1st carwash

[DarkWolf]

First carwash of new car that is. 2004 metallic silver Miata. Couple of issues. BTW, washed with Meguiar's carwash sol'n and dried with The Absorber. Is it OK to use Bug and Tar Remover without damaging finish? There appears to be a long adhesive line on both sides of car that does not come off easily. I think it's from protective plastic put on car at factory. I will clay and polish/wax in a couple of weeks. Is that best way to remove it? Finally, there is a roughened plastic-like coated area along bottom of both sides of car. How do I maintain this? I'm thinking only to wax it (and not clay or polish it). Any comments? Thanks,

[Rockpick]

Congrats on the new car! I'm sure she's a beauty!

Bug and tar remover on the adhesive strip probably isn't a bad idea but, I'd recommend that you test a very small area prior to ripping in to the entire strip. In short, apply a very small amount to a microfiber towel and rub it across the affected area. Immediately follow with a wet towel to remove any excess that may be on the surface. Do not apply massive amounts of direct downward pressure as this can mar or scratch the surface.

Also, I wouldn't utilize this product unless you're planning on waxxing the vehicle immediately after as any bug and tar type of product will remove protection.

I'm not familar with the plastic-like 'stuff' that you've described and thus, I think I'm going to leave that one alone and wait for someone to chime in that may know it better than me. My hunch is that your plan is okay but, I'd hate to advise you on something not knowing the entire scale of details.

RP

[C32 AMG]

Re: 1st carwash

Originally posted by DarkWolf
First carwash of new car that is. 2004 metallic silver Miata. Couple of issues. BTW, washed with Meguiar's carwash sol'n and dried with The Absorber. Is it OK to use Bug and Tar Remover without damaging finish? There appears to be a long adhesive line on both sides of car that does not come off easily. I think it's from protective plastic put on car at factory. I will clay and polish/wax in a couple of weeks. Is that best way to remove it? Finally, there is a roughened plastic-like coated area along bottom of both sides of car. How do I maintain this? I'm thinking only to wax it (and not clay or polish it). Any comments? Thanks,

Is the car brand new or used? Did you buy it from the Mazda dealership? If so, they supposed to clean the car without any dirts before you paid for it.

You may try call your salesperson to help you out. This will save some of your $$$.

[DarkWolf]

New car from Mazda dealership. But i'd really rather not leave it for a day or two if it will come off with clay/cleaner/polisher/wax. I can pick it off with my nail, so it is not embedded.

[C32 AMG]

Did you try or read this?

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2679

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 1st carwash

Originally posted by DarkWolf
Is it OK to use Bug and Tar Remover without damaging finish?

Meguiar's Bug and Tar Remover is safe for use on automotive finishes.

There appears to be a long adhesive line on both sides of car that does not come off easily. I think it's from protective plastic put on car at factory. I will clay and polish/wax in a couple of weeks. What is that best way to remove it?

A little paint cleaner should loosen this adhesive residue such as Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, or ScratchX

Finally, there is a roughened plastic-like coated area along bottom of both sides of car. How do I maintain this? I'm thinking only to wax it (and not clay or polish it). Any comments? Thanks,

Is this area glossy or matte looking? Is it the same color of paint as the rest of the car? Is it like an invisible bra?

Mike

[DarkWolf]

Thanks for taking the time to advise me, Mike. The bottom of the side panels (under the doors) is the same metal and paint as the rest of the car. It just has a thin coating over it to ? protect against stone chips etc. It is about 8" from top to bottom and runs from the front wheel well to the back one.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by DarkWolf
The bottom of the side panels (under the doors) is the same metal and paint as the rest of the car. It just has a thin coating over it to ? protect against stone chips etc. It is about 8" from top to bottom and runs from the front wheel well to the back one.

Our Pilot has the same thing, all I do to it is apply Tech Wax over it. It doesn't seem to hurt anything however I don't know how much it improves it visually because it's so low and I don't really get down there to look. It mostly gets waxed because as I'm applying wax, I hit everything that's black and glossy.

Try a spot and see if you see a difference. If it doesn't look worse, then it wouldn't hurt to apply something versus nothing I would think.

Mike