triplejumper18
New member
So this weekend I decided to detail my 2006 Mazdaspeed6 whitewater pearl mica with paint in overall decent shape which is daily driven and use many products that I have purchased over the past couple years from John@Autopia. I am only an enthusiast and not a professional so my knowledge and skill is still modest. I accidentally left the ISO on my camera too high on some of the outdoor pictures so they are a little grainier that I would have liked. Special thanks in advance to John for helping me with these products.
PRODUCTS:
Fire hose style nozzle with multiple stream types
Microfiber wash mitt
Two bucket wash method (no fancy buckets)
Wolfgang Auto Bathe
Optimum No Rinse
Meguiars waffle weave drying towel
Mothers All Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Lambs wool three finger wheel mitt
Wheel lug brush
Isopropyl alcohol
Iron X
DP Cleanse-All Exterior Cleaner
Pinnacle XMT Final Finish Instant Detailer
Porter Cable 7424
Surbuf pads
Meguiars M105
Red finishing pad
Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0
DP Max Wax
DP Gloss Tire Gel
So I started with the wash using the two bucket wash method. I normally don't wash in the sun but it was in the evening and was only about 60 degrees and the water here isn't too hard.
I usually hose down the car and the wheels then I clean the wheels before the paint to avoid getting dirt and debris on the clean paint when rinsing the wheels.
After spraying the wheels and the tires with Mothers All Wheel and Tire Cleaner I wait a minute or two and then scrub with the lambs wool mitt and clean the lug area with the lug brush. I would like to buy a wheel/tire brush to get better agitation on the tires. The Mothers cleaner, for what it's worth, was developed by Mothers with the help of Chip Foose and Mazda. It's so good at cleaning the wheels by itself that I only use the mitt to clean the nooks and crannies. It's essentially, spray, quickly wipe, rinse.
Then I fill up the "dirty" bucket with water and most of the "clean" bucket then I pour in the Wolfgang Auto Bathe and a cap or two or Optimum No Rinse for added lubrication. The Wolfgang soap has a nice bubble gum smell to it and combined with Optimum No Rinse the microfiber wash mitt felt very slick on the car's paint. I highly recommend this combination to remove dirt while reducing the risk of swirls and scratches.
After washing using the two bucket wash method I removed the nozzle from the hose and let the water pour over the car, "sheeting" if you will, which helps remove water from the paint and glass before using drying towels. I then dried the car using a Meguiars waffle weave drying towel. This towel is at the end of its life and has worked fairly well at drying efficiently but I want to dry a Cobra waffle weave towel next as my other Cobra microfiber towels are sublime.
After the car was dry I used Isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber applicator pad to remove all sealant and wax that was previously on the car. This is a very, very cheap and easy way to get rid of sealant/wax before doing paint correction or simply wanting to lay down fresh layer(s) of sealant/wax on a clean slate.
I next tried this new Iron X product. It smells like an erupting volcano and I made sure to use latex gloves with this stuff. On white cars you can easily see the little specks of iron and other fallout. Iron X is sprayed on and then wiped off and finally rinsed to help remove these items that simply using clay will not completely take care of. It will turn purple where there is fallout so you can easily tell where the fallout is located. This stuff is nasty and smells bad even when the bottle is closed and wiped down but it works well to remove the fallout on your car. The only question I have is the impact to the environment after you rinse it off because I am not a chemist. My driveway area still has some smell to it after two days and I hope it goes away with the next rain in a day or two.
So after getting the car dry again I used DP Cleanse-All Exterior Cleaner on the door jams and a simple swipe of a microfiber towel had the dirt cleaned off. I used Pinnacle XMT Final Finish Instant Detailer on areas where the DP Cleanse-All strength wasn't needed. Be sure to not let it dry on any surfaces and it can even be diluted, but it's fantastic for those areas that really need the extra effort.
Then I applied DP Gloss Tire Gel with a tire gel applicator. It's a decent gel if you like glossy wheels. I prefer more of a flat finish but this level of gloss was fine for me. My only question will be how long it will stay looking nice in this climate.
I next did a quick clay bar job to get rid of anything left and there wasn't a whole lot. Then I broke out my Porter Cable 7424 and Meguiars M105 in my garage with a Surbuf pad. My other option was to use Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover with an orange or white pad but I had not used the M105/Surbuf combo on this car before and I wanted to see how quickly and easily I could remove the swirls. I was able to remove the vast majority of swirls with a pass or two with medium pressure and then two passes with light pressure and it also brought out more depth to the tricoat paint. After using the M105/Surbuf I was tired and the paint was looking great and I didn't feel there was a need to work the paint further with a polish or finishing glaze. The medium/light combination with this Mazda pearl white paint finished down nicely. I used two Surbuf pads for the entire car but I cleaned them after each section by holding a terry cloth on the pad while turning on the machine for a few seconds, then wiping the pad down after.
After the paint correction step I applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 with a red finishing pad on all paint and glass. I have been using this sealant since last summer and it is the best I have used. It has the look of a decent carnauba wax with the longevity of a sealant, the water beads off the car like crazy, it doesn't stain trim, and it's super easy to apply and remove. The only drawback is that it requires 12 hours of curing time after removal without ANY water and I also wait an hour or two after application till I remove it. Another bonus is that it works well on my windshield and windows to repel water, especially with good windshield wipers.
After the sealant's curing process I applied the DP Max Wax by hand with a foam pad. Apply the wax thinly as too much is a waste and will simply make it harder to remove. This wax is pretty easy to apply and easy to remove if you use thin layers. It's not greasy and there has been no sweating for me and it can also be layered on top of sealants and/or the same wax. It increased the depth of the pearl white paint a little bit but I think the levels of depth and wetness that white paints appear is going to be much less than that of dark colors. I can't wait to try this wax on my black Mazda CX-9.
Now for the finished product under a partly sunny sky.
PRODUCTS:
Fire hose style nozzle with multiple stream types
Microfiber wash mitt
Two bucket wash method (no fancy buckets)
Wolfgang Auto Bathe
Optimum No Rinse
Meguiars waffle weave drying towel
Mothers All Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Lambs wool three finger wheel mitt
Wheel lug brush
Isopropyl alcohol
Iron X
DP Cleanse-All Exterior Cleaner
Pinnacle XMT Final Finish Instant Detailer
Porter Cable 7424
Surbuf pads
Meguiars M105
Red finishing pad
Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0
DP Max Wax
DP Gloss Tire Gel
So I started with the wash using the two bucket wash method. I normally don't wash in the sun but it was in the evening and was only about 60 degrees and the water here isn't too hard.
I usually hose down the car and the wheels then I clean the wheels before the paint to avoid getting dirt and debris on the clean paint when rinsing the wheels.
After spraying the wheels and the tires with Mothers All Wheel and Tire Cleaner I wait a minute or two and then scrub with the lambs wool mitt and clean the lug area with the lug brush. I would like to buy a wheel/tire brush to get better agitation on the tires. The Mothers cleaner, for what it's worth, was developed by Mothers with the help of Chip Foose and Mazda. It's so good at cleaning the wheels by itself that I only use the mitt to clean the nooks and crannies. It's essentially, spray, quickly wipe, rinse.
Then I fill up the "dirty" bucket with water and most of the "clean" bucket then I pour in the Wolfgang Auto Bathe and a cap or two or Optimum No Rinse for added lubrication. The Wolfgang soap has a nice bubble gum smell to it and combined with Optimum No Rinse the microfiber wash mitt felt very slick on the car's paint. I highly recommend this combination to remove dirt while reducing the risk of swirls and scratches.
After washing using the two bucket wash method I removed the nozzle from the hose and let the water pour over the car, "sheeting" if you will, which helps remove water from the paint and glass before using drying towels. I then dried the car using a Meguiars waffle weave drying towel. This towel is at the end of its life and has worked fairly well at drying efficiently but I want to dry a Cobra waffle weave towel next as my other Cobra microfiber towels are sublime.
After the car was dry I used Isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber applicator pad to remove all sealant and wax that was previously on the car. This is a very, very cheap and easy way to get rid of sealant/wax before doing paint correction or simply wanting to lay down fresh layer(s) of sealant/wax on a clean slate.
I next tried this new Iron X product. It smells like an erupting volcano and I made sure to use latex gloves with this stuff. On white cars you can easily see the little specks of iron and other fallout. Iron X is sprayed on and then wiped off and finally rinsed to help remove these items that simply using clay will not completely take care of. It will turn purple where there is fallout so you can easily tell where the fallout is located. This stuff is nasty and smells bad even when the bottle is closed and wiped down but it works well to remove the fallout on your car. The only question I have is the impact to the environment after you rinse it off because I am not a chemist. My driveway area still has some smell to it after two days and I hope it goes away with the next rain in a day or two.
So after getting the car dry again I used DP Cleanse-All Exterior Cleaner on the door jams and a simple swipe of a microfiber towel had the dirt cleaned off. I used Pinnacle XMT Final Finish Instant Detailer on areas where the DP Cleanse-All strength wasn't needed. Be sure to not let it dry on any surfaces and it can even be diluted, but it's fantastic for those areas that really need the extra effort.
Then I applied DP Gloss Tire Gel with a tire gel applicator. It's a decent gel if you like glossy wheels. I prefer more of a flat finish but this level of gloss was fine for me. My only question will be how long it will stay looking nice in this climate.
I next did a quick clay bar job to get rid of anything left and there wasn't a whole lot. Then I broke out my Porter Cable 7424 and Meguiars M105 in my garage with a Surbuf pad. My other option was to use Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover with an orange or white pad but I had not used the M105/Surbuf combo on this car before and I wanted to see how quickly and easily I could remove the swirls. I was able to remove the vast majority of swirls with a pass or two with medium pressure and then two passes with light pressure and it also brought out more depth to the tricoat paint. After using the M105/Surbuf I was tired and the paint was looking great and I didn't feel there was a need to work the paint further with a polish or finishing glaze. The medium/light combination with this Mazda pearl white paint finished down nicely. I used two Surbuf pads for the entire car but I cleaned them after each section by holding a terry cloth on the pad while turning on the machine for a few seconds, then wiping the pad down after.
After the paint correction step I applied Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 with a red finishing pad on all paint and glass. I have been using this sealant since last summer and it is the best I have used. It has the look of a decent carnauba wax with the longevity of a sealant, the water beads off the car like crazy, it doesn't stain trim, and it's super easy to apply and remove. The only drawback is that it requires 12 hours of curing time after removal without ANY water and I also wait an hour or two after application till I remove it. Another bonus is that it works well on my windshield and windows to repel water, especially with good windshield wipers.
After the sealant's curing process I applied the DP Max Wax by hand with a foam pad. Apply the wax thinly as too much is a waste and will simply make it harder to remove. This wax is pretty easy to apply and easy to remove if you use thin layers. It's not greasy and there has been no sweating for me and it can also be layered on top of sealants and/or the same wax. It increased the depth of the pearl white paint a little bit but I think the levels of depth and wetness that white paints appear is going to be much less than that of dark colors. I can't wait to try this wax on my black Mazda CX-9.
Now for the finished product under a partly sunny sky.
