Questions after having my car detailed

[schiddy]

I just bought a 2007 black civic si and had it polished by a friend. I`ve been lurking on here lately because I eventually want to buy a PC and learn to correct paint. I appreciate the quick job he did, he`s a professional detailer in the aircraft and boat industry. it does look a lot better than it did before, but now I`m concerned with protecting the paint from here. I`m not sure about the differences in the standards of paint correction in those industries vs auto industry, but I didn`t see any mention of these procedures on autopia.



I brought the car to him clean.

His steps were:



1.) Pre clean with something from a spray bottle. I could see it taking off the crappy wax job the dealer did. (Pre-cleano I think he said)



2.) Hand polish trouble areas w/ polishing compound.



3.) Machine polish w/ acrilic based Teflon @ 1000Rpm w/ a foam finishing pad.



4.) Removed excess w/ microfiber towel. Really buffed a lot by hand to get it off.



A lot of the cobwebbing and swirls were removed from the black paint. I`m pretty impressed for such a short 1 step job. He told me that there was no need for wax or sealant with teflon and that kind of scared me.



Should I put a sealant or wax on the paint now?



Should I use a certain product to wash the car to make sure all of the polish is off and then use a sealant and/or wax?

[todd@bsaw]

First, read up a little on "Teflon" products:

http://www.autopia.org/forum/professional-detailer-general-discussion/76725-teflon-paint-protection.html

[schiddy]

Yeah I did a search and read all those threads. They really only pertained to dealers offering "teflon protection" whatever that means. There were also people saying some products worked, and also others saying it was all scams. Didn`t see one thread where it was actually in a polish though. I`m assuming you`re implying it`s a scam.



Ok, so what do I do from here? Use a cleaner to make sure I got all the "polish with teflon" off then seal and/or wax? What type of cleaner do I use?

[salty]

If the car looks good why worry about removing it. While the Teflon is BS marketing, the rest of the product might be OK.

[todd@bsaw]

I`m not necessarily saying your friend scammed you, but more that someone using a "Teflon" product isn`t that knowledgeable about detailing in general. If you`re looking into detailing it yourself then care for it as any other car using a wax or sealant. If the polish he used contained a lot of fillers to hide the swirls temporarily, then the will slowly reappear over time and they you`ll have a fresh plate to start with.

[schiddy]

Thank Todd, that clears it up. I`ll wash and apply wax as soon as I get a chance. And I`ll learn about paint correction, get a polisher, and practice on junkyard panels before I even think about touching my own car lol.

[Accumulator]

schiddy- Welcome to Autopia!



If it were mine, I`d consider putting on a coat of some known-to-be-durable wax, maybe something like Collinite. That might help lock in whatever he used on it.

[Biggestmexi]

Thank Todd, that clears it up. I`ll wash and apply wax as soon as I get a chance. And I`ll learn about paint correction, get a polisher, and practice on junkyard panels before I even think about touching my own car lol.



My first full detail was on my black grand prix. Just go for it. Once you read enough here you should be good to go. That way you are not wafting product and time on the junk yard panels.



Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk