Pre-Sealant Paint Prep: Recommendations

1

1ShinyCar

New member
I am planning to apply a sealant to a new car (perhaps OP, Fk2180, FK100p). All work will be done by hand without the benefit of a D/A or rotary machine.



Although the car is new, and it will be prepped with clay &/or a decontamination system first, my guess is that the paint may need a little more cleaning or polish prior to the sealant. It seems to me that I need to be careful to not use a product that leaves behind anything prior to applying the sealant (i.e. wax, silicone, fillers etc). Is this correct? If so:



1. What steps should come between the decontamination/clay process and applying the sealant?



2. What is a good mild cleaner or polish that will not leave anything behind on the paint (Griot's Fine Hand Polish, P21s PaintWork Cleanser, Zymol HD Cleanse?)?



Thanks
 
Every polish and pre-wax cleanser leaves something behind. This usually is not a problem if one intends to apply a carnauba wax. Some synthetic sealants, however, need a particularly clean, bare surface to effect optimal bonding; consequently, many detailers will, after polishing, wipe the paint surface clean with a 50/50 IPA/water solution before applying the sealant. The IPA should remove any of the polishing oils that might interfere with the bonding of your FK sealants.
 
1ShinyCar said:
Thanks; any favorite mild, hand polishes?
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What do you hope to accomplish with the polish? Your decon and claying process will have already removed the contamination and bonded detritus. If you hope to remove light swirls, then you might try Meguiar's SwirlX. If you are looking for a nonabrasive paint cleanser, then you might try Four Star Ultimate Pre Wax Cleanser. I have used this to prep the surface for the application of Ultima Paint Guard Plus sealant. I have not noted any bonding problems.
 
I would be looking to remove minor swirls or defects and to make the surface as even/reflective as possible without the benefit of fillers that will be washed away with the IPA rub down.
 
1ShinyCar said:
I would be looking to remove minor swirls or defects and to make the surface as even/reflective as possible without the benefit of fillers that will be washed away with the IPA rub down.
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Then skip the Griot's Hand Polish, P21S GEPC, HD Cleanse, and such stuff. The stuff those leave behind is OK for use before *waxes* but not sealants.



I'd use something that leaves sealant-friendly stuff behind.



Since this is a new white car, I wouldn't worry too much about marring. If it were *mine*, I'd do an all-in-one and then FK1000P. My preference would be Zaino AIO, but Klasse AIO or Autoglym SRP would be my second choices and are OK too. Yeah...ZAIO topped with FK1000P.



If you decide to go with the 476S, the same stuff would be OK before that too.
 
Thanks a lot - that clears things up. After the AIO, should I do an IPA wipedown w/ the 1000P or am I good to go?
 
BTW, if one uses 4 Star Ultimate Pre-Wax Cleanser, one can apply a synthetic sealant immediately without an IPA widedown--this from Rick Vaal of Four Star.
 
1ShinyCar said:
I would be looking to remove minor swirls or defects and to make the surface as even/reflective as possible without the benefit of fillers that will be washed away with the IPA rub down.
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Removing swirls or defects by hand is very, very difficult. Back when I was a newb and was hesitant to use a buffer, I tried to polish swirls out by hand on my car and after alot of work and not much success, I said heck with it and ordered a Dual Action buffer, watched a ton of videos on buffing and read a ton of articles on here to learn how to use a DA properly and haven't regretted it since.



Using a paint cleaner by hand to get a decent shine is OK but hoping to remove paint defects with an abrasive polish by hand is really not worth it. If you want the defects corrected you really need a machine.
 
Thanks all for the good advice.



I have used D/A Buffers and agree that it is the way to go...I also want to try a rotary at some point. In this case, I won't have access to one so I will take your advice and not expect much as far as swirl removal.



Cheers all.
 
1ShinyCar said:
After the AIO, should I do an IPA wipedown w/ the 1000P or am I good to go?
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You're good to go after most any AIO or any pre-sealant cleaner. I've used FK1000P over all three of the AIOs I mentioned (KAIO, ZAIO, SRP) and it always worked fine.



Note that AutoGlym SRP can do a little concealing, and that might be good if you're not gonna be doing any machine polishing. If not (machine) polishing, i sure wouldn't IPA wipe, it'll just make any residual marring more obvious.



This IPA wiping business is sorta creeping into the realm of "something everybody oughta always do" type advice and IMO that's *NOT* a good thing. IMO people shouldn't IPA/solvent/Prep Wash unless they have a good reason for doing it, and there aren't all *that* many good reasons, at least not for most people. [Accumulator climbs down off his heretical soapbox :o ]
 
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