Weekly washing/maintenance?

T

Tino D'Voe

New member
I did a big detail on the car last weekend using my new PC and poorboy's product. After reading many posts on this board I tried it out using a proper wash, clay, then SSr2.5, SSR1, PwC, EX and finishing off with natty's blue. Even though my work was not perfect, I have never seen the car look this good, not even when out of the showroom. I have lots to learn and I'll be practicing on more cars in the family.

What should I do next? I'll probably get in time to wash once or twice a month tops until the weather gets better. I'm thinking I'll do the wash, PwC, EX and Natty's when I have time otherwise just wash and natty's.

What do others here do for regular maintenance?
 
One of my cardinal rules is that you polish as little as possible. I'm about to spend a day on my rig soon. After that it'll only be wash, wax/sealant and perhaps an occassional chemical polish by hand for quite some time, at least 6 months.
 
Hey I use to wax and seal but a was told that the sealer would not bound to the wax. A pro who has been detaling for about 20 yr ,he told me to do one or the other !!
 
Keep in mind that polishing does remove some paint. Not much, but some.
It is very unlikely that you will ever cause any damage with SSR1 or PwC. SSR2.5 would need to be used an awful lot to remove enough paint to hurt anything, but it is a lot more abrasive than the others.
In your case, I would use SSR2.5 only when needed to remove marring.
SSR1, once or twice a year. PwC every 3 to 4 months. EX every 4 to 6 weeks.
Chances are, you could double the interval between those procedures and still have a good looking finish.

My own procedure with different products:
SSR2 (Was Meg's #9), twice a year unless needed more often. I sometimes think I need to hit a specific area sooner because of visible swirls.
Klasse AIO every 3 to 4 months.
4 Star UPP every 4 to 6 weeks.
It is very possible that I may try a different product for any of those steps to experiment, but I seem to keep coming back to those.
There again, I think I could probably double the time between any of them and most people would never know the difference.

(I would, though:))

Charles
 
Tino D'Voe said:
What do others here do for regular maintenance?
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Everyone so far has given great advice. Please listen to what they have had to say.

I would suggest to do some searches and get an idea of the foam gun. It is sucha terrific item to have for maintenance of your vehicles paint. Is it an absolute? NO. Does it help in maintaining your vehicles paint. YES!! It really gets the soap to the paint. Using sheepskin wash mitts and rinse pails you can greatly reduce marring. Reducing marring helps reduce the use of abbrassive polishes. Which aides in keeping your paint in pristine condition.

Just another thing to think about!!
 
gator1 said:
Hey I use to wax and seal but a was told that the sealer would not bound to the wax. A pro who has been detaling for about 20 yr ,he told me to do one or the other !!
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You can definitely use wax & sealant together. A lot of people do this. Many people believe that sealant will not bond to many waxes. So, to get around this put the sealant on first and then put the wax on top of the sealant.
 
Mikeyc said:
You can definitely use wax & sealant together. A lot of people do this. Many people believe that sealant will not bond to many waxes. So, to get around this put the sealant on first and then put the wax on top of the sealant.
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That will work, but you will need to use a paint cleaner to remove the wax before you can apply more sealant.

Charles
 
For regular maintenance I like to QD with Spray and Wipe (I'm gonna try CG Pro-Detailer soon) and then use a spray sealant/wax, like Mothers FX Spray Wax or DP Spray Surface Shield. A lot of people like QEW, too.
 
gator1 said:
Hey I use to wax and seal but a was told that the sealer would not bound to the wax. A pro who has been detaling for about 20 yr ,he told me to do one or the other !!
Click to expand...


Or you can just get some FK 2180 and pink wax....they are interchangable(so they say), so you wouldn't have to worry about stripping.
 
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