Suggestions on detailing my WRX

[JustDSM]

Here`s the deal. Car is virtually brand new (2700 miles) and I`ve bought myself some cleaning supplies from www.properautocare.com to ensure I was getting and using quality stuff. Here`s what I ended up getting:



Eagle WET car wash

Natural sea sponge

Absorber

Pinnacle PolyClay kit

Meguiar`s #7 Show car glaze

Zymol Japon wax

Terry applicators for Meguiar`s

Zymol foam pads for the Zymol

Along with some other Misc stuff for other portions of the car.



But what I`m concerned with is the paint. A week or so ago it was a warm day (compared to the previous week) and I decided I was going to detail the car. Gave it a good wash with my sea sponge after rinsing it over and over to remove the sand and other sea particles. Dried the car with my absorber. Pulled it into the garage as it started to get cold and lightly snow (35deg F). Yes I`m a die hard begininer. I`ll do whatever it takes :).



Anyway, here is where the meat of my question is. I start to clay the hood in small sections and notice that there was no friction between the surface and the bar so I came to my senses and thought, "Gee, the car is brand new how bad could the paint be?" and stopped. after wiping the residue from the lubricant off with a microfiber towl I noticed that the bar had left a few very very minor scuffs. Mostly on the sharper edges and creases in the body work. Is it a bad idea to clay these parts? The bar picked up no contaminates as I checked it regularly. I also used the bar in quick back and forth motions about 4-5" long and covered the small section I sprayed. Is this the proper method? What could/should I have done differently?



Next up was the Meguiars show car glaze. It was probably nearing 33-34 deg at this time and was cold. I was in a very dim garage so I couldnt tell exactly what was happened with the surface after the polish had been applied. I use a terry applicator and apply it in much the same way as I did the clay bar. 4-5" strokes of back and forth in a quick but with a what I would call light pressure. I`ve had a history of using alot of pressure to apply waxes in the past. I dont know how much pressure I should be using. I have a suspicion that I used to much pressure because my car has more "scratches" after the show car glaze than it did before. They would be swirls but I used the back-n-forth method rather than circles. I suspect I applied to much pressure. What is your thoughts? Should I have used a different or softer abrasive polish? Could I go back over it with the show car glaze with light pressure and "fix" what I did the first time? Should I get the Meguiars swirl remover? I need your input!

:confused:



Thanks so much!

[PakShak]

Hi Justin, :)



Regarding these two items on your list:



Natural sea sponge

Absorber





I would recommend substituting the Natural sea sponge with a 100% cotton chenille wash mitt. And use a two bucket system. One for your shampoo/water mixture and the other for rinse. This will help reduce the scratches or swirls on your car. The natural sea sponge could still have sand granules embedded in the pores. Also, with any type of sponge when used to wash a car you are actually pushing "dirt" on the surface of your paint which can cause swirls. I personally use a 100% cotton chenille wash mitt or a micro fiber towel. Rinsing as I go.



I have used the Absorber and it was my preferred drying tool. However that soon changed when I was introduce to waffle weave micro fiber towels. The waffle weave micro fiber towels are good because of it`s absorbancy and does not stick to the surface of your paint like the absorber has a tendency to do so. I then follow-up with a terry micro fiber towel for the final wipe which leaves a streak free finish.



Sorry, I haven`t had the pleasure of trying any Zymol products.



Being that your car was brand new. I personally would have skipped the clay and maybe used a paint cleaner like Meguiar`s Premium Paint Cleaner (more aggressive) or S100 SEPC (less aggressive).



Regarding your swirls, I believe they could have been caused by either the sea sponge, terry applicator and possibly from claying or a combination thereof. I would have used a foam applicator pad to apply the Meguiar`s Show Car Glaze. The Meguiar`s Show Car Glaze will not remove the swirls. It is a filler which is just a temporary fix to hide the swirls. If you do want to remove them then as you had mentioned a SMR will remove it. Do you own a PC? Because using a SMR with a PC will be alot easier than doing it by hand. I would stick with 3M SMR for Dark Colored Cars or Meguiar`s #9 SMR 2.0. Both are good products and come highly recommended here on Autopia.



I hope that helps.



With Aloha,

~Ranney

[Accumulator]

JustDSM- Welcome to Autopia! As a fellow WRX owner, I`ll throw out my $0.02. Sorry to hear your car got marred; something`s definitely wrong as they have pretty hard paint that resists marring. You probably won`t like hearing some of this, having just bought all those products, but anyhow...



First, as PakShak said, you REALLY should replace the sponge. I have used them, and I question whether you can EVER get all the crap out of them. I`m sure that`s where some of your problems are coming from. I wash my WRX with a Griot`s boar`s hair brush. NO MARRING, using the two-bucket method. The cotton (or sheepskin) wash mitt is another option, but I prefer the brush (it rinses clean better for me). Also, Griot`s Car Wash has extremely high lubricity, which helps reduce/eliminate wash-related swirls. Never tried the Eagle WET, but I`ve never used any soap as slippery as the Griot`s.



As Ranney advised, drying with a waffle-weave MF is really the way to go, but I`ve used an absorber/water bandit on the WRX with no problems. You DO have to make sure you really get it clean before you dry it, though (I always wash each panel twice, rinsing first, in between AND after).



Note that the wash/dry step is of critical importance as you do it more OFTEN than anything else.



On claying, I clay (and/or use AutoInt`s ABC system) on new cars (as in "right out of the plastic" new) and yes, there`s all kinds of stuff on the paint! Stuff than can cause problems later. It really is a good thing to do. I`ve never used the Poly Clay, but I seem to recall others having problems with it marring their paint (NOW I tell you :rolleyes: , huh?) . I use Griot`s clay (sheesh, this sounds like a Griot`s Garage commercial :p) and it`s NEVER marred any of my vehicles. Clay Magic and Mother`s are also reputed to work fine. I spot-clayed some contaminants off the WRX yesterday, while I was washing it, with no problems. Be sure to knead the clay frequently so the contaminants get wrapped up in the clay and aren`t repeatedly dragged across the paint.



The #7 shouldn`t have marred your paint, it never did that for me, even on old-style black lacquer. You`re right about not pressing too hard. Maybe switch to a foam applicator. Some people do fine with terry, but many of us use foam for everything. Get some high-quality, plush MF towels to remove the #7/wax/whatever as they won`t do any damage.



Opinions vary on the Zymol, but it shouldn`t cause any problems. I WILL say that I use Klasse AIO and SG (3-4 coats) on mine and it looks great and only needs to be done a couple of times a year. I gave it one more quick coat of SG in the autumn and it`s still holding up just fine.



Yes, you will need something abrasive to remove the swirls. As I said, the WRX has sorta hard paint, so if you`re doing it by hand you might be in for a little workout. The Meg`s #9 2.0 will do the trick if your swirls aren`t too deep. Again, I`d apply with foam, at least for the final passes, and remove with MF.



Again, sorry if this makes you feel like you wasted a bunch of money buying the wrong stuff. At the very least I`d get a boar`s hair brush (or a cotton or sheepskin mitt), some different clay, some MF towels (search on it, there`s LOTS of posts), and some kind of SMR like the #9. Post back if anything need clarifying.

[shaf]

Hello Justin, welcome. :wavey



Some people here are fans of the seasponge, but they tend to be in the minority. Try running a search to help you decide. I personally like to recommend the sheepskin mitt myself because it`s easy to get cheaply from a local source. Just make sure it feels like a fine fur coat when you pick one out. :up



If you say the marring from the clay occured on the body seams/edges/creases I`m wondering if it`s because these are raised surfaces that have the potential to concentrate force. Claying too hard can cause damage, so likewise the edges could have felt this.



Accumulator also mentioned the fact that you didn`t complete your clay job and I wonder if this could have caused your marring when you glazed. Claying is a really good idea even on showroom new cars because it shears off the embedded dirt that washing won`t get. You want to do this because polishes/pre-wax cleaners/cleansers/whatever are not meant to remove dirt from the paint. Then when you do try applying anything, there is the real danger that the applicator will shear off the dirt, and proceed to rub it into your paint rather than trapping it safely like clay does.



When applying the #7 glaze (it`s not a "polish" as most people think of that word) you don`t need to work it in with pressure at all, as it`s just a coating. Just use as much pressure as you need to apply it evenly and keep the app from flying out of your hand. As said, try using less pressure or switch to those cheap, foam disc-style applicators you can get everywhere. It`s been said several times in the past (and recent past) that using terry cloth or terry applicators add "bite" to using a polish, so this might be another possible source of your problems.



HTH

[JustDSM]

Thanks for all your responses. They`ve been most helpful. I`m currently working on the car now and I`ll see what turns out of your combined responses. So far I must say it is looking really good. Most of the "scratches" I mentioned earlier have gone and are no longer visible. I`ll report back with the final scoop and maybe some pictures. :)



Thanks again for all your help!

[Michael H]

Justin



I have been detaling WRXs for a few years now. I have detailed a stack of WRXs. A couple of points:



1. WRX paint tends to be fairly soft and easy to marr, especially the darker colours.



2. The products you are using are fine and are not causing of themesleves your problems. If you are going to clay you need to follow up with a swirl remover on a WRX as claying marks the paint (as you now know).



3. Do not use excessive pressure when claying or applying wax, they can mark the paint. Light to moderate pressure is enough.



4. Techique is what you need to work on to the most part. But you also need to remove the swirl marks, so use either 3M SMR or the Meguiars Prep and Swirl Remover.

[JustDSM]

Here are the pictures of the results. Please note that as I finished the wind really picked up (as it does in Cheyenne) and blew some dust/dirt on it before I could snap the shots. In a few pics you`ll see the dirt. As you can see from the background Cheyenne is pretty dry and dusty.



I`d love to hear your comments good or bad. I tried the best I could to take shots that reflected (pun intended) the shine. I`m a little pissed that Subaru orange peeled the paint but thats life ehh?



All pics can be viewed here:



http://myweb.wyoming.com/~justdsm/



I`ll have smaller versions of the pics shortly. 56K beware! These are straight off my camera and I did not resize them yet. I`ll have resized pics up shortly for all to view.



I`ll also make a follow up post going into a little more detail as to what I did this time around. Enjoy! :cool:

[JustDSM]

Smaller versions are uploaded to the members gallery in my name.

[George M.]

VERY nice looking car. :bow

[Anthony O.]

Justin,



I use a deep sea sponge and have done so for years now and have never had any marring problems with them. They do need to be rinsed out well prior to use and about every 3 weeks I soak them in a tub of warm water and work my fingers through them.



When you use the sponge make sure you have the UNCUT side to the surface of the car and there is no need to bear down on the paint. I use two sponges, one thatI hold above the other loaded with soap and water which I squeeze as the other washes.



Also when the sponge is in your hand the pores actually open up larger and allow more water to flow through freely. This is great when washing and following close behind with running water.



Anthony

[Accumulator]

JustDSM- Hey, your car turned out nice! If it weren`t shined up so well you probably wouldn`t have noticed the orange-peel so readily. You really did a good job :up .



As you can see, there are varying opinions on a LOT of issues. Read up here and you`ll find all sorts of info.



Michael H- I found your input (much more broad-based than mine) very interesting. I wonder if there is a big difference between the different colors of paint used on the WRX`s :nixweiss The silver paint on mine seems SO MUCH harder than the silver paint on my Mazda and also harder than that on the Audis (and seems harder than I remember other silvers being as well). Note that this is based purely on perceived ease-of-marring and perceived difficulty of swirl/scratch removal. I find I can be FAR less gentle with my WRX than with my other cars without causing any problems. I find it especially interesting that claying marrs the paint on other WRX`s as the Griot`s clay absolutely doesn`t marr mine (inspected under maginfication). Glad you chimed in to steer JustDSM in the right direction, as my experience is based on only one WRX and may be counter to the norm.

[Michael H]

There are differences between the various paint colours on the WRXs. Not sure why but the mica colours (black and dark blue in Oz) seem much softer. Obviously the darker colours show more which highlight the scratches etc more. The presence of the mica may also be a factor.



The light colours like white seem to harder and show less (partly due to the colour of course).



The WRC blue of the car in question is a halfway between the two extremes, a darker colour (sorry we use UK spelling) with mica but not as prone to scrathces as the darker colours.



Because there is so many metal flakes in silver it reflects the light in all directions and is the best colour to hide marks, etc So silver is another story again. Subaru Silver seems fairly "tough".



Techique becomes more important with Subaru paint and I think JustDSM found that out when he had the second attempt - good job by the way.

[Iconoclast]

Originally posted by Michael H

There are differences between the various paint colours on the WRXs. Not sure why but the mica colours (black and dark blue in Oz) seem much softer. Obviously the darker colours show more which highlight the scratches etc more. The presence of the mica may also be a factor.



Tell me about it. The surface does seem to scratch easily.



I am able to clay my black Wrex causing very little if any marring using mothers clay. I just use SMR to remove any swirls when I`m done.

[Accumulator]

Michael H- I hear you on how silver hides imperfections; I sometimes wonder if it`s sensible to spend so much time/effort FINDING flaws to remove. If they`re so hard to see, why worry about removing them? Heh heh, Autopian Psychology 101 ;)



Again, I`m glad you and Iconoclast mentioned how easy it is to mar the Subaru paint. Having only worked their silver and white, I thought it was pretty impervious to damage. I HAVE noticed a general tendency for metallic black (and certain blue) paints (regardess of manufacturer) to mar very easily. Like they`re just softer. This is, as you said, in addition to the way dark colors SHOW everything. The Subaru black MUST be pretty soft if Iconoclast is having an easy go of it with SMR. The few problems I`ve dealt with on mine were VERY resistant to my efforts!

[JustDSM]

Thank you all for the responses and insite you’ve given. It has helped me a great deal in doing a better job the 2nd time around. You’ve all given some good advice and I think that really helped out in making my car shine.



Washed the car as I had done previously with the sea sponge (which I found to work well and not leave any marks in the paint). I think the key to using this thing effectively is ensuring it is COMPLETELY rinsed free of any debris that it might have. I also went to the 2-bucket system you all mentioned. I don’t know why I have not used this system before… I like it and its obvious it works.



After the wash I dried the car with the Absorber as I only have so many MF-towels. The absorber does dry the car well but as you and others have mentioned, it does stick to the surface while pulling. Is this harmful in anyway? However I have say I’ve used this so much in the past it’s hard leaving it in the cleaning box and trying something new when it has served me so well in the past… Convince me to try something else guys! J



I then used a terry applicator pad to apply my Meguiars. I used a lot less pressure in applying it this time around. I didn’t really “work it in� like I had done last time. I had some water deposits last time, and because of my lack of knowledge I worked it in with too much pressure and what I believe causing the scratches that I mentioned in my first post. With my second application of the Meguiars I was able to remove 99% of the swirl/scratches. Even ones previously on the car, even before I purchased it. I am really impressed with the outcome.



Next up was the Zymol. Which was applied with foam pads. This was applied in much the same manner as the Meguiars, using back and forth motion using light pressure and working in small sections.



Both the glaze and wax were buffed off with MF-towels.