New to me!

[the sybe]

I just bought an 07 Camry and im going to wax for the first time tomorrow, my question is, it has alot of scrapes near the door handles and the usual light scuff here and deeper scratch there, I bought the clay kit, and Ultimate Compound, can I go over the entire car with the uc hitting the more scratched areas heavier, I will be doing it by hand btw, I also have scratch x but not enough for the whole car, and should I clay first then uc or vise versa? One more thing can I use a micro fiber to apply the uc or do I have to have a foam app pad? Of course I will be waxing last. Thanks in advance! I've learned so much from this forum!

Joe

[Michael Stoops]

Re: New to me!

Hi Joe, welcome to MOL!

Sounds like you're ready to dive right in and get this new to you car looking the way you want it to - good for you!

Working by hand is going to be hard work but there are things you can do to minimize the pain. Obviously you want the car clean and dry before you start, and you do want to clay before compounding so that you remove all the above surface bonded contaminants before trying to correct below surface defects with the Ultimate Compound. You don't mention what color the car is, but Toyota has some paint that is actually quite soft and scratch sensitive so do yourself a huge favor and do a test spot before doing the entire car. Scratch sensitive paint can be problematic when working by hand since it can reveal any flaw in your technique, especially if it's a dark color. Now, don't take this to mean that all Toyotas have paint like this - most do not. That test spot will tell you what you're going to be up against though, so don't skip it. A foam applicator pad is always preferable when working by hand as different types of cloth, including microfiber, can be more aggressive and create some haze on their own, regardless of product used. Important considerations regardless of applicator or product is to avoid pressure points from your fingertips. This will help to avoid the creation of "cheetah spots" in the paint (Avoiding "cheetah spots" or, "Look what this compound did to my paint!"). Experiment a bit with pressure to see what works best for various types and severity of defect, but the scratches you see around and behind the door handles should actually come out with ease.

[the sybe]

Wow, didn't expect an answer so quick, great advice, thanks so much! The car is tan or gold, not sure what you would call it, I think my main worry was getting too aggressive and messing things up, I want to do a good job and certainly don't want to make any extra work for myself. I really appreciate your response, thanks!

Joe

[the sybe]

Great article btw, it was a big help!

[the sybe]

Great results!

This morning I washed, clayed, spot uc'ed and quick waxed because I was running out of time. The body feels like glass now, ive never clayed before and it worked great! Meguiars products rock! Great results and will be even better when I get the da power tool for my birthday! I can't wait to see what it looks like then! Thanks for all your help Mike. Btw, im a sooner fan,,,, any relation to Bob. Stoops? Thanks again.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: New to me!

Glad it all worked out so well for you, Joe, that's great!!

Nope, no relation at all to the Stoops family of football coaches (Bob - Head Coach Oklahoma, Mike - Defensive Coordinator Oklahoma, Mark - Head Coach Kentucky, and Ron - Assistant Coach Youngstown State)