Paint Cleaning? Big Deal or Not?

Beemerboy

Beemerboy

Just One More Coat
I worked on a jet back Jag today..car has not been attend to in a year or better is a DD for the driver and sits out side 24/7..to make it harder, she parked along side a sprinkler while on vacation for 5 days and the water harden on to the surface....that was last summer:eek:

After washing, I could see and really feel all kinds of water deposits... I tried a small area with clay and NO luck ..so I used the decontamination kit that I had from FK1...that took a good percentage of the junk off the car...them I used clay and it picked up even more...I was out of PB PP so I used the Megs Deep crystal paint cleaner with the orbital...that paint was squeaky clean...I polished with presta 1500 with the rotary and a polishing pad...Black hole and a finishing pad with the orbital and finished with EXP by hand.

Car was a gem again all but a few minor spots remained.

I will post some pics later.

But what I learned today was paint cleaning...I don't always go threw the step that I did today, but I was more than impressed with the results based on the paint cleaning.

Anyone else using paint cleaning process, as a normal detail?

I've always felt that clay was enough in paint cleaning...maybe not?
 
Here is the car...taken with my Black berry


It was really overcast when I started so the pics of the before after the washing would have not showed what I was faced with

IMG00049-20090523-1643.jpg


IMG00048-20090523-1643.jpg
 
It really just depends on how bad it is to begin with for me. A well maintained car won't get it, but if I have one that looks like the paint is in serious trouble, then I'll add it in.
 
audiboy said:
It really just depends on how bad it is to begin with for me. A well maintained car won't get it, but if I have one that looks like the paint is in serious trouble, then I'll add it in.
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I agree...when I finished the first wash the clay felt like it was sandpaper on the surface...you could hear it rubbing on the water spots...that's why I used the FK1...after all that the clay still picked up a bunch and the paint cleaner finally picked up the rest of the spots


Being jet black as the color there was enough prep IMO to make the end results right
 
Claying should be in your regime if the surface is rough at all. If we are talking about the acid/alkaline treatments that are out there they will sometimes take the place of claying but not always.

I know the argument has been made that these treatments are better than claying because they pull contamination out from under the surface of the finish better than clay. That has not been my experience.

I clay then I polish. If I don't polish I would use a good one-step wax/sealant or use a good non-abrasive paint-cleaner (not the chemical kind). Now having said that. I use acid treatments at times to attack water deposits. That's the only time I see a chemical paint cleaner replacing the claying process.

*edit - I need to correct myself. Removing cement is another instance where acid treatment will out perform claying.
 
Troy@DetailCity said:
Claying should be in your regime if the surface is rough at all. If we are talking about the acid/alkaline treatments that are out there they will sometimes take the place of claying but not always.

I know the argument has been made that these treatments are better than claying because they pull contamination out from under the surface of the finish better than clay. That has not been my experience.

I clay then I polish. If I don't polish I would use a good one-step wax/sealant or use a good non-abrasive paint-cleaner (not the chemical kind). Now having said that. I use acid treatments at times to attack water deposits. That's the only time I see a chemical paint cleaner replacing the claying process.

*edit - I need to correct myself. Removing cement is another instance where acid treatment will out perform claying.
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Troy

What acid wash are you using?

I used the FK1 that I had and wasn't impressed that much, there was still quite a bit of water deposits on the car, hence the reason I clayed which picked up a lot more and then the paint cleaner.:D
 
Beemerboy said:
Troy

What acid wash are you using?

I used the FK1 that I had and wasn't impressed that much, there was still quite a bit of water deposits on the car, hence the reason I clayed which picked up a lot more and then the paint cleaner.:D
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I use Four Star's Professional ACC diluted about 4 to 1.

I do take some precautions. I work fast and don't allow it to stay on the surface very long (approximately 15-20 seconds). I agitate the surface and pressure rinse each section as I go, and I wash the car right afterwards.

The FK1 is probably pretty weak so that it can be fairly safe and somewhat idiot proof to be sold for that purpose.
 
Troy@DetailCity said:
I use Four Star's Professional ACC diluted about 4 to 1.

I do take some precautions. I work fast and don't allow it to stay on the surface very long (approximately 15-20 seconds). I agitate the surface and pressure rinse each section as I go, and I wash the car right afterwards.

The FK1 is probably pretty weak so that it can be fairly safe and somewhat idiot proof to be sold for that purpose.
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You have the 4 star?

If so I will get some on order...the FK1 is very mild
 
I generally will clean my paint with either a polish (if it needs polishing) or an AIO for my sealant about twice a year. I clay about car about 4 times a year.
 
would megs deep crystal polish be worth getting if i already have poorboys professional polish ???

i was under the impression of using the polish after using a compound to buff with...

so the megs deep crystal is supposed to be used after claying with which pad would i use on a PC ? white as normal or another one

as for clay, once a year should be sufficient with a good paint treatment right ? i dont see the need unless its really a daily driver year round then maybe clay the same car 2x a year when u do full paint treatments every 6 months or so
 
RyansAutoDetail said:
so the megs deep crystal is supposed to be used after claying with which pad would i use on a PC ? white as normal or another one
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I think it is generally a good idea to use the paint cleaner (or if you prefer to call it, pure polish) after claying. The pad seems to glide along the paint better after being clayed.

RyansAutoDetail said:
as for clay, once a year should be sufficient with a good paint treatment right ? i dont see the need unless its really a daily driver year round then maybe clay the same car 2x a year when u do full paint treatments every 6 months or so
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I clay my car about four times a year and each time I can see the junk I am pulling off on the clay. I would say twice a year is the minimum I would recommend for a daily driver.
 
Bert said:
I think it is generally a good idea to use the paint cleaner (or if you prefer to call it, pure polish) after claying. The pad seems to glide along the paint better after being clayed.



I clay my car about four times a year and each time I can see the junk I am pulling off on the clay. I would say twice a year is the minimum I would recommend for a daily driver.
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i usually polish last before i glaze/wax or go right to my LSP from polishing after compounding but really dont see the need for polishing then compounding ???
 
RyansAutoDetail said:
i usually polish last before i glaze/wax or go right to my LSP from polishing after compounding but really dont see the need for polishing then compounding ???
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Sorry about that, I didn't make it clear that I was referring to my paint maintenance process, not paint correction. I rarely compound anymore. Now that my car is swirl free I can go a few years without needed to compound. So when I am not compounding, my process is:

Wash -> Clay -> Paint Cleaner or All in One -> LSP. If I wanted to touch up the gloss of the paint, I may throw in a finish polish after the clay and before the Paint Cleaner or All in One.

If I were to compound, my process would be:

Wash -> Clay -> Compound -> Moderate Polish to clean up after compounding -> Finishing Polish to burnish the paint -> AIO -> LSP
 
Bert said:
Sorry about that, I didn't make it clear that I was referring to my paint maintenance process, not paint correction. I rarely compound anymore. Now that my car is swirl free I can go a few years without needed to compound. So when I am not compounding, my process is:

Wash -> Clay -> Paint Cleaner or All in One -> LSP. If I wanted to touch up the gloss of the paint, I may throw in a finish polish after the clay and before the Paint Cleaner or All in One.

If I were to compound, my process would be:

Wash -> Clay -> Compound -> Moderate Polish to clean up after compounding -> Finishing Polish to burnish the paint -> AIO -> LSP
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yah thats what i was getting at my bad on the missunderstanding there lol ..
 
If using PB Pro polish would that came after the SSR1 ?


Wash>clay>ssr2>ssr1>PP>LSP

Just trying to get all the techniques down. :D
 
G.T.Subie said:
If using PB Pro polish would that came after the SSR1 ?


Wash>clay>ssr2>ssr1>PP>LSP

Just trying to get all the techniques down. :D
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One or the other would be my choice, not both.
Either one with a polishing pad will clean and polish the paint and leave it ready for your LSP.
 
I clay as needed, I use DG 501 or Danase Pure polish to clean. On my personal cars I use either DG 501 or pure polish when switching from one LSP to another, sometimes I let the 501 haze up and leave that as my LSP. For a customer I will try to upsell a clay and pure polish step bc they are fast, you can get the paint looking better then a wash and wax and cheaper then a full detail. I have yet to try a decontamination kit.
 
Sometimes (maybe most of the time?) claying isn't enough. The clay does indeed sheer off bonded contaminants on the paint but sometimes the bases of these contaminants are still embedded in the paint and could return in months to come. I'm having a difficult time adding in a specific paint cleaning step (with a paint cleaner or pre-wax cleaner) but I think it is an important step. I did a Trailblazer last year or the year before - washed, clayed with ONR I think and then used Poorboy's PwS. After half of the vehicle the pad was black ... meaning the paint was still incredible dirty even after washing and claying. It was a white vehicle and it was impossible to tell or feel that the paint was still dirty. Here was the pad:

HPIM1667.jpg
 
FWIW, The detail shop at the used car auction I go to uses an acid wash on almost all the white vehicles they do. The manager says it takes away having to decide if polishing will be enough. Acid wash and a rotary, problem taken care of. Quickly and easily.
This is a high volume operation and quality is not the number one priority, but most of the stuff they turn out does look decent.
 
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