Exterior Sequence Question

[ZeroDfx]

Traditionally when I do a thorough detailing of my cars, after washing the car I remove as much of the exterior trim as is feasible, then I begin by blue-taping off all the black window trim, the black bumper trim, the manufacturer logos, etc. I then clay the car, polish it, and seal it. I remove the blue-tape from the trim and place it below the trim on the newly sealed paint, and proceed to detail the trim to restore it to its original black luster. But in the process of doing that, it's often difficult not to get smudges of black restorer on the paint. I wipe that off immediately but wonder if I have in any way compromised the sealant.



Is this the general sequence/process that you as professionals follow, or do you do the trim first and the paint second? Or is my sequencing basically correct and I just need to be more careful when I'm detailing the black trim? Am I impacting the newly added sealant in any way? I would appreciate your perspective on this.

Thanks, Nick

 

[David Fermani]

Pre-dressing the trim can depend on if you are washing the car after the polishing step.



I would clay and then tape, not the other way around.



If you're worried about interrupting the sealant, just reapply in the areas of interest.

 

[Accumulator]

99% of the time, I use LSPs that work OK on the trim, and in the rare cases where I don't I just keep the LSP off the trim by being a little more careful. So once I've finished the correction there's no need for taping.



That's if there was a need to tape during the correction, which isn't an "always" sort of thing (not that I do full correction once in a blue moon any more...). The only time I'll *definitely* do a lot of taping is during the initial, big "just acquired the vehicle" cleanup, or if I'm doing a big job (i.e., major correction) on somebody else's vehicle.