your take on this

[oc detailer]

ok well for starters, i bought a black car (pre owned certified 06)

the car has a lot of swirls that i didnt let the delaership attempt to fix,as they told me all they did to clean te car was weekly wet the car and drag a wet rag around the car, instead i took the 200.00 credit they gave me for havng it detailed elsewhere, havent dont it yet though..

i got the car home washed it, used some cleaner wax, then topped it nxt tech wax, it hid a lot of the swirls( i say hid cause it was all done by machine, 10 inch orbital)
washed it again yesterday, and today i decided to quik detail it and clay the front clip(hood, fenders and front bumper) well the clay really cleaned up that area i clayed, but it also made the swirls either less visable or some how removed some of them..

can anyone enlighten me on how this was possible..?

secondly..

i do all my cleaning/detailing by hand and use my 10 inch orbital, my question is,what applicators(whether bonnets or hand applicators )are best for what product/step, for instance, is a terry cloth bonnet better for cleaner waxes, polish or LSP, same goes for a foam bonnet, or microfiber bonnet, which is best for what step/product..

thanks meguiars , and the forum community..

[TrufflePig]

hi there,

well congrats on the new purchase.

first you clayed the car. good choice. claying the car will rid the car of any surface contaminants.

what you wanna do is have read of these.

The 5-Step Paint Care Cycle.

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

Step 1 Wash

Step 2 Clean

Step 3 Polish

Step 4 Protect

Step 5 Maintain

How to Clay Paint

How To Clay Paint


Next you wanna answer any question you still may have. you can post new topics on here and anyone will be happy to help you out.

but to answer what you should do when washing car.

1. wash
2. clay
3. wash (if you want again)
4. M80 with W-8006
5. M83 with W-8006
6. #7 with W-9006
7. NXT TECH WAX with W-9006 (2 coats...use the swipe test to tell when you can remove it)
Remove each coat of Tech Wax with a BONNET X-4003 (microfibre)

when applying the M80 and etc. i remove these by hand with a Meguiars Supreme Shine Microfibre.

remember you use ONE pad PER PRODUCT. you do not cross contaminate.

[oc detailer]

thanks but im very familiar with the links u provided, but they dont answer my question(s) at hand/that were asked as far as how was it possible that the clay helped, or made the swirrls less noticeable, and the right bonnet/hand applicoator for the right product/step

the 5 step system is all i use when i have the time to do all 5, other wise its a cleaner wax/wax job for a quikie..

thanks..

[TrufflePig]

hey mate

i understand.

i'll see if i can get somethign together for you and post. i'm in the middle of work right now and won't be able to be back to late.

some other guys will probably beat me to it though.

cheers for now

[oc detailer]

no problem i appreciate your effort, im at work myself, lol

but yes hopefully i can get a few different views on the 2 subjects at hand..

thanks again..

[TrufflePig]

How Claying Works?

I looked around and instead of me putting something together I found this.

When contaminants get a solid grip on your car's paint, washing alone may not be enough to remove them. Pre-wax cleaners also may not be able to exfoliate large particles. In this case, you have two choices: use a polishing compound, which removes a lot of paint material, or use a clay bar. Clay isn't a polish or a compound, it is a surface preparation bar that smoothes the paint and exfoliates contaminants.
Clay is not a cure-all or a replacement for polishing. It's a tool for quickly and easily removing surface contamination.
One of the many reasons for using clay is the removal of brake dust. Brake dust contamination, which attaches to painted rear bumpers and adjoining surfaces, is a metallic surface contaminant that can be removed safely and effectively by using clay.
Clay is also very effective on paint over-spray. If the over-spray is particularly heavy, you may want to seek the assistance of a professional. Tree sap and tar specks can also
be safely removed with a clay bar.

Clay doesn’t really remove swirls marks as those are scratches and you need to put some passion behind the work to remove those. What it does though, it make your paint feel smooth as glass and make it somewhat appear to have removed the swirls. This happened to me the other day working on a black Rav-4 heavily swirled. I clayed and then brought into the sun to see and what a difference already. But upon further inspection, they were all still there.

[TH0001]

Claying wont remove swirls at all, but if you but a wax on top of the swirls, that would reduce the apperance of them.

[Murr1525]

It is hard to say how effective your orbital buffer will be at removing swirls... but you can certainly try. Though using part of that $200 credit on a G-100 would make your life a fair bit easier.

Rotary vs. PC vs. Regular Orbital Buffer

Here is a link invlving the products TrufflePig was talking about to remove swirls with a machine.

Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line

I also have to agree, you probably didnt really remove swirls, just hid them better now that no dirt was in them. And applying polishes and waxes will also hide swirls.

Now, applying the Cleaner/Wax (red bottle) by machine does give the ability to remove some swirls, and if you used ColorX for your cleaner/wax, then yes, that has more ability to remove siwrls, and really may have done so.

[oc detailer]

thanks everyone..

so using the color x will be a lil stronger/better at trying to remove/conceal the swirls as opposed to dc1..

or would m80 be the best out of what i have already at trying to remove some swirls or conceal them, then mo7 to polish, and either nxt tech wax, gold class, or m26 for a topper..

[Murr1525]

I think swirl removal ability, going from mild on up, would look like this:

Cleaner/Wax
DC#1
ColorX
#80
#83

So yes, ColorX would be a bit better than DC#1.

I would tend to give an edge to the #80 as far as cleaning ability and swirl removal, but that might be kind of close.

Since ColorX is a cleaner/wax, and #80 is a Cleaner/Polish, you will probably get a better look going with #80+#7+wax as well.

[Zet]

If you already have #80 I would definitely try that. It might take some time to break down, when used with a 10" buffer. And I agree that you should consider investing in the PC/G100.

As for bonnets. I would use foam bonnets for almost every step, except for removal of products where I would use MF bonnets. Terry cloth bonnets might give you a bit more bite, when used with a cleaner/wax, but I think you will be better of using a dedicated cleaner (like #80) on a foam bonnet. I don't know if the foam bonnets you have is ok for the LSP though. Maybe you are better of applying the LSP by hand, with something like a High Tech applicator pad.

[oc detailer]

thanks so much for the info fellas..

once i finish claying the car, i will do as follows:

wash,nxt wash
m80 ,foam gold class bonnet
m07, foam gold class bonnet
nxt wax, either applied with a mf bonnet or by hand with a high tech applicator
then maybe top it with m26