Newbie Questions

[dcapone]

A few questions for someone just in the process of learning to detail.

1. I have been doing a lot of reading on this forum and all over the internet about removing swirls, scratches, etc and there is one thing I still do not understand. If a car has a scratch that only goes into the clearcoat but is fairly deep, and it is not part of a bunch of cobwebs and/or swirl marks but is more of an isolated mark, why would you cut the paint enough to remove it instead of respraying a localized layer of clearcoat and lightly buffing the overspray.

2. Is there anything that can do to remove tiny marks in the paint that are caused by a small pebble or something basically getting embedded into the surface. I have removed the pebbles or small sand particles with clay, but since its down to the paint, is there anything that can be short of sanding and repainting around it.

3. Is NXT Tech Paste Wax any good, or what do you guys recommend as a final finish. It appears everyone on here tends to use mostly meguiars for DACP, Polish, and Glaze, but I don't really see any type of clear leader on a wax.

4. What is the best method of cleaning wheels, I tend to just spend hours with fine steel whool and car wash soap, is there a harsher chemical other than those stray and rinse cleaners which never seem to work that would lessen my work load on the wheels?

5. I seem to get amazing results from a simple wash with Mr. Clean Autodry Cash Wash kit, but I have never seen tis mentioned anywhere on any detailing forum and I'm curious as to what is wrong with the product or if anything is wrong at all.

Thanks for any questions.

[steveo3002]

1, most people cannot do localised respray work themselves....sometimes you can brush clearcoat into a scratch

2, stonechips...all you can do is paint them in with a tooth pick

3, nxt has a great look...it doesnt last that good but i still use it in summer

4, never use steel wool on wheels...soapy water and clay should get them nice , then wax them and clean weekly.....you could try megs wheel brightener if soap doesnt shift all the marks

5,if you happy with mr clean, carry on ...i havent tried it myself

[dcapone]

3. What do you use in Winter?

4. Do you wax them with Megs All Metal Wax, and do you wax in the same way you'd do the body, with a PC or only by hand. The reason I turned to the steel wool was that it always appears that my problem is some type of molding based on the way it appears on the wheel. Will an aggressive clay remove that as well?

[steveo3002]

3. i use collinite 476 for winter...and its a nice enough look for summer too

4, i wax my wheels with whatever i use on the paint....can you post a pic of your wheels as there a lots of finishes

[the other pc]

Originally Posted by dcapone

...I seem to get amazing results from a simple wash with Mr. Clean Autodry Cash Wash kit, but I have never seen tis mentioned anywhere on any detailing forum and I'm curious as to what is wrong with the product or if anything is wrong at all....

There have been very long, protracted discussions on the subject. The Mr. Clean product has two functions, water filtration and soap dispensing. The water filtration is a cheap consumer interpretation of well know water conditioning techniques. The soap is soap (formulated for certain characteristics).

Some like it, some hate it, some use the water filter without the soap, some use commercial water filters, some just use normal tap water. If you search around you'll find plenty to read.


PC.

[dcapone]

In my area the water is pretty contaminate free, so the slight filtration provided by Mr. Clean manages to filter it more than I need. I really do like the drying characteristic of the stuff as I really was not expecting it to work as advertised, but I do not towel dry the paint at all anymore and it is always 100% spot free. The only place I tend to wipe down is the exterior rubber moldings as if I don't those still tend to spot.

Steve,

I'm at work now so I don't have pics available, but it a typical 2004 Acura RSX Type S. Not the right paint color, but the tires are identical to the picture in this link.

http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/rsx_types.asp

[dcapone]

any more suggestions on the wheels