How to detail new paint

[Mike Snyder]

I just had my 93 SHO repainted, approximately 5 months ago.
I have not detailed it yet,
It is dark red in color.
Should I go with Black Fire wet over Ice or is there another step I should take first.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Tuck91]

I would use a pure polish and then wax of your choice.

[TOGWT]

Surface Evaluation

Diagnosis is the key; not guesswork; always use the least abrasive product / foam pad combination before ?stepping-up? to something more aggressive.
The most important first step in the process of paint surface detailing is diagnosing the paint surface; density of clear coat (hard or soft) or single stage paint, surface condition; ascertain the severity of the surface blemishes with an inspection light and the paint thickness available, measuring with a paint thickness gauge will dictate the choice and abrasiveness of polish / compound for correction or renovation level required or indeed possible.

Assess the correction level working through the range of polishes from the lightest abrasive upwards until the desired level of correction is reached. Selecting the correct pad / polish combination for the vehicles paint / defects can take just as long as the paint correction process

Select an area of 18 x 18-inches and tape it off with painter?s tape, as this is an optimal working section to perform a product test spot; this will help establish a process that will produce the best possible finish, once this is established repeat the process over the entire paint surface.

[Nick Chapman]

Surface Evaluation

Diagnosis is the key; not guesswork; always use the least abrasive product / foam pad combination before ?stepping-up? to something more aggressive.
The most important first step in the process of paint surface detailing is diagnosing the paint surface; density of clear coat (hard or soft) or single stage paint, surface condition; ascertain the severity of the surface blemishes with an inspection light and the paint thickness available, measuring with a paint thickness gauge will dictate the choice and abrasiveness of polish / compound for correction or renovation level required or indeed possible.

Assess the correction level working through the range of polishes from the lightest abrasive upwards until the desired level of correction is reached. Selecting the correct pad / polish combination for the vehicles paint / defects can take just as long as the paint correction process

Select an area of 18 x 18-inches and tape it off with painter?s tape, as this is an optimal working section to perform a product test spot; this will help establish a process that will produce the best possible finish, once this is established repeat the process over the entire paint surface.

Your post are always amazing! Huge asset to this forum and the detailing comunity as a whole! You always have a way of explaining things in great detail, yet easy to understand. When giving advice, it`s always hard for me to make things clear enough for the average person, without sounding like I`m talking down to them.

Permission to use your words to help others?


Thanks!
Nick

[Mike Snyder]

Thanks for yor help,it is very helpful

[TOGWT]

[Permission to use your words to help others? ]

Some words that have stayed with me for five + decades- "Experience unshared is Knowledge wasted" Anon

[MrPongoSS]

There might be other issues as well with your paint. Common issues such as dye-back might be happening. Dye-back is when the clearcoat (if your finish was done with basecoat/clearcoat) is curing or "gassing-off" and it is starting to "shrink" or settle onto the finish. What this will do is reveal sand scratches and other little blemishes that were in the clearcoat. This is usually normal for finishes that are curing. I would take care of those issues with a good compound (I perfer to use 3M Perfect-It Compound #1), rotary buffer, and either a closed-nap wool pad or a cutting foam pad of your choice. Follow it up with a finish polish (I really like either Menzerna Intensive Polish or PO106FF) and a rotary buffer over the entire vehicle.
Now, I usually take this one step further here. What I will do is go back over the finish after the rotary polish with an Orbitial/DA buffer (i.e. Porter Cable 7424), polish foam pad, and Intensive Polish or 106FF. I do this to make sure that I have gotten out any "rotary swirls" (swirl marks that are left from the rotary buffer) that might be left in the finish. You can also try a product like Menzerna Final Polish II and a light polishing pad to see if that will take of the swirls as well. Sometimes less is more here. From here, you can follow it up with either a glaze and wax, or an all-in-one product.
I usually reccomend doing this on new finishes six months after they have been painted. This will let you get out any blemishes left over from the paint process and give you a good base to start maintaining your finish. I hope this helps some!