My Detailing Process

[mdreyfus]

From reading all the messages lately I think I have decided what my process will be to wash my car. I would like to get you guys input.

Supplies:

NXT Wash
Ultra Plush Wash Mop (better suggestions?)
NXT Tech Wax
Scratch X
Quick Clay Detailing System
DC Polish
NXT Spray Wax
NXT Speed Detailer (what is this for?)

My Steps:

1. Start off with of course the NXT Wash. Add about 1 cap full for every gallon of water (4gallon bucket)

2. Now its time to use the Quick Clay Detail System for the whole car

3. The car is new so I shouldn't need to use any Scratch X any time soon. but if I did need it would I use the clay bar or scratch x for?

4. Next DC Polish the entire Car

5. Then use the NXT Tech Wax paste (or spray wax if it was done recently)

6. Interior and Tire Shine (dont need much detail here but I have the NXT Insane Shine for Tires and the NXT Tech Protect for interior

7. Smoke a cigarette and admire my work


Now I noticed that on the hood of my car that are like a few brownish specs that are in my hood. They actually look like dirt but it somehow looks like its in the paint. What would your suggestions be for removing this? Do you think the clay bar would do the trick? It almost looks like dirt that is underneath a coat of wax or something.

Well how does my process look guys?

[Tim Lingor]

Hey mdreyfus

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

The brown spots on your hood sound like a bonded contaminent, possibly rail dust. Claying the paint should remove most of it.

I would suggest washing with the NXT Wash and dry the paint. Then clay the car using plenty of the Quik Detailer claying lubricant. You will feel the clay remove the contaminents.

Follow the claying with ScratchX to try and remove any lighter scratches and/or swirls. Follow with the DC polish and 2 coats of NXT Tech Wax.

Cheers!

Tim

[Beercan31]

mdreyfus it looks like your on the right track to a steller finish, from here we can only give you some tricks of the trade that we do. one being when claying a veh. do it in a quiet environment and you will here the contaminants being swiped by the clay, it sometimes sounds like an old vinyl record tick,(i just dated my self there) often i let my pinkie rest just off the side of the clay and feel the surface of the paint for contaminants. never push or smudge the clay in to the surface of the paint. Hope this works for you and good luck.

[mdreyfus]

Thanks for the help guys. The only thing thats weird is that I didnt notice those spots on my hood until after I waxed for the first time. Is it possible that I waxed over some stuff that was sitting on my hood? I just hope everything comes out looking perfect.

Thanks,

[Murr1525]

You look pretty good there, but a few ideas...

1. You are using good quality washing products, do you have similar good quality drying products, like the Water Magnet, etc. Dont want to add swirls from drying the car.

2. Scratch X is a paint cleaner, but a quite aggressive one, esp when worked in well. If the clay bar does not remove the brown spots, I would try some scratchX on them.

3. Even though your paint is in good condition, you will still probably want to use some kind of pain cleaner before polishing. ScratchX is a bit expensive to use on the whole car, even lightly, all the time. Something like DC#1 may be better for you, to use more often before polishing. You may also consider something like #80, or #83 applied by hand, as it is a cleaner/polish, and would cut out a step.

4. Even if you waxed over something, claying, and cleaning the paint should remove all the old wax, so you can get at those brown spots.

[mdreyfus]

Yes I do have the Water Magnet for drying. Unfortunately I was not able to wash my car like i wanted to because of the rain all weekend. So hopefully today will be a good day.

I'm gonna try the clay bar on those spots and if that doesn't work then I will look into the DC # 1. But your saying that I should use the DC #1 over the entire car and then that would strip the wax so I should rewax?

Also what is the best thing for washing the car? In terms of mops i mean. Is the Ultra Plush WAsh mop good?

Thanks for all the help

EDIT: oh yea one more thing. Is there a length of time taht your supposed to wait to wax a new car? Some people tell me you should wait a few months while others say it doesn't matter. So I gotta ask the experts now

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by mdreyfus
I'm gonna try the clay bar on those spots and if that doesn't work then I will look into the DC # 1. But your saying that I should use the DC #1 over the entire car and then that would strip the wax so I should rewax?

You only have to use a paint cleaner if your car's finish has defects that you want to remove, so "No", you don't have apply the Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner to the entire car, you can simply apply it to the problem areas. Same thing goes for the ScratchX product.

Also what is the best thing for washing the car? In terms of mops i mean. Is the Ultra Plush Wash mop good?

The Ultra Plush Wash Mop is good, so are good quality wash mitts and brushes, which Meguiar's offers a number of for you to choose from. The most important part of choosing is deciding what's best for you, what do you prefer?

My current favorite way to wash both our Pilot and our Blazer is to use Meguiar's Versa-Angle Wide Body Brush on the extendable handle that comes with the mop. It makes washing the roof quick and easy as well as makes washing the entire car easy.

Thanks for all the help

EDIT: oh yea one more thing. Is there a length of time that your supposed to wait to wax a new car? Some people tell me you should wait a few months while others say it doesn't matter. So I gotta ask the experts now

New cars have paint that is baked on at the factory. When a car leaves the assembly line, the paint is completely cured. This means when you purchase a new car, the paint is completely cured. It's possible to purchase a new car that has been -repainted, or partially repainted due to damage incurred during shipping, if this is the case, then it still might be cured/dried before you take possession as most paints can safely be waxed 30 days after being painted.

Hope this helps...

[mdreyfus]

What exactly can happen if you wax to early? Can you damage the paint?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by mdreyfus
What exactly can happen if you wax to early? Can you damage the paint?

When paint is new/fresh it is mixed with different types of solvents that liquefy the paint so that it can be sprayed out of a spray gun. These solvents need to outgas so that the paint fully hardens. If you wax fresh paint, you can seal, or lock these solvent inside the paint preventing them from escaping and this could potentially prevent the paint from becoming as hard and fully set-up as possible.

Allowing fresh paint to fully cure or dry for at least 30 days is a precautionary step to insure that most/all of the solvents have worked their way out of the paint so that you do not seal them in with a coat of wax, be the wax a natural wax or a man-made synthetic paint protectant.

Here's an article I wrote on this subject in the Information Station forum.

Paint needs to breathe

Paint Needs To Breathe

Words mean things, just ask any Lawyer. Floating around on the Internet, and discussed for decades among car enthusiasts is the myth that paint needs to breathe.

Or is it a myth?

It depends on how literal you read into the words. If you apply the common definition used for the word breath, then “No�, paint does not need to breathe. If however you take a moment to understand the idea that is being expressed with this word, then I think you’ll understand why the word breathe is used when someone says, or posts to the Internet that �Paint needs to breathe�.

The below is just my guestimation as to the story behind the theory or myth that paint needs to breathe. I may be wrong, but my years of working with both painters, detailers and serious car enthusiasts as well as teaching detailing classes makes me think that if I’m not dead on, I’m at least in the ball park. With that said, here my explanation of how the saying, “Paint needs to breathe� originated.

For the last 50 or so years, when a person would have their car painted, upon retrieving it from the painter, the painter would typically recommend that the owner wait for a period of time before applying a coat of wax or some type of paint sealant that seals the paint. The normal period of time that most painters recommend is anywhere from 30 to 60 days and sometimes longer, depending upon the painter. The reason for this waiting period is to allow the different solvents and other additives enough time to fully evaporate out of and off of the surface.

Wax and/or paint sealants, whether natural or synthetic, or a blend of both of these ingredients, seals the paint by coating over the surface and filling into any microscopic surface imperfections creating a barrier coating over the surface. This blocks, or inhibits these solvents from escaping through evaporation, or outgassing. Solvents also called thinners and reducers are used to thin the paint down so that it can be atomized into a spray when applied with a paint gun using compressed air.

When a customer arrives at a body shop or a dealership to pick up their car with its freshly applied paint, most painters will tell the customer to wait a certain number of days before applying wax, or paint sealant over their new paint job. If the customer agrees, then that’s probably as far as the discussion goes.

If the customer asks further questions as to why they must wait before applying a protective coating to their investment, then it is my belief that most painters would do their best to explain to the customer, in easy to understand terminology, so that the customer will understand and comply with his request. This is where I think the saying, paint needs to breathe, originated.

I don’t think most painters would try to explain that the solvents need to outgas in order for the paint to fully dry and harden, instead, I think they would use a more simple approach and merely tell the customer that their new paint needs to breathe.

The above fictional analogy is probably as accurate as any assumption as to how the theory that paint needs to breath was started. (I'm open to other theories however.)

People that understand the painting process understand that paint doesn’t literally need to breathe; they do understand that fresh paint needs to outgas. This means that for a period of time, the solvents and other carrying agents, which are used to dilute paint to a thin viscosity so that it can be sprayed out of a pressurized air sprayer, need to work their way out of the paint through the evaporation process, also referred to as outgassing.

Read the below two scenarios and then decide for yourself, which scenario sounds more plausible.

In an effort to explain to their customers why paint manufactures recommend waiting for at least 30 days to pass before applying a coating of wax or a paint sealant, the painter can,

• 1. Try to explain the outgassing process over and over again throughout their career.
  2. Use a simple analogy that the average person can understand without challenging the painter’s judgment or expertise.

My personal guess is the second option.

If the simple analogy works, it will accomplish the painter’s goal and allow the painter to get back to work, not spend his time explaining the painting process. The goal of course is to prevent the customer from sealing the paint with some type of wax or paint sealant until the paint has completely dried and the out-gassing process is completely over.

• * Paint does not need to breathe in the literal sense that you and I need to breathe as living human beings.
  * Paint does need to breathe in the sense that fresh paint needs to outgas.

Of course, in the last 50 years or so since World War II ended and the car crazy culture really revved up in America, (no pun intended), the result has been explosive growth in the collision repair and custom painting industries. It should be no surprise that the idea that paint needs to breathe has finally reached enough of a critical mass as to be the topic of discussion on numerous discussion forums as well as anywhere a couple of car enthusiasts gather to talk shop.

Depending on how literal you want to read into it, when someone states �Paint needs to breathe�, what they probably mean is that fresh paint needs to outgas, they probably just don’t know, or understand the term outgas, and/or they are confused like many people who have gone before them and are operating under the wrong idea… innocently.

A different, but related version of the above would be someone that applies the same idea that paint needs to breathe to the paint on a brand new car which is also false unless the new car has been painted within the last 30 to 90 days. Sometimes during shipping from the assembly plant to the dealership show room floor, new vehicles are damaged and need repair including repainting. If all the paint on the car is the factory original paint, then it was baked on at the factory as it traveled down the assembly line and was completely cured before it left the assembly plant and it is perfectly safe to apply a coating of waxy or a paint sealant. If the car has been repainted due to damage during transit, then the areas with fresh paint should not be sealed until the recommended waiting period has passed.

Well, this is my stab at the “Paint needs to breathe theory�.

Comments? Click here to post them to this article

Mike

[mdreyfus]

Well I hope I waited long enough

[mdreyfus]

one more question..you are supposed to DC polish the whole car right?

[Beercan31]

mdreyfus

Personally I only use products on a "as needed" basis. What I mean is certain panels are in a high impact zone like the hood, just behind the 1/4 panels, the leading edge of the roof and so on. see what the polish does to these areas if there a improvement between the done and not done than you would continue on with the polishing. all in all it never hurts to add oils back into the finish that time and washing have removed.


You might want to read this write up Mike did a while ago, it's good reading.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3132