Quick question for you experts out there. Yes, i am new to posting here, but not new to reading, and wow, I have been reading up and I must say, you guys know a lot. I am going to detail the vehicle up this weekend and had a few quick questions. Black Lexus GS300. I am going to wash, clay, "polish", and wax. My question is this. I have some minor swirl marks. I must admit, I run it through a car wash in the winter to get the salt off. After I use my clay bar I was thinking of using both Meguiar's #9 AND 3M Hand Glaze before topping it off with Meguiar's #16. Do you recommend these steps? If not, any suggestions? Am I doubling the process by doing both #9 and 3M Hand Glaze? I have no problem doubling the work, but I want a deep shine to the black using the products I have. To the "common eye", everyone says my car shines, but I know I can do more. Thanks for the help, you cannot imagine how much info I have taken from this site.
Process Step's Question
- Thread starter lifeuw19
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joyriide1113
There is no cure!
you can do that i guess. ive never used #9 but from what ive read its mroe of a filler. it wont physically remove anything but fill them in and make em not noticeable. HOPEFULLY. ive used 3m hand glaze and its very good. mainly for looks tho. it does the same thing the #9 probably does except it has no cleaners in it. so u're process if u chose to do it like that would be
wash
clay
#9
3m
wax
3m has a lot of oils in it so it really give that wet look.
give it a try, post some pics, and elt us know how it went.
:Edit: skip 3m hand glaze. i was thinking of my experience with #7. 3m hand glaze wont do much except tire u out and give a moderate gloss. not worth it. but like i said again. give it a try if u want.
wash
clay
#9
#16
wash
clay
#9
3m
wax
3m has a lot of oils in it so it really give that wet look.
give it a try, post some pics, and elt us know how it went.
:Edit: skip 3m hand glaze. i was thinking of my experience with #7. 3m hand glaze wont do much except tire u out and give a moderate gloss. not worth it. but like i said again. give it a try if u want.
wash
clay
#9
#16
Welcome to DC!
Meg's #9 does have some abrasives in it. It is a 3 on Meguiar's scale of 1 to 10 for the abrasiveness of some of their products.
Removing swirls by hand with #9 will be a lot of work. It can be done, but you may get discouraged during the process.
Since you seem to be leaning towards locally available Meguiar's products, ColorX topped with NXT Tech Wax might be a lot easier and still give you the look you are wanting.
ColorX will clean and polish and the NXT will remove/hide some flaws.
Charles
Meg's #9 does have some abrasives in it. It is a 3 on Meguiar's scale of 1 to 10 for the abrasiveness of some of their products.
Removing swirls by hand with #9 will be a lot of work. It can be done, but you may get discouraged during the process.
Since you seem to be leaning towards locally available Meguiar's products, ColorX topped with NXT Tech Wax might be a lot easier and still give you the look you are wanting.
ColorX will clean and polish and the NXT will remove/hide some flaws.
Charles
joyriide1113
There is no cure!
i also noticed the #3 scale of abrasiveness. but it also states its non-abrasive
I might try that. I bought up a lot of products a few weeks back because it seemed like they were onsale before the "season" hits. I read a lot about #9, but you are correct, i planned on doing it by hand. I thought I read on here to do it by hand. I do not own a PC, and quite frankly, am afraid to try. Is anyone on here from the Columbus Ohio area who knows of a detailer who has machine buffers who could work on my car? I know of one detailer here in town, however, he does not use anything like that. He simply masks the marks. I would rather get them out, but if i have to mask them, so be it.
joyriide1113:
So no to 3m Hand Glaze? I have used it in the past, I liked it, but I have not used it for probably 4 years. I used it on previous vehicles. One was black, and if i remember correctly, really pulled out the color. Again, I am somewhat a novice here. A weekend warrior if you would like. But there is nothing better than getting that black vehicle to stick out. Again, I would rather not go out and buy anything more at this time, but if anyone has suggestions i can pick up locally that will make black just jump out, I am willing to try them. I have used Meg's GC for the past few years, but noticed that it seems to not last. While reading here, I see a lot of ppl recommended the #16, so i went out and bought some. Very anxious to try this weekend. Will post pictures when I am done.
So no to 3m Hand Glaze? I have used it in the past, I liked it, but I have not used it for probably 4 years. I used it on previous vehicles. One was black, and if i remember correctly, really pulled out the color. Again, I am somewhat a novice here. A weekend warrior if you would like. But there is nothing better than getting that black vehicle to stick out. Again, I would rather not go out and buy anything more at this time, but if anyone has suggestions i can pick up locally that will make black just jump out, I am willing to try them. I have used Meg's GC for the past few years, but noticed that it seems to not last. While reading here, I see a lot of ppl recommended the #16, so i went out and bought some. Very anxious to try this weekend. Will post pictures when I am done.
joyriide1113
There is no cure!
well i didnt eman it was bad. i just said it would be preferable to stay with #9 since it will probably leave the same finish. not much diff that it'll be worth u're arm/shoulder work
joyriide1113
There is no cure!
lifeuw19 said:
there is no way in hell u can cause damage with a pc. unless u're using a wool pad with some turtle wax compound and keep dropping the pc from the roof of u're house onto u're car. the pc is like suing u're hand but faster. it doesnt generate heat like a rotary buffer would so there is no burning, swirling, ect.
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
CharlesW is the master!
I absolutely agree.
CharlesW said:
I absolutely agree.
B
Boss_429
Guest
lifeuw19,
You have your steps in a very good order...
wash
clay
SMR
Glaze (or final polish)
Protect
(I would use a paint cleaner after the clay...... but I'm "nuts"
)
The products you choose for those steps are up to you, and you've selected some good ones. Charles suggestion to use the ColorX is a good one. However, if it doesn't remove the swirls, you will probably have to use something a bit more aggressive like #9 or #80 (Speed Glaze).
Yes, the #9 and #80 will be a bit difficult to work with by hand.......... but it can be done. Another option would be to use Meguiar's ScratchX on the worst swirls, and then try the ColorX. The glaze and wax may fill the rest in............ for a while.
Hope this helps.
You have your steps in a very good order...
wash
clay
SMR
Glaze (or final polish)
Protect
(I would use a paint cleaner after the clay...... but I'm "nuts"
)The products you choose for those steps are up to you, and you've selected some good ones. Charles suggestion to use the ColorX is a good one. However, if it doesn't remove the swirls, you will probably have to use something a bit more aggressive like #9 or #80 (Speed Glaze).
Yes, the #9 and #80 will be a bit difficult to work with by hand.......... but it can be done. Another option would be to use Meguiar's ScratchX on the worst swirls, and then try the ColorX. The glaze and wax may fill the rest in............ for a while.
Hope this helps.
joyriide1113 said:
Really? I thought they could burn the paint. I actually have a Craftsman 10 in. 2800 RPM my dad gave me. Again, being a novice, are these a waste of my time? I do not plan on going out and buying a PC this weekend, but perhaps down the road. What is the RPM on a PC? Where can you pick one up? Do you recommend I use the craftsman buffer to apply the #9, or is that a waste of time that i could just do by hand? Thanks for all the feedback, this site is great. Will be posting pics soon.
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
lifeuw19 said:
It's highly doubtful you could harm the finish when using the PC in the correct manner using common sense.
lifeuw19 said:
You might get some use out of it applying wax maybe, but I wouldn't get my hopes up of it helping to remove any defects in the paint.
lifeuw19 said:
PC's or random orbit polishers are measured in Orbits per Minute, not RPM's. The PC is like 2,000 - 6,000 or something like that. Forgive me for not having the exact specs on it.
You can get it from PAC online or you can get it at Lowe's locally.lifeuw19 said:
You might be just as well off to apply it by hand. I guess that's a personal call. I have one of those "buffers" collecting dust, and even if I didn't have a PC I highly doubt that I'd use it. Hope you get it all worked out!!
B
Boss_429
Guest
Never say "never".......... you might find this thread interesting:joyriide1113 said:
http://www.detailcity.com/showthread.php?t=11023
Damn, I am going to run out of money before i even get a chance to ride in the clean car! :brick
JaredPointer: Thanks for the info. I guess I will be doing this by hand this weekend. Unless I end up on Lowe's by accident with money in hand, huh? How much do they run and what pads should i start out with? I guess I could look this up in another thread but the weather is nice today and my brain does not feel like working.
JaredPointer: Thanks for the info. I guess I will be doing this by hand this weekend. Unless I end up on Lowe's by accident with money in hand, huh? How much do they run and what pads should i start out with? I guess I could look this up in another thread but the weather is nice today and my brain does not feel like working.
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
lifeuw19 said:
JUST a PC from Lowe's will run you like $99. Then you'll need a pad kit, which is another $45 (Meg's kit w/ backing plate). From Dwayne at PAC, I think the total package will not be that much more (free shipping & NO SALES TAX). Also, Dwayne & PAC will be there for customer service where Lowe's won't be.
As far as pads go, I like the Sonus DAS pads and I am getting to know the Edge pads fairly well (got 'em from PAC when they had the big blowout sale
).It's not exactly "cheap," but once you have it, you'll wonder what you did without it!
JaredPointer said:JUST a PC from Lowe's will run you like $99. Then you'll need a pad kit, which is another $45 (Meg's kit w/ backing plate). From Dwayne at PAC, I think the total package will not be that much more (free shipping & NO SALES TAX). Also, Dwayne & PAC will be there for customer service where Lowe's won't be.
As far as pads go, I like the Sonus DAS pads and I am getting to know the Edge pads fairly well (got 'em from PAC when they had the big blowout sale
It's not exactly "cheap," but once you have it, you'll wonder what you did without it!
What is PAC? Dwayne at PAC? I think you guys just talked me into buying a PC. Just need a little more info. Thanks...
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
Haha, great! another one into the fold!! PAC is PREMIUM AUTO CARE . Dwayne is the man with the plan - he's the guy who runs the show (both here and there). Check out the site. You may even want to call him and let him know what you're looking for as he can make suggestions and get you a package together. Don't forget to let him know you're from DC....it carries a 10% discount with it.