Guess an introduction would be nice...

[speedingpenguin]

Hello!
My name is Chris, i'm 16 years old and live in Massachusetts (Near Lowell)
My car is a dark green 1997 Cadillac Catera, used to be my dads but now he's got a G35X (Yeah, its fast...lol)
I just recently (within the last few months) got interested in detailing, but have loved cleaning my parents cars even when I was real little. Now i'm realizing what an awful job I did, even though then it seemd like an awsome job. Lets just say that my worst mistake was a few years ago thinking I knew what I was doing, in an effort to fix a huge scratch in the side of my moms minivan (was pretty deep actually...), I took out the dealer supplied touch up paint, applied it, then, found some really really fine wet-sanding paper, took the garden hose, and tried to make the touch up paint look level with the rest of the paint.....the water made it hard for me to realize how much I actually was sanding, and ever since theres been a half inch strip on either side of the scratch where I sanded a little too much (not into the paint, just into the clear-coat enough for it to be a little bit hazy).
But I learned from that an important lesson....or two:
a) Dont screw around with stuff you arent positive you know how to use (especially on parents cars, LOL)
b) You dont need alot of something for it to be effective...in this case, pressure.
I found this site today durring lunch at school and signed up....I'm hoping to get my caddy looking good as new (or at least close to that) so that I can sell it in a few months and get myself a project....third generation camaro which I hope to build into a bad-*** hotrod (On a budget....lol)
Well, I hope to learn alot from this forum and hope to meet some helpful people. Thanks,
-Chris

[Lynn]

Chris. Love to hear your enthusiasm. Hope you pick up lots of info here.

I sure understand where you're starting from; I used to think my Dad's regimen of washing-with-t-shirts and dressing-with-Armorall was the "bee's knees." But you'll find a ton of good info here that will save you a lot of grief. Let me offer a few of my favorites.

To get started, I’d recommend that you read the Autopia Guide to Detailing – it only costs $9.95, and that money helps to support Autopia … so it’s a good cause. You can also find lots of good, basic info for free by reading David's articles at the "Learn" icon at the top of the page.

And reading the House Rules (upper left of the home page) will tell you a bit about our operating procedures here at Autopia. We're a little different from some of the more free-wheeling forums. (Thank goodness!) We put a premium on civility as well as critical analysis.

Also on the home page you’ll find a link to all the acronyms (AIO, CWB, PC, PUPP, etc.) that get bandied-about regularly. In my early days on Autopia, I kept that page open all the time like it was my "secret decoder ring." lol

Then, what some new folks do is read thru the previous posts in the Autopia Univ forum; in addition to teaching you lots of the basics, that will give you a sense of which questions have already been asked and answered a gazillion times.

Also, a lot of folks take a while to discover our Reviews section, where we've posted lots of our own evaluations of products; it's at http://www.autopia.org/review/index.php, if you're interested.

And if/when you get ready to place orders, be sure to check on all the discounts Autopians get. Lots of those get posted in the Good Deals forum.

There! That oughta keep you busy for a couple of days!

[MartyGrant]

Hello, Chris.
You'll learn a lot here. I do...everyday. Information, experience and good clean fun. Happy trails!