Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

[wewe98]

Hello,

This is my first thread. I've read some thread and posting, but actually, I can't find the information I need about this issue.

I don't have much time even during weekend. Maybe I just have 1-2 hours on Saturday and Sunday to take care of my car. So, it is impossible for me to wash, clay, clean+polish and wax my car, all at the same weekend .

I have plan to remove some swirl and scratch for the next weekend. Can anybody tell me, whick one is better?

A. Go into one step, and continue the next step on the next day-or even the next week
B. Complete the all steps at one time, but only for a panel (or even one section of the panel), and continue the other section / panel on the next day

And what happened if I skip the clay step?

I have an almost 10 yo black Japanese car-almost never been maintain before-only weekly clean by washing it

Really appreciate all of your inputs.

Thanks in advance

[Steward]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

Hi wewe.

One thing I want to point out are you working by hand or DA?

If your working by hand it's more simple to do half of the car in one day, Next day the other half.

Now if your working with a DA, you can do the whole car in one day.

To remove swirls, you can use swirl X our ultimate compound depending how bad is your car. You always want to use the least agressive product first.

Claying the car it's the most simples part all. It will remove all the bonded stuff that washing couldn't remove. It's leaves a smooth paint like a "glass feeling". It will give you better results when polishing your car.

Hope this helps.

Steward

[William_F]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

If you hustle, you can get it all done in two hours. You can wash, clay and use cleaner wax for a pretty good finish.

A coat of wax is only as good as the surface it's laid over, so if the surface isn't clean, you're not going to get as good a shine from the wax. You'd also be sealing crud under the wax. I wouldn't skip the clay step. The first time you clay, it may take a long time because there is a lot build up.

As far as the claying goes, you will find that with regualr maintence of the car claying gets faster and easier.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

The process William describes is a good one for a quick, basic clean up that will leave a nice finish. No, it won't be a show car shine, but you'll probably be very hard pressed to do that on the vehicle you describe anyway.

If you want to bring the finish back to the best it can be and have such limited time each weekend, then you would be better off working on one panel at a time and doing all the steps needed to bring the finish back. Sure, the car will look a bit odd for the few weeks it will take you to complete the whole project, but from what you describe it sounds as though it needs some help anyway. So a few weeks with a few shiny panels and a few, um, not so shiny panels () is better than an overall appearance of a decade of neglect.

[wewe98]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

Hi wewe.

One thing I want to point out are you working by hand or DA?

If your working by hand it's more simple to do half of the car in one day, Next day the other half.

Now if your working with a DA, you can do the whole car in one day.

To remove swirls, you can use swirl X our ultimate compound depending how bad is your car. You always want to use the least agressive product first.

Claying the car it's the most simples part all. It will remove all the bonded stuff that washing couldn't remove. It's leaves a smooth paint like a "glass feeling". It will give you better results when polishing your car.

Hope this helps.

Steward

Sorry Steward, I forgot to tell you, I am planning to use my both hands, I don't have DA. Seems like it will be a good sport for me . I have SwirlX and ScratchX, hope this 2 product can help me so I don't have to go to UC

If you hustle, you can get it all done in two hours. You can wash, clay and use cleaner wax for a pretty good finish.

A coat of wax is only as good as the surface it's laid over, so if the surface isn't clean, you're not going to get as good a shine from the wax. You'd also be sealing crud under the wax. I wouldn't skip the clay step. The first time you clay, it may take a long time because there is a lot build up.

As far as the claying goes, you will find that with regualr maintence of the car claying gets faster and easier.

No, I don't want to go in rush. I wan to enjoy it. unfortunately, I only have 2 hours each day on the weekend. And don't forget, my main objective is to remove swirl.

Thank you William and Steward, base on your informations, I will not skip the claying step.

[Steward]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

Also do a test spot see which product works for your car best, depending how hard is your paint. Other then that you should be fine just don't give up because working with ur hands it's hard, just put passion into foam pad.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

I also rarely find time to do a complete detail in one day. I just finished a full polishing (with a DA) on my car, but I had to break it up over two weekends. On the first weekend, I polished all of the horizontal surfaces (hood, roof, trunk) the front fenders, roof pillars, and rear quarter panels. On the following weekend I finished the doors, rocker panels, and the bumper covers.

Even though I full-washed and clayed the entire car on the first weekend, I rewashed (rinseless wash using Last Touch) and reclayed the unfinished components a week later just to ensure that all the surface contamination, no matter how light, would be removed.

I will repeat the process again this weekend before I apply a sealant and wax (hopefully in one day!).

[wewe98]

Re: Maintenance your car if you don't have much time

I also rarely find time to do a complete detail in one day. I just finished a full polishing (with a DA) on my car, but I had to break it up over two weekends. On the first weekend, I polished all of the horizontal surfaces (hood, roof, trunk) the front fenders, roof pillars, and rear quarter panels. On the following weekend I finished the doors, rocker panels, and the bumper covers.

Even though I full-washed and clayed the entire car on the first weekend, I rewashed (rinseless wash using Last Touch) and reclayed the unfinished components a week later just to ensure that all the surface contamination, no matter how light, would be removed.

I will repeat the process again this weekend before I apply a sealant and wax (hopefully in one day!).

Whoaaa... nice share, never came across my mind.

last weekend, I just completed the back left fender-it had the worst swirl-all around its section. Some swirls were gone, but others were not.

I didn't want to remove all the swirl, I am not so sure, If I can remove all the swirl, I still want to use it on daily use