poweredbytorque
11-20-2007, 12:04 AM
There are tons of new people here and hopefully this can serve as a good guide to get started. There is already a detailed "detailing guide" so I probably won`t make one of those. Of course being a noob myself, I will have questions and hopefully the veterans will set me straight...
Just a side note; I will make mistakes so somebody please correct me when I do. In the early stages, it will also probably contain a lot of misinformation also...
My vision: I hope to make this post a "one stop thread" for people who have general questions. Ideally I would like to have multiple people work with me on this as its a pretty big job...
The formatting will suck at the beginning because I have no idea of what its going to look like but I`ll make spiffy sooner or later or if someone wants to do it for me, that would be great too...
Mods, if you don`t mind, the post itself is going to start off pretty small but I will add to it so please don`t delete it, I only want to do this as a service for other beginning Autopians
General Overview of Terms
I. Polishes
-Generally used as a term to describe the process of eliminating paint defects. These paint defects include but are not limited to: swirls, holograms, spider webbing, water spots insect etchings, scratches, road contaminants, and "bird bombs".
A. Swirls- These are the most common types of defects and are usually caused by small objects moving across the paint. They typically appear in "circles" and are usually caused by bad washing technique.
B. Holograms-This occurs when a detailer has not worked in a polish enough and it causes the trails to appear.
C. Spider Webbing-Help me out on this one
D. Water Spots-These are caused by water drying on your paint and is usually the result of having washed your car with hard water. Hard water is basically water with has high levels of calcium.
E. Insect Etchings-These etchings are caused by insect roadkill and in some cases, can be hard to get off. This is especially true with insects that have a high acidity content in their bodies.
F. Scratches-Anything that has dug itself into the paint. Swirls are a minor form of scratches. .I think they`re pretty self explanatory...
G. Road Contaminants-These can be many things, usually overspray which I have no idea what it is but I know it can get gotten rid of by using clay...
H. Bird Bombs-When a bird uses your car and not any of the other 200 cars surrounding you as practice for its next bombing raid. Some people consider this good luck, I`ll leave it to you to decide whether or not it is.
II Waxing
This is the process of applying a "LSP" to your car. LSP stands for "last step protection" and this occurs after you have finished polishing. The goal of this step is to protect your paint from scratches, etc. There are two general forms of LSP, an actual "wax" and a "sealant". It doesn`t matter what you use, the process itself is still considered waxing.
A. Wax-A form of protectant made from natural materials. They usually have the upper edge in looks but they are usually not too durable.
B. Sealant-Made of synthetic materials and is usually more durable than a wax.
i.Durability=How long a wax lasts.
Just a side note; I will make mistakes so somebody please correct me when I do. In the early stages, it will also probably contain a lot of misinformation also...
My vision: I hope to make this post a "one stop thread" for people who have general questions. Ideally I would like to have multiple people work with me on this as its a pretty big job...
The formatting will suck at the beginning because I have no idea of what its going to look like but I`ll make spiffy sooner or later or if someone wants to do it for me, that would be great too...
Mods, if you don`t mind, the post itself is going to start off pretty small but I will add to it so please don`t delete it, I only want to do this as a service for other beginning Autopians
General Overview of Terms
I. Polishes
-Generally used as a term to describe the process of eliminating paint defects. These paint defects include but are not limited to: swirls, holograms, spider webbing, water spots insect etchings, scratches, road contaminants, and "bird bombs".
A. Swirls- These are the most common types of defects and are usually caused by small objects moving across the paint. They typically appear in "circles" and are usually caused by bad washing technique.
B. Holograms-This occurs when a detailer has not worked in a polish enough and it causes the trails to appear.
C. Spider Webbing-Help me out on this one
D. Water Spots-These are caused by water drying on your paint and is usually the result of having washed your car with hard water. Hard water is basically water with has high levels of calcium.
E. Insect Etchings-These etchings are caused by insect roadkill and in some cases, can be hard to get off. This is especially true with insects that have a high acidity content in their bodies.
F. Scratches-Anything that has dug itself into the paint. Swirls are a minor form of scratches. .I think they`re pretty self explanatory...
G. Road Contaminants-These can be many things, usually overspray which I have no idea what it is but I know it can get gotten rid of by using clay...
H. Bird Bombs-When a bird uses your car and not any of the other 200 cars surrounding you as practice for its next bombing raid. Some people consider this good luck, I`ll leave it to you to decide whether or not it is.
II Waxing
This is the process of applying a "LSP" to your car. LSP stands for "last step protection" and this occurs after you have finished polishing. The goal of this step is to protect your paint from scratches, etc. There are two general forms of LSP, an actual "wax" and a "sealant". It doesn`t matter what you use, the process itself is still considered waxing.
A. Wax-A form of protectant made from natural materials. They usually have the upper edge in looks but they are usually not too durable.
B. Sealant-Made of synthetic materials and is usually more durable than a wax.
i.Durability=How long a wax lasts.