Quick detailing review (First timer!)

I

IceWeasel

New member
Hey guys! I've been reading up on this stuff here for a couple of weeks. During that time I've been accumulating some different products to use on my car. I am also in some trouble with my decals and the paint on my spoiler. Allow me to explain...



I have an 05' GTO that is less than 1.5 yrs old. I had the decals put on by the dealership, and at that time I had ZERO idea of what real detailing was. I grew up on the "bucket of dish-soap and hot water" style of washing a car... (sheesh :wall)



Now that I have a car worth taking car of, I'm finding out the hard way that I've been taught all wrong! I'm having to take reactive steps to the ways I've been cleaning it, rather than proactive steps!!! Here are some pictures to help explain (had to use imageshack cause my host is down today).



Decal spots:



they are vinyl decals... and i've used Meg's Gold Paste Wax over them... i just flipped it over and it explicitly says.. DO NOT USE ON VINYL (etc etc). guess i just learned my first car detailing lesson the hard way.





Paint spotting on my spoiler(I marked some, you can spot the rest):





My cleaning products (I bought an Armor All package at Walmart.. hence all of that stuff):





Please feel free to comment if you have any idea what to do with the spotting on the decals or the paint. I have a feeling I'll just have to take the vinyls off, but I'd like to confirm that with someone more knowledgeable!



Also, here is my new detailing checklist (exterior), please feel free to critique it too!



1. Wet car

2. Wash tires first

2. Change water and wash car using a microfiber mit and the two buckets (one water to clean mit, one soapy water - Armor All Ultra Shine Wash & Wax)

3. Clay bar the car (Turtle Ice Liquid Clay Bar)

4. Wet car down again

5. Dry car with chamoise (Tanner's Select chamois)

6. Polish car (Turtle Ice Liquid Polish)

7. Hand apply wax (Meg's Gold Clear Coat Paste Wax) and remove using microfiber cloth

8. Clean windows (Armor All Glass Wipes)
 
roger that, i also cleaned the rims with some of the Armor All Rim Cleaner & wiped the tires down with the Extreme Tire Shine (which wasn't very impressive)... the AA glass wipes pretty much sucked too.



one thing that really frustrates me is the spotting on the stripes and the spoiler. do i just need to take the stripes off? i'm not sure that it's possible to restore them in any way. will taking them off totally ruin the detail job i just did on the exterior?



also, for the white spotting on the spoiler, is that something that I can have fixed under warranty? i'm throwing some of these questions around at ls1gto.com too, but i thought i'd ask for all of your expertise too!
 
You are fine with Gold Class over the graphics. What is was referring to, I believe, is vinyl trim (such as old cars had)
 
if you click on the pictures i linked, you'll see that the silver stripes are slowly turning brown from a ton of brown spots. those are only on the graphics. however, on my spoiler paint i have some white spotting going on...
 
I think it might be the Turtle Ice Liquid Clay Bar or maybe the graphics it self had a bad chemical reaction with your cleaning product.
 
it wasn't the TW Ice clay bar, because that was the first time i had used it and i avoided getting it on the graphics.
 
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