I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

[Top Gear]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

UC by hand on a white car might be a cake walk but on an entire black car,.....come on... you will need a prescription of Xanax after you see the results.

Even I wouldn't try compounding a whole black car by hand!

Seriously, though, I'm sorry you're frustrated with this, though, SC. We've all been there, so you're in good company. As we've said, your process seems fine, but that doesn't mean that it will work without a hitch over the whole car. One of the biggest problems is losing patience and getting in a hurry to finish.

Again, some pictures would help us help you.

[SwedishCanadian]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

I'm not sure if you're referring to me when you say 'bad advice'?

Regardless, if anything was going to remove those swirls by hand, it would be UC. You can't really get too much more aggressive by hand.

I'm sure me or anyone else here who suggested UC would have said to do a test spot with it, not the whole car. That's what we constantly preach around here, and for good reason. That way, you can dial in what works first, before repeating the process over the entire vehicle.

Maybe your expectation was just too high. Even Guz said above "you can only do so much by hand".

It would be good to see some before / after pics to see what you're dealing with. Did you try a test spot with just UP?

Even I wouldn't try compounding a whole black car by hand!

Seriously, though, I'm sorry you're frustrated with this, though, SC. We've all been there, so you're in good company. As we've said, your process seems fine, but that doesn't mean that it will work without a hitch over the whole car. One of the biggest problems is losing patience and getting in a hurry to finish.

Again, some pictures would help us help you.

I did a test spot with UC. It removed approximately 70% or so of swirls. The area I tested wasn't completely flat (doing it where it's flat is pretty easy) and where it wasn't flat, it caused marring and hazing. I was using the right technique. I quickly jumped to the conclusion that I could probably use UC in the flat areas, but wherever the car is not completely flat (many places) it's gonna be extremely hard, close to impossible, not to cause marring.

I decided to do the whole car with ultimate polish and ultimate wax instead. I'm about 75% done. I know it won't really remove swirls or anything, but atleast it will give a better shine and I won't have to worry about marring with the ultimate polish from what I can understand.

I didn't mean to attack anyone. My whole point was that... it's easy for pros and companies to demonstrate in a little video on a small spot on a flat surface that UC can indeed remove most/all swirls by hand without causing marring or hazing etc...however, I highly doubt these guys and companies could achieve that result on an entire car that is black, it is, if not impossible for a human working by hand, atleast extremely, extremely, extremely x1000 close to it.

[The Guz]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

First off you are not offending anyone. As we have stated comparing technique by hand vs machine is night and day. You would have to be Superman to get the paint 100% swirl free by hand. Perhaps the paint was softer in those areas. Or more pressure was used on those non flat surfaces. The purpose of a polish is to refine the finish after compounding. Meaning it will remove compound haze, compound marring. The oils in the polish will fill the deeper defects left behind. They will not wash off right away of you follow up with some sort of protection. But the oils will fade over time.

It's fairly common for those doing things by hand to break it up over a span of days.

[Top Gear]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

I didn't mean to attack anyone. My whole point was that... it's easy for pros and companies to demonstrate in a little video on a small spot on a flat surface that UC can indeed remove most/all swirls by hand without causing marring or hazing etc...however, I highly doubt these guys and companies could achieve that result on an entire car that is black, it is, if not impossible for a human working by hand, atleast extremely, extremely, extremely x1000 close to it.

You're basically right. It's technically achievable, but very unrealistic for a person working alone and outside on their daily driver. It might seem easy in a given video when they don't show the car was pulled into an air-conditioned garage/studio and the sheer toil of it all was knocked out by a bunch of employees or students who are younger, or at least were not doing the whole car by themselves, and not sweating their butts off into frustrated dehydration. It's one of those differences between theory and practice.

Hand-waxing is something people still do, of course, and many with pride. I did until a few years ago. However, all-out compounding a black daily driver that's covered in spiderwebs and other defects, all by hand, by yourself, working outside, in your spare time, and expecting level, swirl-free and hologram-free professional results...well...that's essentially impossible, even if technically possible in some dream world version of reality. Maybe if you're 20 years old and can keep the car clean and dry for many days on end while you work passionately 12 hours a day by hand, very, very carefully claying, compounding, then polishing and waxing....sure, maybe that's theoretically possible, but highly unlikely, and even foolish. Also, is it going to be repeatable when that daily driver needs it again? Can this also be repeated as needed for other cars, say in a two or more car household? Not likely at all.

You now see first hand why we all bought a machine. It's one of those things you just don't realize the impact of until you do it. Once you start machine polishing, you'll never look back on hand work except to wash or detail, or occasionally to clay, sand, buff - and all of those hand tasks are reduced greatly and made enjoyable by using a machine for the real work at the compounding and polishing stages. At that point, you'll be the one reading a thread like this and wondering why the guy is killing himself trying to compound by hand and not seeing the bigger picture - we all were in the same place at one time.

So, if you can budget a couple hundred bucks (or the equivalent), you will be able to jump to another galaxy of car care. While using a machine can sometimes be more work than you may expect or want, you're getting repeatable, consistent, and often quick results that would be practically impossible otherwise.

[SwedishCanadian]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

You're basically right. It's technically achievable, but very unrealistic for a person working alone and outside on their daily driver. It might seem easy in a given video when they don't show the car was pulled into an air-conditioned garage/studio and the sheer toil of it all was knocked out by a bunch of employees or students who are younger, or at least were not doing the whole car by themselves, and not sweating their butts off into frustrated dehydration. It's one of those differences between theory and practice.

Hand-waxing is something people still do, of course, and many with pride. I did until a few years ago. However, all-out compounding a black daily driver that's covered in spiderwebs and other defects, all by hand, by yourself, working outside, in your spare time, and expecting level, swirl-free and hologram-free professional results...well...that's essentially impossible, even if technically possible in some dream world version of reality. Maybe if you're 20 years old and can keep the car clean and dry for many days on end while you work passionately 12 hours a day by hand, very, very carefully claying, compounding, then polishing and waxing....sure, maybe that's theoretically possible, but highly unlikely, and even foolish. Also, is it going to be repeatable when that daily driver needs it again? Can this also be repeated as needed for other cars, say in a two or more car household? Not likely at all.

You now see first hand why we all bought a machine. It's one of those things you just don't realize the impact of until you do it. Once you start machine polishing, you'll never look back on hand work except to wash or detail, or occasionally to clay, sand, buff - and all of those hand tasks are reduced greatly and made enjoyable by using a machine for the real work at the compounding and polishing stages. At that point, you'll be the one reading a thread like this and wondering why the guy is killing himself trying to compound by hand and not seeing the bigger picture - we all were in the same place at one time.

So, if you can budget a couple hundred bucks (or the equivalent), you will be able to jump to another galaxy of car care. While using a machine can sometimes be more work than you may expect or want, you're getting repeatable, consistent, and often quick results that would be practically impossible otherwise.

Thank you for the advice Top Gear. I am very aware of the benefits using a machine, and I would have used one if I could. To me, just like to you, it's a no brainer. However, all work was done in just a regular parking spot in the underground of our condo building. There's no outlets to use a machine and even if there was, I'm 99% sure it would be against the condo rules.

[Top Gear]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

They might not mind, other than the on-off noise created by running the machine. You can look for another location, like a family or friend's house, etc, park location, or you can even use a plug-in power inverter to use the car itself for power (that is, for short periods, such as the time it would take to re-wax, not the hours it would take to compound). As long as you can find shade and pack a lunch, you can do this almost anywhere. Some car wash facilities, churches, parks, business locations, are possible if you know someone. I use a local tax-supported park pavilion now instead of my driveway

[DasBurninator]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

There's no outlets to use a machine and even if there was, I'm 99% sure it would be against the condo rules.

Honda makes an excellent generator that is insanely quiet... Not saying its the cheap way out, if I was in that situation I would consider it.

I'm pretty sure it is against my HOA rules too, but I give them way better things to complain about than running a polisher :P.
My favorite so far is the letter about my "car with no suspension". I should have framed that one.

[SwedishCanadian]

Re: I will detail my car for the first time ever this weekend - advice?

Here are the results guys!

Sorry I am using Apple and can't get the picture upload thing to work so I guess links will have to be ok for now.

http://tinypic.com/r/119s1w7/8

http://tinypic.com/r/nntymg/8

http://tinypic.com/r/2j0fuja/8

http://tinypic.com/r/2ds2ubr/8

http://tinypic.com/r/2wp8idx/8

http://tinypic.com/r/156s1vt/8

http://tinypic.com/r/23hq3kh/8

http://tinypic.com/r/2rdjbc8/8

http://tinypic.com/r/2rz99vq/8