Does anyone have a method for getting the "waxy" preservative that was spayed all over the engine bay of my 1993 300ZX. The outside of my car has been Zainoed and looks great but I have not been able to come up with a way to clean up the engine bay. This "waxy" substance looks bad and traps all sorts of sand and dirt! Engine cleaners such as "Gunk" don't even touch this stuff. Thanks, Rob C.
Newbie from Canada
- Thread starter FJF
- Start date
Wow, quick replies! The car has 67,400 on it. I have used Purple Power from Walmart to clean cosmoline off of 50 year old guns and it comes right off. The stuff around the engine and all over it just won't budge. 300Zx engines are crammed in there and they generate a lot of heat here in FL, even the fender get warm to the touch. Heat doesn't touch this stuff. I have seen cars in some of the magazines and some don't seem to have ever had any of this preservative put on them. Even the head Detailer at the local Porsche/BMW dealer didn't know of anything to use and I have learned a lot from him(every new car that comes in is clayed before delivery!). Thanks again!
Preachers Sheets
New member
Make sure your engine isn't warm and I would use something mild like Castrol degreaser, from there, you can get those long soft bristle brushes from an auto store and just get in the odd places and so forth. I would wear a glove and use my hands to soften up some of the gunk and use the brush for the other areas. After that, dress your plastic, hoses and use a metal polish on any parts that can be cleaned and your engine will look 100 times better.
Hi
First time on a forum like this one
Glad to be here
Just bought a 2011 Nissan Coupe (Metallic smoke colour)
Had dealer send it for 'protection' to the paint finish but to be frank, I'm not impressed with the results (ie noticed small surface scratches & swirls in the clear coat. (being from Canada, I did not notice this in February)
What would be my options considering I have no (zero) expertise in this field
/
Thanking you in advance
BTW great site!!!!!!!
Dave
First time on a forum like this one
Glad to be here
Just bought a 2011 Nissan Coupe (Metallic smoke colour)
Had dealer send it for 'protection' to the paint finish but to be frank, I'm not impressed with the results (ie noticed small surface scratches & swirls in the clear coat. (being from Canada, I did not notice this in February)
What would be my options considering I have no (zero) expertise in this field
/
Thanking you in advanceBTW great site!!!!!!!
Dave
Todd@RUPES
Just a regular guy
Hi Dave!
No need to apologize, we keep it light hearted and I doubt anybody would be offended. Welcome to the forum.
Unfortunately a lot of brand new cars are delivered from the factory with surface scratches from assembly workers rubbing against them or wiping dust off, etc. By the time the dealer gets a hold of them they are already in less than great shape.
Car's are transported from the factory to dealership by a variety of methods, depending on the distances between the two. For local transport, most cars are shipped in open car movers. This means the cars have to be loaded and jostled around, scuffs and little dings are bound to happen. For long distance travel across the continent, railroads are still the perfered method. This subjects most new cars to rail dust and fall out, before being loaded on a delivery truck.
Cars' that are imported are shipped on a large cargo vessel, along side other 'cargo'. If you consider how much the paint is carelessly rubbed as it being stuffed into a crate, with packing material, blows the idea of a perfect finish out of the water, long before the car is subjected to more travel.
Finally your new car, battered by the wars of it's voyage, arrives at the dealership needing a good bath. Normally your car is loaded into an automated wash, which features high speed cloth flaps spinning across the surface while your car is blasted with pressurized detergent. Lucky to make it out alive, the car is checked out, passes inspection, and is moved to the lot.
The lot is a scary place for a new car. Depending on the time of year your car may be subjected to acid rain, snow, direct sunlight, freezing temperature for days on end. Once the car gets to dirty is given a bath. If it's really dirty it is scrubbed clean in the machine wash. If the dealership is felling merciful it forgoes this torture and pampers your baby with a 'hand wash'. Of course this isn't a day at the spa. Properly washing your, such as using the methods in this link, takes about an hour. The dealerships don't love the car you are going to buy, they love the profit. They have 300 cars on the lot that need to get cleaned as well, and they are represent business. Instead your car is hand washed with the same soapy water that turned black when used on the four car's previous.
Then a drying towel is rubbed gingerly into your paint with the misguided notion that pushing it hard make its suck up more water. This towel also serves as a "opps I missed a spot so I'll just wipe it up with this" to the point that after 5 cars the thing is black.
After you test drive and fall in love with your baby, the dealer promises to detail it for you. What's this? A detail on my brand new car? Sounds good.
As the salesman picks at his coffee stained teeth with a chicken bone, your car is in the back, getting scrubbed by the machine again. Then a couple of guys in the back grab a razor blade and scratch off the stupid advertising paint from the windows. The drying towel, which has had the pleasure of tripling it's duties by also being the soccer ball on the gravel parking lot between breaks, is drug across the paint for the last time.
You see your baby being brought up front, her headlights begging you for mercy.
This is so common, regardless of the marquee, from economy priced to super exotic.
In general, the only way to truly remove those defects from you car is going to be to machine polish the paint. There are many types of polishers, but a Dual Action Random Orbital (that's a mouthful) polisher is ideal for begineers and is very safe.
First, read Removing Paint Defects.
Then consider if this is something you would consider. For many people machine polishing the paint is a daunting task. For newer technology and the emergence of DA polishers has given many enthusiasts the thrill of making their paint shine like it did when it was first sprayed in the the factory.
Todd@RUPES
Just a regular guy
I would start out with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, which features the same abrasive type as their professional line products, but is tweaked to work by hand. Remember that you are trying (at some level) mimic the action of a machine so apply to a small area at a time (about 1 foot square) and work in straight lines with pressure until the product begins to dry. It's hard work!
Then follow up with Meguiar's SwirlX polish, again working in a similar manner to remove any faint marks from the compounding step. Keep your work sections small and only use a couple of small drops on the applicator per section (don't use too much product!)
Speaking of foam applicators you are going to need several of these kits. 2 of each color should get you started nicely.
Use the orange applicators for Ultimate Compound and the Green for SwirlX. The Yellow applicators are for areas that have extremely hard or difficult marks (but might require even more follow up polishing.
bmw5541
New member
Dave,
I am not going to give you any advise, because I couldn't have said it anywhere near as well as Todd did, so let me take this opportunity to welcome you to TID.
I am not going to give you any advise, because I couldn't have said it anywhere near as well as Todd did, so let me take this opportunity to welcome you to TID.
imported_CH.Detailing
New member
Todd tells no lies, I used to work at a dealership and can attest to how poorly things are done.
We had a truck with a huge water tank and a pressure washer that we would use to clean cars on the lot during the summer. Figure it was probably above 80 degrees most days, these cars have been sitting in the same spot for months through all sorts of dust, dirt, and weather. We would blast 'em real quick with the pressure washer, and wipe 'em dry with a couple of shammies, but you had to be quick because the sun would dry the water too fast. When the shammies got too dirty we would lay them out on the ground and blast them "clean" with the pressure sprayer.
A few times the nozzle tip even blew off, rarely was the damaged car fixed, the salesmen just thought it was funny. :doh:
We had a truck with a huge water tank and a pressure washer that we would use to clean cars on the lot during the summer. Figure it was probably above 80 degrees most days, these cars have been sitting in the same spot for months through all sorts of dust, dirt, and weather. We would blast 'em real quick with the pressure washer, and wipe 'em dry with a couple of shammies, but you had to be quick because the sun would dry the water too fast. When the shammies got too dirty we would lay them out on the ground and blast them "clean" with the pressure sprayer.
A few times the nozzle tip even blew off, rarely was the damaged car fixed, the salesmen just thought it was funny. :doh: