New car finish question

[Mel427]

I recently purchased a 2012 Kia Soul, the color is Shadow (black). I am new to detailing so I have some questions about how to treat the paint. It seems the new car paints are water based and very fragile and thin compared to the older paints. Can I still use traditional products and methods or does it require special treatments?

[Murr1525]

Re: New car finish question

Depends what you mean by traditional.

You can still go with the same old Wash, Clay, Clean, Polish, Wax and that sort of thing.

But you will want to be more carefull in your techniques, use good applicators, towels, mitts, etc as swirls will be more easy to cause and see.

You also wouldnt want to use older style products that containt harsh abrasives and leave their own swirls, scratches, etc behind. You want the newer products that are safe for clear coats, etc.

[Car Potential]

Re: New car finish question

I would say that newer cars have better quality paint than older cars especially now that most new cars have a clear coat.

Like Murr touched upon; if your technique in washing the car is good then you will be fine. This includes washing the car with two buckets with grit guards, a good quality wash mitt and good quality Microfiber towels.

If you feel the paint is rough then you can clay the car and get rid of the contaminants that aren't visible to the eye but you can feel it with your hand. If you want to add some shine to the paint and take away swirls marks then you can polish. And for sure to add some protection to the paint apply some wax.

[Mel427]

Thanks, I had a 2002 Taurus with 179,000 miles, it had rust and dings but no paint chips. The first month I had this car, paint chip in the hood. Then I find out from others that these new water base paints chip if you even look at them too long and with black, you know how easy mistakes show.

[Mel427]

So I should be safe with most of the Meguiars consumer products as long as its not any of the medium cut or higher then.

[Murr1525]

Re: New car finish question

I got one of those hood deflectors on my car, seems to work well. Not sure how they look on yours, but worth a look.

As for the products, actually any Meguiars product would be safe (assuming you use it right of course). All of them will leave a clear finish behind when used. Hopefully you dont need anything strong right now, and can just stay with mild products for a while.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: New car finish question

The forces that can create a chip in the paint versus the forces used to polish paint are vastly different. There is really no correlation between either of them and "quality" of paint. Name a brand and we've seen plenty of chips in it. Sure, some are more prone to it, but it still doesn't impact whether or not you can safely maintain it with any sort of compound or polish. As for water based paint, in most cases the clear coat is still solvent based in a factory paint system and since you're only ever working on the clear, who cares what the color coat is made of? And even if the clear is water based, from the perspective of appearance maintenance, it still doesn't really make much difference. We see factory clears that are as hard as diamond encrusted granite and others that are as delicate as a warm stick of butter. It's that relative hardness/softness in terms of "polishability" that really dictates how you go about working on it.

Every product in our consumer line (and virtually everything in our pro line) is perfectly safe to use on this vehicle. Of course it's up to you to use them properly, but this forum exists to make sure you're doing just that.

Will you be working primarily by hand or with a buffer of some sort? What's the current condition of the paint with regard to swirls, fine scratches, etc?

[Mel427]

Overall condition appears great, I had a recent issue where I had thousands of what looked like very tiny air bubbles in the clear coat. It looked like the CC was lifting off the paint. I still don't know what it was and the service writer at the dealership didn't either. After a good wash, I used SwirlX and then followed up with UQW. Problem appears to be solved. Other than that I have a couple of light swirls that the swirlX didn't take out. As for technique, I do everything by hand, except I use a coin op power wash and I use your Gold Class detailer after every wash. It really makes the paint "pop.

[Mel427]

I hope the picture posts. She may not be a sportscar or luxury class sedan, but shes new and shes mine. (well the banks for now)