Cut/Wax/Polish on my recently painted Civic

[Mossi]

Hello to everyone, this is my 1st post here as you can see..

anywaaaays, i recently got in a front end fender-bender that later led to my hood flying up while driving, causing my whole windshield to shatter and a massive dent to the roof of my car.

After all kinds of wasted time, money, and sleep i have it back with brand new paint to the roof, hood, front bumper and front side panels (The car is a real nice dark green).

Now, on to why i want the rest of the car cut/wax/polished. I was told that i cant do that kind of thing to it for atleast 4-6 weeks because the new paint needs time to harden. Thats fine, but the problem is that my 4 side doors and trunk look horrendous in comparison to everything else.

One of my biggest complaints is that on my 2 passenger side doors, i have large curved lines that appear in the sunlight (buffer marks i suppose from the previous owner?)

So it's summer and i really want the rest of my car to look good and i want to get rid of those unsightly lines! (Edited for language -Mike)

My questions are

1. can i get a professional cut/wax/polish to the areas of the car that weren't recently painted? (i dont want to wait another 4 weeks for it to look good!)

2. will the buffer lines i explained above be removed (for the most part, i know) permanently, or temporarily? i hardly wanna spend 150canadian on a top notch job if it isnt going to pernanently remove most of my small scratches and buffer marks.

3. do you have any other suggestions or ideas for me? ( i know i could probably do this myself but i'd rather learn on a car that i'm not worried about messing up on, I'm 19 and just got this car recently.)

Thank you in advance for bearing with this looong first post, and any help or ideas you might have for me!

[the other pc]

Mossi!

You don’t want to wax the newly finished panels or use any product like a sealant that will interfere with the outgassing of volatiles from the paint. You can cut&buff immediately if you use paintshop safe products like Meguiar’s compounds and polishes.

You can certainly use them on the old finish as well. As long as you don’t get any on the new paint you can obviously wax the old finish.

It sounds like your finish has buffer swirls. If they're not too bad a skilled detailer can usually remove most or all of them. They will be permanently removed but that doesn’t mean you can’t get new scratches. To prevent them you need to maintain the finish properly.

It is something you can learn to do yourself but it takes the right tools and a reasonable amount of practice.


PC.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Cut/Wax/Polish on my recently painted Civic

Originally posted by Mossi
My questions are

1. can i get a professional cut/wax/polish to the areas of the car that weren't recently painted? (i dont want to wait another 4 weeks for it to look good!)

It's actually kind of hard to find someone that really knows what they are doing. In most cases, detailing is very production oriented and thus shortcuts are taken which produces a short term result. You can locate some detailers in your area and ask to see some of their work and use this to make a decision for your car.

2. will the buffer lines i explained above be removed (for the most part, i know) permanently, or temporarily? i hardly wanna spend 150canadian on a top notch job if it isnt going to permanently remove most of my small scratches and buffer marks.

It just depends on the professionalism and quality of work the detailer performs. You might get lucky... you might not.

3. do you have any other suggestions or ideas for me? ( i know i could probably do this myself but I'd rather learn on a car that I'm not worried about messing up on, I'm 19 and just got this car recently.)

Thank you in advance for bearing with this looong first post, and any help or ideas you might have for me!

You might want to consider investing in a dual action polisher and doing this yourself as it's not that hard and you'll be able to use the skills you acquire for the rest of your life.

Click on the below link and read the article, you'll want to start with the M80 Speed Glaze step and then move forward.

Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line

[Mossi]

Thanks guys.

So i think i am going to wait the next 4 weeks and just get the whole thing cut/wax/polished all at once by a local detailing shop i know of that happens to have a great reputation

I guess that after that i will be back here to learn the art of detailing for myself (I'd rather let the pros deal with the current problem), so thanks for replying folks!

By the way, six weeks in hot summer weather should be sufficient for the paint curing process, correct? (as you can tell, i can hardly wait to get my car looking up to par again)

[the other pc]

Different paint companies give different times. It’s best to check with your painter to find what’s recommended for your paint. If he isn’t sure ask for the paint’s brand and product names and check with the manufacturer.


PC.