New F150 Candy Red Metallic

D

digibud

New member
I will soon be taking delivery on a Candy Red Metallic (a new formulation apparently) Ford F150. It's my first new car in 18 years...and I figure I might as well take a bit of care with it. Any suggestions on products ? I have gathered I will not use cleaning products...given the paint is new but occasionally I hear comments on this or that product being better or worse for metallics and I'm unsure as to whether there are things to watch for with a brand new truck. I'll be buying either a Flex or PorterCable, I think. I live in the far North and the truck will see many miles of serious Winter driving with Winter care and washing being next to impossible other than in a commercial car wash...which I'm also unsure about. Thoughts about products and the use of commercial car washes. I'm totally clueless about waterless washing which is next on my list of things to explore. Cool web site. Thanks.
 
Welcome to the site and congrats on the new truck. Heres a common myth that Ill bust for you right off the bat - new cars DO need to be clayed. Ive seen clay pull rail dust from brand new cars from when they were shipped by train. Get a good clay bar and use it regularly. Im not going to tell you specifically what brand of product to use because there are so many great products out there and opinions are like..well everyone has one. You could use a machine and polish right off the bat but I would say a clay bar, a good paint sealant, and some high quality wax would be enough until the new wears off. You might look into Optimum Opti-Seal. That would definitely give you some winter protection. Waterless washing is great unless your truck is pretty dirty. A little road grim isnt a problem. As for the commercial car washes, they are what they are. As long as its not a tunnel wash with brushes, its just a power washer with a soap setting.
 
Thanks for the clay bar tip. I would not have realized it. I'm not sure what commercial washes don't have big rotating brushes. I think our town has two car washes that I can think of and I'm pretty sure both use flopping towels and rotating brushes. It's probably that or nothing...unless I can conceive of doing something in the garage which may not be impossible but i've never been motivated enough to try to wash the car indoors given the lack of drainage into frozen ground. With a wet dry vac I probably could pull it off but I'm not sure I will... :)
 
Look into something like ONR for washing in a garage it will be a lot easier and less water is used. If it's extremely dirty I would rinse it off first outside and then pull it in and use ONR or something similar


Welcome to AF and make sure to post a pic of your truck. I'd like to see that color
 
I just bought a new Kia Sorento a week ago and clay barred it Saturday and pulled off rail dust. It had been on the lot since June. When I bought my new Mustang GT/CS last fall, I got it the day it came in and later clay barred it and found no rail dust. So, sometimes they have rail dust and it's good to do it just in case.
 
now to do some searching and find out what ONR is....

I'll clay bar it just for fun...by the time it gets to Alaska it has to have done some travelling...
 
Garry Dean made a post last week (I think) about DP no rinse and he likes it better than Optimum No Rinse. I've only used ONR so I can't speak of any other product good or bad.

If you need help finding info just ask and I'll try to help
 
I am working on an article about the 5 steps of paint car, basically washing, claying, polishing, protecting, and maintaining.

Washing is the most important step you can perfect when it comes caring for your new car. In the meantime check out the how to section at Autopia-CarCare.com.
 
Thanks! I read the waterless washing explanation and had to chuckle. Seems your car has to be clean before you wash it :). My challenge in the winter will be coming home with caked on ice and slush splashed on the car's sides and finding the most reasonable way to care for a car that is actually dirty...perhaps by using a commercial car wash and following that up...or some not-entirely waterless method in the garage.
 
Welcome to AutopiaForums digibud, just like so many had stated a clay bar is a great product to have and use on your new truck. The How To Section is a great place to start reading just like Todd has mention. This section I recommend for all to bookmark when looking for answer's on detailing their vehicles. Any questions you may have please post them and we are all here to help out. :welcome:
 
DP rinseless totally blew me away compared to onr. It was so much slicker and worked almost too well as a clay lube. I would highly recommend DP. Onr is a solid product and I have yet to find an optimum product I dont like but for clay lube the win goes to DP.
 
Sadly this has become a moot point, at least for me, the OP. The local dealer would only come down $1500 off the MSRP. While there were some additional rebates, I felt he could have come down more than $1500 off the MSRP and in spite of having the truck custom ordered, once it got here we could not come to an agreement on the pricing so I walked away from the deal. There is only one local Ford dealer and nothing available in our state so a Ford won't be in my future unless I find a good used truck. Quite a shame as I was looking forward to this. If I were to be convinced that $1500 off MSRP is a smoking deal on a nicely decked out Lariat Ecoboost...which I can't imagine from my research to this point. Anyone want to convince me that I should run back to the dealer and beg forgiveness for having rejected a great deal?
 
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