new to detailing

[halfmoon]

I currently own 2 black vehicles , car and truck. I 'm looking for a good wax for black, I heard the wax that sheets water is better than beading, this makes sense to me, but does such a wax exist?

The truck needs some paint correction (swirls and such, a few stone chips), so I'm just starting to play with a few products.Scratch x is one I just picked up.
Any others I should be looking at?

I maybe shot for this question , but whats everyone thoughts on those 2 handled single speed buffers?Can they do more then just destory your finish?Or should I stick to hand polishing?

2007 Ford Ranger Sport
2007 Hyundai Accent

Rick

[Mike Phillips]

Re: new to detailing

I currently own 2 black vehicles , car and truck. I 'm looking for a good wax for black, I heard the wax that sheets water is better than beading, this makes sense to me, but does such a wax exist?

Gold Class Wax sheets water pretty good, NXT Beads water really well but because water tries to get away from the polymers used in this wax water can be easier to remove as it will gravitate towards a chamois really well versus stay on the paint.

If your truck is going to get wet and not get dried off then water beading can cause water etchings or water spots. The masses always want waxes that bead water as they believe this is a top priority feature but you're right, a wax that sheets water is better than a wax that beads water. Of course water beading looks really cool.

The truck needs some paint correction (swirls and such, a few stone chips), so I'm just starting to play with a few products.Scratch x is one I just picked up.

Any others I should be looking at?

If these cars are daily drivers and they became swirled because of the way they are used and taken care of, then if they are going to continue to be used the same way and maintained the same way then removing all the swirls is kind of pointless as they will just come back again and removing them means removing a portion of your clear coat paint.

Besides the above it's also a lot of work.

Not trying to talk you out of it but were famous for creating swirl removing monsters on this forum.

Removing swirls by hand is hard work, you can only work a small area at one time so you have to break you car's paint up into lots of small areas, 1 foot square or smaller.

That's why DA Polisher like our G110 have become so popular in the last 15 years as people struggle to remove swirls out of clear coat paints by hand and come to find this tool that will do most of the work for them. It still takes a lot of time for the swirl removal process just so you know.

You could keep it simple to start with,

Wash
Clay
Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
Wax (Your choice)

When you're done the paint will look a lot better and if you want to pursue a show car finish you can look into machine polishing.

I maybe shot for this question , but whats everyone thoughts on those 2 handled single speed buffers?Can they do more then just destroy your finish? Or should I stick to hand polishing?

2007 Ford Ranger Sport
2007 Hyundai Accent

Rick

We refer to this type of polisher as a "Traditional Orbital Polisher" as it's kind of the old school type of polisher that works pretty well to remove oxidation off oxidized single stage paints but is not very effective at removing swirls out of clear coat paints due to they tend to be harder than old style single stage paints.

Here's a thread that addresses this question.

Rotary vs PC vs Regular Orbital Buffer

And this thread has pictures of the different types of machines.

Machine Photos - DA Polishers - Rotary Buffers - Traditional Orbital Buffers

[halfmoon]

Re: new to detailing

Thank you for the great information, I like the fact you kept it simple.
Both are daily drivers and I'm only looking currently to make them look good, maybe some time I'll go after the real hard core shine.

But for now I'll be washing /clay bar/cleaner/and then some good wax.

Thank you for your time in answer my questions.
You guys ROCK!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: new to detailing

Nice signature line!

[HagFan]

Re: new to detailing

I wouldn't own a black car without also owning a DA polisher, #83, #80 and #21. Set the #83 aside for awhile if your car is new.

I don't actually own a black car, but my daughter has a new, black, CRV which is "next up" starting Friday evening. My LSP, #21, might not be the preferred choice here for black, but I have plenty of it and I've used it with astounding results on and 8-year-old black Lexus GS... You just need to be careful not to let it build up in your pad and cause you to apply it too heavily. In higher humidity it will be difficult to remove if put on to heavy. Thin is in!

I clay once or twice a year (early Spring, late Fall); always wash by hand, every week or two, with the 2-bucket method; use Cleaner/Wax or #80 for the cleaning step; use #21 for the last step. I will rewax with #21 once or twice between the full job. So I wax 3-4 times a year, which is probably low for this crowd, but certainly sets the pace in my neighborhood.

So far, so good. My silver and bronze vehicles--both daily drivers-- are completely swirl-free as far as I can tell.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: new to detailing

When I first found this wonderful wealth of information. I washed, clayed, applied a coat of the A-12 (red bottle cleaner wax) and topped it off with Gold Class wax. I think it was and still is a great combo. It may be the combo for you also?