Need some help with my Black car

[Chris_Rolfe]

Hi guys,

I am new to the whole detailing thing, this is the first black car I have owned and the first car that I would really like to try and keep in the best shape I possibly can. I wash my car with Ultimate Wash and Wax weekly (using the 2 bucket method), but the paint is a bit rough when gliding your hand along it, and also has some light scratches, so I purchased a Clay Bar kit. I also bought Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish and some Gold Class Carnauba liquid Wax. Which brings me to my question, will the Gold Class wax go okay with the Ultimate products? I didn't really think about it when I purchased them, next question is will washing my car with the Ultimate Wash & Wax after doing my polishing/waxing strip all my hard work off?

Hopefully this makes sense, ask any questions you need to clear anything up. As I said I'm certainly very new to this detailing thing so please go easy on me!

Appreciate any help. Thanks everyone.

[Mitch312]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Hi Chris,

Sounds like you have most the gear to look after your cars paint work. Gold class is fine to put over the ultimate products. The difference between gold class wax and ultimate or NXT wax is that gold class contains carnauba wax in its chemical make up. The other too are known as synthetic sealants and are completely man made. Generally a carnauba wax will add more depth and warmth to a cars paint work, particularly dark colours. Synthetic sealants in my experience add a more glassy look. Carnauba is not as durable as the other two but will give a different look to them. Ultimate wash and wax won't strip your wax protection.

Hope this helps

[Chris_Rolfe]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Hi Chris,

Sounds like you have most the gear to look after your cars paint work. Gold class is fine to put over the ultimate products. The difference between gold class wax and ultimate or NXT wax is that gold class contains carnauba wax in its chemical make up. The other too are known as synthetic sealants and are completely man made. Generally a carnauba wax will add more depth and warmth to a cars paint work, particularly dark colours. Synthetic sealants in my experience add a more glassy look. Carnauba is not as durable as the other two but will give a different look to them. Ultimate wash and wax won't strip your wax protection.

Hope this helps

Thanks mate. Most helpful.
How often should I polish/wax my car would you recommend?
And when I do need to re-polish/wax do I need to strip my previous work first? If so, how do I go about this?

Sorry for all the questions.. a bit confused about this whole thing!

Thanks!

[Mitch312]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

No worries. With gold class probably every 6-8 weeks would be pretty good so every 2nd month. You can do it more often if you like. Basically I would only strip the wax when you feel the car needs claying again, so maybe every 12 months depends on the environment you live in. To strip the wax you can use dish washing liquid or a paint cleaner or clay bar can as well, ultimate compound would and I'm pretty sure ultimate polish would. Sorry I'm more familiar with the professional line. I would use ultimate compound the first time then ultimate polish then the wax. After that though you should be able to just polish your car with ultimate polish every time you clay your car. The main thing is keeping the wax up to it. Also washing your car carefully and properly will ensure you minimize re swirling your car. Is the car really swirly at present?

[Chris_Rolfe]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

No worries. With gold class probably every 6-8 weeks would be pretty good so every 2nd month. You can do it more often if you like. Basically I would only strip the wax when you feel the car needs claying again, so maybe every 12 months depends on the environment you live in. To strip the wax you can use dish washing liquid or a paint cleaner or clay bar can as well, ultimate compound would and I'm pretty sure ultimate polish would. Sorry I'm more familiar with the professional line. I would use ultimate compound the first time then ultimate polish then the wax. After that though you should be able to just polish your car with ultimate polish every time you clay your car. The main thing is keeping the wax up to it. Also washing your car carefully and properly will ensure you minimize re swirling your car. Is the car really swirly at present?

All good mate, great info.
Yeah mate, cars quite swirly. The lady I bought it from didn't really care for it very well at all by the looks of it. Light spider webbing scratches all over it.
So for my washing I use a microfibre wash mitt with the Meguiars wash & wax, 2 bucket method and then I have some waffle weave towels that I dry it with, how does that sound, should I change anything I'm doing?

Also, can I use these polishes/wax's on plastic bumpers/spoilers?

[Mitch312]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Yer that will be perfect for washing. As long a they are painted its fine. Hope it all goes good

[Chris_Rolfe]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Yer that will be perfect for washing. As long a they are painted its fine. Hope it all goes good

Great, thanks for your help. Very much appreciated. Cheers buddy.

[Stephan]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

All good mate, great info.
Yeah mate, cars quite swirly. The lady I bought it from didn't really care for it very well at all by the looks of it. Light spider webbing scratches all over it.

Are the spider webs scratches or cracks??? Sounds like the clear coat maybe failing. How old is the car? Pics would help.

[Selectchoice]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Are the spider webs scratches or cracks??? Sounds like the clear coat maybe failing. How old is the car? Pics would help.

Not trying to cause any offence Stephan, but what makes you think they may be cracks in the paint? I may have missed something in the previous posts, but I didn't read anything that sounded that bad.

[Spazzz]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

You probably want to start looking into purchasing a DA polisher.
My black car thanked me with a more refined finish, after I bought a PC.
I can't imagine trying to get all the swirls out by hand.

The new Meguiars MT300 should be hitting the market soon and I am eagerly waiting to use it in spring.....of course I have to buy it first.
For upkeep after washes with Gold Class, I use D156(Ultimate Quik wax) as a drying aid which gives it a booster wax for your toppers.

[The Guz]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

will the Gold Class wax go okay with the Ultimate products?

The simple answer is yes.

will washing my car with the Ultimate Wash & Wax after doing my polishing/waxing strip all my hard work off?

No it will not.

How often should I polish/wax my car would you recommend?
And when I do need to re-polish/wax do I need to strip my previous work first? If so, how do I go about this?!

There is no real answer for this other than inspecting the paint to see if you need to polish. The best way to tell if the car needs to be clayed us using the baggie test. Google that and you will see how to do it.

As stated up above, sealants last longer than carnuaba waxes. A good tip is once your detail spray starts to feel grabby when you are wiping it off, then it is time to reapply your wax.

Post up some pics so we can see what you are working with.

[Chris_Rolfe]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Ok no dramas guys, I will get some pictures up tomorrow as I don't have any close ups of the paint at the moment. From what I can tell they are just fine scratches not cracks, car is 8 years old only done 38,000km's, but in saying that I'm not sure how the car was treated before I owned it, but from what I was told by the previous owner it was kept in a lock up garage majority of its life, but I would say it just wasn't washed with the correct products/mitts.

I have heard of the Meguiars DA polishing machines, I will certainly be looking into them in the near future, I will give it a go by hand first I think as I'm not overly confident just yet.

Cheers.

[Chris_Rolfe]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Would the products I have already purchased be able to be used with one of the DA Polishers?

[Chris_Rolfe]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Ok, I have found a picture that sort of shows what I'm up against. Not the greatest quality, but hopefully it can give enough of an idea.

[Stephan]

Re: Need some help with my Black car

Not trying to cause any offence Stephan, but what makes you think they may be cracks in the paint? I may have missed something in the previous posts, but I didn't read anything that sounded that bad.

I had a black car years ago that wasn't taken care of and the hood, roof and trunk had a spider web, honeycomb lookin kinda pattern of "scratches" on them and that's what the post reminded me of. Hopefully I'm being overly pessimistic. Photos would help.