Doing the WRX - First PC work tomorrow

P

PerroneFord

Hobbyist Detailer
Well,



I bought all the stuff I could localy, and I have a borrowed PC with an orange pad and a red waxing pad. I'm excited but nervous about doing this for the first time tomorrow.



I have a few questions that I am hoping you guys can will help me with.



1. What do I mask off? I have blue painters tape at the ready in two widths. This is a daily driver, and something of a beater, so I am not trying to get this show ready. Just want it to look decent. I assume I'll be masking off the side marker lights, any brightwork, etc. I've seen people tape the seams, but do I really need to do that? Will the pads catch in the seams if I don't tape them?





2. I have the Meguiars 3 step OTC stuff. One says "paint cleaner", one says "deep polish", and there is the carnauba wax. Since I only have one polishing pad, my thought are to just do the polish, and leave the paint cleaner alone for now. I know my paint could use it, but I'll be doing this all over again in a month with my own PC and with some better products. Anyone think I should use the paint cleaner instead of the polish?



3. Does anyone know specifically on this car, what I need to protect on the engine so that I can detail that decently? Again, I am just going for a general clean-up, not showcar.





And just a general comment. I don't know what you pro guys use for wheel cleaning and tire cleaning, but I bought some eagle 1 wheel and tire cleaner tonight to get started, and that stuff works VERY well. Better than I had expected. I have used their wheel cleaner before but never got the results I wanted, then I read online to use the product with the wheels dry. MAN did that make the difference! I did some light brushing of the wheels and the tires with a small brush, just because they were SO dirty, but they were clean enough to eat off when I got done. I also shot some crc Brake Cleen on the calipers and discs and that seems to have worked nicely as well. Very cheap, and worked remarkably well.



Thanks everyone. I think I am going to have fun here! :)
 
1. i don't mask as much when using a pc compared to rotary work, but i would cover vinyl/plastic that could get scuffed or stained by polish/pads. some people cover the windows with newspaper or old towels to decrease cleanup time (if there is a lot of dust from polishing). seems are not required to be taped w/ a PC since burning the paint is much less likely (but still possible if you're aggressive enough...).



2. not familiar with the meg's products you have, but you can do the paint cleaner by hand...a PC is not necessary



3. not familiar w/ that car enough to say...



yes, the E1 tire/wheel cleaner is great stuff!



good luck and post pics when you're done!!!
 
Wow, did I learrn a LOT today! I worked from 7am until 2pm. Which was about 2 hours too long in the Florida sun!



I did the wheels last night with Eagle One Tire and Wheel. Results were gorgeous. I need to take the wheels off next month and do a proper job, but they look great for now. This morning at 7am, I did my first 2 bucket wash, using a microfiber wash for everything above the bumper, and a chemille I already owned for everything below. Car looked pretty nice after that.



After washing and drying (need to get a BIG towel or two) I started with the claybar for the first time ever. I had a Megs bar and their quick detailer. This went pretty well. The front of the car which was resprayed to my spec last year, was lovely. Very little in the way of contaminants. The roof was filthy. The sides weren't too awful, and the truck and quarters needed some time spent.



After than I rinsed the car down again and dried. Then masked it all off. That took longer than I imagined. The sun was starting to really warm up at this point, but the paint wasn't too hot. I started with the hood using the least aggressive polish on a Griot's orange pad. The abrasive wasn't strong enough to do ANY correction. But since the paint was new up front, little was needed. There is a stone chip that will need to be corrected professionally. The hood, and front bumper went well. I went to the passenger side front quarter and door, and those went nicely, but I was getting a lot of pad buildup. I washed the pad, and continued on. By the time I got the rear quarter on that side, the sun had heated things up too much. I decided to do the engine at that point, and that worked out quite well. I covered the alternator with a plastic bag and went for it. It came reasonably clean, and the car did not misfire.



I parked in the shade and continued with the polish. I was having mixed results from a number of things. Pad buildup, car too hot, trying to work too quickly, etc. I was also upset that I was getting NO corrections in the paint from the polish. It was taking out the lightest of scratches, but nothing else. I'll be ordering some REAL products in a few weeks and trying this all over again. I finally got the polish done around 2pm but it was FAR too hot to wax. So I did some detail work under the hood cleaning up the hoses, and rubber/vinyl bits. Then I moved to the door surround rubber, and other areas that were vinyl. This worked very well, and I am quite pleased with the results.



My car is still filthy inside, and is still masked. But I am going to de-mask it and go have a few drinks tonight. My back is KILLING me, as I got some spasms. Beer will improve that I hear!



Tomorrow, I'll do a quick detail, then wax the car, and vacuum and detail the inside.



All in all, a positive experience, and very rewarding. I can't wet to get the proper stuff to work with, and find a nice garage to work in uninterrupted.



Thanks for this site. It's been a Godsend to learn how to tackle doing this. I would have never tried it on my own. And I have one HECK of a project waiting in the wings. My offroad modified, rarely washed, never waxed or polished, 1991 Range Rover. The top is so oxidized, I think it will have to be resprayed. We'll see!



-P
 
Detailers definition of irony:



Spend 7 hours detailing car before it becomes too hot to work. Thirty minutes before resumnig work, with only the wax left to do, the heavens open up with the first rain in a month. Predicted rain chance for today... 20%.



I can now say that Megs OTC final polish beads nicely... :)



I can also say that taking off blue painters tape as it is soaking wet, in the rain, is a lot of fun.
 
Are you in NY? I had the same thing, I finished my friends Tahoe after working on it all day...dropped it off and get a phone call, it rained on it already lol.
 
No, I'm in north Florida. And we desperately needed the rain with all the forest fires down here. It's been awful. Smoke was heavy in the air today.



So I got up this morning to see what I'd be left with after it rained on the car yesterday. I decided it wasn't too awful, so I just filled a bucket with warm water and used a microfiber wash mitt and a drying towel, and rinsed down the car and dried it.



I brought out the Griots red pad, and the Megs carnauba. I started with half the hood. Smeared the wax from the pad onto the hood to define my work area, applied the wax with the PC set on 1. Moved to 3 and made sure I had a nice even coat. Then went to 5 for a while until I had a lovely, even haze, and I noticed the wax drying slightly as I went over it. Let it sit for a bit, then wiped it down. WHOA!! So that's what this is all about! First time I'd seen the car's true colors since I bought it used. My goodness what a difference.



It was a nice, cool, overcast morning. I made good progress around the car but by the time I was finishing the hood and moving to the trunk, the sun was poking out and heating things up QUICKLY. I worked as quickly as I could, and started spritzing with the megs QD to keep things from getting dry and sticky. As I moved around the other side of the car, things were better as the sun wasn't hitting that side as hard.



All in all, I am very pleased with the results. It was somewhat disheartening to go through all this without being able to do ANY real paint correction based on the polish and pads I had available, but it was a great dress rehersal for next month when I order my own stuff.



It was also sad to see how much the previous owner had hammered the paint. I've certainly done my fair share out of neglect and poor choices, but in his case, he had let lovebugs DRY on the car and never washed it. The paint was permantely destroyed. I had a front end fenderbender 2 years ago that allowed me to re-paint the front clip with Glasurit. I wish I had cared for it better, but it's miles ahead of where the car started.



I'll do the upholstery and carpets tonight or tomorrow after work. Just want it decent. Need to do the glass as well. So not a full detail, but a great introduction to the process. This site has been marvelous in showing me the way....
 
Nice write-up. You need to submit pics of the WRX! I have also found this site to be a godsend. All I ever used was an orbital I bought Pep Boys and Klasse AIO and SG. Even with those products I got good results but after getting a real machine (Cyclo) and proper polishing products I got even better results. I need to post pics of my daughters Celica (my experimental car) and my X5 which I did yesterday. All the swirls/scratches came out. The only thing missing on that is a deep finish but I'm too tired to apply a wax to it.



I'm also looking to try P21S on my wife's red TT but not until after a full detail. Good luck with the RR.
 
Hey thanks,



I may try to snap a few shots of the WRX next month when I do it for real. This was really just an experiment. The polish I was using wasn't really strong enough to even get swirls out. Not that there are many. But there are so many chips and gouges in the paint, I almost hate to post it! :)



The Megs stuff I was using didn't seem to really like the high speed of the PC much. I got quite a bit of dusting, even when I was working with a cool car. I kept spritzing with QD to try to keep things workable. I'd really to do the job inside to get it done right. I am working of finding a place to do that. Maybe if I can do a few friends or co-workers cars a couple once a month, it will pay for the space. I really hate not having my house now.



I see you have a BMW. I had an E30 325 for a long time. Loved that car. Gave it to my ex's daughter and she promply destroyed it. :(
 
LOL, my daughter wrecked the '88 528e I bought her so I can relate.



Having an indoor workplace is a blessing when working on cars. For example, yesterday I was working on the SUV. It normally stays outside. Well, half way through the sky just opened up and poured. And, I can't imagine detailing in the Florida heat. Assume you are in an apartment and can't use one of those metal car canopies?
 
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