First Detail - What did I do wrong?

S

strat60

New member
I just wanted to start this off by saying I really love the board!



Anyway, I wanted to ask a couple of questions. I tackled detailing my own car today, and the results were not that good. This is my order:



Washed with Megs GC with sheepskin



Rinse



Clayed the whole car



Rinsed



Applied Megs #7 with a RO buffer



Buffed #7 by hand



Applied Black Magic Liquid Wax



Buffed by hand



Anyways, I can tell there is some residue left from the wax. Can I take a terry cloth bonnet and buff this stuff out? Tonight, I also noticed swirl marks and scratches. I thought that the #7 would fill this stuff in. Maybe I didn't apply it right?



Anyway I might be able to touch this stuff up?



Thanks for your help!
 
:welcome to Autopia strat60,



There is a couple of factors involved here as to why you have smearing. You could've applied either of the products to thick, not enough drying time, also, I"m assuming RO means Orbital buffer right???? :confused:



Some solutions here you can try. Wash the car with a quality car wash, use a QD (Quick Detailer spray) and a MF (Microfiber) towel. Hope this helps:up ,,,,,,91
 
Thanks for the warm welcoming!



Just read Mike Phillips' article...yes it could very well be leftover oils. Maybe I should just make a few passes with the buffer and see if that takes care of it.



What about the scratches? To get those out, am I going to have to take off the wax and glaze to get to those?
 
#7 is pretty good at hiding and minimizing swirls, but if you have swirls and scratches, don't expect #7 to make your paint look unblemished.



How old is the paint? #7 really doesn't have any cleaning properties, and if your car needed clay, it could probably benefit from a light cleaning as well.



Yes, if you want to work on the swirls it will remove your wax. That's why it's important to prep well in the first place. :)
 
Strat60- Welcome to Autopia! Yeah, you're gonna have to cut through your freshly applied wax to remove the scratches/swirls. Whatever product you use to remove the marring will just cut through the wax, so there's no real need to remove it first.



FWIW, *I* never found #7 (or anything else) to be all that great at hiding such things. Better to remove/lessen them with a (mild) abrasive polish and then work at not re-introducing them.



Since your car is freshly waxed, maybe you could work at refining your wash technique (it's a little trickier than one might think to wash/dry a car without marring it) while you wait for the wax to wear off (it won't take all that long). But if the marring really bothers you, then yeah, go for it. Get something like 3M PI-III MG (pn 05937) and use it to remove/minimize your marring, then follow up with your #7 and wax.
 
Just wanted to update folks. Today I used a RO with a terry bonnet and got most of the residue off (Thanks, Mike Phillips). I got that "reflection" type of look people seem to go for, but I still see the swirls in the right light.



I think I 'm going to hold off on stripping the wax and just concentrate on my washing technique as was suggested here. Thanks for your help, folks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top