Your Personal Cars/Too Much Polishing?

[CJ from Granite Bay, CA]

If you are selling a used car and the potential buyer wants your car inspected by their mechanic, at their expense. Should you make the repairs, which are normal wear and tear, prior to the sale of the auto that their mechanic pointed out? The car that is being sold is 10 years old, good exterior and paint, good to excellent interior, sound engine/transmission, mechanically sound, low mileage for the age of the auto and has many extras ie., custom wheels/tires, custom stereo and sound system.



What is your opinion?

[bmerjorge21]

That`s a pretty interesting question CJ!! I have sold only one used car, and the guy`s mechanic pointed out shot wheel bearings, and it needed new front rotors. I basically deducted the cost of repairs from the selling price. I suggest getting an estimate for the repairs from you mechanic, and negotiating this into the selling price. So in answer to your oringinal question, yes I would either have the repairs made, or take money off from the final selling price.

[Lemonxxs]

You are under no obligation to repair anything. The buyer may want a price deduction but you can always negotiate like when buying a house. Negotiate on price or just wait for another buyer.



All depends on sell price and repair costs. I would not get it fix because he could leave you hanging, unless you get purchase agreement up front. Your best bet would be to reduce your sell price by some amount but not the full repair amount. Other wise I he could find all sorts of things wrong to the point where you owe him money to take it off your hands.



Remember to State "As Is"!



Used cars are just that used and problems are expected.



Good Luck!

[Don2000g]

Two very interesting perspectives. I would probably fall into Dave`s mode of thinking though. If its something serious, then negotiate a bit but don`t deduct the entire price for the part and or labor.

[imported_StitcH]

I`ve been wondering what you guys do with your personal cars? I`m only doing this as a hobby and I`m not sure how often I should be doing everything.

Now that the weather is warming up, I`m planning on washing every week/every other week, but as far as claying/polishing/waxing, I`m at a loss. My car is essentially brand new (bought in August of `09) and last October-ish I clayed, polished (with Blackfire GEP), and waxed (errr sealed with BFWD). I used a Griot`s random orbital with 2 LC CCS 6.5" white pad for the polishing, and a gold pad for the sealant.

I was originally planning on doing this in the fall and spring of every year to prep for winter and to recover from winter, but I`m not sure how good of an idea it is to polish every six months? So I can basically wrap up my entire post in 1 sentence, is it bad to polish (even with a light polish such as BF GEP) once every 6 months?

Thanks for any input!

[mink]

It sounds like a good plan to maintain your ride, I don`t think polishing every six months with a random polisher will hurt the finish. Twice a year for wax or sealant is good,but every 3 months is better. Just my opinion, if you have the time more is better.

[imported_Indy YZF]

If you keep it clean and wash correctly, you probably shouldn`t have to polish too much. I usually end up with snow brush marks from the winters, so I try to get those out. I clay usually twice a year (spring/fall), and wax it every 3 months or so.

Like mink said, polishing once a year with a white pad won`t kill you, but if you maintain correctly, you can minimize the need to.

[imported_Clark]

Providing you wash/dry correctly you should only ever really need to give it a light polish with a mild finishing polish every 12-18 months, maybe possibly less if it`s an unforgiving colour that shows light marring marks easier

[IDGAS]

For me it depends on the color of the car. My black vehicle gets a full detail every six months. My wife`s silver vehicle, maybe 3/4 of a detail once a year.
This is not because it is her car, (both equally as new and comparable)) is it just black will show a molecule of imperfection whereas silver will almost hide a blob of bird poop.

[imported_jaredpointer]

Polishing? As little as necessary.

I agree with the above comments that if you get your wash/dry routine down to a science that you won`t have to polish nearly as much.

I generally do a "full polish" paint routine on my vehicles about once per year.

[imported_Luster]

Polishing? As little as necessary.

....I generally do a "full polish" paint routine on my vehicles about once per year.

Agreed. You should only polish when it is needed. How do you know when it`s needed? When swirlmarks start showing up in direct sunlight.

I like to do my daily drivers in the spring, after the long harsh winter is behind us. Winter is hard on vehicles. Snow, ice, road salt, sand, brutal driving conditions.

They need a good pampering once a year... in the spring!ancing Dot::biggrin:

After you polish, put on a couple coats of sealant. And do this every 4-6 months. (You don`t have to polish before you seal. But you should claybar before you seal!) Be sure to apply your sealant right before the winter season begins.

Washing every week with a good quality car wash soap is a good idea also.:biggrin:

[imported_StitcH]

Thanks for all of the responses guys! I do have a black car, so I guess I will just play it by ear whether or not I will need to polish it in the fall or not. I`m assuming I`m going to have some marks from winter so I`ll probably end up polishing in the next few weeks.

After reading all of the comments, here is what I`ve gotten out of them, let me know if you approve

Spring - Full Detail
1) Clay
2) Polish
3) Seal

In Between - Every 3 months or so
1) Clay
2) Seal

Fall
1) Clay
2) Polish only if necessary
3) Seal

Seem good? Also in addition to that is washing w/ proper techniques every week or every other week

[Todd@RUPES]

If you are repeatedly damaging the clear coat with deep scratches and marks then having to polish an excessive amount of clear coat to repair the damage then yes, you are going to thin the clear coat over time.

However, if you are careful with how you wash the car any swirl marks that appear are going to be extremely shallow in depth and polish away fairly easily. The typical clear coat on most cars is about 1.5 mils of paint thick. To maintain the integrity of the (OEM) paint you don`t want to remove more then 30% of this coating over the life of a vehicle, so about .4 mils total.

Most swirl marks are less then .05 of a mil in depth, can often be removed with any indication of film removal. I have polished many cars to to 95% swirl free and not been able to record any changes in paint depth.

Polishing with a mild polish and pad (such as GEP) would take many many appilcations (on most paints) before any change in thickness could be recorded. If you where to polish your car once every six months with GEP and a pad, it think it would take years upon years upon years before any film reduction is noticed, and 4 times longer then that before you started to excessively thin the clear coat, at which point many cars of that vintage look like beaters or be in the junk yard anyways.

Todd

[bmw5541]

I do a full detail once in the spring. The winter here in the North East is extreemly hard on the car`s finish. Then again, in the fall to prep for the winter. If the paint is still in good condition, then you can skip the polishing, but I would still clay it and maybe a cleaner polish (GEP), and then seal it. Just be careful how you treat your car on a dialy basis, and you shouldn`t any more then once every 6 months.

[imported_StitcH]

Thanks for the replies guys