highspeeddata
New member
Although I've detailed my own cars over the years by hand using the standard Meguiars stuff, I decided in recent months to get more serious about it having bought a new car back in November. I want to give a little back to this board for all the information I took.
Like everything else, I researched myself to death reading these forums and the sponsor's detailing tips. I ended up buying the following: Porter Cable Random Orbit Polisher (with all the different pads), Microfiber Everything (towels, pads, mits), Sea Sponger, 3M Perfect-It II Rub Comp, Swirl Mark Remover (dark cars - mine is dark blue), Finese-It II Finishing Glaze, Medallion Paint Cleaner, Klasse All-In-One (AIO), Klasse Sealent Glaze (SG), Eagle Wipe and Shine, 1000, 800, and 600 grit sandpaper, etc. And of course my cupboard is filled with a selection of my old meguiars products.
I did a lot of experimenting which I will not go into details on (would take pages and pages). Here are my major conclusions for what they are worth. I'm sure many of them have appeared before but it's always nice to get, fresh, confirming information, especially for those new to the forums who are reading the most recent posts first.
1. If you are serious about car detailing, but not a professional, get a Porter Cable Random Orbit Polisher. This thing is AWESOME. You can save time and your arms, run the thing at full speed and not even worry about burning the paint. It IS virtually DUMMY PROOF but WORKS GOOD, especially at full speed.
2. The 3M SMR does not work well with the PC Polisher (in my experience relative to FI-II - see below) - it leaves a lot of hazing/smearing. I think this stuff is more suited to hand application or something.
3. 3M Finese-it II works MUCH better than the SMR (machine application only). In fact, I would guess they are virtually identical products but the FI just doesn't have "Mineral Oil" in it (see the back labels). The consequence of this though is that the FI-II is very hard to get off. You are suppose to polish it to a wet shine, but unless you are VERY sparing with it, that could take practically hours. I found (with a white polishing pad) I'd do about 6-8 swipes with the PC, then wipe off the residue with a microfiber towel (an mf pad might work even better). Unlike the SMR which wipes off smooth with a slick feel, the FI-II dries out to kind of a clay'ish residue that takes a lot of elbow grease to wipe off. However there is one big benefit to this in my opinion, it leaves a much cleaner surface, without any oils, for the Klasse Sealant Glaze to bond too - and boy does it bond. Plus, I couldn't believe how dirty the pad was after using this stuff on a brand new car that was professionally detailed when I bought it (I dawn washed it really good too). Amazing how much crap builds up so quickly (I don't think Dawn completely removes the wax/sealant).
4. The Klasse SG does an AWESOME job of taking care of any hazing after the FI-II and hides any miner scratches, spider webs, etc, and it is NOT hard to apply contrary to what some believe. Buy a microfiber pad (it is a microfiber cloth around a sponge). Spray it with Eagle Wipe and Shine, put a dime to a quarter sized drop of SG per panel and wipe back and forth with overlapping motions occassionally re-spraying applicator with Wipe and Shine. Let dry 15-30 minutes -- (I do not believe letting this stuff dry overnight does any bit of good especially if you have an FI-II prepped surface for it to bond to) then wipe of with an MF towel.
5. If you aren't working on a virtually new finish, the 3M Perfect-It II Rubing Compound works great for removing more surface imperfections. I used it on a couple panels that had a bit more swirl marks/surface scratches and then followed with the FI-II - all using the white pad at full speed. I was expecting major swirl marks from the Rubbing Compound but again the PG is DUMMY PROOF and leaves only a slight haze at best. I think you could go from the Rubbing Compound straight to the Klasse SG (love all these abbreviations). Of course the amount of pressure you apply may change the results.
6. Be careful wet sanding. I used some 800 grit on the top of a pencil eraser with some soapy water to level a couple very small touch up jobs (about 1/8th size size of an eraser head) and it was not easy getting the buff marks out of the surrounding clear coat even though the area I wet sanded was really no bigger than an eraser head!
FINAL CONCLUSION:
I may have wasted my time and money! For $325 I can have my car completely detailed inside and out by the same guy that details all the Ferraris coming into our local dealership (he is REALLY good - works on the car most the entire day). To completely detail my car, it takes me 5-6 hours. That means I would be paying myself about $55/hr instead of taking it to this guy. However that doesn't count the $300 in tools and supplies I've bought. Now if it wasn't for the fact that I enjoy getting a work out and accomplishing something at the same time, I think I would have been better off not spending hours reading all these posts and buying $300 worth of crap, and spending hours and hours doing this and just take my car in every 4-6 months to a pro and not worry about it and go spend the day doing something more fun. But I guess some people really enjoy taking care of their own car - but come on - these isn't ANYTHING else you would rather be doing?
Like everything else, I researched myself to death reading these forums and the sponsor's detailing tips. I ended up buying the following: Porter Cable Random Orbit Polisher (with all the different pads), Microfiber Everything (towels, pads, mits), Sea Sponger, 3M Perfect-It II Rub Comp, Swirl Mark Remover (dark cars - mine is dark blue), Finese-It II Finishing Glaze, Medallion Paint Cleaner, Klasse All-In-One (AIO), Klasse Sealent Glaze (SG), Eagle Wipe and Shine, 1000, 800, and 600 grit sandpaper, etc. And of course my cupboard is filled with a selection of my old meguiars products.
I did a lot of experimenting which I will not go into details on (would take pages and pages). Here are my major conclusions for what they are worth. I'm sure many of them have appeared before but it's always nice to get, fresh, confirming information, especially for those new to the forums who are reading the most recent posts first.
1. If you are serious about car detailing, but not a professional, get a Porter Cable Random Orbit Polisher. This thing is AWESOME. You can save time and your arms, run the thing at full speed and not even worry about burning the paint. It IS virtually DUMMY PROOF but WORKS GOOD, especially at full speed.
2. The 3M SMR does not work well with the PC Polisher (in my experience relative to FI-II - see below) - it leaves a lot of hazing/smearing. I think this stuff is more suited to hand application or something.
3. 3M Finese-it II works MUCH better than the SMR (machine application only). In fact, I would guess they are virtually identical products but the FI just doesn't have "Mineral Oil" in it (see the back labels). The consequence of this though is that the FI-II is very hard to get off. You are suppose to polish it to a wet shine, but unless you are VERY sparing with it, that could take practically hours. I found (with a white polishing pad) I'd do about 6-8 swipes with the PC, then wipe off the residue with a microfiber towel (an mf pad might work even better). Unlike the SMR which wipes off smooth with a slick feel, the FI-II dries out to kind of a clay'ish residue that takes a lot of elbow grease to wipe off. However there is one big benefit to this in my opinion, it leaves a much cleaner surface, without any oils, for the Klasse Sealant Glaze to bond too - and boy does it bond. Plus, I couldn't believe how dirty the pad was after using this stuff on a brand new car that was professionally detailed when I bought it (I dawn washed it really good too). Amazing how much crap builds up so quickly (I don't think Dawn completely removes the wax/sealant).
4. The Klasse SG does an AWESOME job of taking care of any hazing after the FI-II and hides any miner scratches, spider webs, etc, and it is NOT hard to apply contrary to what some believe. Buy a microfiber pad (it is a microfiber cloth around a sponge). Spray it with Eagle Wipe and Shine, put a dime to a quarter sized drop of SG per panel and wipe back and forth with overlapping motions occassionally re-spraying applicator with Wipe and Shine. Let dry 15-30 minutes -- (I do not believe letting this stuff dry overnight does any bit of good especially if you have an FI-II prepped surface for it to bond to) then wipe of with an MF towel.
5. If you aren't working on a virtually new finish, the 3M Perfect-It II Rubing Compound works great for removing more surface imperfections. I used it on a couple panels that had a bit more swirl marks/surface scratches and then followed with the FI-II - all using the white pad at full speed. I was expecting major swirl marks from the Rubbing Compound but again the PG is DUMMY PROOF and leaves only a slight haze at best. I think you could go from the Rubbing Compound straight to the Klasse SG (love all these abbreviations). Of course the amount of pressure you apply may change the results.
6. Be careful wet sanding. I used some 800 grit on the top of a pencil eraser with some soapy water to level a couple very small touch up jobs (about 1/8th size size of an eraser head) and it was not easy getting the buff marks out of the surrounding clear coat even though the area I wet sanded was really no bigger than an eraser head!
FINAL CONCLUSION:
I may have wasted my time and money! For $325 I can have my car completely detailed inside and out by the same guy that details all the Ferraris coming into our local dealership (he is REALLY good - works on the car most the entire day). To completely detail my car, it takes me 5-6 hours. That means I would be paying myself about $55/hr instead of taking it to this guy. However that doesn't count the $300 in tools and supplies I've bought. Now if it wasn't for the fact that I enjoy getting a work out and accomplishing something at the same time, I think I would have been better off not spending hours reading all these posts and buying $300 worth of crap, and spending hours and hours doing this and just take my car in every 4-6 months to a pro and not worry about it and go spend the day doing something more fun. But I guess some people really enjoy taking care of their own car - but come on - these isn't ANYTHING else you would rather be doing?
(I keep seeing Gable not Cable in my mind) - fixed it to prevent further embarrasment.