***official auto detailing thread***

[BrianK.]

You need to use Nanoskin GLIDE with the Nanoskin products, normal ONR or shampoo/water doesn't have enough lubricity in this case.

You NEED lighting when you're doing paint correction, a halogen or bright LED. Halogen is not the best, but it's the cheapest and can be bought at Home Depot or similar. Also, do not use a microfiber finishing pad to apply wax, it has cutting abilities so you're marring the paint while you apply the wax. Process instead should be

1.MF Cutting pad/Compound
2.MF finishing pad OR light polishing foam pad/ Finishing polish
3.Wax by hand or with a specific pad that has zero cut and is made exclusively for waxing(i.e. Lake Country Red Pad)

And correct, there are many more variables, it's a pretty in depth process. One of the main things you'll need to determine is how hard the paint is - One combination will remove 100% of scratches on one soft paint in one pass may only remove 3% of the scratches on hard paint with the same amount of time/effort. Also, if it's soft paint and you're not finishing down correctly with the finishing polish, you'll end up with a hazy finish. Meguiar's generally uses non-diminishing abrasives while most other polishes use diminishing abrasives, so you'll have to keep that in mind as well. If you have any questions, feel free to ask

I was under the assumption he was using Meguiars' Finishing Wax.

Interesting---I never noticed a difference when claying with clay alternatives with different 'clay lubes'. That includes glide. Hell, I've even used APC as a test and saw results. (Although my guess is over time APC may deteriorate it...don't know)

I'm not saying that clay alternatives are worthless because I've gotten good results a lot, but I've never said "Crap, now I need to go over that section with my clay towel, even though I already hit it with traditional clay."

Excellent points with hard/soft paint. Makes a huge difference.

[K3Fallout]

Well what can happen sometimes is you correct a panel and most of it looks 90%+, but now you revealed deeper scratches that weren't or can't be taken out via polishing...or you need a more aggressive polish to level it a but more. These scratches are typically referred to as RIDS. (random isolated deep/er scratches)

If you think that's not the issue then it could be uniform hazing left behind by the MF pad. (This will probably happen regardless and even more noticeable on black paint). The solution to that is finishing with a non-aggressive foam pad.

Claying: 'hours' seems a bit too much. What's your exact process?

Well, there are times where the clay alternative does a perfect job and then there are times where regular clay picked up the slack. I really don't know the exact issue, except that regular clay* never needs another product to follow it. I have never used a super aggressive clay alternative, so I'm guessing those work perfectly, but leave marring behind--of course that isn't an issue if you're correcting the car afterwards.

*not including some of the light duty clays out there.

Claying takes me hours generally because it a lot of the times I perceive the paint to still not be clean enough and it doesn't glide on the surface, so I'd do panel by panel way too slowly, going over a section countless times. I'd guess that I either did not do a good job initially washing the car, or my perceptions with the clay are completely off. I am still new to all this so, I think I need more EXP.

[darkninja67]

Cleaned up the beast today. Chemical guys whore checking in.

which products you using on that??

[NateDieselF4i]

which products you using on that??

Myyyy man.

In order
Hybrid V7 Optical soap with the foam cannon
Black Light enhancer / sealant
Butter wet wax
Hybrid V7 Spray sealer and detailer

Forced air dry / chami

[BrianK.]

Claying takes me hours generally because it a lot of the times I perceive the paint to still not be clean enough and it doesn't glide on the surface, so I'd do panel by panel way too slowly, going over a section countless times. I'd guess that I either did not do a good job initially washing the car, or my perceptions with the clay are completely off. I am still new to all this so, I think I need more EXP.

Do you use a baggy to test your work? It may solve any issues.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...taminants.html

[RyouBakua]

Myyyy man.

In order
Hybrid V7 Optical soap with the foam cannon
Black Light enhancer / sealant
Butter wet wax
Hybrid V7 Spray sealer and detailer

Forced air dry / chami

cleean vette

waiting on video to load

Do you use a baggy to test your work? It may solve any issues.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...taminants.html

plastic bag trick

[K3Fallout]

Do you use a baggy to test your work? It may solve any issues.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...taminants.html

son of a bitch never heard of this before. repped.

[tunafishha]

You guys are a bunch of noobs. Im going to type up a new detailing thread and show ya'll how its done.

[BrianK.]

son of a bitch never heard of this before. repped.

You'll feel a huge difference. "Holy crap"--or something similar is what people say the first time they try it. Including myself.

[BrianK.]

You guys are a bunch of noobs. Im going to type up a new detailing thread and show ya'll how its done.

I heard toothpaste is the best way to polish a car because of its uniform abrasives.

Is this true?

[ForumAlpha]

well with winter just around the corner and owning a black car, anyone use a waterless wash?

Smart Polish Pro ( http://www.smartpolishpro.com/ ) any good? Saw it on Insta the other day and thought i would ask here.

any other ones you gurus might recommend? Car already has a ceramic protective coating on it.

[BrianK.]

well with winter just around the corner and owning a black car, anyone use a waterless wash?

Smart Polish Pro ( http://www.smartpolishpro.com/ ) any good? Saw it on Insta the other day and thought i would ask here.

any other ones you gurus might recommend? Car already has a ceramic protective coating on it.

Well, I watched the video and didn't like his comment--"Do not wipe in circles"....that has nothing to do with the swirls we see.


I also don't like their 'professional grade' microfiber towels...they look like cheap throw away towels. So, I'm out on that company.


Anyways, I prefer products that are marketed as rinse less wash products. Some of my favorites...

Garry Deans IUDJ
Adam's Rinse Less
Meguiars D114
Duragloss 931

Multi towel method. AKA Garry Dean Wash Method on forums---even though he didn't create this method; he marketed it better than anyone else and it turned into his method.

[BrianK.]

I know turtle wax gets a lot of hate but i'm really loving this product. I have 3 black vehicles and this wax really goes on and off nice. Not sure how long it lasts but I've been very happy with it.


[img]http://ep.yimg.com/ay/rodi/turtle-wax-black-box-black-car-wax-kit-3.png[/img


[img]http://i.imgur.com/NFmIXxQ.jpg[/img
[img]http://i.imgur.com/edypA5G.jpg[/img

Nice cars and very brave of you to have 2 black ones.

Most of these products aren't bad at all, but some are definitely easier to use that others, don't stain trim, last longer, smell better, etc...

The most important thing is that you are seeing results that you like. No judging here.

[darkninja67]

Myyyy man.

In order
Hybrid V7 Optical soap with the foam cannon
Black Light enhancer / sealant
Butter wet wax
Hybrid V7 Spray sealer and detailer

Forced air dry / chami

not bad
Black looks good all clean but it is such a bish to take care of.

Next bike will not be black.


Used my EGO 56V leaf blower to dry off my bike after a quick wash to get rid of all the road grime (been riding in the rain of late). It worked pretty damn well.

[darkninja67]

You guys are a bunch of noobs. Im going to type up a new detailing thread and show ya'll how its done.

strong contradiction in your sig mate. Fix that crap

[ForumAlpha]

Garry Deans IUDJ
Adam's Rinse Less
Meguiars D114
Duragloss 931

Multi towel method. AKA Garry Dean Wash Method on forums---even though he didn't create this method; he marketed it better than anyone else and it turned into his method.

I will look into these.
Thanks m8

[tunafishha]

I heard toothpaste is the best way to polish a car because of its uniform abrasives.

Is this true?

Toothpaste uses SMAT(Super micro abrasives technology). Where people go wrong with this technology is that the spread the whole product over the entire toothbrush instead of using a pea size bead. Let's alsonot forget the correct method of polishing those pearly whites which is up and down and not left to right.

[BrianK.]

I will look into these.
Thanks m8

I think my favorite combo is Adams Rinseless wash with a D156 wipe down. But I would have to go back and use those RWs side by side again to see.

D114 is so versatile though and probably the cheapest of those 4.

Toothpaste uses SMAT(Super micro abrasives technology). Where people go wrong with this technology is that the spread the whole product over the entire toothbrush instead of using a pea size bead. Let's alsonot forget the correct method of polishing those pearly whites which is up and down and not left to right.

No wonder Rupes just came out with the Bigfoot Nano iBrid (or whatever it's exactly called).

[tunafishha]

I think my favorite combo is Adams Rinseless wash with a D156 wipe down. But I would have to go back and use those RWs side by side again to see.

D114 is so versatile though and probably the cheapest of those 4.



No wonder Rupes just came out with the Bigfoot Nano iBrid (or whatever it's exactly called).

Lmao I just saw that thing.

[CoreMaster75]

well with winter just around the corner and owning a black car, anyone use a waterless wash?

Smart Polish Pro ( http://www.smartpolishpro.com/ ) any good? Saw it on Insta the other day and thought i would ask here.

any other ones you gurus might recommend? Car already has a ceramic protective coating on it.

See this video, this guy is one of the top guru's on Rinseless washing IMO, one of the biggest reputable detailers in California where they have to use this method due to water restrictions. Also, if it is fairly dirty it will be beneficial to go through a touchless drive through car wash or pressure wash it down at a DIY one to knock most of the junk off before bringing it home for a ONR wash.

Also, this video applies to pretty much any rinseless wash brand, I wouldn't recommend waterless washing(aka spray and wipe) for winter months

[CoreMaster75]

I was under the assumption he was using Meguiars' Finishing Wax.

Interesting---I never noticed a difference when claying with clay alternatives with different 'clay lubes'. That includes glide. Hell, I've even used APC as a test and saw results. (Although my guess is over time APC may deteriorate it...don't know)

I'm not saying that clay alternatives are worthless because I've gotten good results a lot, but I've never said "Crap, now I need to go over that section with my clay towel, even though I already hit it with traditional clay."

Excellent points with hard/soft paint. Makes a huge difference.

Great points. Also, haven't experimented with different clay alternative brands too much, I stick to Nanoskin since it works and lasts quite a while. As far as Glide, on most Medium to Hard paints you won't really see much of a difference, but it's imperative for soft paints when using a Nanoskin, I learned the hard way after I ran out of Glide.

And true, IMO normal clay is superior for getting a flawless car hands down, but Nanoskin takes off 90% of the stuff on there and leaves it clean enough for polishing and takes far less time/money if you do it full time. If you do it on the side/for absolutely perfect results, clay is the way to go.

Thanks again for starting and running this thread Brian, it's nice to discuss these things and get the brain churning

[t_raven]

I shared these pics in my project cars thread, but I'll put them here for those that haven't seen them. I'll post up future detailing stuff in here too.

I was home for a couple weeks in Aug and wanted to detail my truck, so I ordered up a bunch of stuff. I found Chemical Guys youtube channel. They've got a lot of videos and the products seem good, so I bought a bunch of stuff from them.



My truck is 15 years old with 207k miles. I take good care of it but I've neglected the paint a lot. The grill was pealing, and the corner lights were all foggy and gross.



I washed it, took a clay bar to it, polished it with 2 compounds, and used their black paint kit, which is a sealer and wax specifically for black paint. I replaced the grill and corner lights, polished the chrome, wiped down the plastics with plastic dressing, and had the windows tinted.



New grill, corner lights, and I polished the headlights a little. As cheap as new headlights are, I should've just bought new ones, so I will when I get home.





I have a nice pressure washer, so I bought one of their foam cannons for it. It's pretty bad ass, I need to get some ladies out there all foamed up next time.

[darkninja67]

I thought I was a Chemical Guys whore

[t_raven]

I thought I was a Chemical Guys whore

I like their stuff so far. They have like 700 youtube videos, so I've learned a lot from their channel.

[RyouBakua]

I like their stuff so far. They have like 700 youtube videos, so I've learned a lot from their channel.

thats a lot of product.

good videos but lots of repeat topics

but it makes them money

[sloop]

I thought I was a Chemical Guys whore

I'm almost done with my first bottle of Mr. Pink and probably wont buy it again.

For regular washes, I think DG 901 or even Meguiar's Gold Class soap beats Mr. Pink. Meguiar's definitely has more suds, longer.

[BrianK.]

Great points. Also, haven't experimented with different clay alternative brands too much, I stick to Nanoskin since it works and lasts quite a while. As far as Glide, on most Medium to Hard paints you won't really see much of a difference, but it's imperative for soft paints when using a Nanoskin, I learned the hard way after I ran out of Glide.

And true, IMO normal clay is superior for getting a flawless car hands down, but Nanoskin takes off 90% of the stuff on there and leaves it clean enough for polishing and takes far less time/money if you do it full time. If you do it on the side/for absolutely perfect results, clay is the way to go.

Thanks again for starting and running this thread Brian, it's nice to discuss these things and get the brain churning

Very interesting and noted.

I've read about people's frustrations with super soft black paint, but have never experienced it myself. That's when I like to read about yours or anyone else's first hand experience. What works, what doesn't, how 'stuff' reacts, how to eliminate marring, etc...so much goes into paint care of certain paint systems.

I don't do this for a living, so someone like yourself has touched more different cars in this past year than I have in the past 5 or more. That's the reality, so I note everything someone like you says and store it in my brain. The only thing that my 'experience' can bring to a professional is the fact that I own/have tried so many products that I sometimes forget if I have in fact tried it before. (Yikes)

I always laugh when I read on forums that folks sometimes forget that there are people here (those forums) that do this for a living and need to worry about their bottom line. Is D120 the best glass cleaner? Probably not, but you get 11 RTU gallons for what $16? Yeah, no one can argue that. You can't always use AMMO Foam as your shampoo when you have shampoos like Gold Class or Hyperwash, etc...so I completely understand why clay alternatives are a COMPLETE benefit to running a business--you would be crazy not to convert to them. Hell, it took me a while to convert to them.

I always keep an open mind and love to read about others' experiences. I must admit though; I was a complete slacker this past year...very busy unfortunately.

[t_raven]

[BigB02z28]

Pretty cool how so many people came together in this thread.

I've since sold all my toys and have been out of that business for a while. I don't even take care of our dailies I've been so busy. All my equipment has been boxed through 2 moves. Thinking about selling it all.

[RyouBakua]

wanna clean mine but its been raining every fuggin day

been over a month