Hello all! The name is Marcin and I am new to these forums and detailing! I have been scouring these forums for almost the last week reading up on every little bit of information I could.
I am getting ready to do my first real detailing session on my truck. I own a 2004 chevrolet trailblazer. Color is Dark spiral grey mettallic. For those who don't know it is a very dark gunmetal type color with some very need properties under various shades of light(dependong on the light sometimes it seems to have a shade of green, blue, or purple mixed in with the grey).
Anyway, I have some light scratches, and light-moderate swirl marks on the hood of the truck I want to get rid off. And the rest of the truck has very light swirl marks with you typical daily driver door moulding scuffs and such. The rear hatch is a story on its own. It has no scratches tat I can see but the paint feels almost like sandpaper. I can see for a fact that the clearcoat is still intact and it reflects like the rest of the car. But it is nowhere near smooth or where it should be.
My primary goal is to get the truck as close to "off the lot" as I can. I want to get the light scratches and swirls off the hood and possibly whatever is on the truck(or at least as much as I can) and try to get the rear hatch as clean as I can.
Here is what I was planning on doing.
Wash--->Meguiar's Clay kit--->Meguiar's SratchX2.0--->meguiar's Ultimate Polish--->Wax---and maybe a second coat of wax
And here are my questions:
1: I saw on this forum a small plastic handle one can attach to the foam applicators to ease use. Where can I find these, I have been searching for days with no luck.
2: I continuously read about soft paint and hard paint. Does anyone know where the paint on my truck falls? And how easy i will be to correct?
3: The rear hatch feels almost like tar. Or if I were to take glue, cover the hatch and throw sand and dirt at it. Is this something I can do with the clay kit? Or should I hit it with a bug/tar remover first? And recommendations on one?
4: After Meguiar's ScratchX2.0 to remove light scratches and swirls, I read that Polishing gives much more depth of color and shine. I am also very interested in using Meguiar's new Black Wax. But read that it does have some abrasive/cleaning qualities. If I put a coat of Polish on, will using the Black Wax, after, default that step? Will the cleaning qualities of BW remove the Polish I just applied?
5: Finally, is there any primary reason to go with 2 coats of wax over a single coat? And if I go with the Black wax as the first coat, can I go over it with my bottle of Gold class Carnauba liquid wax? Will doing that take away from and of the depth or shine the BW gives? Or should I go gold class then over that with Black?
I am planning on doing everything by had as I don't own a DA nor can afford one. Yes I know this will be a very long and PITA process. I will be using foam applicator pads to apply and detailing microfibres to remove. I plan on spending basically sun-up to sun-down doing this tomorrow. Any tips/tricks? ideas? suggestions?
Thanks for taking the time to read all this! and thanks in advance for the replies!
I am getting ready to do my first real detailing session on my truck. I own a 2004 chevrolet trailblazer. Color is Dark spiral grey mettallic. For those who don't know it is a very dark gunmetal type color with some very need properties under various shades of light(dependong on the light sometimes it seems to have a shade of green, blue, or purple mixed in with the grey).
Anyway, I have some light scratches, and light-moderate swirl marks on the hood of the truck I want to get rid off. And the rest of the truck has very light swirl marks with you typical daily driver door moulding scuffs and such. The rear hatch is a story on its own. It has no scratches tat I can see but the paint feels almost like sandpaper. I can see for a fact that the clearcoat is still intact and it reflects like the rest of the car. But it is nowhere near smooth or where it should be.
My primary goal is to get the truck as close to "off the lot" as I can. I want to get the light scratches and swirls off the hood and possibly whatever is on the truck(or at least as much as I can) and try to get the rear hatch as clean as I can.
Here is what I was planning on doing.
Wash--->Meguiar's Clay kit--->Meguiar's SratchX2.0--->meguiar's Ultimate Polish--->Wax---and maybe a second coat of wax
And here are my questions:
1: I saw on this forum a small plastic handle one can attach to the foam applicators to ease use. Where can I find these, I have been searching for days with no luck.
2: I continuously read about soft paint and hard paint. Does anyone know where the paint on my truck falls? And how easy i will be to correct?
3: The rear hatch feels almost like tar. Or if I were to take glue, cover the hatch and throw sand and dirt at it. Is this something I can do with the clay kit? Or should I hit it with a bug/tar remover first? And recommendations on one?
4: After Meguiar's ScratchX2.0 to remove light scratches and swirls, I read that Polishing gives much more depth of color and shine. I am also very interested in using Meguiar's new Black Wax. But read that it does have some abrasive/cleaning qualities. If I put a coat of Polish on, will using the Black Wax, after, default that step? Will the cleaning qualities of BW remove the Polish I just applied?
5: Finally, is there any primary reason to go with 2 coats of wax over a single coat? And if I go with the Black wax as the first coat, can I go over it with my bottle of Gold class Carnauba liquid wax? Will doing that take away from and of the depth or shine the BW gives? Or should I go gold class then over that with Black?
I am planning on doing everything by had as I don't own a DA nor can afford one. Yes I know this will be a very long and PITA process. I will be using foam applicator pads to apply and detailing microfibres to remove. I plan on spending basically sun-up to sun-down doing this tomorrow. Any tips/tricks? ideas? suggestions?
Thanks for taking the time to read all this! and thanks in advance for the replies!
Comment