2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

[humblepie]

I was curious if any of you were familiar w/ the 2008 infiniti m35 and if it has a soft or hard paint? My car in particular is a dark navy blue color.

Is there any quick way to test for it?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

It's usually not a good idea to generalize cars as to having hard or soft paint as manufactures can change paint systems any time. There's a thread about this in the Hot Topics forum, the title is something like,

Paint polishability, the hardness or softness .....something something something....

Is there any quick way to test for it?

A seasoned, experienced detailer can do a test spot with a light cleaner by hand or machine in a few minutes and know if the paint is hard or soft by how much or how little they can improve the finish.

At all of our Saturday classes, (that's a lot of classes), at each class we pick the worst looking car to demonstrate on. Note: I've never worked on the chose car at each class so I don't know if the paint is soft or hard.

(Make sense?)

When we get to the step where we apply ScratchX by hand, after the first application, in front of anywhere from an average of 20 to 30 people, (Live), it's pretty easy to tell if the paint is hard or soft or somewhere in-between by inspecting the results after just one application and comparing it to how the paint looked before. This is one of the reasons we use blue masking tape to tape off the "Control" section so we have something to compare to during all the procedures we do by hand and machine and with different levels of aggressiveness in our products.

It's pretty easy to see this as we usually have pictures of this from all our classes in this forum,

Pictures from Saturday Classes


In the below picture we're applying ScratchX to a taped off section. After applying and working one time, assuming you're good at applying a hand-applied paint cleaner, you should be able to look at the section you worked and compare it to any section near it that you didn't work and see if you're making any progress. If you are then one thing for sure, and that's the paint is obviously polishable enough that "you" can "affect" it by hand.

We've seen paint so soft that one application of ScratchX by hand made dramatic improvements and some paints where 5 applications were needed to start showing some improvement.

"You don't know what you can do until you go out into your garage and do a test spot"




So often people post a jillion questions when the answer is in the garage.

Just to note, in the past we always apply ScratchX 3 times to our "Hand" section just to insure there is a visible difference to all the people there to learn how to polish paint by hand. This is our control for the exact reason that we don't know if the paint is soft or hard. We do know from years of experience that in most cases, if we apply ScratchX really well, (perfect technique), 3 times, then even if the paint is very hard, when we pull the car out into the sun there will still be a difference and then we re-enforce to the class what we learned in the classroom that this is why you want to test out your product and process to one small area before going over the entire car.

It won't be any fun if you go over the entire car only to find out you're not making any progress because of a host of reason, sometimes because the paint is hard, sometimes because the scratches are deep, sometimes because you need a more aggressive product and sometimes believe it or not, the person applying the product isn't' using good technique.

For example, when working scratches out of a clear coat finish you don't just smear the paint cleaner on and wipe it off, you have to work the product carefully against the paint.

See how it's more complicated then to just say,

Model X has soft paint

or

The Model Z Truck has hard paint

The best thing to do is to go out into your garage and bring your hand or your polisher down onto the paint and work a section and then inspect the results as compared to a section you haven't worked and go from there.

Make sense?

What do you have for products that are able to remove defects?
Are you working by hand or machine?

Hope this helps...

[humblepie]

Re: 2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

Thank you for your detailed response. I feel a little guilty for you typing so much.

What do you have for products that are able to remove defects? Are you working by hand or machine?

All I'm trying to do is remove some light swirl marks evident throughout the entire body.

I'm new to the world of car 'detailing (maintenance).' So I'm in the process of purchasing my first complete maintenance 'kit' from ADS (g110, m205 and a few other Meg's products).

I was reading about another user and some hologram issues from his soft paint that I wanted to ask questions first before purchasing. However, it seems I'll just need to bite the bullet and perform a spot test and hope for the best

I wouldn't want to purchase all this equipment only to find out I can't use it b/c it will create holograms and such... but worst comes to worst, I'll be able to keep the g110 around for waxing sessions.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: 2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

I wouldn't want to purchase all this equipment only to find out I can't use it b/c it will create holograms and such... but worst comes to worst, I'll be able to keep the g110 around for waxing sessions.

There's very few paint systems on the market that can't be polished to perfection.

If it can be polished to perfection, then Meguiar's can help you to get the job done and everyone on this forum is here to help see you through to success.

Can't wait till you get your polisher and supplies and do your first test spot, inspect the results and then let us know what you see.

[Deaner5]

Re: 2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

I think another aspect of detailing is how well do you want your finish to be? Are we talking show car results without a swirl in sight? Or better then everyone else's car on the block?

I have found myself wrestling with that recently. While I want a great prefect finish, I'm not sure it's a realistic goal considering it's only my daily driver, I live in a snowy, salty climate that is brutal on my finish. The past few years I would just do one full blown detail (wash, clay, clean, polish, wax) and just do a maintanence wax every month or two as needed throughout the year.

I too have just bought a G110 and some 205 and we'll see what happens. While I think my finish will be better, I also think I won't mind if it can't get perfect, perfect.

Another key aspect is considering how the swirls got there in the first place. If you do a Google video search for "How to wash a car" you will find a video hosted by Mike that provides great techniques on washes to help prevent swirls and such.

Hope this helps, sounds like you're on the right track though and welcome to MOL.

[humblepie]

Re: 2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

I gotta love this community. Thanks all for your input.

The swirls got there b/c I got this car used and I believe the prior 'owner' was a rental company. The car only had 11k miles when I bought it, but obviously that doesn't mean much in terms of swirl marks

I'll probably have the parts ordered this week. So I'll make sure to post my follow up questions in another topic.

I've literally had my browser open with the ADS shopping cart for 2 days now updating my list

[humblepie]

Re: 2008 infiniti m35: hard or soft paint?

I'm definitely weighing the pros and cons of the investment I'll be making and the realistic goals I want to set for myself.

'Car detailing' with the help of MOL feels like another fun hobby/project to pick up on - like when I decided to water cool my computer haha.