Hey everyone just recently purchased a black car, and trying to avoid swirls as much as possible, what is the best technique when washing the car, meaning should I wipe in a circular motion, or straight parallel lines? Which would be best for waxing as well? Also what would be the best way to dust as well? Thanks.
Wiping/Washing/Waxing techniques
- Thread starter Charlesss
- Start date
AuAltima3.5
New member
Here is my method:
- Washing: 2 buckets, grit gaurd, straight lines only.
- Drying: "Pat dry". I don't eveyr dry and drag my towel across the paint. Takes longer, but one less way to get swirls.
- Waxing: I apply cirular, and remove in short radius cirucular (like 2-3" R) strokes.
- Polish removal: straight lines.
The directions are kept as such so I know at what process I had swirling.
I still get swirls (expected to accumulated them) but finally caved and am using a product that fills minor swirls (most carnubas and some other waxes).
I don't recommend dusting. Any maintenance cleaning should be traditional washing or ONR washes.
- Washing: 2 buckets, grit gaurd, straight lines only.
- Drying: "Pat dry". I don't eveyr dry and drag my towel across the paint. Takes longer, but one less way to get swirls.
- Waxing: I apply cirular, and remove in short radius cirucular (like 2-3" R) strokes.
- Polish removal: straight lines.
The directions are kept as such so I know at what process I had swirling.
I still get swirls (expected to accumulated them) but finally caved and am using a product that fills minor swirls (most carnubas and some other waxes).
I don't recommend dusting. Any maintenance cleaning should be traditional washing or ONR washes.
Thanks, Would a shammy be good to use for drying? Pat drying seems like a smart method, I can definitely see why there would be less swirls. What product did you use to fill the swirls?
Same method applies to taking wax off correct? Thanks for the great info.
AuAltima3.5 said:
Same method applies to taking wax off correct? Thanks for the great info.
SpoolinNoMore
New member
I think he's trying to tell you to do your wax application and removal both in circular motions so that way if you do get marring, you'll know at what step you put them on there with (ie: if you see circular marring, it was from your waxing technique and straight lines would be from your polishing techniques).
SpoolinNoMore
New member
Charlesss said:
Think of it this way (and in this order),
washing = removing major surface contaminants (ie: dirt)
claying = removing surface contaiminants that are embedded in your clear coat, even new cars that were shipped to the dealer can benefit from claying
polishing = correcting surface defects of swirls/scratches/marring/etching (this is one of the more in-depth steps that requires a lot of learning and perfecting, easily the most difficult step when it comes to getting paint to 100%), think of it as particles of sand (microscopic) mixed in with lotion that you massage across the paint in order to grind down the surface to make it as flat as possible ('grinding' down the surface to meet the depth of the scratches/swirls/marring to get it to better clarity)
LSP (aka: applying a wax or sealant): applying a wax or sealant is just as you know it. For what you're inquiring about, if you're going to do both, people typically apply a sealant (longer-lasting 'wax' type product) on top of a freshly polished vehicle in order to 'seal' in the perfect finish, and then (after allowing the sealant properly cure) put a layer of wax on top of that to give it the wetness and gloss look of a carnauba wax. Be careful when trying to layer waxes, as if you use a wax with cleaners in it (such as AIO polish/wax products), they will not layer well with the sealant, as applying it will have the cleaners in the wax trying to remove the sealant.
Hope this helps clear some very detailed subjects into a smaller summary. I'd suggest browsing these forums extensively to learn more about each topic.
Anybody have experience with black Audis? I have a Q5 and it swirls like crazy, no matter how careful I am (foam gun, rinse, foam gun, 2bm wash, blot dry with mf drying towels...).
Am thinking of getting opti-coat applied and then sticking to just my foam gun (or get a cannon) and powerwasher, or going through touchless washes.
Am thinking of getting opti-coat applied and then sticking to just my foam gun (or get a cannon) and powerwasher, or going through touchless washes.
Accumulator
Well-known member
In the "Detailing Articles" section here there's an old copy of my "Accumulator's Nonmarring Wash Technique". I really do need to rewrite it sometime...
The whole thing with wash-induced marring is that people press dirt against the paint and then move it (the dirt) under pressure. And having the dirt stuck to your wash medium (even for a few inches of movement before you rise it clean) turns said medium into sandpaper (no, the dirt doesn't really "go up into the nap of the mitt and get safely trapped there" :grinno: ).
Gotta fnd a way to avoid that "moving the dirt under pressure while it's in contact with the paint". The direction shouldn't matter. Not when washing, claying, polishing (consider that Random Orbital polishers move every which way), waxing (same with machine application/buffing), you name it. Yeah, straight-line marring is less obvious than circular/etc. marring (due to the increased viewing angle of the latter), but that's the only real diff.
Marring comes from abrasion. As long as your wash/dry media aren't too coarse (CC-test 'em) it's all about the dirt getting rubbed across the paint.
As for Audis, the only soft ones I've ever heard about were one production run of the Nogarro (?SP? I know that's wrong
) Blue S4s. All others are nice and hard. Forget whose paint is on the Q series, but I just had one as a loaner and it wasn't ususually soft.
The whole thing with wash-induced marring is that people press dirt against the paint and then move it (the dirt) under pressure. And having the dirt stuck to your wash medium (even for a few inches of movement before you rise it clean) turns said medium into sandpaper (no, the dirt doesn't really "go up into the nap of the mitt and get safely trapped there" :grinno: ).
Gotta fnd a way to avoid that "moving the dirt under pressure while it's in contact with the paint". The direction shouldn't matter. Not when washing, claying, polishing (consider that Random Orbital polishers move every which way), waxing (same with machine application/buffing), you name it. Yeah, straight-line marring is less obvious than circular/etc. marring (due to the increased viewing angle of the latter), but that's the only real diff.
Marring comes from abrasion. As long as your wash/dry media aren't too coarse (CC-test 'em) it's all about the dirt getting rubbed across the paint.
As for Audis, the only soft ones I've ever heard about were one production run of the Nogarro (?SP? I know that's wrong
) Blue S4s. All others are nice and hard. Forget whose paint is on the Q series, but I just had one as a loaner and it wasn't ususually soft.Accumulator said:As for Audis, the only soft ones I've ever heard about were one production run of the Nogarro (?SP? I know that's wrong
Thanks for the info. I just find that no matter how careful I am (procedure noted above), I get swirls. At one point even after just doing a coin-op power wash a few times a month (and not physically touching the paint at all) I was getting swirls (as if the pressure of the water was moving dirt across the paint). I guess that's possible?
wascallyrabbit
New member
Accumulator said:As for Audis, the only soft ones I've ever heard about were one production run of the Nogarro (?SP? I know that's wrong
my 2000 s4 nogaro blue has hard clear. so guess its not that production run.
Accumulator
Well-known member
wascallyrabbit said:
Glad to hear that, and also glad to learn how to spell "nogaro". One that Mike Phillips did was sooo soft that he couldn't use anything harsher than M66 on it without getting marring!
john1r- Huh, that's just sooo weird
I've sure never had the "touchless washing moving dirt across the paint" mar *anything*, and the Q5 I had survived some QDing that I was really concerned about doing lest I return the brand-new vehicle with some new issues (and never hear the end of it). Man, that'd drive me nuts, those Q5s aren't exactly detailer-friendly vehicles anyhow.Accumulator said:john1r- Huh, that's just sooo weird
Out of curiosity, what do you mean by "aren't so detailer friendly"?
Thanks everyone for the great advice. Accumulator do you have a suggestion on a great wash medium to use? I just purchased this sheepskin wash from DI DI Accessories Sheepskin Wash Mitt | Detailed Image and hopefully it works out pretty well.
Accumulator said:In the "Detailing Articles" section here there's an old copy of my "Accumulator's Nonmarring Wash Technique". I really do need to rewrite it sometime...
The whole thing with wash-induced marring is that people press dirt against the paint and then move it (the dirt) under pressure. And having the dirt stuck to your wash medium (even for a few inches of movement before you rise it clean) turns said medium into sandpaper (no, the dirt doesn't really "go up into the nap of the mitt and get safely trapped there" :grinno: ).
Gotta fnd a way to avoid that "moving the dirt under pressure while it's in contact with the paint". The direction shouldn't matter. Not when washing, claying, polishing (consider that Random Orbital polishers move every which way), waxing (same with machine application/buffing), you name it. Yeah, straight-line marring is less obvious than circular/etc. marring (due to the increased viewing angle of the latter), but that's the only real diff.
Marring comes from abrasion. As long as your wash/dry media aren't too coarse (CC-test 'em) it's all about the dirt getting rubbed across the paint.
As for Audis, the only soft ones I've ever heard about were one production run of the Nogarro (?SP? I know that's wrong
Accumulator
Well-known member
john1r said:
To me (and yeah, this is just IMO...) they look like they'd be an absolute nightmare to detail. I'd probably spend an hour or more on just the front grille(s) alone. I was checking out the Q5 loaner with an eye towards "what'd it be like to maintain this to the level I'd want it?" and I decided it'd be a huge job o' work.
Of course, I'm kinda nutty about this stuff
Accumulator
Well-known member
Charlesss said:
The idea with wash media is to not get something that's simply too coarse/etc. in-and-of itself. That mitt oughta be OK, it's the synthetic ones that usually cause terrible marring (no matter how you use 'em).
Now that you have the mitt (and I'd want a few of them), the trick will be figuring out how to use it properly. I mean, really...this isn't as simple as one might think! I'm not the dullest tool in the shed and it took me forever to get to where I no longer instill marring when I wash.
I predict that if you wear it like a glove, and wipe it across...say...half a panel and then rinse it out (in other words, use it normally, the way a careful person would), you'll mar the paint. I don't have the time/inclination to retype my whole wash regimen here and now (I'm on a borrowed PC in an uncomfortable chair for one thing!), but at least try this:
-fill mitt with shampoo mix by holding it underwater in the bucket
-hold mitt (full of shampoo mix) shut by gripping the cuff
-gently whisk the mitt across the panel, with virtually zero contact pressure
-rinse mitt out as soon as the shampoo mix has finished seeping out of it
-rinse washed area and inspect for cleanliness
-repeat as necessary until area is clean
-move on to next area