Sprzout
04-08-2008, 03:18 AM
My mom has been complaining that her car was dirty...And she knew that I`d gotten all of these detailing products recently...So, she pushed me today to wash her car for her (in return for a really good pasta dinner).
I started with Meguiar`s Gold Class car wash, which helped me to knock off the dirt and bring it to this stage (sorry, no pics before this stage; I forgot to break out the camera until after I`d washed):
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/CorollaB4.jpg
As can be seen in this shot, I had the Meguiar`s mild pro clay, QD, and a MF towel, and I was just getting ready to clay the hood. NASTY. It was so covered with bonded contaminants that it felt like I had about 80 grit sandpaper on the hood instead of paint. After about 2 hours of work, I was ready to move on to polishing, because as is shown in this picture, the yahoos at the car wash down the street that charge $20 for their "hand wash" are really good at instilling scratches in the surface of the clearcoat:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/Trunk-Before.jpg
Here`s several passes with Meguiar`s M80 and my PC 7424 on the same area of the trunk:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/Trunk-After.jpg
As you can see, it is HIGHLY possible to get swirl marks out of the paint - it just takes time, patience, a DA polisher, and the right products!!!
Here`s some more after I finally finished up the car; I covered the polish with NXT 2.0 (and it REALLY made the car`s paint POP).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/Hood-1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/CorollaFront2.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/CorollaFront.jpg
All in all, it was an 8 hour day: I started it at about 9:30-9:45 am, and I finished at 5 min. to 5pm (and that was just for the exterior; fortunately the interior didn`t need to be done). The swirl removal and the claying were the most time consuming things; I must`ve made 3-4 passes over just the hood of the car, getting all of the contaminants off.
The polish/swirl removal took longer than expected as well, but that was due to me trying to really just take my time and make lots of very small passes. I felt very proud of myself in one spot, as there was a long scratch along the driver`s side, where it looked like either someone had rubbed up against the car or a shopping cart had grazed it. I managed to get that scratch out through due diligence.
I didn`t do a "perfect" job (I consider "perfect" to be a show car job where the car`s going to be in a museum or is a trailer queen going to a car show), but it`s a daily driver, and my mom is ecstatic over it all...Which is all that matters, right? :)
I started with Meguiar`s Gold Class car wash, which helped me to knock off the dirt and bring it to this stage (sorry, no pics before this stage; I forgot to break out the camera until after I`d washed):
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/CorollaB4.jpg
As can be seen in this shot, I had the Meguiar`s mild pro clay, QD, and a MF towel, and I was just getting ready to clay the hood. NASTY. It was so covered with bonded contaminants that it felt like I had about 80 grit sandpaper on the hood instead of paint. After about 2 hours of work, I was ready to move on to polishing, because as is shown in this picture, the yahoos at the car wash down the street that charge $20 for their "hand wash" are really good at instilling scratches in the surface of the clearcoat:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/Trunk-Before.jpg
Here`s several passes with Meguiar`s M80 and my PC 7424 on the same area of the trunk:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/Trunk-After.jpg
As you can see, it is HIGHLY possible to get swirl marks out of the paint - it just takes time, patience, a DA polisher, and the right products!!!
Here`s some more after I finally finished up the car; I covered the polish with NXT 2.0 (and it REALLY made the car`s paint POP).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/Hood-1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/CorollaFront2.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b256/Sprzout/CorollaFront.jpg
All in all, it was an 8 hour day: I started it at about 9:30-9:45 am, and I finished at 5 min. to 5pm (and that was just for the exterior; fortunately the interior didn`t need to be done). The swirl removal and the claying were the most time consuming things; I must`ve made 3-4 passes over just the hood of the car, getting all of the contaminants off.
The polish/swirl removal took longer than expected as well, but that was due to me trying to really just take my time and make lots of very small passes. I felt very proud of myself in one spot, as there was a long scratch along the driver`s side, where it looked like either someone had rubbed up against the car or a shopping cart had grazed it. I managed to get that scratch out through due diligence.
I didn`t do a "perfect" job (I consider "perfect" to be a show car job where the car`s going to be in a museum or is a trailer queen going to a car show), but it`s a daily driver, and my mom is ecstatic over it all...Which is all that matters, right? :)