How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

I thought claying creates smoothness which results in gloss. After all, gloss does come from a smooth surface.

Claying creates smoothness by removing above surface, bonded contaminants. If you don't have that situation then clay isn't going to gain you anything. If you do have this, though, then it is compromising the smoothness of the surface and therefore the gloss, so claying is the process to correct it.

But smoothness comes not only from removing the crud stuck to the paint, it comes from leveling the paint by removing towel marks, swirls, fine scratches, cobwebs, holograms, etching and anything else below the surface. These all cause irregularities in the surface that are more visually noticeable than tactilely noticeable (unless it's a big enough scratch, of course). That's where a paint cleaner comes in - it will even remove the hazing that can be caused by using a very aggressive clay like our C2100 Professional Aggressive Clay.

[HealthyCivic]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Thanks for the reply

This is not my first detailing, I'v been claying and waxing my car with no.21 twice a month

The result is great, glossy and extremely white ^^ (since my car is about 1 year old)

This might just be a stupid question to ask
But is there any way to give it more.... I don't know how to say this
umm..... more depth look on it's glossy
I don't even know weather if this is possible lol

or I should go with Chemical guys products??
some told me that it gives more depth looking on whites


Thanks for replies

Cheers~!!

The best thing for you to do would be to evaluate your vehicle goals and your situation. What do you do with this vehicle? I assume it is your daily driver. You aren't going to get this car to look like a show car and stay that way unless you leave it in a garage 24/7 and don't drive it.

However, don't get discouraged because although many people don't like to acknowledge it, it is very possible to get your car to look outstanding on a day-to-day basis. What I would do if I were you is quit the claying and waxing twice a month; that's too much. I don't know where you live and how much driving you do but I wouldn't do that unless I lived 5 feet from an industrial production plant, had no garage, and drove 1000 miles a day.

I've always believed the most important thing is washing. Yeah, washing. Why? It's the first and major step in car care. How good of a wash you do and how often you wash dictates almost everything else. If you use grit-guards and the 2 bucket method and put a lot of effort into your washing being extra cautious on preventing swirls, your finish will be so good that you will not have to clean the paint, clay the paint, and wax the paint as often. Trust me. This coupled with a garage can make wax go a long way and keep your car looking fantastic.

If, on the other hand, you wash often but you use whatever method you want, aren't careful about preventing swirls, and put a mediocre effort into your washing, you'll end up with a ton of swirls and less appealing paint. Due to this, you'll have to use a paint cleaner more frequently, you'll have to clay more frequently (due to the shoddy washing), and you'll have to wax more frequently.

You gotta remember that swirls don't come from the sky, they come from washing. They also come from lousy rotary buffer jobs but that's another story. I think you should re-assess the situation, see if your expectations are realistic, and then get a great washing regimen down. Then, wax and clay every so often (every 3+ months). If you do this, trust me, your white car will stand out above everyone else's white car. Even if you still aren't satisfied, you will be satisfied because you know that you put more effort and have more knowledge about car care than 95% of other people.

[Slicked]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

I would suggest spending a little extra time with M205 at the end of a major detail.

I think it s a misconception that white cannot look glossy. It does look washed out in direct sunlight, but in any other light it can look amazing - its just very hard to show that in a photo.

[Tuck91]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Is this any good?

[rusty bumper]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

If your wash/dry technique is good, and you regularly wax the vehicle, then once you've done a proper clay job and you've eliminated the below surface defects to your satisfaction you should be good to go for many, many months.

I live within 50 yards of Norfolk & Southern's main rail line between New York and New Orleans. There are approximately 24 fright trains, and two Amtrak trains, that pass by here each day.

Each time a train passes by it introduces rail dust into the air and settles on my cars. The first time I was introduced to clay, I was amazed at the amount of bonded contaminates I was removing - rail dust included.

After buffing & sealing the finishes with Meguiars' products, I am able to keep the paint relatively rail dust free by proper washings a few times a month. I can attest to this by the small amount of contaminates my clay picks up in the spring of each year.

I've heard that rail dust is the most hated of all the bonded contaminates, especially with white cars, because it makes the paint look like it's rusting when it is not.

[rusty bumper]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Is this any good?

Looks like ice cream to me.

Well done Tuck!

[akimel]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Is this any good?

No, I'm afraid not, Nick. The truck just looks crummy. Sorry to spoil you day.

JUST KIDDING!!!

[Tuck91]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

No, I'm afraid not, Nick. The truck just looks crummy. Sorry to spoil you day.

JUST KIDDING!!!

[StoneRaizer]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Is this any good?

Looks just like a load of socks after a generous helping of bleach - clean, white and bright. Nice job on the wheels, tires, trim and tonneau too.

[sontakke]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Where is the obligatory reflection shot ? :-)

- Vikas

[Mike Phillips]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

In Mike Phillip's words: "Gloss comes from smoothness. Period. End of discussion."

And I continue to stand by that statement.

I thought claying creates smoothness which results in gloss. After all, gloss does come from a smooth surface.

That is correct.

Claying creates smoothness by removing above surface, bonded contaminants. If you don't have that situation then clay isn't going to gain you anything. If you do have this, though, then it is compromising the smoothness of the surface and therefore the gloss, so claying is the process to correct it.

But smoothness comes not only from removing the crud stuck to the paint, it comes from leveling the paint by removing towel marks, swirls, fine scratches, cobwebs, holograms, etching and anything else below the surface.

And just to note, Mike Stoops is correct in both paragraphs above and to further clarify, I've never meant to imply that claying is the only way to achieve a smooth surface, but if you have above surface bonded contaminants then it's the first step towards restoring a smooth surface as generally you remove the contaminants on top of the surface before going after the defects below the surface.

Gloss comes from smoothness, more specifically, gloss comes from creating as smooth as surface as possible with a paint that has the potential to be shiny and glossy. This would include claying if needed, followed by using a paint cleaner on one end of the spectrum to a full-blown wet-sanding, cutting and polishing system approach on the other end of the spectrum. Whatever it takes to reach your expectations for a super high gloss finish.

Some types of paint may be smooth, but they will never be glossy. For example, the guy asking for help in this thread might have a very smooth flat or satin black finish, but it's never going to be glossy because that's not the physical characteristics of flat black paint, which currently is a long time finish trend in the hot rod world and a new trend in the new car world.

How to detail/protect satin black hotrod?

[Brad777]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Ditto to Mike's statement above. FYI, I had some light scratches that were obtained over the past couple years on my 2008 F350...white with gold accent. I clay a couple times per year, but just got done with a rotary application of M205 with the yellow pad followed M7 with a finish pad then by NXT2.0 and M16 by hand. The results are spectacular. The paint glows. I wasn't ready to reply to this thread, therefore no pictures available right now. I will post pictures later.

[geert dr]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

Take a look here !

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24271&highlight=lancia+delta+belgium

[Jossy92]

Re: How to get a white car extremely bright and glossy?

[Sorry, I posted this before noticing pages 2 and 3 of this thread. Hence, it may be irrelevant]

... is there any way to give it more.... more depth....

I have the same question. But am confused about the difference between "depth" and "gloss".

I have read posts talking about depth and M26. And other posts talking about Gloss and NXT.

A lot of "experience" on this thread....thus any clarification much appreciated. [I have a friend with a white Hummer, got her using Megs.]