Detailing, Silver Car?.

[PLuKE]

Hi.

Am pretty new to detailing, I have polished my car twice since owning it.

I used Autoglem Super Resin, and then Extra Gloss Protection.

But am looking for a good deep shine from the car now spring is only round the corner!. I wash the car twice a week with a car wash/wax.

I was told to you Meguiars clay to get the paint really smooth, But what else can i do to get a really good shine, I will be doing everything by hand.

Luke

[KNJ]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

You need to evaluate the paint after clay.
Polish if needed. There are multiple threads on the 5 step paint care process. I would suggest NXT or 21 as the last step product. It makes the metalflake on our Altima really pop.

[yalerd]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

Well silver colored vehicles do not reflect as black, never will but with the right process you can sure make them pop!

I would clay and use the new Meguiar's products that make is easier to work by hand so get the surface as clear as possible. Maybe use a Pure Polish to make a bit better.

[christian6984]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

You need to evaluate the paint after clay.
Polish if needed. There are multiple threads on the 5 step paint care process. I would suggest NXT or 21 as the last step product. It makes the metalflake on our Altima really pop.

Claying will make all the differance it makes the surface much smoother and makes following stages, Autoglym does a pretty good job, and the polish is covered by SRP and EGP is a sealant.

Deep Crystal Cleaner 2 polish is great on many cars too as its a pure polish (could skip SRP but it does hide swirls so use first before DC2)
#21 is a good choice, depends if you want Meguiars or not... before i mention other companies. If you have a search here on Detailingworld for what pros use on silver cars that may spark a few ideas.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/search.php?searchid=4761789

[PLuKE]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

Well am gonna try and get the car clayed this weekend and go from there.

But even after i polish the car am not that happy with the shine off the car using the Autoglem products.

I have seen on another thread that the NXT is good stuff and was used on a silver Corolla and did really make the car pop!.

So might try the NXT stuff, So should i wash, clay, NXT then Autoglem EGP?.

Luke

[sudsbyhubbs]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

I have a silver PT Cruiser and the process I used the last time was claying, M83 followed by M80 then I used Griot's sealant I think. I did all of this by machine though. I would say you could get just as good of results using the new Ultimate Compound followed by SwirlX then NXT 2.0 Here are a couple of pics...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

The goal of making any clear coated paint look its best is to get the clear as clear as possible, that means remove as many defects as possible, (swirls, scratches, etchings, haziness etc.), and to make the paint as smooth as possible.

Defects are removed using compounds, paint cleaner and cleaner/polishes
Smoothness is restored and maintained using detailing clay

After all that can be done is done to create the clearest and smoothest surface possible a quality wax or paint sealant will take and build on these results a little more to give you your end result.

Here's a thread for our Hot Topics forum.


Which LSP is better for light colors?

[TimG]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

A lot of the guys here got good results with your combo (SRP- EGP) via hand app. Try it out again but if you want to go to another level, then why not get a machine, say DA for start. The G110 is widely available there I believe.

Here's a teaser (I bet others will chime in also ) for silver

[Megafast13]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

1. Wash--NXT Wash, 2 Buckets, Grit Guards
2. Clay- Smooth Surface Clay Kit
3. Clean Polish--SwirlX
4. Polish- Deep Crystal Pure Polish
5. Wax- NXT 2.0 Wax
6. Maintain- Ultimate Quik Detailer

[Blueline]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

My next car is going to be silver.
This color is way too much work.

[PLuKE]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

Thanks for all the replys and advice.

sudsbyhubbs, Car is looking really good, I didnt know silver could come out so well .

Well i got outside today as the sun was out. I got one side of the car clayed, As it started to rain . But WOW, The side i done feels SO smooth its unreal, And the paint just looks smooth. It even took some bits of paint off where it must of been sprayed from new at the bottom seal of the door. I did the lower doors and so much **** came off. Am really pleased, I even did my headlights as they had **** on them and they look brand new and give a mass of reflection off them.

So after i have fully clayed the car am gonna buy some decent polish.

I see the NXT stuff seems to be pretty good. Do i need to get a paint cleaner to get a really good finish, Before applying NXT?.

Luke

[Slicked]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

What do you all think of this theory:

"Many people find it difficult to achieve an excellent finish on solid white and light metallic/pearlescent colours, no matter how well they prepare their paint. This is because the lightness of tone precludes a high degree of reflectivity, and thus makes it hard to achieve a finish with any real clarity and depth. Furthermore, this lack of reflectivity can also limit how wet the paint looks, as fewer highlights are shown up in the finish. However, these problems can be largely overcome by choosing a synthetic sealant instead of a natural carnauba wax as the last step product. This is because sealant polymer chains tend to cross-link to form an exceptionally smooth, highly dense surface layer that reflects light far more efficiently than a microscopically rougher, less dense natural carnauba wax coating, and this can add a significant amount of wetness to the appearance of the paint, as more highlights are shown up in the finish. Moreover, the same smoothing and filling properties also minimise any scattering of light caused by micro-structures in the surface of the paint, meaning that reflections are afforded greater clarity and depth, and that metallic and pearlescent flakes receive more transmitted light and thus appear to stand out more from the base colour (a phenomenon commonly known as flake pop)".

The same writers recommend carnaubas and carnauba blends for red and black for well thought out reasons, so they don't appear to be biased. However, I'm not sure about the science behind the theories.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

I see the NXT stuff seems to be pretty good. Do i need to get a paint cleaner to get a really good finish, Before applying NXT?.

Luke

Not if you've clayed the car already. If the paint is/was in neglected condition and you were removing a lot of contaminants using the clay then it could only help to use a dedicated paint cleaner first. This will insure a clean surface to work with. Because you don't let paint cleaners dry it's actually pretty fast to apply, work in and then wipe off as long as all you're doing is cleaning the surface, not removing swirls and scratches.

Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner or SwirlX would be a good choice using a foam applicator pad.

What do you all think of this theory:

"Many people find it difficult to achieve an excellent finish on solid white and light metallic/pearlescent colours, no matter how well they prepare their paint.

This is because the lightness of tone precludes a high degree of reflectivity, and thus makes it hard to achieve a finish with any real clarity and depth.

It's real simple, dark colors, especially black paint, will reflect images better than light colors. No need to make it any more complicated than this and it truly has to do with the color of the paint because this is true for a single stage black paint or a clear coated black paint.

The same writers recommend carnaubas and carnauba blends for red and black for well thought out reasons, so they don't appear to be biased. However, I'm not sure about the science behind the theories.

If the car is clear coated then you're not working on colored paint but a clear layer of paint, thus is a paint protection product whatever it is, Carnauba, Carnauba/Synthetic Blend or all Synthetic works to make a clear coated black paint look great it will make any clear coated color look great. If a product doesn't make clear coated black look great it's not going to make any clear coated paint look good.

It's really pretty simple.

This was written years ago and so far no one has ever proved and explained it to be wrong.

Which LSP is better for light colors?

[MyFirstES300]

Re: Detailing, Silver Car?.

For the most part, silver seems to be the color I always end up with when purchasing a car. It's also the easiest to maintain in that it hides a lot of little imperfections. If you have a car that's a daily driver, silver is the most forgiving.

I've always wanted white, but could never seem to get what I wanted in that color. I had a black car once, and while it's super looking when cleaned up, it's also the hardest to maintain! I simply did not have the time or patience to keep it the way I desired.