finds me.

I'm planning on doing my usual 3 step on my car before winter...just as an added protection. Last time I did it, it took around 6hrs.

Wait as close as you can before winter....put on a Jacket and just do the hood. It shouldn't take long.

[Ajaxus]

Matt, go out and invest in four metal poles and a few canvas's. you can make a "temp garage" with these and put some shade on your car for the waxing. probably wouldn't cost you that much to pull off and would help you in maintaining your car.

another good reason to have shelter for your car is when claybarring, it means no wind kicking more dust and dirt up onto your car where you just claybarred. meaning you can get an even cleaner car and a better prep before polish/wax.

Ron: you can have a detail shop open for awhile, doesn't mean much of anything really. there's a difference between a detailer and a great detailer. a detailer cleans your car and puts the basic protectants on. these guys are good if you want a clean car but don't care about the condition of it's materials.

a great detailer on the other hand pays attention to the small details, they remove imperfections in your car. they keep up to date on new products and only use the best, and they take the time to do a good job.

even with four guys working on your car, three hours is nothing. that's like 1 person doing a 12hr job. ask yourself if they worked those three hours solid or if they took breaks, chances are they took breaks. so make that 1 person doing 10hrs of work. your paint, if properly worked on, should take anywhere from 7-10hrs easily. interior should run you maybe 2-4hrs, engine about the same. they may have done a decent job, but they didn't do the best job. and chances are if you put a halogen light next to your paint you'll see alot of swirls. if these guys were "great detailers" you wouldn't have swirls.


you can claim that we know nothing because of our age, but we'll let our own detailing and reputations speak for themselves. i have people begging me to detail their cars for them all of the time, they figure that even if i put only 6hours into their car then it's worth it. (not everybody has a second vehicle and can give up their car for too long)

we spend time researching the best products and the best tools. we know the methods that must be used to get the job done right. and we also know that even $159 (which is a big difference from $100 btw) is still a hackjob price.

/soapbox

Well if you had your hood painted by a reputable body shop, I would go with their suggestion. Good luck

[99GTCoupe]

ANYWAYS :P

ROFL @ the postness, coupe, nice job!
I've used Armor All, but just don't like the oily feeling I get, is there anything else that's good to use that will not leave a residue?

Katie if it makes you feel better you can whore out my threads in the future
I'm and equal opprotunity thread-whorer

[lone_wolf025]

Wow this thread is something. Good info all of it. Though I laughed when I saw the porche swirls...reminded me of my car...without all the etch marks from bird crap and tree sap.

Dumb question, but I assume that a monthly coat of wax along with proper washing weekly goes a long way in preventing said etch marks from developing?

I know its ideal to get rid of bird crap ASAP but in my case its usually sitting overnight and into mid morning, hence why I'm wondering about how well a good routine helps.

[coupe]

Originally Posted by 99GTCoupe

ANYWAYS :P

ROFL @ the postness, coupe, nice job!
I've used Armor All, but just don't like the oily feeling I get, is there anything else that's good to use that will not leave a residue?

Katie if it makes you feel better you can whore out my threads in the future
I'm and equal opprotunity thread-whorer

Best thing to do is try different products. Interiors arent really my thing yet. I stopped using armor all for this reason also, just to oily. I started using turtle wax F21 and its much better but still to oily for my liking. Once thats gone im gonna try something else. AJ would be the guy to ask about that, ive been meaning to ask him myself.

Originally Posted by lone_wolf025

Wow this thread is something. Good info all of it. Though I laughed when I saw the porche swirls...reminded me of my car...without all the etch marks from bird crap and tree sap.

Dumb question, but I assume that a monthly coat of wax along with proper washing weekly goes a long way in preventing said etch marks from developing?

I know its ideal to get rid of bird crap ASAP but in my case its usually sitting overnight and into mid morning, hence why I'm wondering about how well a good routine helps.

Oh yes!! Proper maintenance of your paint helps big time in preventing bird bomb etching, bug gut etching and tree sap etching. The one exception is bird bombs. Some birds have poo that is so acidic it is literaly like the aliens in the movie ALIENS And almost all birds swallow small pebbles and sand.
Acid+rocks&sand= an almost unbeatable force.
Sounds like your in the perfect situation though! If it just sits on your paint over night and dosent get *baked* on by the sun then all you have to do is spray the poo with a quick detailer spray and wipe it off with a clean soft micro fiber towel before you leave for work in the morning. Only takes a few minutes to do. I quick detail my paint daily even if it dosent come out of the garage.

[Bouchie11982]

Originally Posted by CaptRon

Well if you had your hood painted by a reputable body shop, I would go with their suggestion. Good luck

well i got it painted by my father, he says there is enough primer on it that if it chipped it wouldn't even show. that that makes sense because my old car, it's hood chipped very easily and there was just a stock primer under the paint and that is what caused it to chip easily. ( that is what m father and his body shop friend told me)

[coupe]

Not entirely sure how that is possible.
If a rock chips through your clear and your base paint then it would definately show.

[Ajaxus]

I agree with coupe, the primer deals with the adhesion of the paint, whereas the clear coat protects it. A rock chip would damage the clear coat and the paint since it is coming from the outside. But then again I don't know if the primer would play any part in how bad the rockchip could end up being.

As for interiors, I too have issues with the armorall being extremely oily for too long. I've also had issues with overspray on it, if you get it on your carpet it's a b!tch to get out, trust me.

Soon as I get a free day (been busy lately) I'm going to go out and buy some new products to test out and overhaul my interior. I'll probably do a write-up at that time on proper cleaning techniques as well as the best ways to remove certain types of stains. We'll just say that when my brother used my car for a year while I was away at school, I came back to numerous stains of different types and learned ALOT about removing them,

[SikMindz]

I think you misunderstood what your father and his friend were telling you Katie. IF the primer under the paint is greyish (which it most likely is) then deep chips will not be as noticeable because the primer that ends up showing will visually look the same as the paint around it...theoretically. If the primer is black you're SOL.

[99GTCoupe]

Okay, bit of an update. I just got everything that I believe I need:

1 Zwipes Microfiber wash mitt ($5) <- good brand?
12 Vroom Microfiber towels ($8)
1 Vroom large Microfiber drying towel ($8) <- do I need?

1 64 oz Meguiar' Gold Class car wash ($9)
1 16 oz Meguiar's Color X ($12)
1 16 oz Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #26 ($8)

1 Stoner Invisible Glass ($4)

I think that's all I need, I have ArmorAll if I decide to even use it. The pic below is of the Color X and #26 (just to make sure I got the correct stuff cause I didn't see it on the Murray's online store). I hope to get this all done next THursday or the week after ><



EDIT - Yeah, the quality sucks but it's the only cam I have rofl

[coupe]

All i gotta say is your GA is gonna be lookin killer by the time your done.

You got everything you need except a claybar and applicators.

[Ajaxus]

ive never actually used a microfiber glove, been a fan of the wool mitt myself. something about using that mitt is just...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm



anyways, car should be looking great.

[5-lO]

Ive been meaning to claybar my car after reading previous threads about you and your insaneness Coupe. This thread has convinced me and I may get into it this sunday I think... full open day... and garage to use.

Do you recommend microfiber towels for drying too? Ive noticed it tends to move water alot but not actually get anywhere, and then I have lovely lovely water spots (read: black car... 3 for 4 on that color choice, when its clean I love it when its dirty I hate it)

I use a meguires wash mit, Megs Gold class carwash, turtle wax bug remover (although it appears the claybar will work well as well) adn then turtle wax black color wax, and some vroom applicator pads, usually turns out very very nice.

But then from reading, it looks like that is 100% the worst way to go about it... and actually I am realizing this my paint has gotten worse since I first began... I used the methods I used on the GA which was a sponge, and terry towels, which oddly on the GA worked fine, but Im convinced the clear on the tC is either sh*t or non existant.

[coupe]

Oh yeah, Patrick, make sure you work that colorX into your paint. Put some muscle into, it needs to be worked into your paint aggressively. ColorX has abbrasives that need to break down so you really have to work it in. Its not a wipe on wipe off like a wax.