Newbie - First Attempt At Detailing. (56k note - 1mb of images)

[sombero]

This is from my first attempt at detailing my car, the car is 2 weeks old. I don't have before picts as i forgot(woke up early so was groggy) and used the best camera i had during the mean time, my phone.

External Procedure:

Body-
2 bucket method wash with Meguiar's Gold Class
Wipe down with towel
Clay with Meguiar's Clay with Turtle Wax Ice Spray Detailer as lube(stockist sold out on Meguiar's QD)
Polish with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish with pad by hand and followed with wipe off with micro fibre cloth, moderate force
Waxed with Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax and wiped off with micro fibre towel

Wheels-
2 bucket method wash with Meguiar's Gold Class with wheel brush
Turtle Wax Ice Spray Detailer(tried a small portion with Meguiar's All Metal Polish but pad did not turn black so i stopped as i read that would mean it's coated, used it on tail pipe instead - lovely
Waxed with Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax

Tire-
Turtle Wax Tire Gel, applied with pad and let set for 5 mins then wiped off with micro fibre towel

Internal Procedure:
Kit Vinyl Spray for plastics, rubber,etc except leather, applied with pad
Mothers Leather Cleaner for leather, applied with micro fibre cloth
Kit UV Protectant, applied with pad




I'm glad i took this first step and started this learning curve, in total it took me 9 hours as i had to read the directions and also unfamiliar with it all lol. But i would like to ask the seniors all around:-

1) There are parts where the panel has a mirror like reflection while another is slightly more dull looking(reflection blurry), is it due to my technic of applying the polish? I tried to test it by applying a 2nd layer of coating of polish and letting it sit for around 15 secs then wipe it off but the result was still blurry reflections. How would i get that high gloss?

2) Is it ok to use Meguiar's All Metal Polish on my coated rim? Or should i wait till the coating has diminished first?

3) Are any of my procedures wrong? Or could be better?


Any feeback and advice is welcomed, thanks for watching

[Shawn T.]

Re: Newbie - First Attempt At Detailing. (56k note - 1mb of images)

Looks good!

The hazy/blurry sections may be scratches. You can see if you can you can get Ultimate Compound where you are as that may take care of the haziness. Allowing Ultimate Polish to sit on the surface is not going to help with any haziness/blurriness because it needs to be worked against the paint. It does not provide protection therefore does not need to dry on the surface.

Instead of Ultimate Quik Wax I would go with something more durable like Meguiars Ultimate Wax if you can find it there.

[Marc08EX]

Re: Newbie - First Attempt At Detailing. (56k note - 1mb of images)

Great job on the detail! I think the car looks great!

Maybe you can post some pics of the blurry reflections?

Aside from Shawn's suggestion, it could also be factory orange peel that's causing the blurriness. The only solution to that is wetsanding, which is not recommended with factory clear coats.

If your wheel is clear coated then you should treat it like your car's paint and apply wax to make it look shiny and protect it at the same time.

[Murr1525]

Re: Newbie - First Attempt At Detailing. (56k note - 1mb of images)

1. The orange peel sounds like the best possibility.

2. You would want to use the paint care products on painted rims.

3. The only other suggestion would be that the spray waxes are meant to be a 'booster' wax. So when doing a full detail like this, you would use a liquid or paste wax. And then after future washes you would go with the spray wax to boost the wax protection back up.

[sombero]

Re: Newbie - First Attempt At Detailing. (56k note - 1mb of images)

Many thanks for the valuable input and the encouragement guys:

1) Googled orange peel effect and i think that's the cause. Blurry sections would be like


2) I'll take care of it as i would paint then

3) Will try to source for paste/liquid wax instead and apply Quik Wax as a booster.

My next detail will come a couple more weeks time, while my hands heal from soreness and sunburns lol. But great input once again and thanks.