question about detailing and clay bars and paint cleaners.

F

fordraceing_man

New member
going to do my black 03 F-150 tonight its only been washed and its been waxed once sence 03. it has a lot of swirl marks but i don't have a buffer and i can't afford one right now so im just going to use what i have, i have tried scratch x and it really didn't seem to do that much for me so im not going to do that either yet.



ok the most i have every done is clay bar and only 2 times in my life, wash and wax, never polished or did paint cleaner is it really nessary does it make that much difference?



is there a point to use paint cleaner once you clay bar?



anyways here my plan for today.

Wash.



clay

http://www.meguiars.com/?auto-detailing-clay/Smooth-Surface-Clay-Kit



paint cleaner

http://www.meguiars.com/?auto-paint-cleaners/Deep-Crystal-System-Paint-Cleaner

never done this we will see how it works.



polish

http://www.meguiars.com/?car-polishes/Deep-Crystal-System-Polish

again never done but going to try it.



wax

http://www.meguiars.com/?liquid-car-waxes/Gold-Class-Liquid-Wax



these are all products i have and im hoping to get a better result from doing all this then just was and wax.



what do you guys think? is all this a waste of time? should i not bother unless i can buff it with compound or will that take away some swirl marks and bring out the black again?



thanks
 
I would:

wash

clay

polish

wax



Skip the paint cleaner and yes you will get a better finish than just a wash and wax.



What i would do is:

Wash

clay

megs colorx

carnuaba wax.



But thats just me.
 
Ive used DC1 back in the day and didnt notice it to do much of anything. You might get different results.
 
so should i not do all that?

also do i have to wash it again after i clay bar it?

Gold Class Liquid Wax is this a cleaner wax? if so does that mean its not good for putting over the polish?
 
paint cleaner worked veyr well for me. it got rid of all these nasty water spots that clay would not take off. it just created a nice clean surface. i highly recommend it espeically if your'e doign ti by hand. if you had a pc. it woudlnt' matter because the polish woudl get rid of it.
 
I too would use the paint cleaner... its going to better prep the surface for polish then wax. You will see the difference once you have applied and removed the paint cleaner. If you are unsure try it on a panel and see what it does for you, you will find the surface 'squeaky' clean. Remember there is no need to let a polish or cleaner dry, removed damp and you will have no problems.



Yes, the additional steps will give you better results over wash and wax.



Is it necessary to wash after clay? Well no not really, I prefer to wash after I clay but thats just my personal preference. You can just wipe off the excess detailer after you have finished each panel.
 
fordraceing_man said:
what do you guys think? is all this a waste of time? should i not bother unless i can buff it with compound or will that take away some swirl marks and bring out the black again?



thanks
Click to expand...



One more thing... you say swirls, Meguiars Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner is a very gentle paint cleaner and you may not get the desired results if you want to remove swirls. I might suggest ScratchX in place of the DC1. It will take some work by hand but it does remove swirls and fine scratches. With ScratchX you need to work the product in well until it looks transparent on the surface of the paint. There is a great how to on meguiarsonline.com but someone has hacked into the site and its down till sometime later this week.
 
yeah i did mention the scratchx above and i really didn't like the results from it too much, to be honest i think i will just wait until i get a buffer to worrie about ALL the swirls but i think what i said im going to do tonight will take most the swirls out.

what im really looking for is that wet look.



now what about the wax, will the wax im using be good or is that a cleaner wax that will just remove the polish that im going to be putting on?
 
Well polish isnt anything that is really *applied*, it is worked into the paint and needs to be broken down. *Some* have oils that help with the wet look and yes a cleaner wax would remove those oils. GC i dont think has many cleaners in it, you should be fine using it.

Your not gonna really remove any swirls at all, you might fill some, but not many unfortunately. Polishing by hand is a really hard thing to do.

ScratchX does work, i have a feeling you where not using it correctly and is why you did not like the results you got. When megs is back online i suggest searching there for scratchx, there is a GREAT how-to on using it. I couldnt imagine doing an entire vehicle with it though, it would take years lol
 
ok its not that i didn't like the results, and i don't think im too lazy by any means, i did my whole 95 tbird and it worked good, you have to really work it in, you do small areas, you whip it off before it sets up lol i know all that.



its just i don't want to do a whole F-150 super cab with a cover on it, thats not a project that can be done in one night lol.



now im told people have had good results getting light swirls out with the paint cleaner, now i don't its not nearly as good as a rotary would do but my truck is looking really dull.
 
I use all those products you listed and I'm happy with them. You get some good results by hand and some rather nice results using a PC.



When I did my car the Step 1 did a decent job, but I later found out I didn't use the PC at a fast enough speed so I wanna try it on the proper speed (5/6) to see what it can do for my swirls.



I did however use this newfound info on my sisters '05 Beetle (that special order Vapor color). Using it at the higher speed did an incredible job, but still could've been better. I would try a better paint cleaner/swirl remover compound from the Step 1 if you have some swirls that don't wanna come out.



The Polish and Gold Class wax both do an amazing job in my book. But I do believe there are better products out there based on what I've seen members here use and the final product.
 
ok i did something wrong i guess but for some reason my truck looks greasy now and there is still stuff on it, and i sit there and rub and rub and its not fully coming off *** happened here.
 
I also ahve the same products in my garage. am now looking for a PC and pads. moms J eep is in desprate need of work before the ugly weather gets here.
 
fordraceing_man said:
ok i did something wrong i guess but for some reason my truck looks greasy now and there is still stuff on it, and i sit there and rub and rub and its not fully coming off *** happened here.
Click to expand...



What have you used so far...if you've used the DC#2 polish I'd blame that. If that's the case, I'd redo the DC#1 cleaner. Rub it in and then buff it off before it dries. If that solves the problem I'd just go straight to wax after the cleaner.



If that doesn't work I'd do it with Color-X or some other cleaner wax, that oughta take care of the problems and give you an OK look too.



Noting that this in *NOT* what you want to hear :o the only way I'd do anything by hand is with 1Z brand polishes. They *work* by hand and aren't a huge PIA. Sorry, I realize that isn't helpful at this point. I just hate for somebody to work hard and get frustrated by the results of all that work.
 
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