New Here

[BigR]

Hi all,
My expertise in detailing automobiles is, well, non-existant. My idea of detailing, up to about 3 weeks ago, was to wash the exterior and then wax it. Then vacuum and clean the interior, and put some kind of nice odor device to make it smell nice. That was it. Up to about 3 weeks ago, I had never even heard of detailing clay, much less knowing the difference between a polish and a wax. But I have been doing a lot of research on the internet lately because I want my truck to really look nice and be "protected" as well. And the reason I am doing this research now is that my wife's car is getting really oxidated on the hood lately, and I want to do something to bring the paint back out, if possible, and then protect it from the harsh environment which I should have done a long time ago. So I am here to learn and to ask a lot of questions. I hope you don't get tired of me asking questions. It is very confusing, to me anyway, trying to "weed out" all the hype and marketing schemes out there and get some really good advise on how to protect my vehicles. I hope to take some pics of my wife's car and uploading here, (when I figure out how to do that) so that you guys can help me to figure out what I need to do. And also to help me protect my truck's paint as well, since I have probably been doing the wrong thing to that truck from the beginning also.

 

[PA DETAILER]

welcome BIGR. lot of good people and info here.

 

[mjlinane]

Welcome to AutopiaForums!

 

[BigR]

Be back soon.

 

[Pats300zx]

Welcome

 

[Old Pirate]

Hi all,
My expertise in detailing automobiles is, well, non-existant. My idea of detailing, up to about 3 weeks ago, was to wash the exterior and then wax it. Then vacuum and clean the interior, and put some kind of nice odor device to make it smell nice. That was it. Up to about 3 weeks ago, I had never even heard of detailing clay, much less knowing the difference between a polish and a wax. But I have been doing a lot of research on the internet lately because I want my truck to really look nice and be "protected" as well. And the reason I am doing this research now is that my wife's car is getting really oxidated on the hood lately, and I want to do something to bring the paint back out, if possible, and then protect it from the harsh environment which I should have done a long time ago. So I am here to learn and to ask a lot of questions. I hope you don't get tired of me asking questions. It is very confusing, to me anyway, trying to "weed out" all the hype and marketing schemes out there and get some really good advise on how to protect my vehicles. I hope to take some pics of my wife's car and uploading here, (when I figure out how to do that) so that you guys can help me to figure out what I need to do. And also to help me protect my truck's paint as well, since I have probably been doing the wrong thing to that truck from the beginning also.

Welcome to Autopiaforums BigR, you came to the right place! Here are our " How to Guides " section which is a great place to start before asking questions. When your done there you should be going around second base to third and your questions that you will be posting will take you to home. Welcome and enjoy!:welcome:

 

[Todd@RUPES]

Welcome! I had relieved your email about your account, glad it got straightened out.

With the vast amount of detailing products it can be very easy to get discouraged and confused. In general paint detailing can be broken down into 5 steps.

1) Wash - This includes the initial deep cleaning as well as follow up maintenance washing.

2) Paint Decontamination- The process of deep cleaning any material off of the paint. Traditionally this was done with detailing clay, but now can be done with specialized towels, discs, and even sprays.

3) Paint Enhancement/Paint Correction- The process of removing scratching, swirl marks, oxidation, and other defects. Most commonly done with a machine polisher. This step creates the majority of the shine.

4) Protection- The process of protecting the polished surface. Carnauba wax and synthetic paint sealants are the most common. Semi-permanent and permanent paint coatings are also an option. The right LSP (Last Step Protectant) can alter the look of the paint and give you that extra shine.

5) Maintenance- This is the process of maintaining the LSP (wax/sealant/coating) which is protecting your paint's finish. Quick detailers, spray waxes, and spray sealants fall into this category.

Over time any of the 5 steps is required to keep you paint looking great. With careful washing (step 1) and regular maintenance (step 5) the frequency of steps 2,3, and 4 can be greatly reduced.

 

[BigR]

Ok, I'm back. (haha)
First, thank you all for the nice welcome I have been receiving.
Second, thank you Zoom for the link. I shall start there directly. But I just want to post the pics I took of my wife's car this afternoon and see what you guys think. You all might have to be sitting down for this one. I think it looks really baaad. This is the first time I do this, so I hope they come out ok so that you can be able to evaluate the mess properly and give me pointers on what I need to do.
Thanks again.

 

[Merlin]

Ouch!

Welcome to AF!

_____________

Merlin

 

[tropicsteve]

welcome to the forum. your paint looks pretty rough and may be beyond a compounding and polish. is the paint worn through to the primer coat ? if so, only a repaint will help that.

 

[BobbyG]

:autopia:

Welcome Aboard!!

 

[BobbyG]

Unfortunately there not much that can be done other then refinishing the panel. If the rest of the car is in similar condition then a complete paint job is the only way to correct this...

 

[BigR]

I told you you guys had to be sitting down for this one. (haha) What happened was that she got hit by a big rock from a semi, and we had it repaired and repainted, but apparently the paint job was not the caliber of paint that was orginially on the car. Years of neglect has taken its toll. The rest of the car is still very nice, but the hood is the only problem. Yeah, it looks like the paint is worn down to the primer or even below that. So I guess the only thing to do is to repaint it. I was afraid of that. Thanks for your input guys.
Now moving on to my truck. I am going to upload the pics I took for your evaluation. I do have some scratches and chips (hood area) and would like to polish all the scratches out and maybe fill in the chips and then put on a good protectant on there to protect the paint, and then a good wax on top. You guys tell me if I am out of line with this one.
The last one is some of the chips on the hood if they uploaded in order.
A little about what I do so that maybe you can give me a most cost/time effective method of what I need to do.
I work from 7 am to 10 pm everyday. I have two jobs. On Saturdays, I attend workshops for a class that I teach at a community college. Sundays is really the only day I have to do anything around the house or elsewhere. So you can see that my time is really tight. I was sort of looking into that Meguiars cleaner/wax #6 because it does do an all in one kind of thing, being that my time is very limited. But don't know how well it wll protect my truck.
I was also looking into the Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Car Wax because I have a hard time avoiding my rubber/vinyl trim I have and it is freaking hard to remove afterwards, and this product claims that it does not harm or cause whiteness on any trim. That would save me A LOT of time.
Your opinion on all this is well respected and appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[BigR]

Hi guys, any ideas on this?

 

[brianwalsh]

Hey Big,
i can't really judge, just by the pictures.run your fingernail over it and see if you can feel it. if you can, then you are past polishing/compounding it. time to touch them up. if you cant feel it and it still feels "smooth",what you are going to have to do is test the scratch area. start with a light abrasive polish and see if it has any impact on the scratch. then judge to go over a second time to finish getting it out or to step up to a more abrasive polish/compound. if its still not doing anything, you may have to wet sand it. do your research before wet sanding. when touching up my advice is never use the supplied brushes, they are too big. a toothpick can work a lot better. all you want to do is make light dots inside the scratch or chips. keep dotting until the area is filled. this will help the repair from looking blotchy or with brush strokes.
hope this helps

 

[brianwalsh]

oh... and by "filling" the chip, i don't know what you would do unless you have a professional kit that runs you about 4g's. otherwise you don't want to fill the chip, with touch up paint, less is more. you just want to lightly cover the "white" part of the chip. that's where the "dotting" process comes in. you just want to very lightly apply the paint only to the "white" part and only until the "white" part is gone, not filled. it'll never look factory up close, but it will be unnoticeable from normal viewing distance.

 

[BigR]

Brian, this does help a lot. It does not feel smooth and my fingernails do get stuck on the chips and scratches. I will have to repaint or retouch the areas. That idea with the toothpicks seems to be the way to go. I do have a small bottle of the paint, and the brush is kind of big for what I need it for. I am going to try the toothpick idea you gave me.
thanks.

 

[BigR]

Brian,
Why wouldn't you want the chip filled? Wouldn't that make it better and protect it better?

 

[brianwalsh]

Factory paint is sprayed on and baked using a heat room. then wet sanded to smooth out any imperfections. when you spray a vehicle your only misting on paint in coats. then after the several coats they bake it to harden the paint and cure it. with that said... time to answer your question... it really all depends on how deep the chip is, you never want to blob on touch up paint. it may not adhere or cure properly, let a lone it will look like you blobbed it on. leaving you with a covered but not well protected chip, in time start peeling or worse, rust. with the dotting technique you don't use a lot of paint, but it will adhere and cure properly. but it would take a lot of dotting to try and fill in a deep chip. you would need to coat the area, let it sit for 5 mins and do a second coat, so on and so on until it is filled... With that said, just try one coat of the dotting technique on just one of those chips you have, then call your wife over to try and find the chip ( you have to call someone else over because, you know where you fixed it and can see the imperfection. But to someone else, they can't tell the difference). I'm sure both of you would be happy with the repair. oh.. i never did mention, whenever you paint, you always want to prep the surface before you add touch up paint to get rid of any natural oils and dirt. They sell surface prep at any parts stores but you can even do that with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel if you don't want to toss out 10 bucks. as a matter of fact here is a good video on how to touch up [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HXOcRv-oxc&feature=player_embedded]How to repair deep scratches with the ScratchOut paint touch up system - YouTube[/ame]

 

[BigR]

Thanks Brian. That really does explain it to me. That was an awesome explanation. And it make perfect sense now. That video was very helpful also. Thanks again.
But guess what? I was going to lunch just now, and noticed that someone hit my rear panel of my truck when it was parked at work. Damn, you try to move up in the world, and someone is always bringing you down. I can't believe this s_ _ _ ! This day really sucks for me. I now have to wait to fix my truck before I can do any detailing. Uploading my pics for you to see.