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Newbie to detailing...

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  • #1

    Newbie to detailing...

    Hey everyone, Im not so new to the site, but i dont get on often... I have a light knowledge on cleaning up cars, but i am thinking about buying a used car that is black with water spot, a few rock chips, and swirls.... i want to know if there is anyway possible how to get this out, i have used swirl x with a tradional buffer on vehicles before that i actually had swirl (i used it on one of my car before and it worked but honestly never had swirl to begin with), but it wasnt as affective as i thought it would be, any pointers?!
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  • #2
    Re: Newbie to detailing...


    If the water spots have etched the paint, it can be very challenging to correct. The swirls should be no problemo. As far as the rock chips...





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    • #3
      Re: Newbie to detailing...

      What sort of level of correction are you after?

      The problems you describe can all be completely corrected or greatly improved.

      The real question is: once you get the car looking good, are you prepared for all the hard work it takes to keep a black car looking good?
      Originally posted by Blueline
      I own a silver vehicle and a black vehicle owns me. The black one demands attention, washing, detailing, waxing and an occasional dinner out at a nice restaurant. The silver one demands nothing and it looks just fine. I think the black vehicle is taking advantage of me, and the silver car is more my style. We can go out for a drive without her makeup and she looks fine. If I want to take the black one out, it is three or four hours in the "bathroom" to get ready.

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      • #4
        Re: Newbie to detailing...

        i want it as close 2 new perfection as possible...yes i will keep it up, but the car will eventually be repainted as time goes along.... . it more of a project car that i want to look good and still driveuntil replenish funds after buying the car..

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        • #5
          Re: Newbie to detailing...

          Being kind of inexpirenced in car detailing.... would it be better for me to pay a professional about $200- 275 to completely detail the car and likely have the car looking flawless... or buy my self a dual action polisher kit and have the ablilty to do it my self time and time again???... my issue is i dont want to spend the money on the polisher which is $200 plus materials and time. and not achieve make any impact on the issue. thank ahead for the advise...

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          • #6
            Re: Newbie to detailing...

            I suggest you first post photos of the vehicle first if possible. We can determine if the paint can be corrected with a DA polisher.

            I'd suggest getting the DA polisher and correcting the paint yourself. It's not that difficult. You can find numerous posts of people getting near perfect results on their first attempt.

            Being it's black, likely you'll want to do periodic maintenance and correction.

            Don't think of a DA Polisher as a sunk cost. You can always easily resell it used for more than 50% of it's initial cost.

            To me it's a no brainer. If you have the time, space and physical ability, it's much better to do it yourself. After all, you have us as a support group to offer direction if needed.

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            • #7
              Re: Newbie to detailing...

              This is not the car... i have not bought the car yet, so i dont have pics, but i am not be expecting it to look worse than this. my aunt told me about the car i havent seen it in person yet, she told me it had water spot ( she is somewhat over critical at time) so im not sure, but the car is only 8yrs old.. so without seeing it yet this is me imagineing the worse case scenario..

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              • #8
                Re: Newbie to detailing...

                Originally posted by stayinclean View Post
                this is not the car... i have not bought the car yet, so i dont have pics, but i am not be expecting it to look worse than this. My aunt told me about the car i havent seen it in person yet, she told me it had water spot ( she is somewhat over critical at time) so im not sure, but the car is only 8yrs old.. So without seeing it yet this is me imagineing the worse case scenario..

                bump

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                • #9
                  Re: Newbie to detailing...

                  That looks ok.
                  2017 Subaru WRX Premium - WR Blue

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                  • #10
                    Re: Newbie to detailing...

                    I agree with Bill. Get yourself a DA - if you plan on owning and maintaining a black car, you'll need it!!
                    Originally posted by Blueline
                    I own a silver vehicle and a black vehicle owns me. The black one demands attention, washing, detailing, waxing and an occasional dinner out at a nice restaurant. The silver one demands nothing and it looks just fine. I think the black vehicle is taking advantage of me, and the silver car is more my style. We can go out for a drive without her makeup and she looks fine. If I want to take the black one out, it is three or four hours in the "bathroom" to get ready.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Newbie to detailing...

                      ok... i picked up the car this weekend... the car pretty much looks like the above pic, the water spots are etched in both the paint and the glass... the spot are in deep... so what is the best advice for this?

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                      • #12
                        Re: Newbie to detailing...

                        Did you figure out if you would be working by hand, machine, etc?

                        You can always try by hand first, say a panel a day, and go to machine if needed. The same products work.
                        2017 Subaru WRX Premium - WR Blue

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Newbie to detailing...

                          Etched water spots can be tricky to remove - it all really depends on how workable the paint is, how deeply etched they really are, what tools you're using, and your skill level.

                          Working by hand on something like this is tedious at best. A quality D/A with a W8207 polishing pad and Ultimate Compound should be an excellent starting point. You'll know pretty quickly if it's going to take several passes to correct or if you can knock it out quickly. But there really is no way of knowing for certain until you get started.

                          Unfortunately that's one of the challenges of detailing and paint polishing. It isn't like baking a cake. We can give the identical recipe to 500 people around the country and they will all end up with the exact same cake when done. But if you do that with paint polishing - ie lay out a specific list of this pad, that liquid, speed X, etc - you'll get dramatically different results due to the wide variety of paint systems on various cars.
                          Michael Stoops
                          Senior Global Product & Training Specialist | Meguiar's Inc.

                          Remember, this hobby is supposed to be your therapy, not the reason you need therapy.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Newbie to detailing...

                            Originally posted by Murr1525 View Post
                            Did you figure out if you would be working by hand, machine, etc?

                            You can always try by hand first, say a panel a day, and go to machine if needed. The same products work.
                            i tried using some swirl x by hand... i noticed almost no difference.... and i am trying to decide of getting a DA or a Rotory.. i know the orbital wont work.... but i dont want speand 250 on a DA and it not work.... i am almost thinking about getting trying to repaint the car my self ( i bought the car as a project car)

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Newbie to detailing...

                              Originally posted by Michael Stoops View Post
                              Etched water spots can be tricky to remove - it all really depends on how workable the paint is, how deeply etched they really are, what tools you're using, and your skill level.

                              Working by hand on something like this is tedious at best. A quality D/A with a W8207 polishing pad and Ultimate Compound should be an excellent starting point. You'll know pretty quickly if it's going to take several passes to correct or if you can knock it out quickly. But there really is no way of knowing for certain until you get started.

                              Unfortunately that's one of the challenges of detailing and paint polishing. It isn't like baking a cake. We can give the identical recipe to 500 people around the country and they will all end up with the exact same cake when done. But if you do that with paint polishing - ie lay out a specific list of this pad, that liquid, speed X, etc - you'll get dramatically different results due to the wide variety of paint systems on various cars.
                              is there anything professional grade i should look into?

                              Comment

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